Modifying Halflings for intrinsic stealthiness

[Black Leviathan]

I really dislike giving "skills" to a race. And my reasoning is simple. It creates a problem of realism when your character or NPC isn't typical. If your Halfling was raised by Dwarves they don't have the same cultural values as other Halflings they don't learn the same common core skills of other children in their culture but they are still racially Halflings. If they have pillowy feet or a magical aire of silence, then that's a racial advantage, but if it's anything that came about after they were separated from their mother, that's character points spent outside of race.

I know that attitude can seem a little pedantic, because why would a Halfling ever end up raised by Dwarves but your players will do it, or they'll want to make a half-halfling-half-satyr or do something else with their character that makes them basically immune to Halfling Culture because they're adventurers.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I really dislike giving "skills" to a race.

That's why I put Cultural Lenses in my games. I make them right around 5 points.

[Culture20]

Sometimes species skill bonuses aren’t learned skills, but instead very specific talents. You wouldn’t give beavers a full-blown woodworking talent, but a specific TL0 dam building specialization makes sense. Same with birds and bees, but not educated fleas. Education is cultural.

[Bruno]

Beavers have to learn how to build, as do the construction inclined birds etc. - beavers learn while living with their parents, birds watch their parents doing basic nest maintenance but have to sort out actual construction themselves on their own, with some practice. It's not unusual to see a bird carrying off something kind of stupid to use as nest material - and then abandon it after thinking about the problem.

Beavers in particular, however, are genetically "programmed" to study building dams at every opportunity - the sound of running water gives them the screaming heebie jeebies and brings them all running (well, swimming) to plug the hole. Combine that racial Obsession with some natural aptitudes and you end up with every beaver who gets half a chance developing their dam building skills. Beavers get a cultural lens that just about every beaver raised outside captivity will get - which makes the difference between having a base Beaver template and two cultural templates and having a Wild Beaver and a Captive-Raised Beaver template, kind of fine lined.

As is always the case with intelligence and skills, there's always muddy territory.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Beavers have to learn how to build, as do the construction inclined birds etc. - beavers learn while living with their parents,

Beavers in particular, however, are genetically "programmed" to study building dams at every opportunity - the sound of running water gives them the screaming heebie jeebies and brings them all running (well, swimming) to plug the hole. Combine that racial Obsession with some natural aptitudes and you end up with every beaver who gets half a chance developing their dam building skills. Beavers get a cultural lens that just about every beaver raised outside captivity will get - which makes the difference between having a base Beaver template and two cultural templates and having a Wild Beaver and a Captive-Raised Beaver template, kind of fine lined.

As is always the case with intelligence and skills, there's always muddy territory.

I see what you did at the end of that word flow.
Beavers also build their own houses to keep predators at bay once the pond ices up. And to fell trees without getting squished.

[Black Leviathan]

I'm decidedly less against giving races a Talent Advantage if I feel that their are genetic or physiological advantages they have over other races or even if there is a powerful cultural bias. Such as the idea of giving Dwarves a level in Talent Artificer Advantage because of their almost supernatural connection with craftsmanship. But even then it would have to be an overpowering racial propensity towards a group of skills.

Halflings are already hard to spot because of their SM-1, more than that is a pretty substantial bonus to stealth.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Refplace

And to fell trees without getting squished.

Beavers get squished by trees. Just like lumberjacks.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Beavers get squished by trees. Just like lumberjacks.

Ok, got me. But I think its a lot more rare than if you just give the average person an axe. Especially considering their limited eyesight.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Refplace

But I think its a lot more rare than if you just give the average person an axe.

I think that's just bias... for instance do we even know how many trees fall in the woods and don't make sound until they hit a beaver? Versus how many fall on weekend lumberjacks?





Anecdotally, I've never even seen a tree fall on someone, and I've seen some really stupid people go at taking down trees.

[Pursuivant]

Some GURPS 3E books had a "Forgettable" advantage which sort of acted like Chameleon or Obscure, but rather than physically blending into your surroundings or blocking vision, you somehow have the ability to be overlooked or forgotten as long as you don't specifically call attention to yourself.

A "Forgettable" limitation to either of those traits, which either requires some sort of skill roll or Quick Contest for your advantage work, or an Accessibility limitation ("Only while relatively stationary and behaving in a non-threatening manner.") would seem reasonable.

Finally, don't forget that Halflings effectively have a natural bonus to skills such as Camouflage and Stealth due to their small Size, since observers have a Vision penalty to see them at a distance. You could also have a house rule which gives bonuses equal to negative SM when using Camouflage, etc. rather than giving penalties to the observer's Vision roll.