In this post I continue to write up the Pathfinder iconic characters for use in the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. Links to all of them will appear in the project page, which also contains links to the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy versions.

Today’s template is the Thief, which means today’s character is Merisiel. Here she is:

By Wayne Reynolds, Copyright 2007 Paizo Publishing

Merisiel has all the knives. All of them. We’re back in familiar territory with her, as she’s one of the Iconics from the core book. Her bio is here and her stats are here. From these, we can learn the following:

  • Merisiel is one of the Forlorn, an elf raised among humans. They get this depressing name because Pathfinder elves are of the type that takes nearly a century to grow up. She spent these decades as a street urchin who stowed away on ships bound for different cities when her current buddies outgrew her.

  • She’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer but makes up for that by carrying a lot of really sharp knives on her person. She tries to start every combat hidden, to better backstab her foes.

  • Merisiel has an open and expressive personality, always tries to have fun in the moment, and is always chasing the next get-rich-quick scheme.

Despite being pretty much a bog-standard d20/Pathfinder character, Merisiel presents us with several interesting challenges when it comes to adapting her to the Dungeon Fantasy RPG.

First of all, she’s an elf, but not the woodsy type of elf shown in DFRPG: Adventurers. No, she’s a Forlorn elf, which means she grew up among humans and had no contact with elven culture to speak of. The racial template from Adventurers that best models this is actually the Half-Elf, down to the problems they have in relating to both humans and elves. She’s not an actual half-breed, but the effects of Social Stigman (Forlorn Elf) would be pretty much the same. And theorietically she would have a much longer lifespan than a half-elf, but that’s not worth any points in Dungeon Fantasy campaigns.

The other challenge is that the Thief professional template from Advanturers is built to resemble the Thief class of early D&D - a middling combatant who’s great at stealth, trap-finding, and reaching difficult places. The d20 Rogue class is still good at these non-combat things, but its main focus is stabbing monsters in the back for massive damage. This is why Merisiel’s Pathfinder stats give her a rapier despite her bio’s focus on knives - it’s the best melee weapon for rogues in that system. Fortunately, the list of Thief-appropriate traits in Adventurers gives us tools to fix this discrepancy.

As a result, Merisiel’s DX and IQ are both a point lower than you would expect for an elf thief, to make room for the extra stabby (Ambidexterity, Weapon Master, Expert Backstabber, and increased combat skills). She’s still quite a bit sharper than her original bio indicates, though it might not be apparent to someone who witnessed her failing two or more self-control rolls.

This version of Merisiel is almost identical to her GURPS Dungeon Fantasy counterpart, with the biggest variation being her armor. She’s now at Light Encumbrance, and must drop the backpack before entering a fight to avoid combat penalties.

Our advancement options here are many. As a member of a “skill monkey” profession Merisiel can always use more and higher skills. Players who want to save points for a while might want to consider buying back that “lost” IQ point for this reason. Those who want to make her stabbier would do well to add a couple points of ST for that sweet 2d swing damage, and more Expert Backstabber would make her sneak attacks even better. Spending treasure on a lighter loadout and better-quality knives would also bring a lot of benefit to the character.

Merisiel, 250-point Forlorn Elf Thief

ST 11 {10}; DX 15 {100}; IQ 12 {40}; HT 11 {10}

Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 12.1kg; HP 11; Will 12; Per 13 {5}; FP 11; Basic Speed 6.00 {-10}; Basic Move 7 {5}

Advantages

  • Ambidexterity {5}
  • Expert Backstabbing 5 {10}
  • Flexibility {5}
  • High Manual Dexterity 1 {5}
  • Magery 0 {5}
  • Night Vision 5 {5}
  • Perfect Balance {15}
  • Weapon Master (Knives) {20}

Disadvantages

  • Compulsive Carousing (12) {-5}
  • Curious (12) {-5}
  • Greed (12) {-15}
  • Impulsiveness (12) {-10}
  • Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions) {-5}
  • Social Stigma (Forlorn Elf) {-5}

Skills

  • Acrobatics (H) DX-1 {1}1 - 14
  • Brawling (E) DX {1} - 15
  • Carousing (E) HT {1} - 11
  • Climbing (A) DX+3 {1}12 - 18
  • Escape (H) DX+1 {1}2 - 16
  • Fast-Draw (Knife) (E) DX {1} - 15
  • Fast-Talk (A) IQ-1 {1} - 11
  • Filch (A) DX {2} - 15
  • Forced Entry (E) DX {1} - 15
  • Gambling (A) IQ-1 {1} - 11
  • Gesture (E) IQ {1} - 12
  • Holdout (A) IQ {2} - 12
  • Lockpicking (A) DX+2 {4}3 - 17
  • Main-Gauche (A) DX+3 {12} - 18
  • Pickpocket (H) DX {2}3 - 15
  • Search (A) Per {2} - 14
  • Shadowing (A) IQ {2} - 12
  • Sleight of Hand (H) DX-1 {1}3 - 14
  • Smuggling (A) IQ {2} - 12
  • Stealth (A) DX+3 {12} - 18
  • Streetwise (A) IQ+1 {4} - 13
  • Thrown Weapon (Knife) (E) DX+2 {4} - 17
  • Traps (A) IQ+1 {4} - 13
  • Urban Survival (A) Per {2} - 13

Loadout

  • Ordinary Clothing [Body, Limbs]: Free, 1kg
  • Light Leather Armor [Body, Limbs]: DR 1. $137, 8.25kg.
  • Backpack, Small [Body]: Holds 20kg of gear. $60, 1.5kg.
  • Bull’s Eye Lantern [Backpack]: 10m beam, burns for 6 hours per 0.5L of oil. $100, 1kg.
  • Oil, 1L [Backpack]: Includes flask. $4, 1kg.
  • Personal Basics [Backpack]: $5, 0.5kg
  • Rope, 3/8”, 10m [Backpack]: Supports 150kg. $5, 0.75kg.
  • Lockpicks [Backpack]: $50, 0.05kg.
  • Long Knife x2 [Torso]: Damage sw-1 cut or thr imp. $240, 1.5kg.
  • Dagger x4 [Torso]: Damage thr-1 imp. May be thrown. $80, 0.5kg.

*Defenses

Assumes No Encumbrance (Merisiel needs to drop the backpack for that).

  • Dodge 9
  • Parry 11F (Long Knife)

*Attacks

  • Long Knife (18): 1d+2 cut or 1d+1 imp; Reach C, 1.
  • Long Knife Backstab (18): 2d+5 cut or 1d+3 imp; Reach C, 1;
  • Thrown Dagger (17): 1d imp; Acc 0; Range 6/11.

  1. +1 from Perfect Balance ↩ ↩2

  2. +3 from Flexibility ↩ ↩2

  3. +1 from High Manual Dexterity ↩ ↩2 ↩3