Where are Ice Assassin and Kender from?

[Venger]

Tasslehoff's fear immunity in the books

What is this? I didn't play 2e

pic mildly related

ice assassin is often invoked (humorously) to be able to clone gods since bits of hair or fingernail have no GP cost, so are in your spell components pouch by RAW

[Phelix-Mu]

What is this? I didn't play 2e

Tasslehoff is the kender from the Companions of the Lance, or whatever the name of the group was, and he was in various of the books for the War of the Lance, a pivotal event in the history of Krynn. As a book character and not a mechanical construct, he obviously doesn't translate well onto a character sheet, but the parts that stand out in my mind:

1.) He manages to get onto the back/head of a rather large red dragon, which then takes off in flight. Can't remember how this ends, but Tasslehoff wasn't even phased by the idea of a dragon, let alone it's fear aura.

2.) Lord Soth the Death Knight (the archetypal death knight) had a similar fear aura, but way more intense. Tasslehoff was actually scared of him when they met one time, and I believe the author made passing note of how the encounter scarred the kender (though their psychological resistance/stupidity/plot-armour means that not much about him changed in the end...he was a bit of a comic foil, admittedly).

So I always use virtual immunity (+20 vs fear effects) as opposed to straight-up immunity. This also takes into account how, even in the fluff for 2e, kender do actually mellow a bit with age (though casual observers might not notice). Their wanderlust dies down, they tell more stories as opposed to doing stuff themselves, and generally experience the general halfling tendency to settle on one group of friends, one occupation, and one community in which to annoy people.

As I said, I don't think annoying people is a verboten archetype. There are annoying people out there. And kender do often die due to their curiosity, but not half as often as one would think (they are as lucky as other halflings, generally).

[Gulnar]

Tasslehoff is the kender from the Companions of the Lance, or whatever the name of the group was, and he was in various of the books for the War of the Lance, a pivotal event in the history of Krynn. As a book character and not a mechanical construct, he obviously doesn't translate well onto a character sheet, but the parts that stand out in my mind:

1.) He manages to get onto the back/head of a rather large red dragon, which then takes off in flight. Can't remember how this ends, but Tasslehoff wasn't even phased by the idea of a dragon, let alone it's fear aura.

2.) Lord Soth the Death Knight (the archetypal death knight) had a similar fear aura, but way more intense. Tasslehoff was actually scared of him when they met one time, and I believe the author made passing note of how the encounter scarred the kender (though their psychological resistance/stupidity/plot-armour means that not much about him changed in the end...he was a bit of a comic foil, admittedly).

So I always use virtual immunity (+20 vs fear effects) as opposed to straight-up immunity. This also takes into account how, even in the fluff for 2e, kender do actually mellow a bit with age (though casual observers might not notice). Their wanderlust dies down, they tell more stories as opposed to doing stuff themselves, and generally experience the general halfling tendency to settle on one group of friends, one occupation, and one community in which to annoy people.

There is also the Tower of Wizardry encounter, where he could enter in the surronding forest (that had a aura of fear so strong that other characters couldn't even bear to look at the trees). He couldn't get throught it, tho.

This said, i'm actually surprised that in the whole book collection no bbeg even tries to wipe out kendermore.

[The Glyphstone]

There is also the Tower of Wizardry encounter, where he could enter in the surronding forest (that had a aura of fear so strong that other characters couldn't even bear to look at the trees). He couldn't get throught it, tho.

This said, i'm actually surprised that in the whole book collection no bbeg even tries to wipe out kendermore.

According to wikipedia:

In 385 AC Kendermore was destroyed by the red dragon-overlord Malystryx.

So someone finally did get sick of the place. That may have happened outside of the novels though.

[Brookshw]

So someone finally did get sick of the place. That may have happened outside of the novels though.

I think it happened offscene or in a dragon preview, but the fallout is well referenced in the novels.

