Background Help - Svirfneblin

[Escribblings]

Hi, I am looking to create a deep gnome. He will have grown up on the streets of Baldur's Gate, as an urchin most likely - before getting work as a lacky to alchemists, tinkers, smiths, etc...

What I am struggling with is how a child deep gnome has ended up on the streets of Baldur's gate.

He doesn't have to be an Urchin, maybe he has been brought up in a home... Just looking for a reason for him to be in BG

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

As a young child he followed his older brother and his friends when exploring the caverns near their home. On one such occasion he lost track of them and became lost, wandering ever deeper into the caverns hoping to find his way back out. He eventually made his way into the Undermountain, and thanks to his small size and natural stealth he managed to make his way out into Waterdeep. As a child who didn't know anybody and had nothing but the clothes on his back, he grew up on the streets resorting to petty theft to feed himself. Eventually he joined a gang of child pickpockets and the rest is history, until he finally made his big break as a young adult.

After managing to steal a famous wizard's spell component pouch, which contained hundreds of gold worth of gems and rare components, he knew this was his chance. After taking it to a fence outside his gang's territory to not share a cut with them, he got cleaned up, got some new clothes, and booked passage on a ship to Baldur's Gate to start a new life. After arriving he used most of his remaining wealth to enroll in a school or otherwise gain tutelage in [class], which he's just recently completed at the start of the adventure.

[Escribblings]

Thank you - that looks really good.

I need to get him to BG more quickly, but this is a huge starting point.

A good possibility would be getting into trouble and fleeing the city watch by stowing away in a carriage I suppose?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It's 500 miles between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, it takes a month over land. Gnomes become adults by around age 40, so he could have spent 10+ years in Baldur's Gate with that background. Maybe say he stole the thing at a younger age, and took the first boat to a new town to get away from the ringleader who was exploiting the kids and making them steal for him. Once in the new city he fell back on his old habits until whatever.

[Escribblings]

Thanks. I wasn't aware of the distance.

Basically, a plot hook that the DM wants incorporated is that my character grew up on the streets of BG with Azaka Stormfang before she left for Chult.

[Escribblings]

Re: Age...

Deep gnomes are short-lived for gnomes. They mature at the same rate humans do and are considered full-grown adults by 25. They live 200 to 250 years, although hard toil and the dangers of the Underdark often claim them before their time.

But I'm sure I can work with this...

Thank you again.