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<blockquote data-quote="Ixal" data-source="post: 8633039" data-attributes="member: 7030132">The low stats are easy to explain.There are two requirements for being a king. Being a descendent of a king (or someone who can reasonably claim to be one) and getting the nobles to accept you as a king.The first does not guarantee any good mental stats and the lords might be quite satisfied with having a weak willed king they can push around.The big question is why he is a thief and why he starts out with crappy equipment and is not decked out with magical items and a retinue.Also, being the oldest son does not automatically mean that he is the heir. Or the sole heir who takes over his fathers kingdom. There are many different forms of inheritance for nobility besides primogeniture which have been used historically.Maybe kings are elected and he wants to make a name for himself through adventuring to increase his chances. Maybe uncles inherit first and he is a long way from claiming the throne. Maybe his father selects who becomes his heir and has wants something done which requires adventuring.Or maybe he is on the run. Just look up how succession in the Ottoman Empire worked (Turkish Succession? Not sure if that is the official name).Depending on the era either all children try to rally support from the other nobles and the one who &quot;wins&quot; murders all of his brothers (and the father can stack the deck in favour of his preferred heir by giving him land closer to the capital) or the oldest living member of the family becomes king and all others are kept in (comfortable) captivity until its their turn (which can take 40 years or longer).If your character wants to escape from that it would explain why he is a thief, why he does not have vastly better equipment than others and why he hides himself in a group of adventurers who usually tend to travel a lot and are thus hard to find.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ixal, post: 8633039, member: 7030132"] The low stats are easy to explain. There are two requirements for being a king. Being a descendent of a king (or someone who can reasonably claim to be one) and getting the nobles to accept you as a king. The first does not guarantee any good mental stats and the lords might be quite satisfied with having a weak willed king they can push around. The big question is why he is a thief and why he starts out with crappy equipment and is not decked out with magical items and a retinue. Also, being the oldest son does not automatically mean that he is the heir. Or the sole heir who takes over his fathers kingdom. There are many different forms of inheritance for nobility besides primogeniture which have been used historically. Maybe kings are elected and he wants to make a name for himself through adventuring to increase his chances. Maybe uncles inherit first and he is a long way from claiming the throne. Maybe his father selects who becomes his heir and has wants something done which requires adventuring. Or maybe he is on the run. Just look up how succession in the Ottoman Empire worked (Turkish Succession? Not sure if that is the official name). Depending on the era either all children try to rally support from the other nobles and the one who "wins" murders all of his brothers (and the father can stack the deck in favour of his preferred heir by giving him land closer to the capital) or the oldest living member of the family becomes king and all others are kept in (comfortable) captivity until its their turn (which can take 40 years or longer). If your character wants to escape from that it would explain why he is a thief, why he does not have vastly better equipment than others and why he hides himself in a group of adventurers who usually tend to travel a lot and are thus hard to find. [/QUOTE]

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