Peter No-Parents Hides Again!

Some time ago, I did a writeup on a character that I made for a short-lived Pathfinder campaign.  Peter No-Parents, as he was named, was a halfling cutpurse, with a skillset devoted entirely to lying and thieving.  He was almost completely useless.  He couldn't check for traps, climb walls, or do most of the things normal thieves do.  He had almost no combat abilities whatsoever, doing 1d4-3 points of damage, whether he used his sling or his dagger.

What he could do, though, and what he did for almost the entire time he was played, was hide and steal.  With a 15 in Stealth, he pretty much couldn't be seen unless he wanted to be, and with a 17 Charisma, he could lie his way out of any tight situation.  Further, he could "take 10" on any roll where he was trying to prove/bluff his innocence, and once a day get a +10 to Bluff checks.  It was several sessions before the rest of the party even knew Peter existed, and once they did, they just thought he was a waif following them around.  I don't think they ever figured out he was a thief.

Needless to say, he frustrated the other players.

I got together with an old gaming group of mine that I hadn't seen in several years, and they were, as luck would have it, jumpstarting a brand new campaign in Pathfinder, and did I have a 1st level character handy?

Oh yes, yes I did.

I'm playing him a bit differently this time, though.  First of all, this party a) knows he exists, and b) knows he's a thief.  So that's a good start.  Second, I'm giving him a bit of depth.  While he still plays the Oliver Twist, "Please sah, may oi have anotha?" bit, there are times when his inner cuthroat comes out, and he starts to sound a bit like Tim-Tom from the Venture Brothers.

We appear to be playing some variation of Slave Pits of the Undercity, which is fun, and the party has made good use of Peter's Sneaking ability, sending him up to and around the ruined temple to search out and find out troop movements and such.  We've determined that we are horribly outnumbered, and as such are trying to be as sneaky as possible.  The entire session was taken up by us getting to the temple, trying to buy the damsel back from the slavers, failing, and then trying to figure out the best way to get in without alerting anyone.

We actually went the entire session without rolling initiative.  There were a couple of ambushes, and a hapless orc scout got his throat cut by Tim-Tom Peter when it turned out he really just didn't know anything that could help us,  but it was a pretty blood-free session.

Looking forward to more!

Game Mastery Decks

On a whim, I picked up a pair of Game Mastery Decks at Ye Olde Game Shoppe last week, and thought to myself how much fun those would be to drop into my 2e campaign.  And y'know, when I'm right, I'm right!

It was a bit weird at first - they're designed for Pathfinder games, and so some of the stuff was lost in translation.  We figured out ways around it though, such as when the party caught a critical hit which called for Intelligence Bleed.  It required a bit of fudging when it was inflicted upon a Stone Giant, we ended up deciding that it had an Intelligence of 10, and when it bled out, it was dead.

But oh, the Critical Fumbles.  Hilarity ensued as the dwarven cleric knocked himself out after smashing himself in the foot with a hammer and bleeding out, the elven archer tore a muscle and notched her fingers, causing bleed damage and penalties to hit, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

The party seemed to get into it as well, even if there were far more cards drawn from the fumble deck than the hit deck. So yeah, all around success.

They're available here, along with other types of cards of dubious usefulness - http://paizo.com/gameMastery/itemPacks

Character Study: Peter No-Parents

Found in a gutter by a pair of humans, Peter was almost 3 years old before it was discovered that he was actually a halfling, at which point he was cast out onto the streets once more.  Over the next few years, he developed the skills that he would hone over a lifetime - hiding, stealing and lying.  Few can see Peter when he doesn't want to be found, and even less can catch his hand in their pocket.  When they do, though, almost none can resist the sad eyes and ridiculous stories he uses to explain the attempted theft away.  He's never really developed the ability to pick locks, or disarm traps, or any of the things most thieves can do, and is pretty worthless in a fight.  But if you need someone to get in and out of somewhere and not get caught he's your boy.

Literally.

This little bastard came out of a Pathfinder campaign, run by a friend of mine.  Min/Maxed to the point of absurdity, he is virtually impossible for the other characters in the party to detect when he's in Stealth mode.  A series of feats and a sweet kit allow him to move while Stealthed virtually without penalty, and gets to see a mark's Perception roll before he decides whether or not to rob him.  If he doesn't like the odds, he can make a Bluff check to explain why his hand is in that pocket.  Oh, and once a day gets a massive bonus to his Bluff checks. 

We actually played about four sessions before the party actually knew Peter existed.  He was spotted once, but mistaken for a small child and told to "run home to mommy".  He proceeded to rob that character blind.  Running around in the background, he caused all kinds of mischief, setting bars on fire touching off riots with well timed Bluffs.  After another character was killed, the player designed a new character - a female bard who would pose as Peter's mother, allowing Peter to soar to new heights of crime excellence. 

The challenge here was to design a character with absolutely no combat value whatsoever, and I think I was successful - he does 1d4-2 points of damage, if he hits, which is doubtful at best.  Originally he was going to be a pacifist priest, with only healing, protection and buffing spells, but I was flipping through the channels as I was building the character, and Oliver Twist was on.  Challenge accepted.

RPGs tend to be combat-centric, so creating a non-combat focused character, and finding ways to still make them useful, can be a fun alternative to the latest iteration of tank/mage/battlepriest.  Give it a try sometime!