This time around in our series of AD&D 2e characters, we are going to work on a gnome cleric/thief called Faolan Whisperwind. Hang on, haven’t we already done him?

Yes, but this is going to be a little different. The first version was made using just the vanilla PHB. This time around we are going to be using various sourcebooks, like the Complete Books of Thieves, Priests and Gnomes & Halflings. We won’t be going through every book, as there are far too many for that, but we will look at how we can take the same concept of a character and make it a little different.

The very first thing we will do is select which subrace Faolan belongs to. The PHB only had vanilla gnomes, but the Complete Books introduced subraces, variants of the base race. The standard gnome, as presented in the PHB, is the Rock Gnome. There are also the svirfneblin (or deep gnomes), the tinker gnomes and the forest gnomes.

The svirfneblin live far underground, and are slightly smaller than their rock gnome cousins, being wiry and tough. They are miners who prize gems and tend not to come to the surface. The tinker gnomes are a Dragonlance race and a little bit mad, and we are going to ignore them. The last one is the forest gnome, shy and reclusive, and small even by gnome standards.

Rock gnomes have +1 INT and -1 WIS, while both svirfneblin and forest gnomes have +1 to WIS and DEX. The difference is that svirfnebin have -1 INT and -2 CHA while forest gnomes are -1 INT and -1 STR. I could go with either, as WIS and DEX are the two main stats for clerics and thieves.

From the perspective of game bonuses, svirfneblin get a lot more, but I am going with a forest gnome as I think it fits the character concept a bit better and is more likely to be encountered on the surface. They get slightly different languages to choose from, including treant and forest mammal, instead of burrowing mammal. In addition, they can Pass without Trace in any wooded terrain, so they can’t be tracked, and like halflings can Hide in Woods, becoming virtually invisible in wooded surroundings. Very handy for someone not wanting to be found. I can picture them moving through the forest, popping up to play tricks on any invaders and despoilers of the wilds. Due to their small size, they receive -4 AC when fighting against man-sized or larger enemies, which is better than what normal gnomes receive, and get +1 to hit against orcs, lizardmen, troglodytes or any creature they have observed damaging woodlands.

We are still using the same stats from last time around, which were;

STR 8, DEX 16, CON 11, INT 13, WIS 15, CHA 12.

With our new racial modifiers that ends up as;

STR 7, DEX 17, CON 11, INT 12, WIS 16, CHA 12.

Compared to the previous version, we get -1 to hit due to lower strength, +1 to missile attack and reaction and -1 to AC due to higher dexterity, 1 less NWP due to lower int, and +2 to magical defence and 2 bonus 2nd level spell due to higher wisdom.

Besides having a different subrace of gnome, we are also going to have a different type of cleric, and for that we will delve into the Complete Priest’s Handbook. There are a large number of various priesthoods, each based on a different faith, reflecting the various portfolios a deity may be in charge of; war, death, plants, oceans, magic etc. Each have different spheres of magic they can use, weapons and armour, powers and so on. A Priest of War will have better combat ability than a priest of Love, and their magic will be geared towards fighting. GMs are encouraged to tailor it for their needs. What about deities that control multiple portfolios, like a goddess of oceans, storms and magic? The priest could be a follower of one aspect of it, or, the GM could blend parts from the various portfolios together unique for that deity.

Looking through the list, there are a number Faolan could take – luck, gnomes, nature. One stands out though – trickery/mischief. A favourite of rogues, the deity delights in trickery for trickery’s sake, and the demonstration of cleverness.

To qualify Faolan needs INT and WIS of 12. He also has to have the Disguise NWP.

For weapons, he has a wider choice than normal, including bows, spears and swords. He is restricted to non-metal armours, and can’t use shields, but as a rogue as well he wouldn’t want to wear anything heavier anyway.

For his spheres, he has major access to All, Charm, Divination, Protection and Summoning, and minor to Animal, Elemental, Guardian and Plant. A little less than the basic cleric, but that is as a result of better combat abilities.

He also has access to some additional powers; Charm/Fascination (as the wizard’s suggestion spell, three times a day), Detect Secret Doors (same as an Elf), and at 8th level Shapeshifting (like the druid’s ability, three times a day, but restricted to three animals appropriate to their deity).

Notice something missing from the spell list? Yup, healing. And that is fine. 2e healing was weaker than in later additions, and clerics didn’t come synonymous with healbots until later as well. 2e clerics were more second line fighters who dealt with the undead and had support and crowd control abilities. It was better to avoid damage in the first place and patch up wounds after the fight than during it.

Now for a kit, to help flesh out the character some more. Kits in 2e could be a little all over the place. I don’t just mean that some where a lot more powerful than others. I mean in that there was no standardisation for them. Some books said they could only be for single class characters, others said they could be used by multiclass characters and some, in the racial handbooks, were designed specifically for multiclass characters. And the benefit they gave could likewise vary; some books gave out free NWPs for all kits while other required you to take NWPs but gave no free ones.

For Faolan, the choice of books to take a kit from are the Complete Thieves, Complete Priests and Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings. We can’t use Complete Thieves, as it says it is for single class only. Complete Priests does allow multiclass, but none of them are particularly fitting for the character concept. The most appropriate would be Peasant Priest, and that doesn’t quite work. The Book of Gnomes does have some multiclass kit, but not for cleric/thieves. Only for illusionist/thieves and fighter/thieves.

Looking at the priest kits, again neither work for the concept – one is a Rocktender, who lives underground and are associated with rock and stone, including only using stone weapons, and the other is the Treetender, who are hermetic druid like priests who use weapons of wood.

