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Mauril Everleaf
2010-04-15, 05:31 PM
The astute reader will note that the class is overall rather similar to the version printed in Heroes of Horror. The even more astute reader will note some of the specific changes I have made to the class which I believe bring it more in line with Pathfinder balance. The wording may not be the best, nor may some of my changes and I am very open to comments and suggestions. I also apologize for any formatting issues with the table since there is no {table] code to use.

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Pathfinder Archivist
Abilities: The most important characteristic for an archivist is a keen Intelligence. That intellect must also be tempered with a high degree of Wisdom, due to the fine line the archivist must walk in studying evil without being corrupted by it. A strong Constitution is also highly prized for dealing with the rigors of the archivist's missions.

Races: Elves tend to make the best archivists, due both to their longevity and to their natural proclivity for magic. Humans and gnomes can be drawn to the class as well, often becoming the most ambitious of seekers. Dwarves make fine archivists but tend to view the entire profession as a little too morally gray for their liking. Halflings and half-orcs rarely take up the mantle of the archivist.

Alignment: Characters of any alignment can become archivists, but the class does require some measure of academic detachment. As a result, archivists of an ethically lawful bent are quite common.

Class Features

The archivist's class features all serve to further his overall purpose, which is to seek out mystical, divine lore from strange and forbidden sources, and to gain both understanding and mastery thereof.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Archivists are proficient with all simple weapons but with no armor or shields.

Spellcasting: An archivist casts divine spells, drawn primarily from the cleric spell list although he can eventually uncover, learn, and prepare non-cleric divine spells spells. Unlike clerics, archivists prepare spells from a prayerbook, a collection of copied divine spells. To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, an archivist must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an archivist's spell is 10 + the spell level + the archivist's Int modifier.

Table 1-1: The Archivist Hit Die: d6
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5t h|6th|7th|8th|9th
1|+0|+2|+0|+2|Scribe Scroll, Dark Knowledge (Tactics), Orisons|3|2||||||||
2|+1|+3|+0|+3|Lore Mastery|4|3||||||||
3|+1|+3|+1|+3||4|3|2|||||||
4|+2|+4|+1|+4|Still Mind|4|4|3|||||||
5|+2|+4|+1|+4|Dark Knowledge (Puissance)|4|4|3|2||||||
6|+3|+5|+2|+5||4|4|4|3||||||
7|+3|+5|+2|+5||4|5|4|3|2|||||
8|+4|+6|+2|+6|Dark Knowledge (Foe)|4|5|4|4|3|||||
9|+4|+6|+3|+6||4|5|5|4|3|2||||
10|+5|+7|+3|+7|Bonus Feat|4|5|5|4|4|3||||
11|+5|+7|+3|+7|Dark Knowledge (Dread Secret)|4|5|5|5|4|3|2|||
12|+6/+1|+8|+4|+8||4|5|5|5|4|4|3|||
13|+6/+1|+8|+4|+8||4|5|5|5|5|4|3|2||
14|+7/+2|+9|+4|+9|Dark Knowledge (Foreknowledge)|4|5|5|5|5|4|4|3||
15|+7/+2|+9|+5|+9||4|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|2|
16|+8/+3|+10|+5|+10||4|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|
17|+8/+3|+10|+5|+10|Dark Knowledge (Guidance)|4|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|2
18|+9/+4|+11|+6|+11||4|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3
19|+9/+4|+11|+6|+11||4|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|4
20|+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Bonus Feat, Dark Mastery|4|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5
[/table]

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Appraise, Craft, Diplomacy, Fly, Heal, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Linguistics, Profession, Perception and Spellcraft.

Like other spellcasters, an archivist can cast only a certain number of spells of each level per day. His base daily allotment is given in Table 1-1: The Archivist. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting a good night's sleep and then spending 1 hour studying his prayerbook. The archivist decides which spells to prepare while studying.

Prayerbook: Unlike a cleric, an archivist does not receive his daily spell complement from whatever deity or cosmic force he worships. Rather, he must seek out and collect new spells much as a wizard does, but from such esoteric sources as holy tablets, ancient steles, or other magical scriptures. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his prayerbook except for read magic, which archivists can prepare from memory.

An archivist begins play with a prayerbook containing all 0-level cleric spells plus three 1st-level cleric spells of the player's choice. For each point of Intelligence bonus the archivist has, the prayerbook has an additional 1st-level cleric spell. At each new class level, the archivist gains two new cleric spells for his prayerbook; these can be of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new archivist level). At any time, an archivist can also add spells found on scrolls containing divine spells to his prayerbook, but he must make any rolls and spend the time required (see Adding Spells to a Wizard's Spellbook). The archivist can learn and thus prepare nonclerical divine spells in this fashion but the two free spells he gains for advancing in class level must be selected from the cleric spell list.

