Wingless Avariel Rogue/thief?

[CosmicHaze]

I've never played D&D (or any pen and paper/tabletop RPG for that matter). I have some friends who might want to start a campaign soon and I have long wanted to try. So I've been looking into character types, races, classes etc.

I had a neat idea to play as an Avariel (winged elf) who's wings were poached at a young age. I'm guessing his parents would have been killed or taken prisoner. But my character ends up on the street as a thief. I realize this isn't the most original backstory, but I just like the idea of playing as a wingless Avariel. It's an inherently tragic character.

I've read that Avariel have hollow bones and delicate frames so they can fly and that they are extremely graceful in their movements. So it would seem logical that they would make a great thief or rogue or stealth type character if they didn't have cumbersome wings in the way.

I just wanted to throw this out there to see if anyone has any advice on this race or how to play it, what stats to go by, etc. Because there isn't a whole lot of information out there on Avariel. I've looked. Thanks!

 

[Kithas]

You could stat them similarly to the aasimar(divine elves basically) there are plenty of homebrew versions of those.
As far as how to play it I would consider what role you want to play in your group/in combat and play accordingly.

 

[Boneguard]

On DM's Guild there's this "pay what you want" document that covers rare elves in 5e, including Avariel. Maybe that could help.

And although 2e, try to find the article "on Wings of Eagles" in Dragon magazine 233. It's a great article on Avariel from the point of view of a wingless Avariel (he was born without wing and adopted/fostered by regular elves). That might help you with your concept.

 

[CosmicHaze]

Thanks for the suggestions. I read the shorter one and skimmed the long one in the magazine. It's interesting. There seem to be some contradictions with what I've read elsewhere. They make a point in the magazine to say that Avariel have torsos that are "typically larger and stronger than that of their elvish brethren." Which is exactly the opposite to how they are described in most other sources. They make a good case for it, but it wouldn't really be beneficial for my character. Really good article though. Thanks again.

 

[Boneguard]

You are welcome.

Like everything else, the Avariel has "evolved" from one edition to the other and what was true may have changed.

 

[CosmicHaze]

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm very new to this whole thing. I'm still wrapping my head around the idea that a lot of this stuff isn't necessarily written in stone and gets tweaked and re-imagined over the years and just depending on who you talk to.

I'll probably just go with the less bulky iteration of Avariel.