For thieves, there is the Mouseburgler, stealthy spy like characters but they require 13 INT, which we don’t have. The other option is the Tumbler. While it is flavoured towards an urban entertainer and acrobat, there is nothing to say that it can’t work just as well in the forests were Faolan lives, using it to play tricks and pranks on any who invade his domain.

It requires DEX 14 to take the kit, which we have. As part of the kit, they get the tumbling NWP for free. They also must take jumping, juggling and tightrope walking.

Normally with tumbling, if you win initiative and forgo your attacks you get, your enemies get -4 bonus to AC. However, due to a gnomes small size that increases to -6. And as a forest gnome, all enemies of man-size or larger (which will be most), get another -4 to hit. Meaning that, with dex and armour, Faolan is very hard to hit if he doesn’t want to be.

Against large or bigger enemies, a tumbler can try and tumble through an enemy’s legs on a successful DEX check. On the next turn, if they win initiative, they can make a backstab attack. Backstab attacks were hard to come by in 2e as once you are in a fight you can’t hide again. Being able to generate additional ones is very handy.

Tumblers also gain +10% to climb walls, with an additional +2% per level. For gnomes they are remarkably good climbers.

However, they aren’t so good at detecting noise and open locks – both of those skills are reduced to a base of 0% at creation.

With all of that out of the way, its time to make some choices.

He has 2 weapon proficiencies to choose. For his first he will take Short Bow. He can’t use anything larger, obviously, but a short bow makes a good ranged weapon for a small, nimble and well hidden character.

For the second we want a melee weapon. He could take a sword, either a longsword, which he would have to wield two handed due to his small size, or a short sword, but in the end we go with the humble dagger, for a number of reasons. It is fast, which helps win initiative (which will be useful for the roll through the legs backstab trick), can be thrown, and he is better at it than using it in melee, and, because he is a thief, he can wield one in each hand. Later on he can pick up two weapon fighting to reduce the penalties for doing so.

He starts with 4 NWPs and gains 3 more due to his INT. He also gets a bonus one, tumbling, from his kit. He has to take disguise, for his faith, and jumping, juggling and tightrope walking for his kit. That gives him three left, which he will spend on language: forest mammal, spellcraft and religion.

HPs remain the same as for the previous incarnation – 5.

Base saving throws also stay the same, but he gets a +2 to the rolls against spells that affect the mind due to his WIS and a -3 to his saving throw to attacks that can be dodged due to his DEX.

His thieving skills are a little different, as his base Detect Noise and Open Locks are reduced to 0% due to his kit, he gets +10% to Climb Walls also due to his kit and because of his dexterity he gets +5% to Pick Pockets, +10% to Open Locks, +5% to Move Silently and +5% to Hide in Shadows. The 60% he gets to spread across his skills will be split into +15% for Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Walls and Detect Noise to emphasis the kind of character he is.

His final totals, taking into account the adjustments due to being a gnome, are Pick Pockets 20%, Open Locks 15%, Find/Remove Traps 15%, Move Silently 35%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Detect Noise 25%, Climb Walls 70% and Read Languages 0%.

He gets 3 1st level spells to start with, and while his spheres are a little different, he sticks with two of the choices from the other version of the character; Bless and Sanctuary. The last one is from one of the different spheres, in this case plant, from which he takes Entangle. The plan is to use it to impede the movement of enemies as they move through the wilds, enabling them to be picked off while unable to do much about it.

For his equipment, he still wears leather armour and has a holy symbol and lock picks, but changes the morningstar for 2 daggers and the sling and 20 bullets for a shortbow and 24 sheaf arrows. This costs him an extra 14 gold, 9 silver and 5 copper, leaving him 12 gold, 5 silver and 5 copper pieces left over for other expenses.

His AC is 8 due to leather armour, reduces to AC 5 due to dexterity. If they are man size or larger that reduces to AC 1, the equivalent of Full Plate. And if he goes full on dodging due to tumbling and being a small gnome, that goes down to -5 AC.

His base THACO is 20, reduced to 18 with ranged weapons due to DEX, but due to his low strength, that goes back to 19 with ranged weapons and 21 with melee weapons. With the Short Bow he is THAC0 19, Speed 7, att 2/1, doing 1d8/1d8 damage, while with the dagger he is THAC0 21 (19 thrown) Speed 2, #att 1 (2/1 thrown), doing 1d4/1d3 damage. Needless to say he is better off using the bow than getting into melee.

His final form looks like this;

Faolan Whisperwind: CL/TH 1/1; AL CG; AC 5 (Leather & dex); HP 5; THAC0 20 (19 with shortbow, 21 with dagger); #AT 2/1 (1 with dagger); DMG 1d8 (shortbow), 1d4 (dagger); Str 7, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 12.

Saves; PPDM 10, RSW 11, PP 12, BW 16, SP 12.

Weapon Proficiencies; Shortbow, Dagger

Non-weapon Proficiencies; Tumbling, Disguise, Jumping, Juggling, Tightrope Walking, Spellcraft, Religion.

Languages; Common, Gnomish, Forest Mammal.

Spells; 3 x 1st (Entangle, Sanctuary, Bless).

Special Abilities; Charm/Fascination 3/day, Detect Secret Doors, Pass Without Trace, Hide in Woods.

Thief Skills: Pick Pockets 20%, Open Locks 15%, Find/Remove Traps 15%, Move Silently 35%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Detect Noise 25%, Climb Walls 70% and Read Languages 0%.

Gear; Leather armour, 2 x dagger, shortbow and 24 sheaf arrows, holy symbol, thieves tools.

He is similar to the original Faolan, but the addition of kits, subraces and faith have given him some differences that do make him stand out a bit.