A Note to DM's about kender by Mark HallOne 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!
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