The Class Historian ~ New Character Class

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Alright my lovelies… I have spent a few posts now sharing my character ideas/concepts with all of you and I greatly appreciate the feedback.  I thought I would copy the Adobe file I had on the Historian Class.  If anybody likes it, then grab it and use it.  It really filled a void for me and is allowing my character to branch out much further.

Enjoy and if you know of any other great ones then let us know.  Perhaps if we get enough we can start a page that has classes outside of the core books!

Oh and if you really love this class and want to play it then let us know and we can send along the file that contains all of the special ‘cards’ (at-will, encounter & daily powers) specific to this class.

 

Historian

The gods wiped away the civilizations of the mortal

races hundreds of years ago, and many great achievements

were lost forever. Even so, a vast amount of

knowledge lies buried in ancient ruins, waiting for

anyone who is bold and skilled enough to find it. The

historian risks his life to discover the secrets of the

past.

Many people fear the work of historians, reasoning

that they only tempt the gods to strike again by bringing

back that which was already wiped away once.

Some communities feel so strongly about this that they

will not tolerate a known historian to live among them.

There is no doubt that knowledge is power, and

many historians are as interested in that power as they

are in knowledge for its own sake. Still, there are

many who simply wish to see knowledge preserved or

to help their people regain stature and dignity lost long

ago.

CLASS TRAITS

Power Source: Martial. Your skills are hardwon

through education and practice.

Key Abilities: Intelligence, Dexterity, Wisdom

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, hide

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple

ranged, handaxe, short sword

Bonus to Defense: +1 Reflex, +1 Will

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution

score

Hit Points per Level Gained: 5

Healing Surges per Day: 6 + Constitution

modifier

Trained Skills: History and Dungeoneering.

From the class skills listed below, choose

four more trained skills at 1st level.

Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Arcana (Int),

Athletics (Str), Dungeoneering (Wis), History

(Int), Perception (Wis), Religion (Int),

Stealth (Dex), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery

(Dex)

Class Features: Esoteric Knowledge, Literacy,

Quick Thinking, Practical Knowledge,

Ritual Casting

HISTORIAN CLASS FEATURES

All historians have the class features described below.

ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE

Through your exploration and research, you learn fragments

of ancient knowledge. A long-forgotten litany,

holy to a god who has abandoned this world; the formula

of a spell; a technique for focusing the mind or

hardening the body. Your personal interests may drive

your research in a single direction, or you may gather

chance fragments like a magpie as fortune brings you

to them.

At certain levels, shown on the chart below, you

gain access to powers of other classes. These powers

can be drawn from any power source other than martial.

You do not gain any other features of the class

from which you take the power, and you are not required

to draw from the same class or power source

each time.

You learn these powers in addition to the martial

exploits you gain through your advancement as an

historian. This does not increase the number of encounter

attack or daily attack powers you can use

based on your level; you can simply choose to use one

of these powers instead of one of your historian exploits.

However, the utility power that you gain is

usable in addition to your historian exploits, giving

you access to one additional utility power per day than

would normally be possible at your level.

When you gain access to a power of a given type

(encounter, utility, or daily), it must be of your level or

lower. Each time you gain a level, you can choose to

replace your access to that power with access to another

power of the same type. The new power does

not need to be drawn from the same class or power

source as the previous power.

Level Power Type Gained

4th Encounter Attack

8th Utility

10th Daily Attack

PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE

Once per turn as a minor action, you can attempt to

recall something useful about a creature type which

you could use to your advantage in combat. The benefits

apply only against creatures of the exact type being

considered (e.g., kobold skirmisher and kobold slinger

are not of the same type for purposes of this ability).

Make a monster knowledge check as normal, using

the skill appropriate to the origin of the creature. You

gain the following benefits in addition to the information

normally gained from the check:

• Name, type and keywords: If the result of the

check indicates that you know this information,

you also gain a bonus to skills that are Charismabased,

Dexterity-based or Strength-based when

interacting with this creature type.

• Powers: If the result of the check indicates that

you know this information, you gain the skill bonus

above, and also gain a bonus to your Reflex

and Will defenses if attacked by this creature type.

• Resistances and vulnerabilities: If the result of

the check indicates that you know this information,

you gain the skill and defense bonuses

above, and also gain a bonus to your next attack

against a creature of this type.

The benefits of practical knowledge last until the start

of your next turn.

LITERACY

You gain the Literacy feat as a bonus feat, allowing

you to read and write any languages that you speak.

QUICK THINKING

You have to have quick reflexes to survive as a historian,

but you have to have an even quicker mind. You

gain a bonus to AC equal to your Intelligence modifier

against opportunity attacks. You also have the option

of using your Intelligence modifier rather than your

Strength or Dexterity modifier on your attack rolls

when making opportunity attacks.

RITUAL CASTING

You gain the Ritual Caster feat as a bonus feat, allowing

you to use magic rituals. You possess a ritual

book containing the Comprehend Language ritual.