The archivist draws primarily from the cleric spell list and the spell cleric spell levels have primacy. If a spell exists on more than one divine spell list but not on the cleric list, the archivist must choose version from the full caster (druid, etc) over that of a partial caster (ranger, paladin, etc.). If, for example, the archivist wants to learn the spell lesser restoration, he must choose to learn it as a second level cleric or druid spell and not as a level 1 paladin spell. If he finds a scroll created by a paladin, it will still be considered a second level spell for the archivist. An archivist may also not learn spells with descriptors opposed to his alignment.

Orisons: An archivist can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table 1-1: Archivist under “Spells per Day.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Dark Knowledge: Several times per day, an archivist can draw upon his expansive knowledge of monsters, granting his allies benefits against the creatures they face. Doing this counts as a move action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. An archivist may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Wisdom modifier.

The secrets of dark knowledge pertain only to aberrations, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, magical beasts, outsiders, or undead. At level 1, the archivist chooses creature types from the list equal to his intelligence modifier for which to apply his dark knowledge abilities. These choices cannot be changed. If the archivist gains a permanent increase to his intelligence, he may select additional creature types.

Using dark knowledge requires a Knowledge check of a type appropriate to the creature faced. The DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster's CR. For common monsters, such as skeletons, the DC of this check equals 5 + the monster's CR. For particularly rare monsters, such as the tarrasque, the DC of this check equals 15 + the monster's CR, or more. Most of the archivist's dark knowledge abilities increase in effectiveness if he succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more.

The archivist's dark knowledge can affect a single creature or all creatures of the same race, depending on the effect used. A target creature must be within 60 feet, and the archivist must be aware of the creature's presence, although he need not have a line of sight to it. The effects of dark knowledge last for 1 minute, unless stated otherwise. Allies must be able to hear the archivist to gain any benefits from dark knowledge.

Tactics: The archivist knows the general combat behaviors of creatures of that race, granting his allies a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls made against them. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, then this bonus increases to +2. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, then this bonus increases to +3.

Puissance: Starting at 5th level, the archivist can use his dark knowledge to help his allies fight off the corrupting influence of other creatures. Allies gain a +1 insight bonus on saving throws against the affected creature's abilities. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, this bonus increases to +2. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, this bonus increases to +3.

Foe: Starting at 8th level, an archivist can direct his allies to attack vital spots of his enemies. On a successful Knowledge check, he grants them a bonus to weapon damage rolls made against the target creature(s) equal to 1d6 points of damage. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, then this bonus increases to 2d6. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, then this bonus increases to 3d6. This damage is not multiplied on a critical hit.

Dread Secret: By speaking aloud a dread secret of the target creature, an archivist of 11th level or higher can dazzle a target creature for 1 round. Unlike other dark knowledge, this ability can be used only against a single creature. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, then the target is dazed for 1 round. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, then the target is stunned for 1 round (if the target is immune to being stunned but not immune to being dazed then the archivist can choose to daze the target instead of stunning it).

Foreknowledge: Starting at 14th level, an archivist can better prepare his allies for the attacks of the affected creature, making it harder for the creature to land blows and successfully deal damage. Allies gain a +1 insight bonus to Armor Class that applies to attacks by the affected creature only. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 10 or more, this bonus increases to +2. If the archivist succeeds on his Knowledge check by 20 or more, this bonus increases to +3. This bonus also applies to touch and flat-footed Armor Class.

Guidance: Starting at 17th level, an archivist knows not only his enemies well but also his allies. By using an immediate action and spending a dark knowledge use, the archivist may give an ally the ability to reroll a to hit roll, skill check, ability check or saving throw.

Scribe Scroll: Archivists gain Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat.

Lore Mastery: Upon reaching 2nd level, an archivist gains a +2 bonus on all linguistics checks. An archivist also adds half of his archivist level to all knowledge checks (minimum 1).

Still Mind (Ex): Starting at 4th level, an archivist gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment, due to his rigorous focus and intense mental discipline.

Bonus Feat: When an archivist reaches 10th level, and again at 20th level, he can select a free feat from the following list: Skill Focus (any Knowledge skill), Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, any metamagic feat, or any item creation feat.

