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There are moments in any struggle that influence the outcome. Does the brave warrior lay low the villain before he can finish casting a devastating spell? Does the sly rogue avoid detection as she sneaks into the giant chieftain’s lair? Does the pious cleric finish casting her healing spell before the rain of arrows ends the life of her companions? Just a few die rolls decide each of these critical moments, and while failure is always a possibility, true heroes find a way to succeed, despite the odds. Hero Points represent this potential for greatness. They give heroes the chance to succeed even when the dice turn against them.

Hero Points are only awarded to player characters. NPCs, animal companions, familiars, cohorts, and mounts do not receive hero points. Unlike other points in the game, hero points do not renew over time or with rest. Once spent, they are gone forever. Hero Points are awarded as a character gains levels or whenever a character accomplishes a truly heroic feat. The GM is the final arbiter on the award and use of hero points.

Awarding Hero Points
Each character begins play with 1 hero point, regardless of her level. In addition, whenever a character gains a level, she earns an additional hero point. Aside from these basic rules, awarding additional hero points is up to the GM. The following options are just some of the ways that a GM might award additional hero points.

Character Story: GMs can award a hero point for the completion of a written character backstory. This reward encourages players to take an active roll in the history of the game. In addition, the GM can use this backstory to generate a pivotal moment for your character concerning his past. When this key event is resolved, the GM can reward another hero point. Alternatively, the GM might award a hero point for painting a miniature or drawing a character portrait in the likeness of your character, helping the rest of the group visualize your hero.

Completing Plot Arcs: The GM might award a hero point to each of the PCs who were involved in completing a major chapter or arc in the campaign story. These hero points are awarded at the conclusion of the arc if the PCs were successful or advanced the story in a meaningful way.

Faith: In a campaign where the gods play an important role in every character’s life, hero points might represent their favor. In such a setting, the GM can award hero points to characters whenever they uphold the tenets of their faith in a grand way, or whenever they take on one of the faith’s major enemies. Such hero points might be temporary, and if not spent on the task at hand, they fade away.

Group Service: The GM can award hero points for acts outside the game as well. Buying pizza for the group, helping to clean up afterwards, or even hosting the game for a night might be worth a hero point. This sort of hero point should be given out of generosity, not as a payment.

Heroic Acts: Whenever a character performs an exceptionally heroic act, she can be awarded a hero point. This might include anything from slaying an evil dragon when the rest of the group has fled to rescuing townsfolk from a burning building despite being terribly wounded. It does not have to be related to combat. Convincing the reticent king to send troops to help with a bandit problem or successfully jumping a wide chasm might earn a character a hero point, depending on the circumstances. Note that a hero point should only be awarded if the PC involved did not spend a hero point to accomplish the task.

Return from the Dead: When a character dies, she does not lose any hero points she has accumulated. If she died with no hero points remaining, she gains 1 hero point when she is brought back from the dead through powerful magic, such as raise dead or resurrection.

Maximum Hero Points: Characters can have no more than 3 hero points at any one time. Excess hero points are lost.

Using Hero Points

Hero Points for GMs
Although all of the options presented here should be carefully considered before they are added to your game, hero points deserve closer inspection. Although hero points do not drastically increase the power of the PCs, they do grant the PCs the ability to greatly increase their chances of success during critical moments. While the game itself is set up to give the player characters an edge, hero points take that a bit further, possibly more so than you might be comfortable with.

The value to hero points is that they add dramatic tension to the climax of your game. Most uses of hero points do not guarantee success, making the moment they are used even more important to the players. Hero Points are a very limited resource and their use should be described with additional detail and dramatic style. Used in this way, they can help create very memorable sessions for both you and your players.

Hero Points can be spent at any time and do not require an action to use (although the actions they modify consume part of your character’s turn as normal). You cannot spend more than 1 hero point during a single round of combat. Whenever a hero point is spent, it can have any one of the following effects.

Act Out of Turn: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.

