Baldur’s Gate 3 features a number of interesting fantasy races to play, but they’re not all equally popular. When Baldur’s Gate 3 first came out, the least popular race was the githyanki, despite the alien humanoids featuring great options for unique dialogue. Over a year later, githyanki no longer hold that spot, but the race that’s taken their place might be equally under-appreciated.

Baldur’s Gate 3 differs from the traditional D&D system in that you can choose to add a bonus of 1 and 2 to any stat, regardless of the race chosen. This means that there is slightly less focus on bonuses from races for creating certain builds. However, the traits of the halfling may just be some of the best tactical choices for a run in the game’s challenging Honour Mode.

The Halfling Luck Trait Is Perfect For An Honour Mode Run

Halflings Can Avoid Almost Any Critical Failure

Statistics shared by Baldur’s Gate 3‘s official Twitter account revealed the halfling as the least-chosen race, but the diminutive humanoids deserve better. The “Halfling Luck” racial trait allows the player to reroll any attack roll, ability roll, ability check, or saving throw upon rolling a one, making critical failure very unlikely. Combine that with a Divination wizard, and perhaps the Lucky feat, and players will have almost constant rerolls. In the late game, the only thing preventing rogues from being able to pick most locks is critical failure, and avoiding this could make or break an Honour run.

There are two subraces of halfling in Baldur’s Gate 3 – the Lightfoot halfling and the Strongheart halfling. The Lightfoot halfling gains advantage on stealth checks, making them a perfect choice to pair with a rogue or otherwise sneaky character. The Strongheart gains resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against poison, making them a great choice for dungeon delving, as they’ll be able to tank any poison from traps better than any other race. Halflings’ “Brave” trait also grants advantage on saving throws against being frightened, which is useful when facing bosses such as Ketheric Thorm.

Halfling & Gnome Players Can Access Secret Areas Others Can’t

Burrow Holes & Crevices Give Smaller Characters An Advantage

In Baldur’s Gate 3, there are two types of small passageways that characters can fit into as long as they are of the right size. These are known as b urrow holes and crevices – crevices can be entered by any small race, such as gnomes and halflings. Burrow holes can only be entered by very small entities, like Minsc’s hamster companion Boo or a druid Wild Shaped into a cat. However, they can also be entered by small races that have the reduce spell active on them.

Players who have chosen the halfling race have easy access to crevices without having to expend any spell slots for disguise self or wildshape, allowing them to save spells for battle and take fewer long rests. This makes the halfing race one of the best choices to progress through the game quickly, as characters can navigate down shortcuts and have more opportunities for finding loot. The halfling has become the most underrated race in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Honour Mode players especially should give it more consideration rather than simply tossing it aside.