Breaking (Bad) Scholars

[Shostak]

I'd prefer them to not be a ladder, so separate elements could be learned independent of each other.

I'd also make the breakdown Arts & Letters, which would cover languages, literature, and art history; Historian, which would cover both history and geography; and Anthropologist (yes, I realize that this is human-centric), which would deal with folklore, costume, customs, religions, cuisine. One could add a fourth scholarly talent: Occultist, which would deal with the history and theory of magic and hidden knowledge.

If doing this, some discounts might be appropriate. For instance, someone with Arts & Letters might learn languages or Bard at a lower XP cost. Similarly, if one had any of them, maybe Mathematician could cost 1 point less.

For more discussion of Scholar, see this thread on the main forum.