Bonus: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero Points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

Extra Action: You can spend a hero point on your turn to gain an additional standard or move action this turn.

Inspiration: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.

Recall: You can spend a hero point to recall a spell you have already cast or to gain another use of a special ability that is otherwise limited. This should only be used on spells and abilities possessed by your character that recharge on a daily basis.

Reroll: You may spend a hero point to reroll any one d20 roll you just made. You must take the results of the second roll, even if it is worse.

Special: You can petition the GM to allow a hero point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would normally be almost impossible. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the GM. Possibilities include casting a single spell that is one level higher than you could normally cast (or a 1st-level spell if you are not a spellcaster), making an attack that blinds a foe or bypasses its damage reduction entirely, or attempting to use Diplomacy to convince a raging dragon to give up its attack. Regardless of the desired action, the attempt should be accompanied by a difficult check or penalty on the attack roll. No additional hero points may be spent on such an attempt, either by the character or her allies.

Cheat Death: A character can spend 2 hero points to cheat death. How this plays out is up to the GM, but generally the character is left alive, with negative hit points but stable. For example, a character is about to be slain by a critical hit from an arrow. If the character spends 2 hero points, the GM decides that the arrow pierced the character’s holy symbol, reducing the damage enough to prevent him from being killed, and that he made his stabilization roll at the end of his turn. Cheating death is the only way for a character to spend more than 1 hero point in a turn. The character can spend hero points in this way to prevent the death of a familiar, animal companion, eidolon, or special mount, but not another character or NPC.

Campaign Traits are tailored to a specific Adventure Path and give your character a built-in reason to begin the first adventure in the new campaign. Some Campaign Traits also grant teamwork benefits if you choose to begin a campaign with your character having a pre- existing relationship with another PC.
You’ll notice right away that Campaign Traits assume a lot more about your character’s back story than Basic Traits do, and that those assumptions are mostly about very recent events in your history rather than formative childhood events. You have a certain amount of leeway in adjusting or changing a Campaign Trait’s expected back story once you’ve selected which Trait is right for you, but make sure to get your GM’s approval before you run with a modified back story.

These are optional background traits chosen at first level for the Shackled City campaign to add depth and help incorporate the character into the story.

1. Child of Jzadirune
2. Demonscarred
3. Dream Haunted
4. Long Shadowed
5. Mark of the Beast
6. Nobility
7. Scarred Soul
8. Scion of Surabar
9. Touched in the Head
10. Wyrm Blooded

Background Traits:

Child of Jzadirune
One of your ancestors lived in Jzadirune at the time the Vanishing struck. You are especially resistant to diseases, but find the prospect of becoming sick yourself horrifying.

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws made to resist the effects of disease.

Drawback: You suffer a -2 morale penalty on saving throws against fear while in the ruins of Jzadirune, or when fighting creatures that are diseased or can inflict disease with a spell, supernatural ability, or extraordinary ability.

Demonscarred
One of your ancestors was a half-fiend. As a result, you carry some of that taint with you.

Benefit: Regardless of your actual alignment, spells, and spell-like abilities with the evil descriptor treat you as if your alignment were evil. Magic items are similarly fooled. An unholy blight spell, for example, won’t damage you, no matter what your actual alignment is.

Drawback: Regardless of your actual alignment, spells and spell-like abilities with the good descriptor treat you as if your alignment were evil. Magic items are similarly fooled. A holy word spell, for example, will harm you even if you are good aligned.

Dream Haunted
Your dreams are haunted by strange visions of tortured landscapes and deformed monsters. In some of these dreams, you are the deformed monster!

Benefit: You are used to fatigue, and suffer no penalties when you become fatigued. When you become exhausted, you are instead treated as if you are fatigued.

Drawback: You suffer a -2 penalty on saving throws against effects that cause madness or insanity, and on saving throws against sleep effects. If you are normally immune to sleep effects, you lose that immunity.

