King of Nowhere
2017-08-02, 01:55 PM
The best blacksmith in town, the university professor, the famous painter, they all have a thing in common: they are exceptionally good at what they do, while being comparatively pretty bad at everything else. This class aims at creating a kind of figure that often interacts with the pcs, but that can't really be rendered with the normal npc classes; the highly skilled professional.
Adventures: specialized experts rarely adventures; they are npcs doing their job better than anyone else, and their task is to provide the pcs with services no one else can provide, thus allowing all manners of plot hooks.
Characteristics: This class specializes in one specific thing, and it becomes extremely good at it, to the detriment of all else.
Preamble: why I created this class and why most DM can profit from it
I had this great idea for a low level adventure. It involved escorting a caravan through a goblin-infested land .Yeah, when described like that, it doesn't seem that original. It had a lot of interesting worldbuilding points about the goblins, but the linchpin of the adventure would be the caravan guide: An extremely skilled guy who could do impressive feats of reading the desert and tracking and generally ensuring the caravan would stay out of troubles (well, mostly; as there were pcs on board, of course he had to fail at some point), who also happened to be a misanthropist with a very abrasive personality who enjoied being abrasive, taking great pleasure in the fact that no matter how much he was being a ****, customers would still come to him because of his skill. He is obese, and is always seen eating the most improbable food (like pizza with chocolate cream, pineapples and french fries, or drinking a mixture of wine, milk and lemon juice), which earned him the nickname "da drain", but he has solid mucles underneath all the fat; in fact, he can march for days tirelessly while giving the impression of being about to fall over from exhaustion from the first minute. Once the goblins captured him and, wanting to make him suffer, left him in the middle of the desert naked and with a broken leg; he managed to survive and crawl back to civilization.
My players loved him, and he remains my bet-characterized npc to this day.
As you may notice, I had a problem. This guy is clearly very strong, he must have a lot of levels to pull out those feats, and he also has high STR and CON. He would clearly be able to handle a band of goblins for himself (even goblins with one or two class levels, as I made them), he woul never need low level adventurers to escort him. And high level adventurers would have better things to do than sitting on a cart for weeks for a small pay waiting for an attack that generally doesn't happen. So i wanted a class that could give da drain a huge survival check, and a large fortitude check against exhaustion, without buffing his combat prowess.
It's not an isolated problem. Virtually every DM who wanted to introduce an npc of great skill giving the pcs a quest had to answer one of two questions: if this guy is so good, why does he need the pcs (for a low level party) or, if the pcs are so good, why would they need this guy (for a high level party). This happens because lof the way levels and skills work. A high level wizard who took one skill point in profession (blacksmith) every level is just as good at blacksmithing as an equally high level expert blacksmith, despite the wizard having taken up blacksmithing just as an hobby, one of many. It doesn't work that way in real life; people are rarely equally good at making several things. those who make a specialized profession tend to be so much better at it than they are at their hobbies.
And so I came up with the specialized expert: a class devoted to being masters of one specific field, giving huge boons to one single skill check and moderate boons to other skill checks regarding the same activity, and virtually nothing else.
As a DM, you can use this class everytime you need an npc to be capable of doing something the pcs can't do, but you don't want him to compete with the pcs in any other aspect. Examples of how it can be used:
- a senior wizard with extensive knowledge may be a wizard/specialized expert of spells; that way he could have higher knowledge or spellcraft checks than the party wizard (can do something the party can't do), but less spells (is less powerful than the party, and doesn't compete for power with them. This guy can reasonably send the party to do some quest he can't do by himself. I hear you asking "what kind of brain-dead moron would multiclass from wizard to gain some skill boosts???". Well, remember that real people do not gain levels. they do stuff because they like it, or because they think it will profit them, and levels are an abstraction to represent their skill. This guy studied a lot of magic theory, so he knows a lot. He never choose to cast less spells or have higher skill modifiers.
- anyone with specialized knowledge that the party lacks could be a specialized expert. The wizard can't make on his own all the knowledge rolls the party need, and may have to hire this guy.
- the party may want a weapon of supreme quality to enchant; the party fighter can't do it just because he spent one skill point per level in craft (weapons)
In general, this class can create a lot of positive interactions between the party and the world; if you like that kind of adventuring (as opposed to the adventuring where the party stays in its ivory tower and does everything by itself) then this class may improve your gaming world.
