Halfling kleptomania

[pawsplay]

Well, that's a surprise. I normally only associate kleptomania with kender and the Sackville-Bagginses, but in DF apparently it's a core trait. And since it's a racial disadvantage, it's never really supposed to be bought off. Unless you specifically were planning on playing a petty thief, it seems like this reduces the character to be a bit of a one-note joke. Thoughts?

[Anthony]

Racial traits can still be bought off, you just have to pay the points out of some available pool.

[Dalin]

Yeah, this is not an uncommon concern. As Anthony says, you can definitely buy it off (you're different). It's also entirely fine to change the racial template. Any 10-point disadvantage can be bumped to 15 by lowering the self-control number from 12 to 9. I personally like the combination of Gregarious, and Post-Combat Shakes.

Some possible 15 point combinations that might work for different styles of halflings:

• Chummy [-5] paired with any other -10 point trait like Cowardice (12) [-10], Easy to Read [-10], or Gullibility (12) [-10]
• Combat Paralysis [-15]
• Sense of Duty (Nature) [-15]
• Truthfulness (12) [-5] and Honesty (12) [-10] are both possibilities

The Neveri Halflings in Kevin Smyth's excellent Nordlondr Folk are wild nomads with Bloodlust (12) [-10] and Social Stigma (Savage) [-10].

[tbone]

For some campaigns, "one-note joke" is just what the group is looking for.

For those wanting a more serious take, there was a recent thread looking at what Kleptomania might mean for halflings in the bigger world, what alternatives a GM could allow, etc. Some good ideas in there.

[DF] (Kleptomaniac) Halfling's Code of Honor

[pawsplay]

That is an interesting thread. I'm more curious in wondering how halfling kleptomania works at all.

The two components that make this tricky:

Originally Posted by Adventurers p.56

You cannot have more disadvantages than are budgeted for on your professional template, except as a result of racial
disadvantages.
• You cannot alter racial disadvantages.

and

Originally Posted by Adventures p.62

You may keep or sell stolen goods, but you may not return or discard them.

There is simply no way halflings aren't despised as perpetual, wasteful felons.