Halfling

Halflings are the cousins of humanity, sharing much of their drive and curiosity but standing at roughly half their height. These small folk have carved out a place in the world through their adaptability and natural charm, creating communities that value comfort, fellowship, and the simple pleasures of life. While many halflings are content to live as rural folk in pastoral villages and farming settlements, it is not uncommon to see them wandering the world as merchants, performers, or adventurers drawn by an irrepressible curiosity about what lies beyond the next hill.

Weald Warden

The Weald Wardens have made their homes in the deepest wooded regions, where ancient trees tower overhead and sunlight filters through layers of emerald canopy. Despite their small stature, these halflings possess a natural sturdiness and often display an uncanny level of strength that surprises those who underestimate them. Their compact frames hide dense muscle and sturdy bones, allowing them to move heavy logs, haul large harvests, and work tirelessly in their forest endeavors.

Age:: Weald Wardens typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 110.
Size:: Weald Wardens are small sized. Their average height is around 3'6" (107 cm).
Appearance:: Weald Wardens possess muscular builds that belie their small stature, with compact frames built for strength and endurance. They have dark hair and medium-toned skin, along with distinctly pointed ears. Most striking are the natural wooden spikes that grow from their shoulders, back, or upper arms, resembling small branches that sprout directly from their bodies. Many also display patches of bark-like skin on the backs of their hands or tops of their feet.

Languages: Common (Fluent), Forest-Tongue (Fluent)

Traits

Lucky (per rest): You may choose to succeed on any roll once per rest.
Surprising Strength (per rest): Despite your small size, you possess strength far beyond what your stature suggests. You can easily lift objects that weigh up to 3 times your weight without requiring a check and your carrying capacity is increased by 2 rows. Additionally, once per rest, you can perform a feat of extraordinary strength, gaining 3 degrees of advantage on a single Might-based check or dealing double damage with a melee attack.
Hardy Constitution (per rest): Your natural resilience allows you to shrug off effects that would fell others. You have 1 degree of advantage on resistance and conditioning checks. Once per rest, when you would take damage, you can reduce that damage by half as your sturdy frame absorbs the impact.
Forest Symbiosis (per rest): The forest provides for you as you provide for it. Once per rest, you can call upon the woodland to supply basic necessities - food, clean water, simple shelter materials, or medicinal herbs appear within your immediate area. Additionally, when resting in forested areas, you recover twice as much health and the forest alerts you to approaching dangers, preventing you from being surprised during rest.

Steppe Risen

The Steppe Risen are the most fun-loving of all halfling subraces, a people who have turned the pursuit of pleasure into an art form. They live for the simple joys of food, drink, and music, often dedicating their entire careers to these passions as farmers, brewers, vintners, chefs, or traveling musicians. Their culture is refreshingly laid back, built around the fundamental belief that life is meant to be enjoyed, and they have perfected the balance of working hard during the day so they can play even harder when the sun goes down.

Age:: Steppe Risen typically reach maturity around 16 and live to around 130.
Size:: Steppe Risen are small sized. Their average height is around 3'8" (112 cm).
Appearance:: Steppe Risen possess average builds that are neither particularly fit nor rotund in their younger years, though they tend to develop more rounded figures as they age and enjoy life's pleasures. They have pointed ears and distinctive amber or burgundy eyes that seem to sparkle with mirth and good humor. Their hair comes in shades of blonde, brown, or black, often adorned with sun-bleached streaks from long days working under the open sky of the plains.

Languages: Common (Fluent)

Traits

Master Chef (per rest): You possess exceptional culinary skills honed through generations of food-focused culture. Once per rest, you can prepare a special meal that provides beneficial effects to those who consume it - healing minor wounds, boosting morale for several hours, providing resistance to disease, or granting temporary stamina. Additionally, you have 2 degrees of advantage on all cooking-related checks and can identify ingredients, detect spoilage, or recognize poison in food by taste or smell.
Inspiring Performance (per turn): Your musical talents can lift the spirits and enhance the abilities of others. Once per rest, you can perform a song, dance, or other entertainment that grants all allies within hearing range 1 degree of advantage on their next 3 skill checks or attack rolls. The performance takes 5 minutes outside of combat, or can be maintained during combat at the cost of 1 AP per turn for up to 5 turns.
Infectious Joy (per rest): Your natural cheerfulness and positive outlook can spread to others around you. Once per rest, you can spend 10 minutes interacting with a group to lift their spirits, removing effects like despair, fear, or demoralization. Additionally, you have 2 degrees of advantage on social checks involving hospitality, entertainment, or cheering up others, and people naturally feel more comfortable and happy in your presence.
Harvest Bounty (per rest): Your agricultural expertise allows you to maximize food production and find sustenance where others cannot. You can increase crop yields by 50% when farming, and once per rest you can forage in any natural environment to find enough food and safe water for your entire party for one day. You also have 2 degrees of advantage on checks related to farming, foraging, or identifying edible plants.

Tenbraeic

Named for anger and volatility, the Tenbraeic are perhaps the most misunderstood of all halfling subraces. Despite their fearsome reputation, the majority of the time they are calm and measured people, often displaying an unusual level of composure that can seem almost otherworldly. They live minimalist lives that stand in stark contrast to their Steppe Risen cousins, eschewing material pleasures and excess in favor of intellectual pursuits and spiritual discipline. Their sparse communities are built around function rather than comfort, with every possession serving a clear and necessary purpose.

Age:: Tenbraeic typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 110.
Size:: Tenbraeic are small sized. Their average height is around 3'6" (107 cm).
Appearance:: Tenbraeic possess thin, lean builds that reflect their minimalist lifestyle and disciplined nature. They display no common skin tones, with individuals varying widely in complexion. Their hair comes in various shades of red, from deep auburn to bright copper, while their eyes are often striking green, purple, or blue. Many Tenbraeic tattoo valuable information, diagrams, mathematical formulas, or scholarly texts directly onto their bodies, turning themselves into living repositories of knowledge.

Languages: Common (Fluent), Sage (Fluent)

Traits

Ruby Rampage (per rest): Once per rest, when you take damage or witness an ally being seriously harmed, you may enter a violent trance for up to 5 turns in combat. Your skin glows a brilliant ruby red, you deal two additional damage dice with melee attacks, add your level to your Might stat to a maximum of 12, and become immune to fear and charm effects. However, you cannot distinguish between friend and foe while rampaging and must attack the nearest creature each turn.
Living Library (per rest): Your body serves as a repository of tattooed knowledge and your mind holds vast stores of information. Once per rest, you can recall specific details about any topic, historical event, or scholarly subject. Additionally, you can spend 10 minutes consulting your tattoos or memory to provide crucial information that aids in solving puzzles, understanding ancient texts, or identifying magical phenomena.
Centered Mind (per rest): Your disciplined mental state allows you to project tranquility to others. Once per rest, you can project an aura of tranquility in a 5-meter radius for 3 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat. All creatures within this aura (including enemies) have their aggressive impulses suppressed - they cannot initiate attacks but can defend themselves if attacked first. Additionally, allies in the aura gain 1 degree of advantage on skill checks.
Efficient Living (per rest): Your minimalist lifestyle has taught you to accomplish more with less. You require only half the normal amount of food, water, and sleep. Additionally, once per rest, you can perform any mundane task with exceptional efficiency, completing it in half the normal time while using minimal resources or tools.