Alignment: Specialized experts can be very different from each other, and can be any alignment.
Religion: Any, but generally one connected to their job; a craftsman may worship the god of craftmanship, a con artist may worship the god of thieves, and so on.
Background: While most specialized experts were formally trained from a young age to reach their level of skill, some are self-trained. As is wide the array of things they can specialize on, the only thing really accomunating two specialized experts is their love for their specific field and their motivation toward self-improving.
Races: Any, although generally the more technologically and culturally advanced a race is, the more specialized experts it tends to have.
Game Rule Information:
Specialized experts have the following game statistics.
Chosen task: Specialized experts choose something they want to specialize on. It can be anything, really; from knowing spells to being a scholar on history of the XIX century to being a hunter to being a street-food retailer. This choice cannot be changed and defines their class, to the point that specialized experts at different things count as different classes for the purpose of multiclassing.
Chosen skill: The chosen task of a specialized expert is always dependent from a specific skill, which will be the chosen skill. In the examples above, a scholar on history will have knowledge (history) as his chosen skill, a hunter will have survival, a street-food retailer will have profession (cook). In most cases it's straightforward which chosen skill a specialized expert should have, but not always. The specialized expert at knowing spells may have either spellcraft or knowledge (arcana) as his chosen skill; either way, make a decision and stick to the choice.
A specialized expert is required to keep his chosen skill maximized at all times to keep advancing in the class. In order to multiclass to specialized expert, one must have the chosen skill maximized to the best of what his current class/level setup allows.
Ability Scores: What ability scores a specialized expert needs depends on his chosen task
Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: Variable. If a chosen task does not entail any kind of physical exercice, like a scholar or clerk, hit dice is d4. If it entailes consistent labor, but little risk of injury (like a blacksmith, or a hunter), hit dice is d6. Very rarely a specialized expert will have hit dice d8, for dangerous occupations that entail being wounded on a regular base; a caravan guide who travels through goblin-infested lands and has done his share of fighting whenever stealth didn't work is one such example.
Class Skills: Variable. Basically, everything related to the chosen task is a class skill.
For example, a caravan guide will have as class skills spot and listen to scout, hide and move silently to sneak past potential dangers while scouting, ride because you'll have a horse to cover more ground, and speak language because you'll deal with a large variety of people from different places, knowledge (nature, geography) for obvious reasons. Plus of course survival, which is the chosen skill. A blacksmith will have profession (blacksmith) as chosen skill, and class skills appraise, craft (only metal or mostly metallic objects), open locks (he makes locks, he knows all about opening them), and maybe knowledge (architecture and engineering) if he makes metal objects to be used for such purposes.
Additionally, a specialized expert picks 2 + Int modifier other skills as class skills; they represent additional stuff he may be good at doing, while not being related to his chosen task; basically, they are hobbies.
Skill Points at First Level: generally (4 + Int modifier) x 4; if you decide that a specific chosen task would require knowing more or less skills, feel free to use 6 or 2 + int modifier x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: generally 4 + Int modifier; see what said above.
Saving throws: Good saving throws are also variable and depends on the choosen task. An intellectual profession like a scholar will come with good will saves. A physically taxing profession like a blacksmith will give good fortitude saves. Chosen tasks with high reflexes saves are rare, a circus tumbler/performer may be one such example.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: the specialized expert is proficient in one simple weapon of his choosing. Furthermore, he is proficient with any weapon that makes sense given his chosen task (for example, a blacksmith will be proficient at swinging a hammer)
The specialized expert
Level
BAB
Chosen skill bonus
Special
1st
+0
+2
chosen skill
2nd
+1
+3
3rd
+1
+3
1st related proficiency
4th
+2
+4
Super Specialization
5th
+2
+4
6th
+3
+5
7th
+3
+5
2nd related proficiency
8th
+4
+6
9th
+4
+6
10th
+5
+7
Foremost of the field
11th
+5
+7
3rd related proficiency
12th
+6/+1
+8
13th
+6/+1
+8
14th
+7/+2
+9
15th
+7/+2
+9
4th related proficiency
16th
+8/+3
+10
achievement of a lifetime
17th
+8/+3
+10
18th
+9/+4
+11
19th
+9/+4
+11
5th related proficiency
20th
+10/+5
+12
Chosen skill: The inextricable link between a specialized expert, his chosen task and his chosen skill has been discussed above. The specialized expert gains a competence bonus to every skill check of his chosen skill equal to 2 + half his level of specialized expert, as detailed in the table. Furthermore, a natural 1 with such a skill check is not considered an automatic failure.
