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.

[pawsplay]

So, apart from just increasing the cost of the template by 15 points, I've been pondering some alternatives to kleptomania. I just think as presented, a racial kleptomania is untenable. You would never stay at a halfling inn, you wouldn't have a halfling in your house, halflings wouldn't allow other halflings in their homes, etc. Some ideas:

Chummy: Fits in with the general stereotype of halflings as village busybodies, but actually doesn't seem to apply at all to Bilbo or Frodo, who enjoy solitude.
Low Pain Threshold: Kind of meta, but I'm pretty sure it is true that halflings are a lot easier to subject to knockdown than humans.
Odious Personal Habit (complaining): Halflings constantly complain about discomfort, whether it's the lack of steady meals, armor being too tight, other people touching their things, etc. But might be too broad, as they are generally congenial in public.
Social Stigma (minority group): They are small, easily bullied, often underestimated, etc. However, this would also affect haggling and such, so I think might be too broad.

[adm]

I generally just drop it, however; I could see changing it to a choice of disads including yours, and perhaps a few more, Coward, and Post Combat Shakes would both fit, as choices, so would Curious.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by pawsplay

So, apart from just increasing the cost of the template by 15 points, I've been pondering some alternatives to kleptomania.

Most of the characteristic disadvantages for hobbits need to be bought off to make a viable PC, as they're generally going to be some form of "prefers to stay at home and not go out adventuring", though you could always note "NPC halflings are typically stay-at-home types, disapproving of adventuring, change, and strange things (typically this should be treated as intolerance, though in some cases it will be xenophobia). PC halflings should replace this with social stigma (adventurer).