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Rift_Wolf
2007-01-30, 04:24 PM
"If I could have a word with you for a moment, Baron."
The Baron spun round, and wagged a finger at the unshaven man in front of him as if trying to place where he'd seen him before.
"You... You're that man at the King's ball. If I recall the guards threw you out. I believe they had prior warning to do so."
The man smiled widely, and looked down at a book of loosely bound pieces of paper.
"My reputation, I'm sorry to say, precedes me. However, you may recognise me from other occasions. How about... here, the tavern where you employed some rather nasty orcs?"
The man produced an image showing the Baron sat at a table with three large orcs, his face clearly shown.
"What trickery..."
"Or here, when you paid the orcs after they destroyed the carriage that carried the queen from the Elfin lands?"
Another image, again showing the Baron giving a bag of platinum coins to the orcs.
"Maybe here, you see, I was one of the guards you reported the orcs to. I'm rather proud of this one."
Yet another image. The Baron ground his teeth, and began to tear the images up.
"You shouldn't play games, little boy. There's no man alive who would believe these... illusions over my good name!"
The man was taken back.
"Illusions? Oh no Baron. You see, you may lie, and cheat, and use illusion to disguise yourself when making deals outside your house. And I may lie and use disguises and make compromises with unsavoury characters, like those orcs. But the images? They never lie."

Investigator
Prerequisites: Wisdom 15, Spot +10, Search +10, Gather Information +10
Must be accepted into a group of Investigators.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack
Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+1|
+1|
+2|Spot a story+1 (Ex), Perceptive nature (Bonus Feat)

2nd|
+0|
+1|
+1|
+2|Scribe Vision (Sp), Undercover (Bonus Feat)

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+2|
+2|Spot a story+2

4th|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+3|Clever Deception (Bonus Feat), Scribe Darkvision (Sp)

5th|
+1|
+2|
+3|
+3|Spot a story+3

6th|
+2|
+2|
+4|
+4|Mimic (Sp), See the Truth (Ex)

7th|
+2|
+2|
+4|
+4|Spot a story+4, Scribe True Vision (Sp)

8th|
+3|
+3|
+5|
+5| Illusory recreation (Sp), Decisive Moment (Sp)

9th|
+3|
+3|
+5|
+5|Spot a story+5, Immunity to Illusions (Ex)

10th|
+3|
+3|
+6|
+6|Power of the Press (Ex) [/table]
Investigators are concerned with only one thing; the truth. Whether its the concealment or corruption of it (With Evil aligned investigators) or with exposing hidden truths to the masses (With Good or Neutral aligned investigators), an Investigator will pursue a story if he senses one. While ranks in bluff, disguise and diplomacy aren't necessary for Investigators, many take ranks in them to help them get to the truth. The class offers itself well to bards or rogues, though any class with the requirements can become an Investigator. Wisdom is the most important thing to an investigator; they are especially perceptive and aware of their surroundings. Charisma and Dexterity are secondary abilities; Sometimes an Investigator needs to use force of personality to get what he wants, and needs to be fast enough to gt out of a sticky situation if it turns against him.

Alignment: Any, though Investigators prefer not to be affiliated with lawful society (More often then not their stories bring them against the local guards)

Hit dice: d6

Skills: 8+ (Int Modifier) per level

Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Knowledge (Wis), Listen (Wis) Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis)

Weapon/Armour Proficiencies: Investigators gain no proficiencies in weapons or armour.

Class Abilities
Spot a story (Ex)
The keen eyes of an Investigator are always looking for a story, and they rarely stop looking for one. From the 1st level, Investigators get a +1 bonus to Spot, Search or Gather Information checks. Every two levels afterwards the bonus accumulates by 1. With Spot a story +5, an Investigator can also take 10 on these checks even if threatened or rushed.

Perceptive Nature (Feat)
Being able to see through the eyes of an Investigator gives them a better chance of avoiding attacks. Investigators can choose to add their Wisdom modifier to their AC instead of their Dexterity if the modifier is higher. They can also add the Wisdom modifier to Reflex saves instead of Dexterity.

Scribe Vision (Sp)
With an Investigators 2nd level comes his most useful ability; the ability to imprint what he sees onto a surface, usually a piece of paper. He can use this ability (Wisdom Modifier+Investigator Level) per day. Scribing has a somatic and material component (Running their hand over the surface while holding a silver coin (1sp) which is destroyed by the ability), and provokes an attack of opportunity if used when threatened.
Scribe Vision only records what you see; it cannot be alterred or manipulated in any way.

Undercover (Bonus Feat)
Sometimes and Investigator needs to go undercover to get to a story. The Undercover feat gives a +2 to Disguise, Bluff and Diplomacy checks when following a story.

Clever Deception (Bonus Feat)
Deceiving someone isn't just a case of personality, its about brains as well. Clever Deception allows an Investigator to make Disguise, Bluff and Diplomacy checks using his Wisdom modifier instead of his Charisma modifier when following a story.

Scribe Darkvision (Sp)
Scribe Darkvision works like Scribe Vision, except it imprints an image as if the viewer had darkvision, even if he doesn't. This can be used 1/2 the number of times as Scribe Vision, and counts as using it twice per day (So if an investigator gets 16 Scribe Visions a day, he can use one Scribe Darkvision and still have 14 normal Scribes left) It still has a somatic and material component (Requiring a large piece of silver (5sp) to be run over the surface) and provokes an attack of opportunity when threatened. Like Scribe Vision, it cannot be distorted or manipulated in any way.