related proficiency: At third level, the specialized expert has become very good at something that helps him perform his job better, earning a +1 competence bonus, or another similar scaling bonus. This point is open to a lot of freedom for the DM, because it could be virtually anything. Generally it could mean a +1 to a class skill different from the chosen skill. For example, a blacksmith may have become very good at pricing items, gaining a bonus to appraise. A caravan guide may have become particularly good at riding. A scholar of history may have become knowledgeable with the places where this history happens, gaining a bonus to knowledge (geography), or maybe knowledge (local) if he specialized on a narrow geographical area. Or it could be a saving throw bonus in a specific circumstance: for example the blacksmith breaths noxious fumes from the forge all day, so he may have a bonus to saving throws against poison. The caravan guide walks or rides all day under the sun, he may have a bonus to saving throws against exhaustion and the effect of hot weather. You may even pick something more exotic: the caravan guide walks a lot, so he gains 5 feet per round of movement speed when walking. Often he has found goblin scouts, and has snuck behind them and slit their throats; he gains 1d6 of sneak attack damage against a flat-footed humanoid opponent. Sky is the limit. Whatever whacky skill you want to give your specialized expert, related proficiency is here for you.
For every four additional levels, the specialized expert gain another related proficiency with a +1 bonus, and the bonus of his other related proficiencies increase by 1 (or 5 additional feet of movement, and extra d6 of damage, whatever) in a manner similar to the ranger's favored enemy.
Super specialization: As the specialized expert becomes more skilled, he specialize to a more narrow field. he chooses a specific field of his chosen skill, and he gains a +2 competence bonus to all related skill checks; however, specialization comes with a price, and he also suffers a -2 penalty (ok, just his competence bonus becoming lower) on skill checks not related to that specific field. For example, a blacksmith may specialize in making weapons, gaining +2 when making a weapon but suffering a -2 when making an armor, or a clock. A caravan guide may specialize in cold desert terrain, gaining a +2 to survival checks in cold deserts but a -2 in every other environment.
A specialized expert can change his field of specialization, but it requires a lot of time and studying to respecialize in another field while you progressively get rusty in your old field. A reasonable time could be 6 months to 3 years of in-universe time. This also applies to changing your foremost of the field and achievement of a lifetime specializations (see below)
Foremost of the field: The specialized expert becomes even more specialized in an even narrower field as he progresses. This time he must choose an even more narrow field that is a subset of his super specialized field; he gains a +4 proficiency bonus to it (stacking with super specialization) but he suffers an additional -2 to skill checks not related to the field where he is superspecialized. For example, the blacksmith from the example above may become foremost of the field of sword forging; he will therefore have +6 when making a sword, +2 when making any other weapon, and -4 when making anything that is not a weapon, compared to his normal skill check. A caravan guide may specialize in that specific desert trail he generally takes, an historian may specialize in the hystory of a specific nation in a specific century.
Achievement of a lifetime: The most skilled specialized experts can put all their knowledge and preparation to use for doing something truly unique, something of such astounding magnificence that will probably be remembered in history. First, the specialized expert must decide which achievement he wants to produce; it must be a specific action that falls within his foremost of the field specialization. He must then prepare for this action. The specific nature of the preparation varies depending on the nature of the achievement: for a piece of art, it may require making preparatory sketches and studying the raw materials. For the unhearting of hidden knowledge, it may require undertaking extensive studies and possibly experiments. For a daring con, it may require planting rumors and forging documents and bribing selected people to ensure everything plays as you planned, as well as a pshycological study of the intended victim to see what could fool her best.
Regardless of what exactly the preparation entails, the specialized expert gains another +4 to that skill check in addition to all his other competence bonuses, and he can automatically reroll any result lower than 10.
