Archivists in Eberron lore? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Archivists in Eberron lore? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Clutchbone
07-31-07, 01:38 PM Hey people. I'm lined up to play a gnome archivist in an upcoming campaign next month, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how this class would fit into the Eberron setting? I've never played either this class or campaign setting before, so I was hoping for some fresh ideas.

We start at lvl 3, and although we're being kept in the dark about what the campaign will be about, the DM has hinted that undead and demons are his usual tools of choice, and that he's a huge fan of Eberron lore - cue Knowledge (Religion), (The Planes), and (History) checks!

My half-formed notion is that the Zil gnomes have most of the archivists; their hunger for knowledge combined with their non-exclusive religious attitudes makes it a natural fit (especially with the mechanically sound Trivial Knowledge feat from Races of Stone). They could be employed by the Library of Korranberg as field agents for the Colleges of Religion and/or History.

I know arcane magic is everywhere, but divine magic seems almost non-existent in Eberron; somewhere I think I read that more priests are experts than adepts, and clerics are exceedingly rare. Now how do I fit a class that seeks out and adopts new divine spells into a world where divine magic seems so sparse? All the ancient cultures (dragons, giants, goblins, elves) seem to be arcane based too.

How would you fit Archivists into Eberron lore, and how would the people of Eberron react to such a character class?
JulesCARV
07-31-07, 02:03 PM On divine magic -- it depends. According to the Demographics Dragonshard (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040712a), in Aundair and, to a lesser extent, Karrnath, wizards are more common than clerics. In Thrane, clerics are more common than wizards. In Breland, Zilargo, and most other places in Khorvaire, they're equally common. As for magewrights and adepts -- magewrights are about twice as common (1% instead of 0.5%) in the non-generated demographics, but adepts still aren't all that rare. For the generated demographics, they're the same (3d4 + community). Divine magic is certainly not as well understood as arcane magic, but that doesn't mean it's all that much rarer.

Personally, I think that archivists fit into Eberron pretty much exactly as they are. They already have a very pulpy, "dark hero" feel. They could fit in with a variety of organizations, ranging from religions (The Sovereign Host, the Blood of Vol, etc) to arcane-focused organizations (the Arcane Congress, the Twelve) to Dragonmarked Houses (Vadalis, Jorasco), or simply independent scholars.
Darth Syntax
07-31-07, 03:17 PM Although the Zil do produce a large number of Archivists they are not the sole source of the class. In my games priests of Aureon (that have pc class levels) will almost inevitably have levels in Archivist as their sole divine casting class.
Arcane Guyver
08-01-07, 12:05 AM Archivists do seem to fit pretty well as-is in Eberron, though I don't think there's been any published mention of them in this setting yet.
Donald_Cannith
08-01-07, 01:34 AM I feel they fit in pretty well as devoted followers of Aureon. Also, however, I coudl see the whole newreporter angle as well.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Clutchbone 07-31-07, 01:38 PM	Hey people. I'm lined up to play a gnome archivist in an upcoming campaign next month, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how this class would fit into the Eberron setting? I've never played either this class or campaign setting before, so I was hoping for some fresh ideas. We start at lvl 3, and although we're being kept in the dark about what the campaign will be about, the DM has hinted that undead and demons are his usual tools of choice, and that he's a huge fan of Eberron lore - cue Knowledge (Religion), (The Planes), and (History) checks! My half-formed notion is that the Zil gnomes have most of the archivists; their hunger for knowledge combined with their non-exclusive religious attitudes makes it a natural fit (especially with the mechanically sound Trivial Knowledge feat from Races of Stone). They could be employed by the Library of Korranberg as field agents for the Colleges of Religion and/or History. I know arcane magic is everywhere, but divine magic seems almost non-existent in Eberron; somewhere I think I read that more priests are experts than adepts, and clerics are exceedingly rare. Now how do I fit a class that seeks out and adopts new divine spells into a world where divine magic seems so sparse? All the ancient cultures (dragons, giants, goblins, elves) seem to be arcane based too. How would you fit Archivists into Eberron lore, and how would the people of Eberron react to such a character class?
JulesCARV 07-31-07, 02:03 PM	On divine magic -- it depends. According to the Demographics Dragonshard (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040712a), in Aundair and, to a lesser extent, Karrnath, wizards are more common than clerics. In Thrane, clerics are more common than wizards. In Breland, Zilargo, and most other places in Khorvaire, they're equally common. As for magewrights and adepts -- magewrights are about twice as common (1% instead of 0.5%) in the non-generated demographics, but adepts still aren't all that rare. For the generated demographics, they're the same (3d4 + community). Divine magic is certainly not as well understood as arcane magic, but that doesn't mean it's all that much rarer. Personally, I think that archivists fit into Eberron pretty much exactly as they are. They already have a very pulpy, "dark hero" feel. They could fit in with a variety of organizations, ranging from religions (The Sovereign Host, the Blood of Vol, etc) to arcane-focused organizations (the Arcane Congress, the Twelve) to Dragonmarked Houses (Vadalis, Jorasco), or simply independent scholars.
Darth Syntax 07-31-07, 03:17 PM	Although the Zil do produce a large number of Archivists they are not the sole source of the class. In my games priests of Aureon (that have pc class levels) will almost inevitably have levels in Archivist as their sole divine casting class.
Arcane Guyver 08-01-07, 12:05 AM	Archivists do seem to fit pretty well as-is in Eberron, though I don't think there's been any published mention of them in this setting yet.
Donald_Cannith 08-01-07, 01:34 AM	I feel they fit in pretty well as devoted followers of Aureon. Also, however, I coudl see the whole newreporter angle as well.