From: mxr@neptune.dsc.com (Max "Spectral Hootenanny Honker" Rible)
Subject: Re: A really neat character!
Organization: Digital Sound Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 19:56:59 GMT

jbm@sei.cmu.edu (Jason Mahoney) writes:
>   I was wondering, does anybody have any ideas for a really neat character?
>For example, a quickling theif, or a dark elf necromancer, or perhaps a pixie
>magic user? Please stay within the rules for ADnD 2nd edition!!!

I once had a Drow ranger/thief in my campaign.  Quite a reasonable
character, since all his underdark stuff didn't work any more, he had
no magic resistance, had only his three basic innates (darkness,
faerie fire, dancing lights), and a serious problem avoiding getting
killed.  He tended to go into towns cloaked and hooded, go to an
Elvish temple, throw back his hood, hold his hands in the air, and
walk in, saying in heavily accented Common "I surrender."  I don't
know if ranger/thief is a normally allowable combination, but the main
idea was "scout" here (he was much better at the sneaking bits rather
than pickpocketing and dealing with locks and traps), so I gave it to
him.  Since the 2nd edition rangers are the "prejudizers" who get a
bonus against attacking one sort of creature, he chose "Drow" as the
sorts he got a bonus against.  The character was quite well-balanced,
and had a great time role-playing all the various difficulties of
being a Drow on the surface.  (He had Blindfighting, of course, which
lowered his penalty in bright light to a mere -2.)  A magic treasure
the party found consisted of an astrolabe, a compass, and a helm with
a permanently closed visor: the helm allowed the wearer to see the
constellations, planets, and the sun and moon (the latter two as
translucent disks) without anything intervening like weather, or the
rest of the planet; the only other things that could be seen were the
compass and astrolabe.  He found it easier to fight in daylight with
this thing on, since it allowed him to orient on the constellations
while listening for his opponents.  (It came out about equal,
actually, since it also limited his hearing a bit.)

Then there's always the list from the back of Murphy's Rules.  Conman
the Barbarian, who leads people into incredible danger and tends to
return with a tale of a harrowing escape and plenty of beer money;
Sailbad the Sinner, about whom the less is said, the better; the Wight
brothers, a pair of obsessed undead who want to be able to fly...
Fastfood and the Grey Muncher...  all under the list of "Ten
Characters I Wouldn't Let in *My* Campaign".

Other really neat characters...  Filric, the Eternal Hobbit, a
fighter/thief who has the black shortsword Squallbringer, keeps a wand
of magic missiles up one sleeve and a wand of wonder up the other and
pretends to spellcast...  Albino, of course, with a patch over one eye
and a silver hand.  

You could try a lawful good kender who's trying to become a paladin
and has given up stealing for good (not a "no, honest", but has truly
given up stealing and is merely troubled by his race's reputation).

Or a necrophiliac necromancer who never has a trouble getting a date
on Saturday night.  (Do you want to know the two most frightening
spells in the Forgotten Realms hardcover?  Teleport Dead and Imbue
Undead with Spell Ability.  Allows you to persecute a party no end.
The main problem is that the particular group of necromancers that
specialize in this are performance artists, which is why the party
has even a chance at survival.  Five skeletons teleporting into an
inn and setting off fireballs in quick succession can give you a
really bad day.)

If you're being allowed the notion of a quickling thief, you might
try a hill giant who's taken a leaf from the Adventures of Baron
Munchausen and has become intensely interested in delicacy and fine
work, and is getting quite good at serving tea in fine china cups.
He'd like to be a scholar, but keeps having to hit people when they
bother him...

Arthur the Alcoholic Alchemist is probably best left without much
description, but the Potions of Fiery Breath he distilled tended to
have aftereffects.  Magically boosted Everclear is a delight...
/-------------v-----------------------v---------------------------------------\
| Max Rible   | mxr@dsc.com           | "Powerful big rats, gentlemen."       |
|             | rible@vorpal.ucsb.edu |                         - Neil Gaiman |
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