Examples of real-world achievements of a lifetime:
the monna lisa (craft, art)
the theory of relativity (knowledge, physics)
the lord of the rings (perform, storytelling)
the Antikythera mechanism (craft, mechanics?)
the Ponzi scheme (bluff)
any olimpic record (jump, swim, and other similar stuff)
An achievement of a lifetime is something akin to those. Its result can be an item so well built that it performs better than any nonmagical item could by the rules, well above the simple masterwork bonuses (and may even stack bonuses with magic enhancement, thus providing a potential macguffin, or at least a very expensive piece of loot), and that even magic cannot replicate (at least not mundane magic, the higher level spells may); a world-famous piece of art; a seminal research; a fraud that earned millions of gold pieces.
Depending on its nature, you may be able to replicate an achievement of a lifetime. For example, if you learned to craft a supremely exquisite sword, you certainly can forge multiple copies. If you lerned how to perfect a specific jump, you can perform it many times, provided you have an identical runway. Once you made a master painting, you can paint another identical copy, though it's generally not done. If you wrote a beautiful book, you can certainly write it again, but there isn't much point to it. Once you research some particularly difficult bit of knowledge, it becomes known and your research can be found in any library, there's no benefit to replicating the research. Once you scammed a person, he generally realizes he's been scammed and you can't replicate the feat; if the information doesn't spread, though, you may be able to scam different people in the same way.
In particular this skill is meant to give some sinergy to high level wizards and artisans. even a powerful magical weapon may gain additional benefits from being crafted particularly well, giving your pc wizard a reason to undertake a quest to find the best swordsmith of the planet to create a truly unique item.
A final note: this class can be fairly strong and it could attract some pcs; but better to avoid it, as they would absolutely trump the party when it comes to their chosen task and be asbolutely useless when it comes to anything else. this is a state of being fitting for npcs
Adventures: specialized experts rarely adventures; they are npcs doing their job better than anyone else, and their task is to provide the pcs with services no one else can provide, thus allowing all manners of plot hooks.
Characteristics: This class specializes in one specific thing, and it becomes extremely good at it, to the detriment of all else.
Preamble: why I created this class and why most DM can profit from it
I had this great idea for a low level adventure. It involved escorting a caravan through a goblin-infested land .Yeah, when described like that, it doesn't seem that original. It had a lot of interesting worldbuilding points about the goblins, but the linchpin of the adventure would be the caravan guide: An extremely skilled guy who could do impressive feats of reading the desert and tracking and generally ensuring the caravan would stay out of troubles (well, mostly; as there were pcs on board, of course he had to fail at some point), who also happened to be a misanthropist with a very abrasive personality who enjoied being abrasive, taking great pleasure in the fact that no matter how much he was being a ****, customers would still come to him because of his skill. He is obese, and is always seen eating the most improbable food (like pizza with chocolate cream, pineapples and french fries, or drinking a mixture of wine, milk and lemon juice), which earned him the nickname "da drain", but he has solid mucles underneath all the fat; in fact, he can march for days tirelessly while giving the impression of being about to fall over from exhaustion from the first minute. Once the goblins captured him and, wanting to make him suffer, left him in the middle of the desert naked and with a broken leg; he managed to survive and crawl back to civilization.
My players loved him, and he remains my bet-characterized npc to this day.
As you may notice, I had a problem. This guy is clearly very strong, he must have a lot of levels to pull out those feats, and he also has high STR and CON. He would clearly be able to handle a band of goblins for himself (even goblins with one or two class levels, as I made them), he woul never need low level adventurers to escort him. And high level adventurers would have better things to do than sitting on a cart for weeks for a small pay waiting for an attack that generally doesn't happen. So i wanted a class that could give da drain a huge survival check, and a large fortitude check against exhaustion, without buffing his combat prowess.
It's not an isolated problem. Virtually every DM who wanted to introduce an npc of great skill giving the pcs a quest had to answer one of two questions: if this guy is so good, why does he need the pcs (for a low level party) or, if the pcs are so good, why would they need this guy (for a high level party). This happens because lof the way levels and skills work. A high level wizard who took one skill point in profession (blacksmith) every level is just as good at blacksmithing as an equally high level expert blacksmith, despite the wizard having taken up blacksmithing just as an hobby, one of many. It doesn't work that way in real life; people are rarely equally good at making several things. those who make a specialized profession tend to be so much better at it than they are at their hobbies.
And so I came up with the specialized expert: a class devoted to being masters of one specific field, giving huge boons to one single skill check and moderate boons to other skill checks regarding the same activity, and virtually nothing else.