Long Shadowed
You are descended from a tribe of indigenous peoples who died out as a separate tribe many centuries ago. Still, this tribe’s penchant for necromantic magic runs in your blood.

Benefit: You automatically stabilize if reduced to negative hit points. When you take damage from negative energy, you reduce the actual damage you take by 5 points.

Drawback: Healing magic works poorly on you. Whenever you regain hit points from magical healing, you gain 1 less point of healing per character level you possess, to a minimum of one point per die rolled.

Mark of the Beast
One of your ancestors was a lycanthrope. Select a predatory animal of your choice; that animal feels a mystic bond with you.

Benefit: Animals have a strange reticence when they attack you, and suffer a -2 penalty on all attack rolls made against you. If you have the wild empathy ability, you gain a +1 bonus on wild empathy checks.

Drawback: You suffer a -4 penalty to saving throws made to resist lycanthropy, and take +1 point of damage from attacks made by silver weapons.

Nobility
You were born into a noble family.

Benefit: You start play with an additional 200 gp, and gain a +1 bonus on all Diplomacy and Intimidate checks made against citizens of Cauldron or the nearby villages. Certain NPCs in this campaign may react more favorably to your presence.

Drawback: You are well-known and recognizable, and suffer a -4 penalty on Disguise rolls made against citizens of Cauldron or the nearby villages. Certain NPCs in this campaign may react more poorly to your presence.

Scarred Soul
You’ve led a particularly tough life. Perhaps you’re an orphan, or maybe you suffered some sort of traumatic experience as a child. Whatever the cause, your childhood experiences have left you jumpy and haunted.

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on initiative checks.

Drawback: Your experiences have left your mind less able to deal with trauma, and as a result you suffer a -1 penalty on all Will saves.

Scion of Surabar
You are a descendant of the man who discovered Cauldron, helped settle the region, and aided in the defeat of an ancient demonic army.

Benefit: Pride for your lineage girds your mind and soul. You gain a+2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear, death effects, and insanity or confusion.

Drawback: Demons that encounter you in this region (not those that you might fight on other planes) can instinctively sense you lineage and connection to their old enemy, and gain a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls when fighting you.

Touched in the Head
You’re a little crazy.

Benefit: Your mind is disorganized and chaotic. You gain a +1 bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting effects, save for those effects that cause confusion or insanity.

Drawback: Your inability to concentrate for long makes you suffer a -1 penalty on all Wisdom-based skill checks.

Wyrm Blooded
One of your ancestors was a half-black dragon. You have some sort of distinctively draconic feature, be it reptilian eyes, scales on the backs of your hands, or tiny vestigial horns on your head.

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against acid effects, a +2 bonus on Swim checks, and a +1 bonus on Listen and Spot checks.

Drawback: Your body isn’t quite as limber as it should be. You take a -1 penalty on Reflex saves

Days of the week: Starday, Sunday, Moonday, Godsday,
Watersday, Earthday, Freeday. Godsday is a day of worship,
and Freeday is a day of rest.

Following are the months, in the format
Month (days in the month) Season:
Needfest (7) Mid-Winter.
Fireseek (28) Winter
Readying (28) Spring
Coldeven (28) spring
Growfest (7)
Planting (28) low Summer
Flocktime (28) low Summer
Wealsun (28) low Summer
Richfest (7) Mid-Summer.
Reaping (28) high Summer
Goldmonth (28) high Summer
Harvester (28) high Summer
Brewfest (7)
Patchwall (28) Autumn
Ready'reat (28) Autumn
Sunsebb (28) Winter

