Page 100 - Mordenkainen's Tome Of Foes

CHAPTER 5:

HALFLINGS AND GNOMES
•

REATURES OF MANY RACES AND CULTURES storied "luck of the halflings" in action. When a halfling
are embroiled in struggles that flare up is in mortal danger, it seems as though an unseen force
across the multiverse. Other folk survive intervenes. If a halfling falls off a cliff. her britches will
in the face of all this turmoil by keeping a snag on a root or a sharp outcrop of rock. If a halfling is
low profile and avoiding the wars and other forced by pirates to walk the plank, he will catch a piece
depredations that keep the outside world in of flotsam and use it to stay afloat until he is rescued.
a state of flux. Halftings believe in the power of luck, and they abide
Halflings and gnomes are two groups that have sur- by a great number of superstitions that they believe
vived by remaining largely unnoticed by the aggressive bring good or ill fortune. They attribute their unusual
powers of the cosmos. Both races are exceptions in a gift to the favor ofYondalla, believing that, now and
multiverse wracked by conflict- peaceful folk who have then, the divine will of the goddess tips the balance of
found niches for themselves away from the battles and fate in their favor (or gives it a hearty shove when the
rivalries that fill the lives of the larger folk. occasion warrants).
HALFLINGS NATURALLY INNOCENT
Scholars, wizards, druids, and bards of other races have
I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FINGERS AND TOES TO COUNT THE different ideas about how halftings escape peril, sug-
times I saw our little rogue cheat death, but I remember gesting that by virtue of something in their nature, they
occupy a special place in the multiverse.
them all. Let's see ... there was the enraged roper, the flam-
One such hypothesis cites a legend that speaks of a
ing lava stream, the catapulted gelatinous cubes, the Ten document containing ancient elven writings-a series
Tilting Corridors of Death, the exploding toad trap, the Hall of essays spanning centuries. Among the many arcane
and mundane topics addressed in this tome, the elves
of the Spinning Scimitars ...
set down thoughts regarding the power of innocence.
-Magnificus, wizard extraordinaire
They recounted how they had long observed the halfling
race, watching as the chaos of the world swept around
Anyone who has spent time around halftings, and par- them and left their villages untouched. While ores,
ticularly halfling adventurers, has likely witnessed the dwarves, and humans struggled, fought, and spilled

CHAPTER 5 I llA LF'LTNCS AND CNOM.ES
99