As a DM, you can use this class everytime you need an npc to be capable of doing something the pcs can't do, but you don't want him to compete with the pcs in any other aspect. Examples of how it can be used:
- a senior wizard with extensive knowledge may be a wizard/specialized expert of spells; that way he could have higher knowledge or spellcraft checks than the party wizard (can do something the party can't do), but less spells (is less powerful than the party, and doesn't compete for power with them. This guy can reasonably send the party to do some quest he can't do by himself. I hear you asking "what kind of brain-dead moron would multiclass from wizard to gain some skill boosts???". Well, remember that real people do not gain levels. they do stuff because they like it, or because they think it will profit them, and levels are an abstraction to represent their skill. This guy studied a lot of magic theory, so he knows a lot. He never choose to cast less spells or have higher skill modifiers.
- anyone with specialized knowledge that the party lacks could be a specialized expert. The wizard can't make on his own all the knowledge rolls the party need, and may have to hire this guy.
- the party may want a weapon of supreme quality to enchant; the party fighter can't do it just because he spent one skill point per level in craft (weapons)
In general, this class can create a lot of positive interactions between the party and the world; if you like that kind of adventuring (as opposed to the adventuring where the party stays in its ivory tower and does everything by itself) then this class may improve your gaming world.
Alignment: Specialized experts can be very different from each other, and can be any alignment.
Religion: Any, but generally one connected to their job; a craftsman may worship the god of craftmanship, a con artist may worship the god of thieves, and so on.
Background: While most specialized experts were formally trained from a young age to reach their level of skill, some are self-trained. As is wide the array of things they can specialize on, the only thing really accomunating two specialized experts is their love for their specific field and their motivation toward self-improving.
Races: Any, although generally the more technologically and culturally advanced a race is, the more specialized experts it tends to have.
Game Rule Information:
Specialized experts have the following game statistics.
Chosen task: Specialized experts choose something they want to specialize on. It can be anything, really; from knowing spells to being a scholar on history of the XIX century to being a hunter to being a street-food retailer. This choice cannot be changed and defines their class, to the point that specialized experts at different things count as different classes for the purpose of multiclassing.
Chosen skill: The chosen task of a specialized expert is always dependent from a specific skill, which will be the chosen skill. In the examples above, a scholar on history will have knowledge (history) as his chosen skill, a hunter will have survival, a street-food retailer will have profession (cook). In most cases it's straightforward which chosen skill a specialized expert should have, but not always. The specialized expert at knowing spells may have either spellcraft or knowledge (arcana) as his chosen skill; either way, make a decision and stick to the choice.
A specialized expert is required to keep his chosen skill maximized at all times to keep advancing in the class. In order to multiclass to specialized expert, one must have the chosen skill maximized to the best of what his current class/level setup allows.
Ability Scores: What ability scores a specialized expert needs depends on his chosen task
Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: Variable. If a chosen task does not entail any kind of physical exercice, like a scholar or clerk, hit dice is d4. If it entailes consistent labor, but little risk of injury (like a blacksmith, or a hunter), hit dice is d6. Very rarely a specialized expert will have hit dice d8, for dangerous occupations that entail being wounded on a regular base; a caravan guide who travels through goblin-infested lands and has done his share of fighting whenever stealth didn't work is one such example.
Class Skills: Variable. Basically, everything related to the chosen task is a class skill.
For example, a caravan guide will have as class skills spot and listen to scout, hide and move silently to sneak past potential dangers while scouting, ride because you'll have a horse to cover more ground, and speak language because you'll deal with a large variety of people from different places, knowledge (nature, geography) for obvious reasons. Plus of course survival, which is the chosen skill. A blacksmith will have profession (blacksmith) as chosen skill, and class skills appraise, craft (only metal or mostly metallic objects), open locks (he makes locks, he knows all about opening them), and maybe knowledge (architecture and engineering) if he makes metal objects to be used for such purposes.
Additionally, a specialized expert picks 2 + Int modifier other skills as class skills; they represent additional stuff he may be good at doing, while not being related to his chosen task; basically, they are hobbies.
Skill Points at First Level: generally (4 + Int modifier) x 4; if you decide that a specific chosen task would require knowing more or less skills, feel free to use 6 or 2 + int modifier x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: generally 4 + Int modifier; see what said above.
