Why does this hobbit have the p/t stats of a Giant (say Thundering Giant for example)? In general I feel most of the hobbits in the set are too large. Even 2/2 is pushing it IMO.

Also, did you ever consider using the Kithkin type instead of (new type) Hobbit?

1. P/T doesn't necessarily reflect physical size. Zhou Yu, Chief Commander and Chaos Lord both have stats that seem far too big for humans (they could win a fight with a Volcanic Dragon? Really?), and Krosan Cloudscraper is clearly smaller than Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

2. No, because I wanted it to feel authentically Tolkien-ish. They're not kithkin, they're hobbits.

Exceptions don't make a rule. Ice Age and Portal Three Kingdoms are very old sets. All kind of wonky stuff was happening back then.

At p/t of greater than 7 or so there aren't really proper measurements as far as flavor/art or such goes. However, for p/t 6 or less, especially at 0-3, it's pretty clearly indicated. Sure, there's some inconsistencies with squirrels and rats being to able to kill soldiers, but in general humans should range from 0 to 4 power (some super duper legendary dudes might have like 4-6 power).

I think this older article (2008) still mostly holds true: "Power, toughness, and the flavor thereof".

Some citations:

> "This brings us to the flavor of those two numbers in the lower right-hand corner of creature cards. Power and toughness characterize a creature's combat potential first and foremost, but note that the most intuitive way to think of power and toughness is in terms of the creature's size. You don't ask, "What are the offensive capabilities of that drake, my good man, and as a follow-up question, what would its corresponding measure of defensive prowess be?" Because you're not a boxing handicapper, or a biomechanics analyst. You're a planeswalker with an enemy-controlled drake flying right at him. You ask, "How big is that thing?" It's quite natural to think of a drake with a slightly larger sum of power and toughness as a bigger creature than one with a slightly smaller one."

> "Sometimes those changes don't make a huge difference; a kithkin could well change from 1/1 to 2/1 without anyone in creative freaking out. 2/1 is well within the acceptable range for a humanoid, particularly one with a fighting background like a soldier or knight.

> "Could we make 6/6 kithkin and 1/1 baloths? Here is the ugly, sausage-factory truth of it all: Yes, there is nothing stopping us from doing such flavor-awful things. But card after card, opportunity after opportunity, we just don't."

For example:

Gatherer search for modern legal humans sorted by power (descending).

Of the 12 pages of results only half of a page have human creatures with 4 or more power. That leaves us with around 11 pages of humans with 3 or less power.

I would image for hobbits that max cap gets at least a -1 modifier and this guy doesn't look like a legendary titan slayer to me.

That's fair, I suppose. Still, I think I'll leave this as an exception simply because I want a card with these stats and abilities in the set and I want to have a red hobbit. It's not a perfect solution to that problem, though, I'll admit.

Swap the flavor with Swiftsteed Rider? A 2/1 haste seems a much better fit for a red hobbit.

That's a good solution. I'll try that.