Kender
Kender
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Kender
are small enough to resemble
human
children, though they are more heavily
muscled. Males are typically
3'7" tall and
weigh 75 lbs; females are
slightly smaller.
Adult kender are rarely
more than four feet
tall and seldom weigh more
than 100 lbs.
Kender typically have sandy
blond, light or
dark brown, copper-red or
even red-orange
hair colors. Hair styles
are usually long, with
many varieties of braids
and ponytails being
popular. Often bits of colorful
material such
as bird feathers, ribbons,
or flowers are carefully
woven into their hair as
well. Kender are
fair-skinned but tan quickly,
becoming nutbrown
by midsummer. Their eyes
are variously
pale blue, sea green, olive,
light brown, and
hazel.
Kender
are distinctive for their pointed ears
that give them a faintly
elven look. They are
bright-eyed, and their facial
expressions are
quite intense. No one seems
to look as happy
as a joyful kender or as
miserable as a crying
one. Angry kender using
taunts and insults
can be shockingly vulgar,
and can look quite
devilish for a few moments.
This intensity of
emotion can be infectious.
Kender
have been called wizened because
of the fine network of lines
that appears on
their faces about age 40.
These minute wrinkles
wrinkles give the kender
a curious appearance
when seen close up, though
such lines are considered
attractive by kender of
all clans.
Kender have a wide vocal
range, from deep
and husky to high-pitched
and squeaky. Older
kender tend to have deeper
voices, but they
still maintain wide pitch
ranges and can often
perform remarkable sound
imitations. When
excited, kender tend to
speak very quickly and
ramble at the same time,
making it hard to
follow what they're trying
to say.
Kender
spread throughout Ansalon during
the Age of Dreams, though
little is said of
them in official histories.
The earliest known
kender hero was Balif, a
close friend of the
elven lord Silvanos. Balif
established the kingdom
of kender that came to be
called Balifor.
(Balif died in the year
250 during the Age of
Dreams).
A second
kender kingdom was established
in northwestern Ansalon
in the year 400 of the
Age of Dreams. Known as
Hilo (because of
the towering mountains
and low plains), this
second kingdom was brought
into the empire
of Ergoth in the year 800.
Following the Rose
Rebellion of Vinas Solamnus
(also known as
the War of Ice Tears, see
Knights of Solamnia),
Hilo again gained its independence
and has
kept it to this date.
Tragically,
Balifor was destroyed during the
Cataclysm. The few kender
survivors wandered
north and eventually established
a city at
Kendermore, renaming the
area around it
Goodlund. Kendermore is
only a short distance
from the remains of an old
human citystate
called The Ruins by the
kender who
explore it in droves. It
is said that finding artifacts
in The Ruins is easy, but
leaving with
them is practically impossible
because of the
local kender.
Many
of the kender in Goodlund never
returned to civilization,
however, and
remained in a state of semi-barbarism
for centuries.
One of these tribal kender,
an unusually
powerful and charismatic
leader named
Kronin, organized all the
local kender to combat
the draconians and Dragonarmies
sweeping
the area. Kronin is unusually
antagonistic
for a kender.
Four things
make a kender's personality
drastically different from
that of a typical
human. Kender are utterly
fearless, insatiably
curious, unstoppably mobile
and independent
independent,
and will pick up anything
that is not
nailed down (though kender
with claw hammers
will get those things as
well).
The fearlessness
that all kender possess gives
them a strong sense of confidence.
They are
quite carefree or marter-of-fact
about a situation,
even if things look hopeless
and grim
("No sense in running away
now. There's 500
goblins
surrounding us!"). Kender react
effectively to dangerous
situations, fighting
hard and fearlessly. They
sometimes come up
with some bizarre tactics
that may carry the
day in battle. But even
kender don't let their
fearlessness get in the
way of sel-fpreservation--
most of the time.
Kender
appreciate the need for caution,
but their uncontrollable
curiosity gets them
into trouble on adventures.
They forever have
to check out unexplored
places and peek into
dark corners. They have
no desire to be the
second or third person to
enter the Caverns of
Unspeakable Doom; they want
to be first.
Pointing out that no one
ever returns from the
Caverns of Unspeakable Doom
has no effect.
