Introduction

If you are playing a one-shot or short campaign, perhaps you'd like to choose from some characters I have prepared in advance, to reduce the time required in character creation, and get into playing faster. One of the characters you might choose to play is Vaelen Derringwhistle, the Halfling Rogue (Thief, if you're high enough level to choose a subclass).

You can play as Vaelen, or even just use his character as a template and change some things like name, gender, ability scores, level, subclass (etc). If you'd like to play as Vaelen, contact your assigned Dungeon Master, and they will make the character available to you.

Character Backstory

Vaelen was born into a relatively wealthy noble family, but he was so eager to make his own way and not to take the handouts that were given to him, that he started to associated with the "wrong" types of people. He and some of his friends formed a sort of street gang who then decided they were going to travel to some town far away and start their own thieves guild.

So, Vaelen ran away from home. They found themselves in a faraway land only to discover that they weren't very experienced thieves, and on their first attempt at a job, all of their group except Vaelen were arrested.

Vaelen tried to eek out a living on his own on the streets of this foreign, unknown town, but it was tough going, as he wasn't familiar with the customs or the people, didn't know who the right or wrong people to steal from were. Still, nevertheless, little by little his skills improved and he became a more competent thief.

Character Personality

Vaelen uses his charm wherever possible to ingratiate himself with people he perceives as strong and competent, as he believes these people can help protect him. He is generally well spoken and knows the ways of high society, on account of his upbringing, however he's quite prideful and convinced that he needs to find his own way and not accept handouts from his family.

Easily intimidated by aggressive or overbearing people, Vaelen likes to be tactful, sneaky and careful in the way he does things. He always looks for a tactical advantage if forced into battles, and if he doesn't think he can win, he'll flee or - at the very least - try to change the situation to one where he has a tactical advantage.

Vaelen thinks he needs to find a way to build wealth off his own back, without help from his family. However, what he needs is to recognize that it is not a personal failing to accept help when he needs it.

Character Description

Vaelen is a halfling, and is quite handsome - or at least he would be if he wasn't forever covered in grime and dirt. He carries small weapons like daggers and a shortbow, and wears a dark cloak which he uses to help hide himself in dark places. He has short, light-brown curly hair, pointed ears and keen brown eyes. If he feels safe Vaelen can be witty, charming, almost mischievous... but if he feels threatened he will often shrink away and look for his bigger, stronger friends to help defend him. During battles, when he can remain hidden and sneak around the battlefield taking sneak attacks at his enemies, he feels comfortable, but if targeted directly by enemies he would feel panic, as though he barely survived by the skin on his teeth.