Flerd Trantle

Flerd Trantle is a male human cleric of Pholtus best known for leading a resistance movement against the giants of Geoff.

Appearance and personality

Flerd Trantle is a lean human with grey hair, and wears magically enhanced plate mail into battle. He carries a hammer as his weapon and staff of striking.

He carries a portable hole which he hides his armor and weapons during covert missions, and an easily-removed trick set of shackles to disguise as a slave captured by giants.

Flerd has exceptional charisma and physical attributes, making him an excellent leader. He speaks the languages of the dwarves, kobolds and hobgoblins.

Flerd is Lawful Good in alignment.

History

See publication history, below, for ambiguities in Flerd's timeline.

Venture in the Glacial Rift

Flerd Trantle was one of a number of now-legendary adventurers who volunteered to lead a strike team against the giants who had been raiding human lands. One of the adventurers' first targets was the frost giants of the Glacial Rift.

Flerd was accompanied by four allies: the half-elf ranger Beek Gwenders of Croodle, human wizard Gleep Wurp, thief Cloyer Bulse, and elf fighter/wizard Fonkin Hoddypeak.

Beek and Flerd were unlucky, and killed on the quest. The other three immediately surrendered, and were delivered to a fire giant jarl as prisoners. The frost giants looted Beek and Flerd and froze their corpses in ice blocks as grisly trophies, and set near the entrance to ward off future intruders.

With the help of the human wizard Faffle Dwe'o-mercraeft, the giant invasion was successfully halted. At some point, it appears that Flerd was rescued and returned to life with a resurrection spell, as he later returned to the service of his deity Pholtus.

Liberation of Pregmere

Years later, a gray-haired Flerd stepped up to fight against a new giant invasion, occupying the Duchy of Geoff, among other states. Flerd became the leader of a scattered resistance movement responsible for such daring raids as the liberation of the ill-defended hot springs city of Pragmere from the fire giants.

Publication history

AD&D 1st edition

Flerd Trantle originally appeared as a pre-made character for use in the adventure module G1-3 Against the Giants (1981). He is a level 9 cleric, but it was not stated which deity he was a cleric of.

AD&D 2nd edition

Flerd Trantle is given more detail in the Silver Anniversary adventure module Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (1999). He is now a level 11 cleric.

The Liberation of Geoff deliberately leaves it ambiguous as to whether the events of the AD&D module Against the Giants occurred around 15 years prior, or occurred approximately concurrently. This means the events of his history can occur in either order: either Flerd survived the original Against the Giants and led the resistance movement 15 years later, or Flerd and his comrades are veterans of some undocumented past uprising against the giants before they joined the resistance movement. However, his increased character level suggests that he survived Against the Giants.

D&D 4th edition

Flerd Trantle is mentioned in two Dungeon magazine adventures in 2012, which formed sequels to G1-3 Against the Giants (1981): Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, Dungeon #199 (Feb 2012), and Hall of the Fire Giant King, Dungeon #200 (Mar 2012).

Flerd's frozen corpse appears in this module, having been kept in a block of ice since he was killed in the original expedition. This is seemingly inconsistent with the interpretation that Flerd is still alive during The Liberation of Geoff, but it could be that the D&D 4e adventures take place between Against and Liberation, and that Flerd was rescued and raised from the dead with resurrection.

The most straightforward explanation is probably that the 4th edition adventures take place a few days after the original, and that the AD&D 2e Liberation module occurs years later.

D&D 5th edition

While a D&D 5e adaption of Against the Giants did appear in Tales from the Yawning Portal (2017), the original iconic characters do not appear in it.

Creative origins

Gygax named tournament characters in this module after entries in entries in a dictionary of obscure words, Poplollies and Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words. "Flerd" is defined as "deceit, fraud". "Trantle" is defined under "trantles", meaning "articles of little value".