Comment by Nerrin

Tarri could totally be a bard, and I'd love to see someone take on a character like her in a game. Even with the deafness penalty to casting, there could totally be a homebrewed/setting feat for mitigating or negating the penalty, along with some other minor benefit so you're not spending a feat to just bring you "back to normal" or whatever.

As for how I'd construct her in 3.5 to reflect her actual abilities, at the moment I'd probably set her with the Expert NPC class, or maybe make a skills/social-emphasis Rogue and spend several of her feats on skill bonuses, extra skill points, expanded class skills, and other fun stuff like that. This obviously isn't a game where you have to be combat optimized, so she could totally get away with playing party diplomat skill rogue.

Reply by Shazzbaa

WHOA WAIT NO ROGUE IS PERFECT, ROGUE IS PERFECT, seriously how many times so far as she collected info by sneaking around?

Reply by Nerrin

Thinking about deafness in 3.5. The deafened condition says that if you're stuck with it for a long time, it's possible to overcome some of the penalties (though it leaves the specifics up to the GM). Perhaps a milder version could make up a reasonable flaw to take for a permanently deafened character. Still auto-fail Listen checks, but reduce or eliminate the Initiative and casting penalties. Or make it a trait (like flaws, but with good sides too) to give a bonus to Spot for reading lips since you've had to practice more at it than someone who isn't deafened.

I'd probably also include a Common Sign Language as a freebie for those who start off deafened (kind of like literacy for everyone but barbarians), at least in a setting that made a point of putting it down as a character option. There have been sign languages in D&D before. Others could just learn it as a regular language.