Strongheart halflings receive standard halfling racial traits, with the following modifications:
- Small Stature bonuses to stealth and detection skill checks have been removed other than granting a +2 bonus to Hide skill checks. Other bonuses and penalties from size modifier remain unchanged.
- In place of the Lucky feat. strongheart halflings receive the Weapon Finesse feat.
Description
The strongheart halflings are, like the ghostwise and lightfoot hin, native to Luiren. They trace their ancestry back to the same long-lost days as the other subraces, but unlike their cousins, the stronghearts elected to remain in their homeland following the events of the Hin Ghostwar. The legacy of Chand, the strongheart war chieftain who galvanized his tribe against the threat of the feral ghostwise, lives on today in a nation that both reinforces and defies many of the expectations nonhalflings have of this race.
Outlook
Prior to the Hin Ghostwar, the stronghearts were, like their brethren, mostly a nomadic hunter-gatherer people. During the centuries that followed that terrible conflict, however, the stronghearts gravitated toward a more agrarian-based lifestyle centered around permanent communities. But if the communities were stationery, the stronghearts were not, moving from established community to established community. This strange duality of nature, consisting of a desire to move about freely with a liking for permanent structures and settlements, has produced some unusual outlooks among the stronghearts of Luiren. Their viewpoint stresses cooperation above all other traits, and the ability to work as a team is the most valued behavior in their land. Cooperation transcends many boundaries in Luiren, and even strangers of whom the locals are suspicious can earn themselves considerable credit and tolerance by demonstrating a willingness to cooperate.
Characters
Stronghearts have relatively more clerics and martial characters (fighters, rangers, and paladins) than their lightfoot cousins, but the skilled rogue is still the most common character class among strongheart adventurers. Favored Class: Rogue. Strongheart halflings can be tricky, clever warriors or glib negotiators—or both.
Society
The stronghearts have evolved a unique, semi-nomadic lifestyle, in which businesses, families, and even entire clans move freely and independently from place to place within Luiren. This fusion of wanderlust and stability is a source of wonderment and confusion for visitors, who find it difficult to comprehend how a society can enjoy such seemingly whimsical mobility while retaining any viable structure. For their part, most of the strongheart hin cannot understand why anyone would want to tie themselves permanently to any one community or structure for their entire lives.
Language and Literacy
Strongheart halflings speak Halfling and Common, and many pick up Shaaran as well. All but the very rare barbarians are literate.
Abilities and Racial Features
Magic
Strongheart halflings invest more magic in their communities than lightfoot or ghostwise halflings. Stationary magic items are far more common; strongheart communities have everything from continual flames lighting the town square at night to city walls that magically repel enemy arrows. Not every village has such wonders, for the stronghearts aren’t profligate in their spellcasting. But most strongheart spellcasters devote their efforts to improving the lot of their communities—even if the spellcasters themselves will be moving on once their work is done.
Deities
The scrupulous stronghearts of Luiren take care to honor all the deities in the halfling pantheon, but their way of life reflects the influence of certain powers more than others. They do not favor any deities from other pantheons, and they actively discourage halflings from venerating the gods and goddesses of other races. Among all the Faerûnian halfling subraces, Arvoreen enjoys the strongest worship from the stronghearts of Luiren. While the Luiren hin venerate all the deities of the halfling pantheon in their turn, they hold the Vigilant Guardian in very high regard. His simple dogma has almost become the de facto motto of the nation: “Vigilance against attack will protect the community. Prepare an active defense, drill continuously, and leave nothing to chance. Put down danger before allowing it a chance to rear its head.” Clerics of the Wary Sword are among the nation’s foremost religious, political, and military leaders; most of them multiclass as fighters. Strongheart druids and rangers frequently venerate Sheela Peryroyl, the Green Sister, and they encourage their fellow hin to be mindful of the need to balance their communities’ expansions with the need to preserve nature. Most strongheart communities in Luiren maintain shrines to the Watchful Mother, usually on the edge of the settled area where it borders the wilderness. Yondalla, the Blessed One, is the most popular halfling deity after Avoreen among the stronghearts. Many of the subrace who dwell in Luiren find the dichotomy of her faith—do not welcome violence, but defend the home and community fiercely— to be reflective of the strongheart outlook. Yondalla reigns supreme in Luiren whenever matters of family and tradition are invoked, and her clergy enjoys considerable respect and influence in the most important national councils.