Character creation challenge day 19

 Day 19

System: B/X

Desired class: Thief

Ability scores rolled: 15, 12, 14, 5, 10, 7

Starting gold: 70 gp

Today, the dice are handing me a set of scores wildly unsuited to the desired class, but B/X allows for exactly this, so here we go! There's actually plenty to work with here, and it would be easy to raise either Strength or Wisdom to 18 without much down side, but this guy doesn't want to smash skulls or commune with the divine, he wants to jimmy locks and stick daggers in backs, so what can you do? If we shear off 4 points of Wisdom, 2 of Intelligence, and 2 of Strength, we can boost his dismal Dexterity up to a 9 -- solidly mediocre! Rolling d4 for hit points gives us 3.

Lago the Misguided, 1st level thief

Strength 13 (+1 to melee attack and damage rolls and opening doors)

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 10

Dexterity 9

Constitution 10

Charisma 7 (-1 to reactions, max retainers 3, retainer morale 7)

AC 9          Hit points: 3            Alignment: Neutral

Thief skills: Open Locks 15%, Find/Remove Traps 10%, Pick Pockets 20%, Move Silently 20%, Climb Walls 87%, Hide in Shadows 10%, Hear Noise 1-2 on 1d6

Short bow, 20 arrows, dagger, thieves' tools, backpack, standard rations, water skin, 1 gp left

Height: 5'9"        Weight: 175 lbs.        Age: 20

Disowned by his family for laziness, unwilling to take up a fighter's life due to cowardice, Lago instead (somewhat imprudently) opted for a life of crime. He'll soon find out the life of an adventuring thief is anything but easy, but at least he's not likely to steal from his teammates (did I mention he's a coward?)

Even setting aside the challenge of narrowly avoiding a penalty in his prime requisite ability, Lago was a fun exercise in justifying WHY, exactly, a would-be adventurer would pass up a promising career as a top-notch fighter or cleric to be a mediocre thief. Ah, B/X, is there anything you can't do?