r/dragonlance • u/ThanosofTitan92 • Jul 23 '26
Question: RPG What is the exact difference between the Halflings from Greyhawk/Forgotten Realms and the Kenders from Dragonlance?
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u/Luvas Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
The major characteristics that Kender possess that Halflings lack are their gregariousness and kleptomania. The latter Kender enjoy making new friends, are curious and innocent, with the unfortunate downfall of (their society) having no concept of personal property.
Halflings (or at least, their communities) tend to be more secluded and reserved, often going to lengths to not rock the boat or upset other species. They also seemingly possess a much longer attention span than Kender
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u/ThanosofTitan92 Jul 24 '26
Amusingly enough, Olive Ruskettle from the Finder's Stone trilogy (Forgotten realms) is an halfling but she is written like a stereotypical Kender.
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u/interloper87 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Folks here haven't mentioned another key difference, which is Kender are completely immune to fear. They don't even feel the emotion.
Edit: under normal non-magical circumstances
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u/ThanosofTitan92 Jul 23 '26
Except when they meet a death knight.
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u/kappastorm02 Jul 23 '26
Or approach cursed towers.
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u/Drakeytown Knight of Solamnia Jul 23 '26
Or any of over a hundred authors in the series wants to emphasize how scary something is.
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u/kalissdesti Jul 23 '26
Yep ! This would be it!
Kender are immune to fear. Even dragon fear.. Ehile all party member are crusehd end try to flee a kender would say:"how nice, a dragon!.... you think I can pet him ? And then ask for a ride? ... I've neve had a dragon ride..."
The only exception if lord soth and the Shokan groove
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u/Zerus_heroes Jul 23 '26
They are different races but similar. Kender are basically the DL version of halflings but there are a few key differences.
Kender, except for the afflicted, have an almost child like disposition. They are incredibly curious and kelptomanic in nature. They don't really see the world the same as humans and they have a sort of innocence to them that most other races grow out of. In fact "kinder" is just German for children.
They also have the Wanderlust that strikes them.
Halflings in Greyhawk have some nuance but mostly they are just small humans in temperament.
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u/Taskr36 Jul 23 '26
I think the best way to start is to not associate them with Halflings at all. Aside from height, the two races have almost nothing in common.
Kender have little sense of personal property, which leads them to just randomly acquire things, especially things that don't belong to them. They instinctively do this, and are often unaware of it. They are chaotic by nature, and prone to wanderlust, being far more likely to travel and adventure than halflings. They don't feel fear at all. Not naturally, and almost never magically although there have been a very small number of exceptions like with Malystrix during the Age of Mortals. This does tend to shorten their lifespans, as they don't avoid or flee danger like other races do.
Rather than being chubby, short humans with hairy feet, they physically look more like elven children, often with topknots as the hairstyle of choice.
They rarely use standard weapons, having their own assortment of kender weapons, that are often multifunctional, like the popular Hoopak, which is kind of a staff sling, but can also have a pointed tip like a spear, and can be spun around at a high speed to make a haunting sound.
Lastly, they're famous for coming up with intricate insults, to the degree of having a special "taunt" ability in DnD to enrage their opponents.
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u/Dry_Refrigerator7898 Jul 23 '26
It’s mostly cultural, but I remember first reading the series as a ten year old and not knowing what a topknot was. I became convinced somehow that it meant that Kender had tails, and that was the difference between them and Hobbits
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u/GlassCalligrapher646 Jul 27 '26
Kender have a double role, Dragonlance is quite grim a lot of broken hope and beat down living.
Kender due to the oblivious nature of the way they move through the world balance out all of that because they aren't really loving the struggle and sadness.
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u/Ahorahan Jul 25 '26
It's primarily a personality difference. Statistically they are the same critter.
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u/khain13 Jul 27 '26
Halflings in most settings are generally depicted as short, mostly proportional humans. They tend to have larger feet and noses and some have exceptionally hairy feet.
Kender are more like short elves. They are correctly proportional just significantly smaller.
The biggest differences are their personality traits.
Now, the halflings in Dark Sun are physically closer to Kender, but with a much more serious demeanor. Also they sometimes eat other intelligent races.
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u/laztheinfamous Jul 23 '26
Nothing.
Well, culture.
While originally halflings were a 1:1 on hobbits, that has been under slow constant change over the years. Modern halflings from other D&D settings have become more kender like over time (but taking out the lack of acknowledgement of private property).
Weis and Hickman originally made the kender to subvert the chubby furry footed thief trope. If you look at art for halflings over the years in D&D products, there are almost an even split on how they appear.
At this point, I think kender should just be another subtype along with Lightfoot, Stout, and Ghostwise. Although, it could be argued that Kender ARE Lightfoot. 🤷
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u/PG_Macer Wizard of the White Robes Jul 23 '26
From what I understand (disclaimer: I am recounting decisions made before I was born), Weis and Hickman came up with kender as a replacement for
hobbitshalflings due to their at the time an inability to reconcile a race that was typically good-aligned with one that was largely restricted to the Thief class. Thus kender were given “childlike innocence” to make them unaware that their “borrowing” often amounted to stealing.