In fact, describing what
makes the caverns so
unspeakable might even excite
the kender further
and make him or her determined
to go to
the caverns at once. ("An
evil archmage and
an army of ogres?
Wow! Let's go see 'emt")
Some kender might allow
their curiosity to
overcome their common sense
when facing
unusual opponents, such
as dragons, though
they eventually learn to
run when running is
best.
A kender's
fellow adventurers often have to
teach him that certain things
have big, nasty
teeth and that avoiding
these things is often in
the kender's best interests,
regardless of what
the kender's opinions are
in the matter.
Whenever a kender displays
an inordinately
sensible attitude about
danger, it is probably
because the kender realizes
that continued
curiosity will ruin any
further chances of doing
exciting things ever again.
Kender
are intensely curious about everything
unusual. Magic awes and
fascinates
them, as do large, unusual,
or dramatic creatures
like chimeras, centaurs,
unicorns and, of
course, dragons. Kender
are drawn to beautiful
things, but things that
others find disgusting
are often seen by kender
as intriguing or
humorous in some way (even
gully dwarves).
Though strong-willed, kender
are not
prone to consider all the
possible results of
their behavior. A kender
may quickly and
impulsively paint himself
into a corner, then
wait for someone else to
come along and get
him out of the jam. Sometimes
this means
that the kender's fellow
adventurers are painted
into the same corner ("I
guess I shouldn't
have opened that locked door
with the warning
signs on it, huh?"). Experienced
adventurers
quickly come to dread that
most awful
of kender sayings: "Oops!"
Another important point
is that kender
need action--and they need
it now! They
thrive on excitement and
yearn for new adventures.
"I'm just along for the
fun" is a common
saying among wandering kender.
It has
been suggested that the
worst torture that
could be inflicted on a
kender would be to
lock him up and give him
nothing new to do
or look at. (Conversely,
it has been said that
the worst torture one can
visit on any nonkender
Would be to lock him up
in a bare cell with
a bored kender.) Some kender
believe that evil
creatures are condemned
to an afterlife where
they will be eternally bored.
Most kender
are encountered during wanderlust,
a particular phase in a
kender's life
that occurs for most kender
during their early
20s. Apparently the kender's
natural curiosity
and desire for action suddenly
go into overdrive
at this time, and kender
are driven to
wander the land as far as
they can go. Wanderlust
may last for many years,
and some kender
have a habit of making maps
of their travels
during this time. Sadly,
most kender are poor
map makers, lacking the
patience and skills to
chart their travels accurately.
Kender may collect
other maps during this time
to satisfy
their curiosity about other
places. This wanderlust
is responsible for spreading
kender
communities across the continent
of Ansalon.
Risky deeds draw kender
like gold draws
dragons, but risk must be
combined with
action or else they lose
interest. Gambling
with cards won't hold a
kender's attention for
long, but seeing if one
can outrun a mad
owlbear is another thing.
Bravery is easily confused
with recklessness where
kender are concerned.
Kender are natural extroverts
and enjoy
making new friends and seeing
new places.
Most kender are very personable
and
friendly--too friendly for
some people, who
dislike their nosiness,
their extreme talkativeness
(which grows worse when
they get
excited), and their habit
of pocketing everything
that interests them.
Kender
also resent being given orders; they
want to do what they want
to do when they
want to do it. Telling them
to do otherwise is
worse than useless, as they
will complain loudly
and disrespectfully, taunting
if they're mad
enough. The best way to
handle kender, say
old adventurers, is not
to give them orders,
but to get them to volunteer.
Kender are sensitive and
can be easily hurt
by indifference or intentional
cutting remarks
(triggering their taunting
talents almost
immediately).
Kender
treasure their friends; if a kender's
friends are injured or slain,
the kender may
become very depressed and
upset. Death only
seems to affect a kender
when it comes to one
that the kender knows and
loves, or when it is
meted out by disaster or
warfare to innocent
beings (including any kender).
In such cases,
the distress that the usually
cheerful kender
feels is terrible to behold.