All of the following traits revolve around one of two current events in the city of Riddleport. The first is the manifestation of the Blot, a strange and ominous shadow in the sky that looks like nothing so much as a cloud of darkness. The Blot captured the interest of Riddleport’s citizens when it first manifested, but that was months ago—now, after the strange cloud hasn’t done anythingparticularly dramatic for so long, most folk have grown accustomed to it. Most—but not all; some, such as the Order of Cyphers, remain concerned by the strange cloud, and worry that it may be the harbinger of something worse. The other event is a gambling tournament called “Cheat the Devil and Take His Gold.” Held at the recently reopened Gold Goblin Gambling Hall, talk of the tourney has spread throughout the town of Riddleport and has even reached some taverns in cities as far as Magnimar or even Korvosa. Excitement for the tournament has been building for a month, and now that the day is finally here, people from all over are flocking to take part. The somewhat restrictive entrance fee ironically makes it not possible for many of Riddleport’s own citizens to attend, but in the case of each PC who takes a Second Darkness Campaign Trait, that 1 gp entrance fee has been paid, either by an interested party or by yourself (this expense does not come from your starting cash).

1) Fools for Friends: You don’t think of yourself as a gambler. In fact, you rather detest the whole thing. Unfortunately, one or more of your friends (pick one or more of the other players’ characters) doesn’t think so, and you’ve recently learned that friend—or friends—have decided to go to the Gold Goblin’s “Cheat the Devil and Take his Gold” tournament. Which pretty much means you have to go as well, since if no one’s there to watch out for them, they’ll lose all their money and respect. Again. Sometimes it’s hard being the responsible one. Your devotion to your friendships (even when said friends seem, at times, to be trying to test that devotion) is a point of pride to you. Whenever you take the Aid Another action to help an ally, or whenever an ally aids you in this manner, a successful check grants an additional +1 trait bonus to the check for which aid was being rendered. Additionally, as long as one of your friends is within 30 feet, you gain a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws against charm and compulsion effects.

2) Into Enemy Territory: The shadow in the sky is visible from all around Riddleport, not just in town. It’s certainly come to the attention of several druids, rangers, and other rural folk who dwell in the nearby mountains, forests, and swamps—among them, yourself. You’ve consulted with several seers and Harrowers, and may even have performed some simple auguries yourself, and all the signs point the same way—something or someone in Riddleport is connected to the blot, and it means bad news for the region. You’ve avoided the sleazy, dirty town for most of your life, traveling there only when absolutely necessary, and although you don’t relish the prospect of going there now, you see little other choice (especially if one of your superiors is ordering you to go investigate). Fortunately, an eccentric friend of yours (pick another PC) is in town, and you’ve heard this friend will be taking part in some gambling thing at a place called the Gold Goblin. Your friend’s always had better luck interacting with the cityfolk, so you’ve decided to accompany your friend to this gambling tournament and plan on letting him find a safe place for you to stay while you’re in town. Your long life of self-sustenance has toughened you and made you more resistant to hardship, in any event—pick one of the three categories of saving throw. You gain a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws of that type.

3) Looking for Work: Although out of work, you aren’t particularly keen on the prospect of gambling away your last remaining coins simply for a chance at riches. That said, if the Gold Goblin’s fortunes reverse after this big gambling tournament, you’re relatively certain its owner, Saul Vancaskerkin, will be needing to hire on some new staff members. You’ve secured payment for the tournament, and intend on attending mostly to check the place out, to decide if it’s a place you’d want to work at (as a bouncer, bartender, croupier, server, entertainer, spotter, or cook), and hopefully get a chance to catch Saul’s eye and make an impression. You’ve long worked at honing your skills, and are quite accomplished and certain that you have something to offer. Pick one of the following skills: Bluff, Craft (any), Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perform (any), Profession (gambler), or Spot. You gain a +1 trait bonus in that skill, and that skill is always considered a class skill for you.

