Although there are many halfling communities, par-
ticularly in the lands in and around Luiren, halflings fre-
quently fit themselves into dwarven, gnomish, elven, and
human societies. Lightfoots breeze into communities
as they travel, make friends easily, and then move on
as the wind or whimsy takes them. Stronghearts settle
in, make themselves at home, and weave themselves
so deftly into the fabric of a community that it becomes
hard for folk to think of a time without them.LIGHTFOOT·HALFLINGS
For lightfoot halflings, neither the journey nor the des-
tination matters more; the important thing is to keep
moving. The life of a lightfoot is one long exploration
with each new horizon, new town, or new face a chance
to find something delightful.
Lightfoot halflings typically travel in small bands, us-
ing whatever conveyance is convenient but just as easily
striking out on foot. Bands consist of loosely related in-
dividuals, and when bands meet, membership frequently
shifts. Lightfoot halflings typically excel at tasks related
to travel-be it navigation, handling pack animals, for-
aging, sailing, and cartwright work-having tried their
hand at all such things before or learned from other
lightfoots met during their journeys.
Lightfoot halflings are highly social, often as curious
about other people as they are about what might lie
around the next bend. They characteristically possess
an easygoing and open attitude, curious about others
and willing to share of themselves, which enables them
to make friends easily. Their facile friendships and ease
with partings can make lightfoot halflings seem disin-
genuous to others. Lightfoot halflings get stereotyped as
flighty, easily distracted, fickle, and unreliable. But their
friendships and courtships, if brief, tend to be genuine.
The staid and stable life that most other people desire
just isn't part of their character.
Lightfoot halflings have all the racial traits of lightfoot
halflings in the Player's Handbook. They share the skin,
hair, and eye tones of humans, but most lightfoot hal-
flings have hazel or brown eyes and brown hair. Light-
foot halflings don't grow facial hair except that males
and females typically grow short sideburns.
STRONGHEART HALFLINGS
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Creatures of the earth who love a warm hearth and
pleasant company, strongheart halflings are folks of few
enemies and many friends. Stronghearts are sometimes
referred to fondly by members of other races as "the
good folk," for little upsets stronghearts or corrupts
their spirit. To many of them, the greatest fear is to live
in a world of poor company and mean intent, where one
lacks freedom and the comfort of friendship.
When strongheart halflings settle into a place, they
intend to stay. It's not unusual for a dynasty of strong-
hearts to live in the same place for a few centuries.
Strongheart halflings don't develop these homes in
seclusion. On the contrary, they do their best to fit into
the local community and become an essential part of
it. Their viewpoint stresses cooperation above all othertraits, and the ability to work well with others is the
most valued behavior in their lands.
Pushed from their nests, strongheart haflings typi-
cally try to have as many comforts of home with them as
possible. Non-stronghearts with a more practical bent
can find strongheart travel habits maddening, but their
lightfoot cousins typically enjoy the novelty of it-so long
as the lightfoots don't have to carry any of the baggage.
While often stereotyped as fat and lazy due to their
homebound mindset and obsession with fine food,
strongheart halfings are typically quite industrious.
Nimble hands, their patient mindset, and their emphasis
on quality makes them excellent weavers, potters, wood
carvers, basket makers, painters, and farmers.
Strongheart halflings have all the racial traits of
stouts in the Player's Handbook. Strongheart halflings
are shorter on average than their lightfoot kin, and tend
to have rounder faces. They have the skin tones and hair
colors of humans, with most having brown hair. Unlike
their lightfoot cousins, strongheart halflings often have
blond or black hair and blue or green eyes. Males don't
grow beards or mustaches, but both males and females
can grow sideburns down to mid-cheek, and both gen-
ders plait them into long braids.HALFLING DEITIES
The hin have a small but intimate pantheon of deities,
which are honored primarily at household altars, road-
side shrines, and wooded groves.THE BLESSED SISTERS
The hin mother-goddess and the head of the pantheon
is Yondalla, the Blessed One, goddess of bounty and
fertility, protector of hearth, home, and family. Sheela
Peryroyl is the Green Sister of Yondalla. She is a nature
goddess, the lady of fields, streams, and the wilds found
in shire and glen, and the weather in such places. She is
also a goddess of love, song, and dance.CHAPTER 3 I RACES OF THE REALMS