Fun classes, but challenging classes. |
That section is one of the best things in here, besides all the other good stuff in here. |
Speaking of the Customization Notes (p.9,) I will not repeat them in detail here, but these also give some interesting ideas for how to make a cohesive picture of a character with the choices given.
Putting this together, I offer the following as tailored situations where a Scholar can shine:
Bunches of weird things a scholar might like, |
- A scholar with several hidden lore skills can be good at recognizing specific monsters or certain patterns when a situation presents itself. A GM can look at a Scholar's Hidden Lore skills and assume that they were chosen because the player thought they were interesting concepts. Alternatively, an activity that requires a hidden lore specialty they have not mastered yet is an excellent impetus to learn something new, a common Obsession for Scholars.
- Similarly, take a look at some of the skill families under the professor in Customization Notes, and you can see that a Scholar, positioned correctly, can be a pinch hitter for a lot of the other main casters from Dungeon Fantasy 1. Any way that is recommended to make them useful in the original Make Everybody Useful aside could potentially apply.
- Wild Talent allows a Scholar to be a wildcard stopgap in any unusual situation. Want to introduce a crazy dwemer vehicle that no one has any good reason to know how to drive? Guess who can (once a session?) No one knows the weakness for a crazy underwater Were-wolffish? Guess who might? Insane occurrences that don't make much sense give a chance for the Scholar to know things that no one in their right mind could know.
- Because of Book-Learned Wisdom discovering a library or maps, or both is a never ceasing fount of power for a Scholar. Similar to Wild Talent, Book-Learned Wisdom allows a Scholar to prepare for parts unknown in ways that other players can't, by quickly memorizing Area Knowledge or different Survival specialties.
- A situation involving social intrigue in a very specific or insular community can allow a Scholar to play the part of a spy by learning the appropriate specialties of Savoir-Faire, new Cultural Familiarities, and extra Languages. With an etiquette book, a fashion magazine, a language book, and a point or two in disguise or acting, you can almost emulate a slow version of Social Chameleon that is even more versatile.
For a Scholar, books that can teach rare skills for Book-Learned Wisdom are probably the most mechanically useful treasure. Artifacts that are strange and unique like in the 40 Artifacts or Glittering Prizes might also work, though, who wouldn't want a treasure like those?
Lots of weird treasure scholars might like. |
Other Thoughts and Closing
Specific cases where a Scholar absolutely outshines a different template are kinda hard to find, because the Scholar's proclivity is being the ace in the hole, or the jack-of-all-the-trades-we-didn't-cover. This means though that a Scholar with a sense of direction and character development can be good at a lot of different things.
Like a lot of difficult problems, the biggest key to solving this problem is communication. Scholar is a wonderful "Gray-Area" template, but that means it isn't as easy to prescribe a sure-fire winner of a unique adventure opportunity as other classes. Making sure you know what your player wants and why is critical. Ask your player why? until you are certain beyond a shadow of a doubt what they want out of their character. Anyone else have any really good adventure hooks to tickle the Scholar's palate? I'd like to hear it.
No comments:
Post a Comment