4) Optimistic Gambler: You’ve always seemed to have trouble keeping money. Worse, you always seem to have debts looming over your head. When you heard about the “Cheat the Devil and Take His Gold” gambling tournament, you felt in your gut that your luck was about to change. You’ve always been optimistic, in fact, and even though right now is one of those rare times where you don’t owe anyone any money (you just paid off a recent loan from local moneylender Lymas Smeed), you know that’ll change soon enough. Better to start amassing money now when you’re at one of those rare windfall times! You’ve set aside a gold coin for the entrance fee, and look forward to making it big—you can feel it in your bones! This time’s gonna be the big one! Your boundless optimism, even in the face of crushing situations, has always bolstered your spirit. Effects that grant you morale bonuses persist 1d4 rounds longer than they normally would as a result.

5) Researching the Blot: You may or may not be seeking membership into Riddleport’s most prestigious magical guild, the Order of Cyphers, but you certainly have heard their call for aid in determining the nature of the strange shadow in the sky above Riddleport. You arrived in town several days ago and had some issues with security and safety at several inns before you finally settled on the Gold Goblin; you’ve been staying there as a guest for several days now, and the owner, Saul Vancaskerkin, seems like a nice guy. He’s even given you a pass to attend the gambling tournament he’s about to throw—you’re not sure how into gambling you’ll be, but perhaps there’ll be some visitors from out of town you can talk to about the strange shadow in the sky. At the very least, you’re hoping someone at the tourney will be into magic—there’s not really enough folk in this town who seem all that interested in magic, you’ve found. Your interest in magic dates back quite far, and as a result, you’ve developed a knack for identifying common magical items at a glance. You can use Spellcraft to identify magic items in the same way you can use Spellcraft to identify a potion. The DC to identify a magic item is equal to 20 + the item’s caster level.

6) Scouting for Fiends: You belong to an organization (most likely a religion) that has definite views on the menace posed by the lower planes. The willfulness with which the city of Korvosa (they even allow a temple of Asmodeus to operate in broad daylight!) tolerates infernal influences is, to you and your organization, the greatest symbol of what’s wrong with civilization today. And now, in Riddleport, there’s news that a gambling tournament is using devils and Hell as an idle decoration. It’s likely that this is just an example of poor taste, but there’s a chance that something sinister may be lurking beneath the goings-on at the Gold Goblin. You have been contacted by your organization (or may have decided on your own) to travel to Riddleport (if you don’t already live there) and attend this tournament under the guise of a patron. Keep an eye on things there, even after the tournament is over; if you can, get a job working for the owner. Demons and devils can be subtle, and it could take weeks or even months to find proof of their involvement. Your near-obsessive hatred of all things fiendish grants you a +1 trait bonus on all attack rolls made against foes you know to be evil outsiders.

A kender can enrage foes by taunting them with verbal abuse. This is a mind-influencing effect and a free action; it affects only one target at a time, although the kender can elect to switch targets in its turn.

To Sucessfully taunt a foe the kender must perform an opposed bluff check against the targets sense motive check. If the kender suceeeds, the target becomes enraged and suffers a -2 morale penalty to AC as long as the kender continues taunting it. An enraged creature can make a will saving throw (DC 15 + the kenders Cha modifier) each round after the first to overcome the taunting, after which it cannot be affected by the taunts of that particular kender for 1 day.

kender philosophy
Four things make a kender's personality drastically different from that of a typical human. Kender are utterly fearless, insatiably
curious, unstoppably mobile and independent, and will pick up anything that is not nailed down (though kender with claw ham- mers will get those things as well).

The fearlessness that all kender possess gives them a strong sense of confidence. They are quite carefree or matter-of-fact about a situation, even if things look hopeless and grim ("No sense in running away now. There's 500 goblins surrounding us!"). Kender react effectively to dangerous situations, fighting hard and fearlessly. They sometimes come up with some bizarre tactics that may carry the
day in battle. But even kender don't let their fearlessness get in the way of self preservation--most of the time.

