A halfling wielding a spear and wearing bone armor, sneaking through a forest. Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast.

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The Lore

Athasian halflings are physically identical to their standard 4e counterparts, but their culture is very different. If you have ever heard of Dark Sun in any detail, you’ll likely also have heard that it has cannibal halflings.

This is true, but I feel it’s lost a bit of its impact here, halfway down the critter list for the book. Halflings are the fourth cannibal humanoids we met so far, after belgois, braxats, and gith. I’m not even counting all the magical beasts that eat sapients, or we’d be here all day reciting names.

They still have the disctinction of being our first playable cannibals. Most Dark Sun halflings belong to the tribal cultures that inhabit the Forest Ridge, one of the last remaining green regions of Athas. They’re very territorial and distrustful of other species, violently defending their homes from any invasion. Their cannibalism is mostly ritualistic, though the book also says they eat captured intruders.

Individuals or small groups often leave the Forest Ridge to explore the Seven Cities and the deserts between them. Some stick around and find employment as guides, scouts and trackers. The worst among them might become slavers or raiders.

Halfling tribes will deal honorably with those that are honorable to them in turn, but anyone who breaks an oath to a halfling tribe will be declared their eternal enemy.

The other distinction halflings have is that they’re some of the oldest sapient peoples of Athas.

The Numbers

Athasian halflings have the exact same stats as standard ones. They’re Small Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 6 and the Nimble Reaction trait that gives them +2 to AC against opportunity attacks.

All of the stat blocks here are enthusiastic users of poison, which is a good survival strategy in a world where everyone is larger than you.

Halfling Forest Runner

Your typical sneaky halfling scout-type, this is a Level 2 Skirmisher with 37 HP. They fight with a poisoned spear that does a mix of physical and poison damage, and have a special technique named Strike and Slip Away (recharge 4+) that lets them make a stronger spear attack that deals ongoing poison damage (save ends). As an effect they can then shift 5 squares and make a Stealth test to hide if they have any cover or concealment at the end of this shift.

Halfling Wilder

A halfling psion trained in their ancient traditions. This one is Level 3 Artillery with 38 HP. Their main ranged attack is a Mind Thrust (ranged 10) that deals psychic damage and makes the target grant combat advantage for a turn. They have a simple club for melee emergencies. All of their attacks dels extra damage when the target grants combat advantage, making them good at focused fire tactics.

Halfling Forest Keeper

This is a pretty traditional druid of the sort that loves summoning and controlling vines and plants… which makes it a very exotic and mysterious spellcaster by Athasian standards, where everyone else has sand and sun powers. Forest Keepers are respected leaders of their people, responsible for preserving their oral traditions and lore.

Our stat block here is for a Level 6 Controller with the Leader tag and 72 HP. Its melee basic attack is a Distracting Staff that does standard damage on a hit and lets an ally of the keeper within 5 squares shift 1 square. At range if fires Thorn Darts that deal poison damage and make the target vulnerable 5 to poison for a turn.

Spirit Creepers (recharge 5+) is our “vines” spell, an Area Burst 2 within 10 that affects only enemies, targets Reflex, deals physical damage, and restrains on a hit (save ends). Allies caught in the burst recover 5 HP instead.

Constricting Creepers (encounter) is a stronger version that deals physical damage in a Close Burst 3 around the keeper, and knocks prone on a hit.

Halfling Headhunter

An elite champion whose mission is to stalk and eliminate the tribe’s worst enemies… and to bring their heads as proof. It’s a Level 11 Skirmisher with 114 HP.

The headhunter’s attacks all do extra damage when it has combat advantage. Its main weapon is a kukri that does a blend of physical and poison damage, and it can also throw equally poisoned Javelins that also slow on a hit. Harrying Attack (recharge 5+) lets the headhunter make a dagger attack, shift 3 squares, and then make another dagger attack all as part of the same action.

They use these tools to stay at the edges of a fight and harry the squishies. Add some leveled-up wilders to make them even stronger by making the PCs vulnerable to poison.

Encounters and Final Impressions

In their Forest Ridge homes, halflings are very unlikely to be accompanied by humanoids of other species, but they do domesticate a lot of the local wildlife for use in battle. In another twist that seems extremely exotic to Athasians and very familiar to us, most of this wildlife consists of mammals and birds, instead of reptiles and insects. Panthers, kirres (which we’ll see soon), griffons, and so on.

When met in the general Seven Cities area, they join the pool of species you can draw from to assemble Mixed Parties of People.

Halflings are very skirmisher-y here, and it looks like all stat blocks are simple enough that you can adjust their level directly without having to make big changes to their abilities. Monster Manual halfling stats work well in conjunction with these, though I’d replace any slings with poison darts or the equivalent to keep the flavor.