Dark Mastery: At 20th level, whenever an archivist succeeds on a single dark knowledge check, he may choose to apply any or all of the benefits of his dark knowledge abilities (except dread secret) at once. Normally, an archivist must make a knowledge check for each dark knowledge ability that he wants to apply.

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Any suggestions are welcome. Special consideration for the added abilities is requested.

Changes of note from the original WotC version:
-Spells essentially go to their higher level version as based on the cleric list. No getting heal early by finding an adept and such.
-Changed what Dark Knowledge can be applied to
-Dark Knowledge bonuses are all typed (insight)
-Added Dark Knowledge: Guidance
-Lore Mastery is now similar to Bardic Knowledge by adding bonuses to all knowledge skills
-Added some extra options to the bonus feats
-Added the "Dark Mastery" ability
-Brought skill list into line with Pathfinder

Mulletmanalive
2010-04-15, 06:46 PM
Oddly enough, my group couldn't figure out if Dark Knowledge functions were supposed to be discreet or not so we went for all at once. Then removed the "copy things into your prayerbook" thing when we found that a bit powerful [we liked the dark knowledge more than the spells anyway].

We'd been using your capstone all along!

Kuma Kode
2010-04-15, 10:00 PM
I'm a bit on the obsessive side and the table is kinda bugging me. Use this one. I added Orisons to it, since Pathfinder tends to write that out in the class feature section.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5t h|6th|7th|8th|9th
1|+0|+2|+0|+2|Scribe Scroll, Dark Knowledge (Tactics), Orisons|3|2||||||||
2|+1|+3|+0|+3|Lore Mastery|4|3||||||||
3|+1|+3|+1|+3||4|3|2|||||||
4|+2|+4|+1|+4|Still Mind|4|4|3|||||||
5|+2|+4|+1|+4|Dark Knowledge (Puissance)|4|4|3|2||||||
6|+3|+5|+2|+5||4|4|4|3||||||
7|+3|+5|+2|+5||4|5|4|3|2|||||
8|+4|+6|+2|+6|Dark Knowledge (Foe)|4|5|4|4|3|||||
9|+4|+6|+3|+6||4|5|5|4|3|2||||
10|+5|+7|+3|+7|Bonus Feat|4|5|5|4|4|3||||
11|+5|+7|+3|+7|Dark Knowledge (Dread Secret)|4|5|5|5|4|3|2|||
12|+6/+1|+8|+4|+8||4|5|5|5|4|4|3|||
13|+6/+1|+8|+4|+8||4|5|5|5|5|4|3|2||
14|+7/+2|+9|+4|+9|Dark Knowledge (Foreknowledge)|4|5|5|5|5|4|4|3||
15|+7/+2|+9|+5|+9||4|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|2|
16|+8/+3|+10|+5|+10||4|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|
17|+8/+3|+10|+5|+10|Dark Knowledge (Guidance)|4|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|2
18|+9/+4|+11|+6|+11||4|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|4|3
19|+9/+4|+11|+6|+11||4|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|4|4
20|+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Bonus Feat, Dark Mastery|4|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5|5
[/table]

Anyways, it's odd to me that the Orisons cap at 4, like they do with prepared casters, but the other archivist spells per day cap at 5, like the bard, which is one higher than the other prepared casters the cleric (ignoring domain spells), druid, and wizard. Was this intentional?

Mauril Everleaf
2010-04-15, 10:51 PM
The 4 orisons but 5 normal spells was intentional. It was to reflect the cleric's total spells and was how the class was originally written. I could make it an X+1 like a cleric, opening up a floating domain of sorts. But then I'd have to figure out how to mess with domains/specialty schools and such. I just opted to give them an extra spell slot and not mess with those.

Thanks for the table!

Mauril Everleaf
2010-04-17, 12:09 PM
Anyone else have any comments or critiques?

Tinydwarfman
2010-04-17, 01:05 PM
Why did you feel the need to up the power? The archivist is perfectly fine for pathfinder as is.

Mauril Everleaf
2010-04-18, 12:09 AM
Up the power? I thought I had significantly reduced it with the changes to its spellcasting... No more early entry shenanigans for spells. Also, keeping with Pathfinder, you get something useful every so many levels to disinterest you from multiclassing out. I'm playing a normal archivist in my pathfinder game right now and there is no reason for me to stick in the class past level 11, so I'm not. I'm picking up the prestige class loremaster.

Mauril Everleaf
2010-04-21, 07:44 PM
This will be my last bump for opinions. I want to make sure things have been smoothed out well before suggesting it to my gaming group as our official replacement.