Mimic (Sp)
When going deep undercover, the Investigator can take on a completely different identity. With 6 hours preparation, an Investigator can pass himself off as any race, gender, class or alignment (With the following restrictions). The race must be the same size category as the Investigators base creature (So a human Investigator could pass himself off as a Dwarf, but not a Gnome). Posing as a different gender increases disguise check DCs by 2, and 5 for people who are the gender you are impersonating. You can alter your alignment (Or rather the perception of your alignment) to fool a Cleric's detect evil spell or similar ability (It will not alter your actual alignment, so abilities like Smite Evil will still damage an evil-aligned Investigator). A true vision spell or another Investigator with See the Truth ability can see though such a mimicry. If a mimicry is discovered, the Investigator loses his disguise and cannot use the Mimic ability again for 24 hours (Assuming he survives the act of being unmasked)

See the Truth (Ex)
Investigators can become so perceptive they only ever see the Truth. They gain +3 to withstand Illusions and similar deceptions, as well as +5 to Sense Motive checks and Spot checks against other peoples disguises.

Scribe True Vision (Sp)
With the ability to see the world without bias, Investigators can Scribe True Visions. Scribe True Vision can be used 1/4 of the times of Scribe Vision and counts as 4 Scribe Visions (So if an Investigator has 14 Scribe Visions, he can use a Scribe True Vision 3 times and have 2 Scribe Visions left for the day) This works in the same way as Scribe Vision, however Scribe True Vision imprints whatever is actually there rather than what can be perceived. Illusions or similar deceptions are not shown. Creatures under the effects of polymorph are shown as their original form. Incorporeal or invisible creatures are shown as outlined within the image. If an image is scribed of someones face while they are wearing a disguise, it will show them without the disguise and clearly identifiable (Though recognising the person is a different matter altogether). Scribe True Vision has a somatic and material component, requiring a specially crafted silver eye (20sp) being run across the surface imprinted. This provokes an attack of opportunity if threatened. Like Scribe Vision, Scribe True Vision cannot be alterred or manipulated. However, this is the ultimate truth in this matter; While the other two scribings depict illusions, Scribe True Vision does not, meaning even an illusionists attempts to 'lie to the scribing' won't be shown on a True Vision Scribing.

Illusory Recreation (Sp) As a full round action, an Investigator can recall an event with perfect clarity and re-enact it as an illusion. There are restrictions; he must make a Will Save (DC20) to fully recall the memory clearly. The illusion can only recall what the Investigator saw or heard; if either sense was obscured, so will the recreation. Finally, the DC of recalling the event raises by 1 for every day that passes afterwards. Using Illusory Recreation doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity, however it has limited uses in battle (Other than confusing weak willed enemies)

Decisive Moment (Sp)
Like a contingency, the Decisive Moment will automatically use a Scribe Vision, Scribe Darkvision or Scribe Truevision without the somatic component (The material component is still required, however it doesn't require to be run across a piece of paper; it merely disintegrates) and without provoking an attack of opportunity. Decisive Moment only works when critical to an Investigation to a story and when spotting something critical to the Investigation (Though it can be set for certain conditions, such as when a certain person is seen, even in disguise or obscured by shadows). Decisive moment counts as using two Scribings (Be it normal, Darkvision or True Vision). Like Scribe Vision, Decisive Moment can't be manipulated or alterred.

Immunity to Illusions (Ex)
Investigators become immune to any Illusion spells unless they willingly succumb to them (For instance, when using their Illusory Recreation ability).

Power of the Press (Ex)
When a story is finished and whatever truth exposed (or secreted), usually an Investigator has to give his information to a senior Investigator or a judge of some description to gain recognition. With the Investigators final ability, Power of the Press makes any information discovered available to anyone, be it through published material or bardic knowledge making the necessary check; for investigations relating to a certain knowledge skill, the DC is DC25+Special Modifier, for people using Gather Information the DC is DC30+Special Modifier. The information spread can be the truth or the falsified lies of an evil Investigator, and only a DC35 Sense Motive check can tell the difference.
Special Modifiers
Local Investigation: -2
Local Investigation involving celebrity or notoriety (King, Bandit Leader, etc): -5
Distant Investigation (Outside town): +5
Distant Investigation involving celebrity or notoreity (King, Bandit Leader etc): +2
Remote Investigation (Occurring away from civilisation, or in an isolated city): +8
Obscure Investigation (Investigation of interest to small number of people such as a druid grove, mages guild, etc.): +10
Investigation resulting in massive change (King arrested, Duke shamed): -8
Investigation involving sensationalist details (eg: discovering emperors lost son): -10

I wasn't sure if this should be an NPC class or Prestige, so I tried Prestige to start with. Any thoughts are welcomed.

cferejohn
2007-01-30, 08:08 PM
So this seems more akin to a newspaper investigative reporter than a police reporter. That's interesting. I haven't read it carefully, but it seems like an illusionist could duplicate most of his abilities and wouldn't be stuck showing only what was actually there. I don't know if you think it's too much of a cludge to say that "people who view the true vision/recreation will believe it" or something like that. While it may be true that the pictures never lie, that's not all that useful unless people actually believe that.

I do like the idea of a DnD investigative reporter though. The press is rarely given much attention in campaign world, and are usually stuck with medieval technology even though magic would presumably allow some enhancements...