Halflings

Halflings are a common race in the Pact Worlds and their colonies, having spread nearly as far as humans. Popular legend even claims that halflings were among the first humanoids to spread beyond Golarion and into the stars to colonize new worlds. Once thought of as a people without a homeland, halflings have peppered the void with colonies, and halfling caravan fleets—dozens of ships from as many different makes and eras—ply the trade lanes, eager to see new sights, swap stories, and trade strange and foreign goods. Their small stature and tendency to wander make halflings popular targets for raiders and conquerors, but time and again the tenacious race has rebounded from harsh challenges thanks to their cooperation, optimism, and what seems to be a racial gift for subterfuge.

Gifted with quick reflexes, charming confidence, and an apparent lack of fear, halflings are known across the galaxy as athletes, celebrities, and explorers. Of course, this dramatic public image hardly defines the race as a whole. While most halflings experience a period of daredevil bravado in early adulthood, most settle out of it again just as quickly to become happy and loving homebodies, content with a hard day’s work and an evening spent with friends. Boasting a wide variety of eye, hair, and skin colors mirroring the human range, halflings usually have slight builds and large hands and feet. They make fast friends wherever they travel, preferring negotiation or clever wordplay to combat.

Despite this accommodating nature, they have few permanent allies; halfling history is littered with long eras of domination and abuse, making them gregarious but wary of placing themselves in situations they can’t get out of again. While they share much in common with the ysoki—a love of travel and trade especially—they lack the ratfolk’s mechanical inclinations, and the two races often compete for markets, salvage rights, and trade lanes. If halflings truly ally with any race, it is humans, whose history is intimately entwined with their own, for better or worse.

A halfling’s even temper can sometimes be a bit off-putting to other races, especially when it’s exhibited in the face of incredible danger. A few find halfling cheerfulness and determination to be irritating, but many of those people change their minds once that tenacity is the factor that saves the day. Halflings are almost never offended by these attitudes, seeing them as natural inclinations of less confident races.

While not mistrustful of technology in general, many halflings look askance at cybernetic implants and biotech augmentations, feeling that

RACIAL TRAITS

Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, –2 Str Hit Points: 2

Size and Type: Halflings are Small humanoids with the halfling subtype.

Halfling Luck: Halflings receive a +1 racial bonus to all saving throws. This bonus increases to +3 against fear effects.

Keen Senses: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus to Perception skill checks.

Sneaky: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus to Stealth checks. In addition, halflings reduce the penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5, and reduce the Stealth check penalty for sniping by 10.

Sure-Footed: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus to Acrobatics and Athletics skill checks.

natural halfling physiology is pretty much perfect as it is. They don’t look down on those who use such items, but it’s rarer than average to see a halfling with dermal plating or retinal reflectors. A halfling that accidentally loses a limb might consent to

having a cybernetic replacement attached, but most halflings would spend the extra credits to

make that prosthetic look as much like the

lost limb as possible.

Halflings rarely lack for work. Media companies and corporations love

an irrepressible halfling star

or spokesmodel, and many starship captains believe in the stereotype of the fearless and steady-handed halfling pilot. Those halflings who turn to adventure find good use for their quick reflexes and boundless charm as envoys and operatives, though their general adaptability allows them to shine in almost any role.

Wandering halflings aboard starships typically finds spaces—even an area as small as a corner of a cargo bay—on their vessels to decorate in their own personal styles. They pin up keepsakes from their home planets (or colonies), such as dried flowers or scraps of metal from defeated hostile robots.

Most halflings stand 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 feet tall

and weigh around 30 pounds. They’re

considered adults at 20 and naturally live up to 200 years.

GLOSSARY

This glossary provides short definitions of some basic terms used in the Starfinder Core Rulebook. Definitions of terms that are exclusive to the starship building, starship combat, and vehicle chase systems are excluded here. For more about building starships, see page 292. For more about starship combat, see page 316. For more about vehicle combat and chases, see pages 278 and 282.

Ability Check: To attempt this type of check, roll a d20 and add your modifier for the relevant ability score. See page 21.

Ability Points: You use these at character creation and every 5th character level to increase your ability scores. See pages 18–19.

Ability Scores: These are numeric values that define a character’s raw talents. The associated abilities are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma. See page 21.

Acid Damage: This is a type of energy damage. See page 169.

