[DFRPG] The Scholar, Revised

[Crystalline_Entity]

Originally Posted by Kromm

The idea is that once the party finds a quest, the scholar pores over books and maps, memorizing all the knowledge necessary to serve as their tour guide, translator, and code-breaker when it comes to finding the dungeon and interpreting its subtle warnings.

The coolest part is that the scholar can reset to do this on every adventure without spending further points on new languages and skills. In effect, the initial points in special abilities can be reused to cover this need forever. Of course, resetting happens in town – dragging books around to do it in the field is deliberately a pain as a curb against excessive cheese. ("Oh, I'll just whip out my notebook and reconfigure my brain like Neo in The Matrix" was never the goal . . .)

That does help put it into perspective, thanks.

I do like the idea of playing a character who does lots of pre-adventure preparation along the lines of "we're raiding the Orc Caverns, best get out the Textbook on speaking Orcish", or "we're meeting the Elven Princess this session, best brush up on my etiquette, where's that Primer on Savoir-Faire (High Society)". I think I was taking the example in DF4 a little too literally, where it sounded to me like Mandrake the Mad carried around a library in his pack, whereas I can more easily see a character taking along a book or two for use in emergency, and leaving the rest in Town.

I agree with the point that it is contingent on being in a campaign that supports that style of play, there's no point playing an intellectual character if that niche isn't necessary as the GM accepts workarounds for lacking those skills. I guess it comes down to making sure that the GM and players are singing from the same songbook when starting the campaign and that they have compatible expectations.