A story is told of a
human ranger during in the
Age of Dreams
who wounded a deer that
was the pet of a kender
community. The sight of
the entire village
of small kender crying their
hearts out was so
upsetting to the ranger
that he quested until
he found a druid who could
heal the animal,
then retired and took up
fishing.
Kender
are masters of taunting, sarcasm,
and outright rudeness when
they are riled.
Their intense curiosity
gives them shocking
insights into the characters
and natures of other
people, though such an awareness
is generally
shallow. It is acute enough,
however, for a
kender to forge an idea
of another person's
character flaws, giving
the kender the ability
to create the most stinging
insults that can be
imagined. Full-scale riots
have been started by
irritated kender who opened
up on someone
with their verbal guns.
Taunting
is one of the few defenses that
kender have. Being smaller
than most other
beings, kender resent anyone
who takes
advantage of them. A kender
could not imagine
taunting a fellow kender;
after all, they're
in this together. Taunting
is especially effective
if a kender has others to
back him up or
some trap that a maddened
attacker can be
lured into with little cost
to the kender.
Though not very effective
against the largest
creatures (who will not
have their combat
effectiveness reduced greatly),
taunting can
still give a hard-pressed
kender an edge in a
fight. It is best used against
those who are
either attacking or are
about to attack; there's
no sense in angering a potential
friend.
The kender
concept of personal property
and theft deserves special
attention. Because
many kender develop thieving
talents, most
people assume they are merely
innocent-looking
but sneaky burglars. This
is just not
so. The intense curiosity
that kender feel feeds
their desire to know how
locks can be opened,
how to approach people unseen
and listen in
on their conversations,
and how to reach into
pockets or pouches to find
interesting things
to look at. Thieving comes
naturally to
them--so naturally that
they do not see it as
thieving.
Kender
do not steal for the sake of profit.
First of all, they have
little concept of value.
Faced with a choice between
a 2,000 steel
piece diamond and a
huge, glittering chunk
of
purple glass, 90 kender out of 100 will take
the glass. (The rest will
take both but will get
rid of the diamond first.)
They pick things up
out of curiosity and wander
off with them.
Sometimes the owner of an
item leaves before
the kender can give the
item back, or else the
kender becomes enchanted
with the item and
forgets to return it. While
adventuring, a kender
regards anything found in
an enemy
stronghold as fair game
for picking up, as such
items are marvelous curios
and might prove
useful later on.
Even if
caught red-handed while taking an
item, the range of excuses
a kender will offer is
amazing:
"Guess I found it somewhere."
"I forgot that I had it."
"You walked off before I
could give it
back."
"I was afraid someone else
would take it."
"You must have dropped it."
"You put it down and I didn't
think you
wanted it anymore."
"Maybe it fell into my pocket."
All of
these lines are delivered with an innocent
sincerity that is all the
more maddening
because the kender really
is sincere[ A kender
might not necessarily remember
where he
found something, even if
he picked it up half
a minute before, and such
responses are often
delivered as part of a subconscious
defense
mechanism. Intense curiosity
is a trait
ingrained in their souls
and minds from their
racial creation by the Greystone
of Gargath.
They cannot be other than
what they are--
natural thieves.
On the
other hand, kender, like everyone
else, do not like the idea
of someone deliberately
taking an item from someone
else without
the latter's permission.
To be called a thief
is still considered a base
insult. This assertion
sounds remarkable in view
of the fact that
kender constantly borrow
things from each
other and from visitors
(without asking) in
their communities. Kender
don't regard their
idea of borrowing as stealing,
however. If they
need something, they'll
take it. If they see
something interesting, they'll
pick it up and
pocket it. A popular proverb
defines a kender
heirloom as anything that
remains for more
than three weeks inside
a kender's home.
The basic
unit of kender society is the
immediate family
(parents and children).
Because kender wander so
much, extended
families do not truly exist.
A detailed discussion
of kender politics, government,
and society
is impossible in the short
space here
available.
Suffice
it to say that kender have the most
horribly democratic system
ever found on the
face of Krynn--everyone
is pretty much
allowed to do as they please.
Kender do not
see any great need to impress
their views on
anyone else and are genuinely
interested in
the perspectives of others.
Thus there seems to
be little need for law or
government.