Affliction: This is a harmful effect that generally worsens over time and may deal damage. Most afflictions are categorized as curses, diseases, drugs, or poisons. See pages 414–419.

Alignment: This is a general characterization of your basic moral and ethical attitude. See pages 24–25.

Ally: An ally is a creature you see as helpful. Some abilities allow you to affect an ally with a benefit of some kind. The GM has final say on who counts as an ally. See page 242.

Android: This is a common player character race. See pages 42–43.

Armor Class (AC): This number represents how hard it is for an enemy creature to strike your character in combat. A character has two Armor Classes: Energy Armor Class (EAC) and Kinetic Armor Class (KAC). See page 240.

Asleep: This condition applies negative effects to your character. See page 273.

Attack: This is any action you take that could potentially damage a target. Attacks in combat are either ranged, such as shooting a laser rifle or throwing a grenade, or melee, such as stabbing with a survival knife. Monsters often can make attacks with their natural weapons, such as claws, or they might have access to other special attacks. See page 240.

Attack of Opportunity: This is a special reaction that you can use in close-quarters melee when a target you threaten lets its guard down. See pages 248–249.

Attack Roll: This represents your character’s attempt to strike another creature in combat. An attack roll is the result of a d20 roll plus your attack bonuses with your weapon, and it is compared to your target’s relevant Armor Class. See page 240.

Augmentation: This is a piece of technological or biological gear that modifies your body and gives you special benefits. Technological augmentations are cybernetics, and biological augmentations are biotech. See pages 208–212.

Bleeding: This condition applies negative effects to your character. See page 273.

Blinded: This condition applies negative effects to your character. See page 273.

Bludgeoning Damage: This is a type of kinetic damage. See page 169.

Bonus: This is a positive numeric modifier you add to a die roll or a static value as the game rules dictate. Two bonuses of the same type usually don’t stack with each other. See pages 266–267.

Broken: This condition applies negative effects to armor, weapons, or other equipment. See page 273.

Bulk: An item’s bulk represents its unwieldiness and weight. See page 167 for more about bulk.

Burning: This condition applies negative effects to your character. See page 273.

Carrying Capacity: Your carrying capacity is the amount of bulk you can carry. See page 167 for more about carrying capacity.

Caster Level (CL): This value represents the total number of levels you have in spellcasting classes. Some effects, such as spells, have variables tied to your caster level. See page 331.

Challenge Rating (CR): This is a numerical expression of the difficulty of an encounter, a creature, a trap, a hazard, or another threat. See page 389.

Character Level: This value represents the total number of levels you have in all your classes. See page 26.

Charisma (Cha): This is an ability that represents your appearance, personal magnetism, and personality. See page 21.

Check: A check is a d20 roll that may or may not be modified by another value. The most common types of checks are ability checks, initiative checks, and skill checks. See page 8.

Class: This represents your training in a specific discipline that grants you an array of abilities. See pages 58–59.

Class Feature: This is an ability you gain from your character’s class. See page 59.

Class Level: This is a value that represents your total number of levels in one specific class. See page 26.

Class Skill: This is a skill in which members of a specific class are particularly proficient. If you have one or more ranks in class skills, you receive an additional bonus to those skill checks. See pages 58 and 132.

Cold Damage: This is a type of energy damage. See page 169.

Combat: This typically refers to tactical combat, which takes place on a square-gridded battle map and is tracked in rounds during which each character takes a turn. See page 238.

Combat Maneuver: This is a type of standard action that can have a variety of effects when performed successfully. See page 246.

Concealment: When enemies can’t see you clearly, their attacks are subject to a miss chance from concealment. See page 253.

Condition: This is a circumstance that can affect a creature for an extended period of time. See pages 273–277.

Confused: This condition applies negative effects to your character. See pages 273–274.

Constitution (Con): This is an ability that represents your health and stamina. See page 21.

Cover: This is a defensive bonus you gain when an object blocks half or more of your body from being exposed to enemy attacks. See page 253.

Cowering: This condition applies negative effects to your character. See page 274.

Creature: This is an active participant in the game’s world. It can be a player character, a nonplayer character, or a monster.

Credit: This is the standard unit of currency used in the Pact Worlds. See page 166.

Critical Hit: When you make an attack roll and the result on the d20 is a 20, it’s a critical hit. You roll damage twice, and your weapon might inflict an additional effect. See page 245.