NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Erland" data-source="post: 3192765" data-attributes="member: 27386">I agree, it sounds like an interesting idea.  I, also, am not particularly familiar with Ravenloft, but I've been toying with a rogue/duelist type of character which sounds appropriate for the setting.  Here's my take on the Thief archetype:Philippe FitzroiOne of the innumerable waifs who run the streets almost unnoticed, Philippe survived childhood on his wits, charm, and whatever he could steal or scrounge.  The specific circumstances which left him a homeless orphan are lost to time.  He vaguely remembers a woman, attractive but old before her time, who must be his mother, and a succession of men (relatives?  johns?), culminated by noise, chaos, and then silence - the silence of the grave.  Perhaps his mother was a whore killed by a customer, or a laundry wench taken by plague, or something else entirely - whatever, it didn't make any difference in the day-to-day struggle for survival, so it was quickly forgotten, pushed aside by more important concerns.Philippe is not even his real name, just the latest in a long line of psuedonyms taken for a month, a day, or just a night.  Whatever name his parent(s) gave him is long forgotten, along with the memories of his parents themselves.  To himself, the boy borrowed the name of the small falcons he saw flying through the streets - Kestrel, or even just Kes.  He envied the birds their ability to fly away from the suffering Kes lived in every day.Not surprisingly, Kes fell into a gang of children and learned how to steal, scam, and hide.  In spite of his skills and natural talent, he would probably have died of hunger some harsh winter, had he not caught the eye of an out-of-favor fencing master.  The way the boy moved suggested unrealized potential to the foreigner.  Under Abban Faria's instruction, the boy learned to pass in civilized company, in addition to swordplay.Now, Philippe travels the outskirts of upper class society, passing himself off as the illegitimate son of aristocracy.  He joins with the noble youths in their various passtimes, including the group calling themselves By the Moons Light.  His performances, when called upon to directly participate, approach Death from the point of view of that notable himself - the hunter rather than hunted, predator rather than prey.Few observers would suspect the feral background of the dashing young man.  Fewer still would suspect the envy and contempt he holds for his so-called peers.Kes holds equal loathing for the Guards and the formal Thieves Guilds - the one for cuffing waifs to the side and trying to hide their need from "decent folk", the other for punishing the children for daring to impinge upon the Guild's trade in order to feed themselves.  Likewise, as the gods held no regard for the needs of children, now Kes has no regard for the gods - so long as they have nothing to do with him, he'll have nothing to do with them, and that's the way he likes it.He does have some small interest in two other groups.  He doesn't have the connections required to join the Society for the Advancement of Mankind, and he is deeply suspicious that their philanthropic overtures are merely for show, though part of him hopes otherwise.  He respects the abilities and detachment of Sir Richard's Knights, but dislikes the thought of having to serve and protect the nobility.</blockquote>

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