Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Focused Feedback: Halflings

Okay, so, here are the composites. Spoiler tagged for the use of BG3's nude models, stripped down for the sake of having a clear view of the body proportions unobscured by clothing and such. Would that I could do that for the other game models, but I suspect that if I did, the images might get modded – I still did not receive clear guidance from the officials about what I could and couldn't post in that regard. It was promised, along with a revision of the forum rules regarding the matter to better clarify the issue, but neither were ever forthcoming, so I'm erring on the side of caution for the non-BG3 games.

First of all, I want to actually start with the human models from a different game; it'll make sense in a bit ^.^ I want to reference the human models in LotRO, an almost sixteen year old game:


These models have aimed at being realistic, and they have a 7.5 head ratio, with their crown-hip-heel divide being about 50% - the median line is almost exactly on the groin, where it should be for an averagely well-proportioned adult human. Generally, this median point can comfortably range between groin and hip, what should be approximately half head's worth of variation, and still look healthy. The torso constitutes about 30% of the overall body, also normal to ideal for a mature adult. They look positively normal, which was the goal. These humans stand what would approximately be somewhere between five and a half to six feet tall.

I'm showing these ones first for contrast. So that we can look at...


These hobbits have a head ratio of 5.75 – notably a much smaller ratio, not even a 6, which would be considered the very low end of acceptable adult human proportion. The median line for their body length ratio is still at the hip, though it is at the upper end of the hip region (and higher on the males, due to their extra paunch). Despite this, they manage to look like healthy, normal people. They are clearly not human people, but they are also clearly adults. Their torsos still only take up about 30% of their body (as they should on a mature biped), and their extremities are actually slightly stockier than they might otherwise be on a human, which combines to give them a very balanced overall look. Compared to the humans in their game, these hobbits stand approximately four feet high; taller than D&D halfling should be, but actually the correct height for Tolkien hobbits.

Recently, LotRO released a new species of hobbits – river hobbits, who are supposedly slightly lither and leaner, and a little more elven, rather than mannish. Here's how they look:


This design also looks healthy and normal, though it's clearly different from the original hobbits. These folks have a head ratio that makes a full 6, though they only stand a tiny fraction taller than other hobbits. They, too, keep the median line for their body ratio at about hip height, slightly closer to the groin that the original hobbits, in fact, and the stockiness of their extremities, particularly their legs, isn't quite as pronounced, though it's still there, compared to humans. The result is that they look much closer to humans that the original hobbits do – though they're still clearly not. They are unarguably mature adults of their species, though, and they look like healthy, believable creatures.

Before we jump over to the BG3 models for comparison, I'll add one more in, since I've mentioned it elsewhere already (and it's also the only game I've got to hand that has an equivalent small race character I can do a break down of). The Shai from BDO does have a very cherubic face structure, and the way the character is treated in game both by other players and its dev team does not help matters... however, despite all of that, her actual body proportions are those of a mature-for-her-species creature (as she is by her lore – her backstory includes growing up and undergoing both of the two separate coming of age rites of her people, one at 20 and one at 40), and at the end of the day, the model looks just fine. No male equivalent for this one, as the adventuring Shai is a specific individual, as per the world story:


This model clocks in with a head ratio of 5.5, and a body proportion median of almost exactly 50%. Her torso takes up that same ~30% of her total body that you expect from a psychically mature biped, and it's in balance with her other proportions as well, giving the model a very close to human shape; specifically a mature, if slightly built, human (no, height and bust size are not valid determinants of maturity). Her arms and legs are ever so slightly thicker than you'd expect on an equivalent human, though not by much in this case; as with the other small-sized models shown already, this is a trait that helps small-sized creatures appear more natural and believable in their own bodies. In game, the model stands about three and a half feet tall, relative to others – though that's harder to gauge in this particular game.

So then, this brings us (at last, I know) to BG3's halflings. These models Should stand at about three feet tall, for D&D halflings, though they stand closer to four and a half in game:


There's a lot going on here, and a lot of it is not good. These halflings have a head ratio of barely 5 – and they have heads that are actually larger, one to one, than the human models in the game. Their body length ratio sees the meidan line drifting above the navel, almost to the base of the ribcage – a full head above the groin – because their legs account for only approximately 40% of their body height. By contrast, their torsos take up between 40 to 45% of their total height. Their legs actually taper down as well, the opposite of what they need to do to create a healthy, balanced-looking model.

I do, of course, not mean or intend any offence or disrespect when I say this, and am being purely analytical, but there are two groups of people who tend to show these particular body proportions: infants, and those with certain types of dwarfism. The over-sized torso and chest is particularly egregious on the female model; this is not a recrimination about large-breasted designs – this is more than just that, as it is an issue with the actual proportion of the torso as a whole, which the large breasts just emphasise (And as an aside, a game where you ask/let us pick out genital situation and personal intimate grooming... but don't let us define our bust at all? Really?).

In short, these models don't work for more reasons that just the head to body ratio – many of their proportions and other ratios are severely distorted in ways that prevent the model from looking balanced, healthy and believable.

Considering that this may partially be design style for everything in the game... let's look at the models for humans in BG3, so we have a cross-check:


In stark contrast to their squashed halflings, BG3 has decided to go with the full-on super-hero comic-book proportions here, making their human models with a head ratio of 8.5. They have also kept proper crown-hip-heel proportions, and you can see that in both cases the median line is more or less exactly at the groin, where it should be – that is to say, the legs contribute about 50% of the character's total height, while the torsos take up about 30% of total, all with pretty even or idealised proportions. If you overlapped them, the chest area of the female halfling is almost identical in actual size, width and depth, to the chest of the female human – on an otherwise much smaller body. No wonder it looks so distorted.

I'm kinda left wondering why the halfling models are so terrible, when, for example, the female dwarves actually look pretty good:


A 5.5 head ratio, and standing closer to five feet in game, this model is stocky and sturdy, without looking disproportionate or distorted; the limbs have an appropriate amount of extra thickness to them to compliment and balance the body shape without looking unhealthy, and even though the median body measure is quite high, their overall torso size is close to the expected 30%, which means that overall they look... good. Not human clearly, but also like properly balanced, believable beings.

So.... Larian can make really nice looking models. Why are halflings in such a terrible state?

The only answer I can really arrive at is a sad one, and it's that Larian seems to consider short races, and halflings in particular, as jokes and as a laughing stock to be made fun of... it shows up every time they mention them, it shows up in interviews and panels, it shows up in the game itself... and when this disrespect bled through into their designs as well, they lacked the care or desire to do better. In a recent video release about the races in the game (Here), Larian had official video footage to accompany the interview... and the footage for halflings was of a Dwarf, Nettie. Perhaps they did it because they knew how bad their halfling models look... or perhaps they simply didn't realise and didn't care. Either is a pretty scathing indictment.

I really do want to be wrong about this. I want to believe that this will be addressed one day. Fingers crossed.

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Addendum: A side note worth mentioning while the model shots are up – There's clearly a connection and alignment issue going on with the human female's left hip and upper thigh... and halfling females inherited this exact issue as well. It feels a lot like they just took the human model and squished several parts of it (but not others) to make the halfling models.