Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

(Nancy Kaufman) #1
CHAPTER
5:

HALFLINGS AND
GNOMES


REATURES
OF MANY RACES AND CULTURES

a re embroiled in struggles that flare up

across the multiverse. Other folk survive

in the face of all this turmoil by keeping
a

low profile and
avoiding the wars and other

depredations that keep the outside world
in

a state of flux.

Halflings and gnomes are two groups that
have sur-

vived by remaining largely unnoticed by the aggressive

powers of the cosmos. Both races a re exce
ptions in a

multiverse wracked
by conflict- peaceful folk who have

found niches for
themselves away from the battles and

rivalries that fill the lives of the larger
folk.

HALFLIN GS


I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FINGERS
AND TOES TO COUNT T H E

times I saw our little rogue cheat death,
but I remember

them all. Let's see ... there was the enraged
roper, the flam-

ing
lava stream, the catapulted gelatinous cubes,
the Ten

Tilting
Corridors of Death, the exploding toad trap
, the Hall

of the Spinning Scimitars ...

-Magnificus, wizard
extraordinaire

Anyone who has spent time around
halftings, and par-


ticula rly halfling
adventurers, has likely witnessed the





storied "luck of the halflings" in
action. When a halfling

is in mortal danger, it seems as
though an unseen force

intervenes.
If a halfling falls off a cliff. her britches
will

snag on
a root or a sharp outcrop of rock. If a halfling
is

forced by pirates to walk th
e plank, he will catch a piece

of flotsam and use it to stay
afloat until he is rescued.

Halftings believe in th
e power of luck, and they abide

by a great number of superstitions
that they believe

bring good or ill fortune. They attribute th
eir unusual

gift to the favor ofYondalla, believing that
, now and

then, the divine will of the goddess tips
the balance of

fate in their favor
(or gives it a hearty shove when the

occasion warrants).

NATURALLY
I NNOCENT

Scholars,
wizards, druids, and bards of other races
have

different ideas about how halftings
escape peril, sug-

gesting that by virtue of so
mething in their nature, they

occupy
a special place in the multiverse.

One s uch hypothesis cites a legend that speaks
of a

docum
ent conta ining ancient elven writing
s-a series

of essays spanning
centuries. Among the many arcane

and mundane topics
addressed in this tome, the elves

set down thoughts
regarding the power of innocence.

They recounted
how they had long observed the halfling

race, watching as the chaos of the
world swept around

them and left
their villages untouched. While ores,

dwarves, and
humans struggled, fought, and spilled

CHAPTER 5 I llA LF'LTNCS
AND CNOM.ES

99
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