Elfandriel
I played in an impromptu tabletop one-shot today and I was pleased with the character I came up with off the cuff. The system was Pathfinder first edition:
Elfandriel is above all things a liar. She is a fairly inexperienced Rogue who bills herself as a professional Charlatan. The only thing that can be said about her definitively is that she is in fact an Elf. Most everyone she knows simply calls her Elf or Elfy. She insists that Elfandriel is her actual name, and she is quick to mock anyone who questions her about her name, accusing them of being crudely ignorant of the glorious intricacies of Elven culture. This dismissal also includes other Elves and people who speak Elven. She generally talks in a refined manner and has dropped oblique hints that she might be part of some kind of Elven aristocracy and that she is simply taking a few decades off slumming it. It's hard to say, but this might actually be a double bluff and perhaps in truth she really is just crawling her way up from nothing. Either way she pretends to be a staunch Monarchist.
Her first line of defense in any situation is bluffing, which is her Skill Focus. She is a Natural Born Liar and generally anyone who falls for her lies becomes more likely to be suckered in again. She is quite good at Coaxing Information from her marks. She is fairly smart and a bit charming and is able to use most Rogue skills against her targets. She arrays herself well in elegant dresses but tends to pick accent jewelry that is more befitting of bandits or of monstrous species. She is educated and knows a bit about Arcana, Dungeoneering, Local interests, Nature, and Nobility, as well as speaking Goblin, Gnollish, and Sylvan beyond the typical languages an Elf would know.
When lying, planning, sneaking, and disguises wont cut it, she is quite proficient with the Rapier, relying on her exceptional Dexterity and the Finesse Training that the guild has provided to her to strike fast and deep. Her main strategy is to feint and then attack. As with other types of lying, a successful feint makes future feints slightly easier for her. In a pinch she is just strong enough that wielding her Sap is worth the chance of attempting a knock-out blow against an oblivious target. If Elfandriel has any weak points it is that she is not a woman endowed with the typical Wisdom that most people possess. If she has a second problem it is her off-putting and intentionally needling personality. Beyond her posturing she is surprisingly stab happy and is quick with threats, as well as being willing to pull off quite vicious cons on her marks. For all her faults she is mostly well meaning and agreeable in her own untrustworthy way, and she has no stomach for wanton murder or other such brutishness. She takes great pride in being a thief and wants to be respected as such, and that means competence and professionalism. Or maybe it's all just a big lark to her, but she's having fun pretending anyway.
