Something I have been really interested in bringing into my fantasy dungeon delving games is the concept of an adventuring archaeologist, historian, or biologist, someone more focused on specialist knowledge than they are on combat prowess or sorcery. Often DnD clones put this scholarly role onto magic-users, but I'm kind of more interested in magic-users/wizards being esoteric mystics and the like, more than medieval men and women of learning. So hey here is my attempt at making an interesting scholar class for B/X and similar games!
Oh and something else: the core conceit of this class is heavily inspired by this post over at d4 Caltrops. I thought it was very very well suited to the idea of the scholar class in my head! Just to show my inspirations I guess, also go check out his blog it is very lovely!!
The Scholar
A class for use with Old School Essentials (or any similar ruleset)
Requirements: None
Prime Requisite: INT
Hit Dice: d4
Maximum Level: 14
Armor: All armor, but no shields
Weapons: None (see below)
Languages: 2 additional languages
XP to Level 2: 1,500
A scholar with at least 13 INT gains a +5% bonus to experience. If they have 16 INT or higher, they have a +10% bonus to experience.
Close Examination
A scholar may attempt a very close and meticulous examination of something to ascertain elements of its nature or further details that may not be apparent to the untrained eye, so long as the item pertains to one of their fields of study. This takes a number of exploration turns determined by the referee, and requires tools and reference books. If the scholar takes the full time needed to perform the examination, they discover any and all information from the thing being examined. However, if the scholar must rush their examination, they must roll on the rushed examination table, provided below. A normal rushed examination is made by rolling 2d6, but if it is something they have no real reference for (such as if it is something alien to their understanding or something unusually obscure), they roll 2d4, and if it pertains to a field of study they are currently specialized in they roll 2d8. A successful roll produces new information about the subject. A superb investigation (A+) provides unusual or obscure information beyond what would normally be learned. The scholar should always roll, even when an automatic superb success is indicated on the table; on a result of 2 they fail.
Combat
Scholars can wear all types of armor but cannot use shields. They progress as thieves for purposes of their to-hit bonuses, but are unable to use any weaponry in combat if they do not use one of their specialization slots (described below) to specialize in that type of weapon.
Fields of Study
Alchemy, Archaeology, Architecture, Astrology, Botany, Cooking, Demonology, Engineering, Entomology, Epigraphy, Heresiology, Herpetology, History (Ancient), History (Dynastic), History (Local), Mineralogy, Ornithology, Pathology, Poetry, Theology
(Additionally, a scholar may add training with a weapon type or fighting style as a field of knowledge. When that weapon type or fighting style is specialized in (see below), the scholar's attack bonus is added to attack rolls.
Magic Item Use
Magic Item Use
Scholars are able to use all magic items, regardless of typical class restrictions, so long as they are allow use of items of that type normally (no weapons unless that weapon type is specialized in).
Saving Throws
Scholars save as thieves, but receive +2 to saves against being charmed or ensorcelled.
Specializations
Scholars must brush up on the fields of study they have knowledge of during downtime between adventures; their heads cannot brim with every little bit of knowledge all the time! At level one, a scholar has 1 specialization slot that they can put a field of knowledge they already know into. Fields of knowledge can only be switched out with considerable time spent in study. Only fields that they are presently specialized in can be used to their full ability during adventures. The number of specialization slots a scholar has is equal to half their level, rounded up (1 at level 1, 2 at level 3, 3 at level 5, so on).
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| You too can do this with some blind pale cave turtle in a vaguely medieval dungeon! |
Rushed Examinations Table
Some Design Notes I Guess
To me, the scholar functions as a unique kind of support class, i.e. one that is supposed to help provide the group with longevity in the dungeon, increase the amount of time that they can continue on. However, it does this not through healing of hit points (which in OSE/BX is something clerics do, and which I'm potentially interested in making a function of items rather than class abilities), but through allowing then to do something that normally requires going back to town for: identifying items, reading ancient inscriptions, figuring out stuff about that monster you just killed, etc. They are rather weak in all other respects really, so a scholar character, just like a magic-user, would be something closely guarded by the rest of the group. They might seem suited only to very specific circumstances, but the wide array of potential fields of study and the ability of a scholar player to specialize in certain fields expands their usefulness. Also I gave them the option to specialize in weapons so that if a scholar player really does want to fight, they can.
Don't forget the most useful hireling: the Assistant who carries the reference tomes!
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