Kender appreciate the need for caution, but their uncontrollable curiosity gets them into trouble on adventures. They forever have
to check out unexplored places and peek into dark corners. They have no desire to be the second or third person to enter the Caverns of
Unspeakable Doom; they want to be first. Pointing out that no one ever returns from the Caverns of Unspeakable Doom has no effect. In fact, describing what makes the caverns so unspeakable might even excite the kender further and make him or her determined to go to the caverns at once. ("An evil archmage and an army of ogres? Wow! Let's go see 'emt")

Some kender might allow their curiosity to overcome their common sense when facing unusual opponents, such as dragons, though they eventually learn to run when running is best. A kender's fellow adventurers often have to teach him that certain things have big,nasty teeth and that avoiding these things is often in the kender's best interests, regardless of what the kender's opinions are in the matter. Whenever a kender displays an inordinately sensible attitude about danger, it is probably because the kender realizes that continued curiosity will ruin any further chances of doing exciting things ever again.

Kender are intensely curious about everthing unusual. Magic awes and fascinates them, as do large, unusual, or dramatic creatures like chimeras, centaurs, unicorns and, of course, dragons. Kender are drawn to beautiful things, but things that others find disgusting are often seen by kender as intriguing or humorous in some way (even gully dwarves). Though strong-willed, kender are not prone to consider all the possible results of their behavior. A kender may quickly and
impulsively paint himself into a corner, then wait for someone else to come along and get him out of the jam. Sometimes this means
that the kender's fellow adventurers are painnted into the same corner ("I guess I shouldn't ave opened that locked door with the warning signs on it, huh?"). Experienced adventurers quickly come to dread that most awful of kender sayings: "Oops!"

Another important point is that kender need action--and they need it now! They thrive on excitement and yearn for new adventures. "I'm just along for the fun" is a common saying among wandering kender. It has
been suggested that the worst torture that could be inflicted on a kender would be to lock him up and give him nothing new to do
or look at. (Conversely, it has been said that the worst torture one can visit on any nonkender Would be to lock him up in a bare cell with
a bored kender.) Some kender believe that evil creatures are condemned to an afterlife where they will be eternally bored.

Most kender are encountered during wanderlust, a particular phase in a kender's life that occurs for most kender during their early
20s. Apparently the kender's natural curiosity and desire for action suddenly go into overdrive at this time, and kender are driven to
wander the land as far as they can go. Wanderlust may last for many years, and some kender have a habit of making maps of their travels
during this time. Sadly, most kender are poor map makers, lacking the patience and skills to chart their travels accurately. Kender may collect other maps during this time to satisfy their curiosity about other places. This wanderlust is responsible for spreading kender
communities across the continent of Ansalon. Risky deeds draw kender like gold draws dragons, but risk must be combined with action or else they lose interest. Gambling with cards won't hold a kender's attention for long, but seeing if one can outrun a mad owlbear is another thing. Bravery is easily con- fused with recklessness where kender are concerned.

Kender are natural extroverts and enjoy making new friends and seeing new places. Most kender are very personable and friendlytoo friendly for some people, who dislike their nosiness, their extreme talkativeness (which grows worse when they get excited), and their habit of pocketing every- thing that interests them.
Kender also resent being given orders; they want to do what they want to do when they want to do it. Telling them to do otherwise is worse than useless, as they will complain loudly and disrespectfully, taunting if they're mad enough. The best way to handle kender, say
old adventurers, is not to give them orders, but to get them to volunteer. Kender are sensitive and can be easily hurt by indifference or intentional cutting remarks (triggering their taunting talents almost immediately).

Kender treasure their friends; if a kender's friends are injured or slain, the kender may become very depressed and upset. Death only
seems to affect a kender when it comes to one that the kender knows and loves, or when it is meted out by disaster or warfare to innocent
beings (including any kender). In such cases, the distress that the usually cheerful kender feels is terrible to behold. A story is told of a human ranger during in the Age of Dreams who wounded a deer that was the pet of a kender community. The sight of the entire village of small kender crying their hearts out was so upsetting to the ranger that he quested until he found a druid who could heal the animal, then retired and took up fishing.