Kender are naturally helpful
and decent
and thus have no need for
a powerful central
government. Interestingly,
when an emergency
does occur that requires
the kender to
cooperate, they do so naturally;
with little
preparation they can become
a formidable
unified group.
This is
not to say that the idea of government
has not impressed the kender.
Having
seen the importance of civilization
to all other
societies in Krynn, kender
have done their
best to keep up. They have
tried every conceivable
type of government (and
several types
never imagined by nonkender)
and are more
than happy to give a new
type of government
a chance. They will also
follow any leader for
as long as it seems like
fun...usually at least
five minutes.
Kender
society can also be hard to take.
Nonkender visitors rarely
stay longer than a
week in any major kender
town, unless they
have a great sense of humor.
It is not uncommon
to be relieved of one's
possessions at every
turn (occasionally by the
constables
themselves). Visitors are
pelted by a constant
barrage of questions and
told a million lies
and tall tales without rest
or letup. Couple
this with the constant flux
of kender government
(the rules change from moment
to
moment on a whim) and most
civilized men
quickly flee in terror.
There
has never been a standing kender
army; those few invaders
who have taken kender
territory have never found
the heart to stay
very long. Indeed, most
kender communities
find an occupation by invading
forces to be a
tremendous boost to their
local economy since
invaders always bring such
interesting things
for the kender to handle.
Generating Abilities:
The initial ability rolls are modified by a -1 penalty to STR
and a +2 bonus to Dexterity.
The minimum and maximum
ability scores for kender are as follows:
Kender Ability Ranges
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
| Strength | 6 | 16* |
| Intelligence | 6 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 16 |
| Dexterity | 8 | 19 |
| Constitution | 10 | 18 |
| Charisma | 6 | 18 |
| Comeliness | - | - |
Kender Classes: Kender can be of any class in the following list.
Kender Class Limits
| Class | Maximum Level |
| Fighter | 5 * |
| Barbarian | 10 ** |
| Ranger | 5 * |
| Thief | Unlimited |
| Thief/Acrobat | Unlimited |
| Cleric (Heathen) | 6 |
| Druid | 5 * |
| Holy Order of the Stars | 12 |
* Kender who somehow gain
17 Strength can reach 6th level;
those who manage to get
Strength of 18 can become 7th-level fighters.
** Kender who somehow gain
17 Strength can reach 11th level;
those who manage to get
a Strength of 18 can become 12th-level barbarians.
<*** Ranger>
<**** Druid>
Kender
cannot learn to cast magic-user or
illusionist spells because
of their innate magic resistance, a legacy
of their creation.
They cannot
become assassins because
of their natural
empathy with living things,
and they cannot
become monks because, regardless
of alignment,
they lack self-discipline.
No evil kendet
are known to exist.
Kender
who are not thieves are allowed a
base 5 % chance to perform
any thieving skill
except reading languages
(no chance) and
climbing (base 40% chance);
these chances
never improve except for
Dexterity and racial
modifiers (treat kender
as halflings with
regards to climbing). This
also applies to NPC
kender who have no levels
(treated as Oth-level
characters with 1d6 hp).
Special Abilities:
Kendets have infravision
that works out to 30 feet.
They also have several
unique abilities, as well
as all standard
halfling abilities.
If there
are kender in a party of adventurers.
the DM needs to keep track
of the items in the
kendet's pockets. It is
not necessary to keep a
separate chart for each
kender in a group,
since two or more kendet
in a party rend to
borrow from each other continuously.
This
chart must have at least 100 spaces for
entries. The first 92 entries
are always filled.
The first 82 positions on
the chart consist of
relatively harmless items
that a kender might
pull out of his pockets
(although you never
know what use they might
have). This is followed
by 10 objects that start
out as harmless
items, but they can be exchanged
for more
useful objects as the kender
collects things on
his adventures.
Slots
from 93 up are filled one at a time
each time the kender goes
up a level. These
slots should be filled according
to the following
table:
Kender Pockets Filling Table
| D100 | Filled With |
| 1-20 | Harmless Item |
| 21-60 | Basic Equipment (PH pg. 23) |
| 61-100 | Magical Item (DMG pg. 121) |
<slight
correction of the references>
<make
links>
<DMG
could be changed to UA>
Harmless Items: These
are the types of
things parents find in kids'
pockets all the
time--string, nails, feathers,
stones, etc. Take
any item that suits your
fancy and place it
here. (No items bigger than
bread boxes,
please.) Let common sense
be your guide.
