What's a kender?

[jonesy]

Kender never grow up - they always see the world with a childlike sense of wonder and curiosity.

They do grow up. It's just that the younger ones whose wonderlust is the strongest are the ones most often seen adventuring. It's great playing a mature kender who scoffs at the antics of the younglings and actually thinks what he does beforehand. Mature kender still see the world from kender eyes, but they know how to do things "When in Rome...".

 

[Lasher Dragon]

They simply lose their wanderlust, and at an old age - what we might consider retirement age. However, go to a kender village, and those elder kender are going to be just as curious about you as the young ones. They might not follow you out of town pestering you with questions, but while you are in town they will certainly be paying you a visit, provided they are physically capable of doing so.

 

[jonesy]

They simply lose their wanderlust, and at an old age - what we might consider retirement age.

But that doesn't mean that all mature kender retire and vanish from the picture. Paxina and Brimble are how I see the elder kender. Active, experienced and intelligent.

Besides, PCs are by default exceptional people. Why anyone would want to play an "avarage" kender (mostly pointing at the dreaded Tas clones here) is beyond me. That's like playing a human and always choosing commoner as your class. And I'm not saying Tas wasn't exceptional. I'm saying he should be. But because people keep using him as the model he isn't.

...provided they are physically capable of doing so.

Kronin lived to be over a hundred years old and he wasn't even showing signs of slowing down.

 

[Driddle]

I believe it's ogre for "easy-bake casserole."

 

[brvheart]

What halflings were in the DragonLance setting. Short gypsy-like kleptomaniacs with no real concept of fear.

That's the nickel version. I was always indifferent to DL, but maybe a fan can give you something better.

Hey! I like kender! And it isn't "were". Dragonlance has been renewed for the 3.5 version and alive and well thankyouverymuch! Margeret Weis has launched her own company Sovereign Press. Yes, kender are annoying little kleptomaniacs, but no group should be without one. What would adventuring life be without the adventure and just think what trouble, err adventure your kender can get you into!

 

[Dragonhelm]

I think they're technically some oddball variant of elf -- at least I've heard them called "kender elves". If you're coming from the PHB of any edition, though, they fill the "short, natural thief" role that halflings often occupy. It's a good shorthand way to draw a picture of kender for someone.

In Dragonlance lore, there was a theory floating around at one point that maybe kender did come from elven stock originally. There was some confusion about a kender hero named Balif and an elven hero named Balif around the same time, too, which lent credence to this theory.

This theory has since been discounted. Kender derive from the same race that begat gnomes and dwarves, though both races deny it.

Kender have a bad reputation because of players who make Tas clones, just like drow get bad rep because of Drizzt clones.

Really, not all kender are innocent crazy kleptomaniacs. You have to remember that most of the kender in the stories have been young and inexperienced. Rarely do we get to see the mature experienced ones whose wonderlust is fading and who have learned self-control. The kender from the excellent novel Spirit of the Wind should be the poster models for the race, not the eternally childish Tas. There we have kender who refrain from pickpocketing everything, who understand their own actions, and who aren't goofy all the time.

Likewise, Nightshade Pricklypear was just plain bad at handling, so he didn't do it. Instead, he was much more interested in helping people commune with their departed loved ones.