Kender are masters of taunting, sarcasm, and outright rudeness when they are riled. Their intense curiosity gives them shocking insights into the characters and natures of other people, though such an awareness is generally shallow. It is acute enough, however, for a
kender to forge an idea of another person's character flaws, giving the kender the ability to create the most stinging insults that can be
imagined. Full-scale riots have been started by irritated kender who opened up on someone with their verbal guns.
Taunting is one of the few defenses that kender have. Being smaller than most other beings, kender resent anyone who takes advantage of them. A kender could not imaine taunting a fellow kender; after all, they're in this together. Taunting is especially effective if a kender has others to back him up or some trap that a maddened attacker can be
lured into with little cost to the kender. Though not very effective against the largest creatures (who will not have their combat
effectiveness reduced greatly), taunting can still give a hard-pressed kender an edge in a fight. It is best used against those who are either attacking or are about to attack; there's no sense in angering a potential friend.

Stealing vs handling
The kender concept of personal property and theft deserves special attention. Because many kender develop thieving talents, most people assume they are merely innocent looking but sneaky burglars. This is just not so. The intense curiosity that kender feel feeds their desire to know how locks can be opened, how to approach people unseen and listen in on their conversations, and how to reach into pockets or pouches to find interesting things to look at. Thieving comes naturally to them--so naturally that they do not see it as thieving.
Kender do not steal for the sake of profit. First of all, they have little concept of value. Faced with a choice between a 2,000 steel piece diamond and a huge, glittering chunk of purple glass, 90 kender out of 100 will take the glass. (The rest will take both but will get rid of the diamond first.) They pick things up out of curiosity and wander off with them. Sometimes the owner of an item leaves before the kender can give the item back, or else the kender becomes enchanted with the item andforgets to return it. While adventuring, a kender regards anything found in an enemy stronghold as fair game for picking up, as such items are marvelous curios and might prove useful later on.
Even if caught red-handed while taking an item, the range of excuses a kender will offer is amazing:
"Guess I found it somewhere."
"I forgot that I had it."
"You walked off before I could give it back."

"I was afraid someone else would take it."

"You must have dropped it."

"You put it down and I didn't think you wanted it anymore."
"Maybe it fell into my pocket."
All of these lines are delivered with an innocent sincerity that is all the more maddening because the kender really is sincere [ A kender might not necessarily remember where he found something, even if he picked it up half a minute before, and such responses are often delivered as part of a subconscious defense mechanism. Intense curiosity is a trait ingrained in their souls and minds from their racial creation by the Greystone of Gargath. They cannot be other than what they are natural thieves.
On the other hand, kender, like everyone else, do not like the idea of someone deliberately taking an item from someone else without the latter's permission. To be called a thief is still considered a base insult. This assertion sounds remarkable in view of the fact that kender constantly borrowthings from each other and from visitors (without asking) in their communities. Kender don't regard their idea of borrowing as stealing, however. If they need something, they'll take it. If they see something interesting, they'll pick it up and pocket it. A popular proverb defines a kender heirloom as anything that remains for more than three weeks inside a kender's home.
Society
The basic unit of kender society is the immediate family (parents and children). Because kender wander so much, extended families do not truly exist. A detailed discussion of kender politics, government, and society is impossible in the short space here available.
Suffice it to say that kender have the most horribly democratic system ever found on the face of Krynn--everyone is pretty much allowed to do as they please. Kender do not see any great need to impress their views on anyone else and are genuinely interested in the perspectives of others. Thus there seems to be little need for law or government.
Kender are naturally helpful and decent and thus have no need for a powerful central government. Interestingly, when an emergency does occur that requires the kender to cooperate, they do so naturally; with little preparation they can become a formidable unified group. his is not to say that the idea of government has not impressed the kender. Having seen the importance of civilization to all other societies in Krynn, kender have done their best to keep up. They have tried every conceivable type of government (and several types never imagined by nonkender) and are more than happy to give a new type of government a chance. They will also follow any leader for as long as it seems like fun...usually at least five minutes. Kender society can also be hard to take. Nonkender visitors rarely stay longer than a week in any major kender town, unless they have a great sense of humor. It is not uncommon to be relieved of one's possessions at every turn (occasionally by the constables themselves). Visitors are pelted by a constant barrage of questions and told a million lies and tall tales without rest or letup. Couple this with the constant flux of kender government (the rules change from moment to moment on a whim) and most civilized men quickly flee in terror.
There has never been a standing kender army; those few invaders who have taken kender territory have never found the heart to stay very long. Indeed, most kender communities find an occupation by invading forces to be a tremendous boost to their local economy since invaders always bring such interesting things for the kender to handle.

