Considerations for Kender
Bear in mind that most of this comes from speculation. I lack any real
experience in properly using a kender, and have only rarely been teamed up
with one. Yet, this would be how I would expect them to behave.
Kender are the thief class of BR. As such, their main strength lies not in
open combat, but inflicting harm on them with style and stealth. Their steal
skill can be used to obtain some equipment without even needing to fight the
mob at all! Of course, killing the mob provides experience and allows the
item to repop. Their combat prowess revolves around the backstab skill, wich
of all
non-hero mortals only the kender posess. Most of their other abilities seem
to be made to either make the most of a backstab, increase survival after
the backstab has been made in the ensuing battle, or supplement the thieving
skill. They make modest tanks, although not nearly as well as the true
combat classes or illithids. The shock damage inflicted by backstab and
circle however is unsurpassed, being in a lot of cases able to decimate an
enemy to a fraction
of its health, making it easy to finish him off.
Weapons policy: Since backstab is vital for a kender's success in combat,
the primary wield should at all times be a piercing weapon, like a short
sword, spear, pike, dagger or knife. on this weapon, modified damage should
be as high as possible, the backstab modifier greatly outranking any to hit
and damage bonuses a weaker weapon might posess. The weapon should of course
be enchanted, and also enchanted replacements should be kept when taint
becomes available. The secondary wield, which in normal combat will give up
to 2 extra attacks, should be maximized for hit and damage bonuses, making
the backstab as deadly as possible. Remember, a kender revolves around the
backstab, it should therefore do the absolute maximum of damage that can be
amassed.
Armor policy: Once again, get that backstab up as much as possible.
Equipment should therefore be selected on having as much in the way of to
hit and damage as possible, at the expense of AC or even stats, hitpoints,
mana or movement! A good backstab will leave an opponent near death, making
finishing up easy. A bad one will mean a long and demanding fight, which
most likely results in the kender needing to flee. Everything besides
bonuses is therefore far less relevant in the kender's case.
Grouping considerations: Kender are a support class that is normally
compelled to fight in the front rank. It should therefore team up either
with another kender (wich enables them to daisy chain circles) a dwarf or
avian (who can rescue) or a human (who has sufficient damage output to
finish the mob off before the situation becomes critical and can heal the
kender afterwards) A kender will typically initiate combat with the
backstab, the most powerful combat initiator in the game. After this he
will, usually wait for a rescue (or a circle from another kender) before
using his circle skill to backstab again. When this works well, almost any
mob can be finished off in no time flat,
making kender teamups among the most powerful in the MUD.
Most prominent weakness: Kender are totally dependent on a sucessful
backstab. They lack the normal combat damage output or the endurance to
stand their ground for very long in conventional combat. This usually
compels them to flee when fighting solo and their backstab fails.
Kender will only very late (and OoG) get supportive combat skills. This
makes the beginning kender highly dependent on wands and staves in order to
be able to do at least something. Normally the wand or staff is used right
after dirtkick has blinded the opponent and poison has made him even more
vulnerable. Outside of combat, kender are extremely free in their movements,
the picklock skill allowing them to open doors and chests without keys. Hide
should be used whenever possible. successfull use normally allows you one
free action, possibly another if your presence was not broadcasted by what
you did. Keep in mind that detect hidden is much more rare than detect
invis. This and the surprise advantage sneak gives you will let you get by a
lot of mobs without ever
needing to resort to combat!