Basic
Equipment:
Select an item of basic
equipment from the basic
equipment lists in
the PH. Be as random
as possible
in this determination with
the following
limitations: The object
cannot be larger than
the kender could reasonably
conceal (this
could be quite large if
the kender has a bag of
fiolding) and it cannot
be magical in nature.
Magical
Item:
Using Treasure Table III on
page 121 of the DMG and
all subsequent
tables, randomly determine
a magical treasure.
Reroll any artifact results.
When in a pinch, kender often
try to grab
something from their pockets.
This action
takes 1d6 segments to perform.
When a kender
declares that he is reaching
into his pocket,
roll percentile dice against
the following
table. For every level of
experience the kender
has attained, add 2 to the
roll.
Kender Pocket Grab Table
| d100 | Description |
| 1-3 | Bird Feather |
| 4-10 | Purple Stones (2d6) |
| 11-20 | Multicolored Marbles |
| 21-24 | String |
| 25-27 | Animal Teeth |
| 28-32 | Whistle |
| 33-35 | Paper |
| 36-43 | Chalk |
| 44-50 | Charcoal |
| 51-57 | Handkerchiefs |
| 58-63 | Mice (1d4) |
| 64-70 | Deck of Cards |
| 71-82 | Useless Maps |
| 83-92 | Useful Map |
| 93-100 | Special Items |
This table must be maintained
by the DM
during the course of the
game. Each time a
kender handles an object,
that object must
displace one of the special
items. Displaced
objects are placed carefully
out of sight somewhere.
The kender's regular equipment
is not sug
ject to displacement. His
hoopak or other
weapon, his food and other
essential objects
would not be dropped. Similarly,
he would
not take essential items
from another creature.
Kender have two unique special
abilities:.
taunt and fearlessness.
When a kender taunts an intelligent
crea,
rare who can understand
the kender's speech;
the creature must make a
successful saving
throw vs. spell (Wisdom
bonuses apply). If
the creature fails, it attacks
the kender wildly
for 1d10 rounds, with a
- 2 penalty to hit and
a + 2 penalty to his Armor
Class because of
the affected being's irrationality.
If a particular victim is
assumed to be more::
or less vulnerable to such
abuse, the DM can
apply penalties or bonuses
to saving throws as
desired. (Long-time friends
of a kendet
develop a high resistance
to this power as they
have grown used to the abuse.)
The kender's fearlessness
grants him immunity
to natural fear emanating
from monsters
such as dragons,
androsphinxes, and demons,
and to magical fear generated
by wands or created
by spells such as cause
fear, scare, emotion, symbol of fear, and fear.
Q: Please give the
weapon statistics
for the kender hoopak.
A: A hoopak is a
cross between a bo staff
and a staff sling. When
used as a staff, its
statistics are: type B;
speed factor 4; damage
1d6/1d4. As a sling, the
statistics are:
type B; speed factor 11;
damage 1d4 + 1/
1d6 + 1; rate of fire 2/1;
range 3-6 (medium),
6-9 (long). (The hoopak
has no
short-range category and
cannot be used
against targets closer than
30 yards.)
Hoopaks weigh two pounds.
They usually
cannot be purchased; a relative
or friend
gives an adventuring kender
his first
hoopak. If found and sold,
a hoopak might
bring as much a one steel
piece; kender
themselves are not prone
to purchase
hoopaks from nonkender,
and they always
arrange to ?pick up? any
hoopak they see
in nonkender hands.
(160.33)
<
POSSESSIONS:
APPEARANCE:
SOCIABILITY:
DISPOSITION:
MORALE:
PROFICIENCIES:
>
Kender (Halfling) (AC 7;
MV 9"; HD 1-4; hp V; #AT 1; DMG 1-6, or by weapon; SA Yes; SD Yes; AL LG;
THACO V, BOOK
M-50) - from DL4.