[Karnith]

So someone finally did get sick of the place. That may have happened outside of the novels though.

Malystryx's attack on Kendermore is detailed (at least in part; it's been a loooong time since I've read it) in the novel Spirit of the Wind, which was part of the Bridges of Time series.

Said book also details the last adventure of Riverwind, and was a pretty good read, if I recall.

[Forum Explorer]

Fun for the player who rolled up the Kender, maybe. I've only seen them used as excuses to be generally dickish to everyone else at the table, and playing a Kender as an excuse to mess with the other PCs is a good way to get your character offed.

I played a kender without being a ****. It's really easy to do. I think my excuse for my Kender not messing with the other PCs was something along the lines of 'I've already gone through their stuff and they don't have anything interesting to borrow. All boring stuff like money, armor, and weapons. Bleh.'

Beyond that it was more playing up the happy go lucky, innocent bard who cheered on his friends and yelled insults to their enemies.

[Phelix-Mu]

Malystryx's attack on Kendermore is detailed (at least in part; it's been a loooong time since I've read it) in the novel Spirit of the Wind, which was part of the Bridges of Time series.

Said book also details the last adventure of Riverwind, and was a pretty good read, if I recall.

I recommend all of the Dragonlance novels, actually. I read a good dozen or so of the ones from the time of the War of the Lance and its buildup through the Chronicles of the Twins, and they were pretty good reads. I'd probably nominate the Dragons of X series as some of the best, like Dragons of Spring Dawning, I think it was. As annoying as people find kenders, and as weird overall as that whole group was, for some reason the novels are really good and paint a very nice rendition of the lives of individual heroes as war on a vast scale unfolds.

The stuff about Raistlin's crazy attempt to become a god and Caramon's attempts to stop him are rather more self-indulgent reads, as is anything with kender/tinker gnome facilitated time travel. Not necessarily bad stuff, and gave me an entirely new respect for the depth of Raistlin's guts and determination (and...oh right, he's totally bonkers).

At least I was impressed back in middle school. Not sure how they would hold up to a reread now that I've actually read really, really good books.

[Karnith]

At least I was impressed back in middle school. Not sure how they would hold up to a reread now that I've actually read really, really good books.

Speaking as someone who owns dozens of Dragonlance books, as a whole they don't really hold up. The Weis and Hickman novels, particularly the Chronicles and Legends trilogies, are pretty good, as are a few others like Legend of Huma or Doom Brigade, and most of the short story collections contain at least a few gems. But the majority are pretty standard and unremarkable fantasy fare, and there are quite a few stinkers - I find the early Fifth Age books in particular to be almost unreadable.

[Qwertystop]

I saw a description of Kender that makes them seem a bit better. Instead of "compulsively steals things," use "no concept of personal property." Take the Wizard's spellbook to look at all the weird drawings, give it back as soon as he asks if anyone's seen it. It's not stealing, or even "borrowing" - just "this is an interesting thing I will pick it up and examine it - oh, you want it? here you go."

This would come across as a combination of kleptomania and generosity.

"his book" is just a shorter way to say "that book he always carries around and reads"

[Venger]

I saw a description of Kender that makes them seem a bit better. Instead of "compulsively steals things," use "no concept of personal property." Take the Wizard's spellbook to look at all the weird drawings, give it back as soon as he asks if anyone's seen it. It's not stealing, or even "borrowing" - just "this is an interesting thing I will pick it up and examine it - oh, you want it? here you go."

This would come across as a combination of kleptomania and generosity.

"his book" is just a shorter way to say "that book he always carries around and reads"

stoner anarcho-commie hippie kender
wizard"where's my thing?"
kender"here ya go. property is like, theft anyway, man"

[Forum Explorer]

stoner anarcho-commie hippie kender
wizard"where's my thing?"
kender"here ya go. property is like, theft anyway, man"

Well I have my next 3.5 character. The Hippie Kender Druid.