The fabled Kender is a curious example of convergent evolution. Their native world of Krynn is one of the few with no true halflings of its own, yet this "ecological niche" is filled by another race which, though unrelated, is similar in size, appearance, and culture: the Kender. Hairfeet, Stouts, and Tallfellows who have been to Krynn or have met Kender wanderers on other worlds have adopted them as honorary cousins, despite misgivings about the Kender's complete lack of the prized halfling virtue of common sense.

An extensive description of the Kender is provided in the DRAGONLANCE® Adventures hardcover rulebook and in the Tales of the Lance boxed set. The information given here focuses on playing Kender in a general AD&D® campaign--i.e., Kender who have strayed from the DRAGONLANCE® game setting into other worlds. It should be noted that it is entirely up to a DM whether he or she wishes to allow Kender into his or her own campaign--and he or she is encouraged to consider very carefully before agreeing!

Kender are somewhat taller than an average Hairfoot or Stout, averaging 3'7". They are much more slender than true halflings, and they tend to show their age more--a fifty year old Kender will look like a forty year old human, whereas a Hairfoot will probably retain his or her youthful looks even into old age. Kender complexions are light, but they tan easily. They tend to wear their hair very long, with a characteristic topknot and long, trailing tail. They wear shoes most of the time, since unlike true halflings, they completely lack foot-fur.

Kender are the most curious of all halfling-kin, the most willing to depart from their hearth and home to embark on a life of adventure. Most Kender are infused with wanderlust about the time they reach adulthood (in their early twenties) and are likely to spend several decades in an exploration of the world around them, only to feel an equally compelling urge to return home and settle down as they begin to age (mid-fifties to early sixties). Kender are absolutely and utterly fearless--even to the point of immunity to magically induced fear--and as a result are willing to travel literally anywhere and try almost anything.

The life expectancy of a Kender is similar to Hairfoot's (about a century) but it must be noted that, due to their curiosity and fearlessness, Kender are far more likely than any other halfling subrace to meet with a sudden and violent demise. They are not suicidal, but they do get carried away.

Table 8: Kender Ability Scores

Ability
Minimum
Maximum

Strength
6
16

Dexterity
8
19

Constitution
10
18

Intelligence
6
18

Wisdom
3
16

Charisma
6
18

Ability Score Adjustments: +2 to Dexterity (to a maximum of 19); -1 to Strength.

Languages: Kender, Krynn Common, and any other(s) allowed by Intelligence.

Infravision: Yes (30')

Special Features: Kender who are not thieves have a base 5% chance to perform any thieving skill except Read Languages (no chance) and Climb Walls (40% chance). Dexterity modifiers do apply, but these abilities never increase as the Kender goes up in level.

Kender are totally immune to the effects of both magical and nonmagical fear, whether caused by monsters like the mummy or lich or by spells such as scare and symbol of fear.

The Taunt: Kender are adept at the art of taunting an enemy until that foe loses all ability for rational thought or restraint and is goaded into an uncontrolled attack. If the victim can understand the Kender's speech, he, she, or it must make a saving throw versus spells (Wisdom bonuses apply). If it fails, the victim will attack the Kender wildly for 1d10 rounds, suffering a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and a +2 penalty to Armor Class.