A Note to DM's about kender by Mark Hall
One thing I noticed you didn't have on your page was advice for referees
who find themselves faced with kender. Now, I've had one kender player,
and he was fortunately a good one, but I did inform him of some rules
that kept him honest about playing a kender.
1) When playing a kender you can not "control" your natural
abilities. This was really the major one. If he wished to use his natural
abilities (such as the taunt, or the thieving skills), he could certainly
try, with the normal chance of success. What this rule meant, though,
was that if he insulted someone, he was taunting them, and they had to
roll the save. If he stood near someone with something visible and interesting,
he tried to pick their pocket. It kept the flavor of kender being somewhat
unaware that they're doing something wrong ("Oh, you must have dropped
it"), but also able to let loose when they want (Tas when in Tarsis, taunting
the crowd).
2) Most important, though, was that I would be able to tell him when
he was messing up, and take his character over if I needed to. I also
made clear that his behavior with the first kender would determine if
any more would be allowed.
In my opinion, being able to play a potentially disruptive character
(kender, evil character planning on betraying the party, etc.) is a mark
of trust the DM puts in you and your role-playing abilities. The guy I
allowed to play a kender is the only one out of that group of 10 people
I would have allowed it to, because I knew he could handle it. Many DMs
don't allow them because they don't trust the player with them, which
is something I can completely understand.
May all your trails be new!
***
Nexx
a.k.a. Mark Hall
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