D&D 5E Kender character concepts that aren't awful

[humble minion]

Spinning off a bit from a discussion of kender wizards in the Do You Plan To Buy Dragonlance thread. Kender tend to attract a lot of hate for some well-understood reasons. If hypothetically you had to play a kender PC, in a 5e Dragonlance game that you wanted to succeed and be enjoyable for everyone, how would you do it? Character concept, personality and game mechanics? Would you play against type to some degree or would you embrace the full stereotypical pickpocketing kenderness, and if the latter, how would you do it in a way that wasn't irritating?

To start the ball rolling:

Kender ranger, beastmaster subclass, using the Spirit of the Land companion from Tasha's and the Watchers dark gift from VRGtR. Background, maybe Folk Hero or Outlander? A kender who is fascinated by nature, insects in particular. Keeps the stereotypical kender wide-eyed curiosity and joyful enthusiasm, but redirects it away from the personal possessions of their fellow party members and outwards to the wild. Always has an interesting insect fact at hand and will tell you all about it, loves travelling to new places because it's a chance to see new butterflies. Has a slightly disturbing connection of some sort with a massive underground giant ant nest - her beastmaster's companion is actually a giant ant, and the 'watchers' from the dark gift are ants that follow her everywhere. Sure, sometimes the beast companion dies, but another one from the colony will show up and (as she will tell you at great length), it's not really the same as when a person dies, it's the ant nest that is the thinking creature, while individual ants are a bit like hair that will grow back. Will not steal your magic items or play pranks on you, but might sometimes make sure you 'share' your trail rations with the ants, even if you are unaware of doing so.

 

[Reynard]

Kender curiosity and penchant for picking up interesting items says "archeologist" to me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A kender who is fascinated by nature, insects in particular. Keeps the stereotypical kender wide-eyed curiosity and joyful enthusiasm, but redirects it away from the personal possessions of their fellow party members and outwards to the wild. Always has an interesting insect fact at hand and will tell you all about it, loves travelling to new places because it's a chance to see new butterflies.

And their hoopak doubles as a butterfly net.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Kender Artificer. Ideally there would be something like the Swarmkeeper Ranger but for tinkered little mechanical friends you’ve built, but if I couldn’t find something like that I’d go with Artillerist like I always end up doing.

Possibly with a tie to a gnome, perhaps mixed race Kender Gnome.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would go the other way: the villainous kender.

Yeah, this kender is a straight up thief. They're going to walk out of town with every bit of valuables possible and plead doe-eyed innocence and confusion whenever they're caught. But they're a completely self-aware conman and criminal, and are lying to even their closest "friends" about it.

They don't want the world to end or be overrun by Takhsis -- they live in the world and would like it to be left intact for them to rob blind, thank you -- but they know the world looks down on them and their kin as naive little idiots and they're going to use that to their advantage, from morning until dusk.

But you'll never find a better liar and since the first magic item they stole was a Ring of Mind Shielding, good luck proving to the tender-hearted Knight of Solamnia they're hiding behind that this isn't all some big misunderstanding.

Suckers!

 

[Ogre Mage]

A kender that dies quickly.

 

[DarkCrisis]

In my current 2E Dragonlance game Im DMing the girl playing a 2E Kender is doing a fantastic job. Turns out a good player can play a good character. Weeeiiirrrddd.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Fearne in Critical Role's current campaign is effectively a Kender which isn't annoying. The player manages it by only stealing "tchotchkes"(sp?) from other players, meaning items of low value and significance. She regularly takes stuff from NPCs, but often gets away with it, plays it off well when she does not, and typically also items of low value and stakes to where huge problems won't be caused if she is caught. The other players are more amused at her endless collection of well documented worthless trinkets than they are annoyed, but certainly that's not a guaranteed outcome.

Personally, if I were in that hypothetical, I'd play it as a Monk or Paladin who is absolutely addicted to pickpocketing, and is doing everything in their power to be "good" and to stick to their vows, even if every now and again they slip up. I'd play up the guilt the character feels when they succumb to temptation and the deep damage the addiction does to their sense of self-worth, make it a very relatable character. Most importantly, I'd pick my spots. I wouldn't randomly take things after rolling on it or steal high value items from important people or party members, I'd choose story beats where it makes sense (maybe after a particularly difficult mission, or when they're feeling pretty good about themselves and / or loosen up a bit too much) and ensure I'm not routinely or consistently hogging the spotlight and making every encounter all about me. That would be the goal at least.

 

[Helena Real]

Mm... So many!

A kender hermit bard who wants to finally see the world and discover all there is to know about songs & magic. They carry a great discovery regarding the relationship between music and magic that no one believes.

A kender sailor barbarian who, inspired by the tales of Balif, first king of the kender and friend of the OG elf king, escapes the kender lands and is curious to see what it would be like to be a monarch.

A kender noble fighter who wants to become the first kender to ever be a Knight of Solamnia. They're commited, have the resources, and are good enough with sword, shield, and horse (pony, really) to make their dream a reality.

Great thread, btw!

 

[Eltab]

Sailor / Pirate alt-background. I don't pound people into the pavement unless they give me free stuff - but getting back the stuff I picked up is so much of a hassle that it isn't worth their time and trouble. (Only inexpensive easily-replaceable stuff attracts my sticky fingers. Maybe munchies?)

A "boxer" Fighter (using Tasha material) might be the reason the people I take advantage of don't want to start fights with me.