Halfling (Lightfoot, Stout, Ghostwise, Lotusden), Mark of Hospitality, Mark of Healing
by Prince Phantom
Halflings are well known by their most famous feature; Lucky. Certainly, that ability is very impactful at times, but it’s not enough to carry a whole race on its own. There are a number of subraces and two Dragonmarks available here, so let’s go over the base features that all Halflings get first.
Base Halfling Features
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity: This works with a lot of builds, but most people just use the Tasha’s rule anyway.
Speed: 25ft: Having a decreased movement speed is a big penalty, and definitely something you shouldn’t gloss over when considering this race.
Lucky: So just how good is this feature? Well, 1s aren’t really as bad as many people make them out to be when played RAW. Only 1s on attack rolls equal an automatic failure. A 1 on a skill check or saving throw could still succeed with a big enough modifier. That’s still pretty unlikely though, so you’ll definitely feel the impact of this. Still, how often you actually roll a 1 and how often that reroll turns it into a success won’t actually be very common, so don’t put too much stock into this feature.
Brave: Advantage on saves versus frighten effects is actually quite strong. Fear is a debilitating condition to characters that rely on attack rolls, and it can be a very common condition for monsters to try to inflict.
Nimble: This helps a little to make up for our reduced movement speed, but it doesn’t come close to making up for it entirely.
Lightfoot Subrace
Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma: This is fine though there aren’t really many builds that want to heavily invest in both Charisma and Dexterity, but most people just use the Tasha’s rules anyway.
Naturally Stealthy: I suppose some Rogues may find this useful, though the benefits to Rogues that some other races can provide are greater than this. Still, if your campaign has battles that always happen in empty areas with no where to hide, this might shine quite a lot. Also, your DM needs to get more creative with their battle maps.
Lightfoot Halflings are pretty much only for Rogues, as no other classes are making much use out of the hide action. For Rogues, this is a decent option, though there are better ones.
Final Rating: 2/5
Stout Halfling Subrace
Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution: As always, all builds love more Constitution, but just use the Tasha’s rule.
Stout Resilience: Advantage against poison and resistance to poison damage is extremely nice to have, as poison damage is everywhere. This is a wonderful defensive feature, and this plus Brave and Lucky really creates a nice defensive package.
Stout Halflings are a great defensive race that just about any build can be happy with. Not much more to be said about them, except that I do believe that if poison resistance is what you’re after, this is one of the better options.
Final Rating: 3/5
Ghostwise Halfling Subrace
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom: This is great for Rangers and Monks, but most people are just using the Tasha’s rule anyway.
Silent Speech: We get telepathy, but we have to share a language with our target. This is on the weaker end of the spectrum when it comes to racial telepathy, but it’s still very nice to have.
What’s this? Something from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide that isn’t the absolute worst thing ever?! Granted, it’s not blowing me out of the water or anything, but it’s still way better than most of the stuff in that book. If telepathy is a core part of your character concept, this is a pretty good option to fulfill that.
Final Rating: 3/5
Lotusden Subrace
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom: Same as what I said for the Ghostwise Subrace.
Children of the Woods: This is an absolute banger trio of spells. Druidcraft is a fine utility cantrip, but Entangle and Spike Growth are some of the most powerful spells of their level. Spike Growth in particular is a great build around spell as it works fantastically with any forced movement options.
Timberwalk: This is mostly a ribbon, and I’m fine with that. We’ve already got an amazing feature, so this one being a bit of a miss doesn’t sting much at all.
This is my pick for the best non-Dragonmark subrace of Halflings. The spells we get here are just amazing and could easily be built around to great effect. This is a fantastic option that I highly recommend.
Final Rating: 4/5
Mark of Hospitality Subrace
Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma: Same as I’ve said for all of these, just use the Tasha’s rule.
Ever Hospitable : This might just be the worst of all of these “add a d4 to these specific rolls” abilities that all of the Dragonmark races have. Two tool checks that almost never come up means this is just a waste of ink.
Innkeeper’s Magic: Prestidigitation is nice, but the other two are rituals so there’s not much to be gained by getting them here.
Spells of the Mark: Goodberry, Sleep, Aid, and Tiny Hut are all absolutely amazing spells, and no class has access to all of them. Sleep looses its luster around level 3, but that’s fine because we can pick it up right at level 1. The rest of the list is not nearly as attractive, but that’s fine as those four spells are all I need from this.
You take this Dragonmark for the spells and nothing else. Without a lot of multiclassing, it’s very difficult to get all of these amazing spells on one character, so this definitely has its niche.
Final Rating: 3/5
Mark of Healing
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom: Again, just use the Tasha’s rule.
Medical Intuition: Medicine checks are used mostly to stabilize creatures, and the DC for that is only 10, so with this you should be able to pass that easily. The bonus to herbalism kit checks could actually be very good if you play into it, as it can be used to make potions and other similar items.
Healing Touch: Cure Wounds isn’t a good spell, but when you get it for free once a day it’s basically like adding 1d8+Wisdom mod to your total HP, so that’s kinda nice. Lesser Restoration is very situational, but you’ll be happy to have it when you need it.
Spells of the Mark: Healing Word, Aura of Vitality, and Greater Restoration are the big pickups here. Notably, with this race a Wizard, Sorcerer, or Warlock would have access to healing magic, covering the one hole in the lists of those classes.
This might read like it was made for Clerics, but actually it’s the arcane casters that get the most out of this race, and on those classes I think this is a stellar pick. Healing Word in combat, Aura of Vitality for out of combat healing, and the restoration spells for when you need them is really all the healing any spellcaster needs. Great stuff for those classes, but pretty much only for those classes.
Final Rating: 4/5 on Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks, 2/5 for everyone else.
Halflings land above average in my opinion, and they get a good number of really cool features to play around with. I definitely think the options introduced after the PHB are the best picks, but you won’t really go wrong no matter with subrace you select. They won’t be the best race for any build, but they will always be strong.
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