Saving throws: Good saving throws are also variable and depends on the choosen task. An intellectual profession like a scholar will come with good will saves. A physically taxing profession like a blacksmith will give good fortitude saves. Chosen tasks with high reflexes saves are rare, a circus tumbler/performer may be one such example.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: the specialized expert is proficient in one simple weapon of his choosing. Furthermore, he is proficient with any weapon that makes sense given his chosen task (for example, a blacksmith will be proficient at swinging a hammer)
The specialized expert
Level
BAB
Chosen skill bonus
Special
1st
+0
+2
chosen skill
2nd
+1
+3
3rd
+1
+3
1st related proficiency
4th
+2
+4
Super Specialization
5th
+2
+4
6th
+3
+5
7th
+3
+5
2nd related proficiency
8th
+4
+6
9th
+4
+6
10th
+5
+7
Foremost of the field
11th
+5
+7
3rd related proficiency
12th
+6/+1
+8
13th
+6/+1
+8
14th
+7/+2
+9
15th
+7/+2
+9
4th related proficiency
16th
+8/+3
+10
achievement of a lifetime
17th
+8/+3
+10
18th
+9/+4
+11
19th
+9/+4
+11
5th related proficiency
20th
+10/+5
+12
Chosen skill: The inextricable link between a specialized expert, his chosen task and his chosen skill has been discussed above. The specialized expert gains a competence bonus to every skill check of his chosen skill equal to 2 + half his level of specialized expert, as detailed in the table. Furthermore, a natural 1 with such a skill check is not considered an automatic failure.
related proficiency: At third level, the specialized expert has become very good at something that helps him perform his job better, earning a +1 competence bonus, or another similar scaling bonus. This point is open to a lot of freedom for the DM, because it could be virtually anything. Generally it could mean a +1 to a class skill different from the chosen skill. For example, a blacksmith may have become very good at pricing items, gaining a bonus to appraise. A caravan guide may have become particularly good at riding. A scholar of history may have become knowledgeable with the places where this history happens, gaining a bonus to knowledge (geography), or maybe knowledge (local) if he specialized on a narrow geographical area. Or it could be a saving throw bonus in a specific circumstance: for example the blacksmith breaths noxious fumes from the forge all day, so he may have a bonus to saving throws against poison. The caravan guide walks or rides all day under the sun, he may have a bonus to saving throws against exhaustion and the effect of hot weather. You may even pick something more exotic: the caravan guide walks a lot, so he gains 5 feet per round of movement speed when walking. Often he has found goblin scouts, and has snuck behind them and slit their throats; he gains 1d6 of sneak attack damage against a flat-footed humanoid opponent. Sky is the limit. Whatever whacky skill you want to give your specialized expert, related proficiency is here for you.
For every four additional levels, the specialized expert gain another related proficiency with a +1 bonus, and the bonus of his other related proficiencies increase by 1 (or 5 additional feet of movement, and extra d6 of damage, whatever) in a manner similar to the ranger's favored enemy.
Super specialization: As the specialized expert becomes more skilled, he specialize to a more narrow field. he chooses a specific field of his chosen skill, and he gains a +2 competence bonus to all related skill checks; however, specialization comes with a price, and he also suffers a -2 penalty (ok, just his competence bonus becoming lower) on skill checks not related to that specific field. For example, a blacksmith may specialize in making weapons, gaining +2 when making a weapon but suffering a -2 when making an armor, or a clock. A caravan guide may specialize in cold desert terrain, gaining a +2 to survival checks in cold deserts but a -2 in every other environment.
A specialized expert can change his field of specialization, but it requires a lot of time and studying to respecialize in another field while you progressively get rusty in your old field. A reasonable time could be 6 months to 3 years of in-universe time. This also applies to changing your foremost of the field and achievement of a lifetime specializations (see below)
Foremost of the field: The specialized expert becomes even more specialized in an even narrower field as he progresses. This time he must choose an even more narrow field that is a subset of his super specialized field; he gains a +4 proficiency bonus to it (stacking with super specialization) but he suffers an additional -2 to skill checks not related to the field where he is superspecialized. For example, the blacksmith from the example above may become foremost of the field of sword forging; he will therefore have +6 when making a sword, +2 when making any other weapon, and -4 when making anything that is not a weapon, compared to his normal skill check. A caravan guide may specialize in that specific desert trail he generally takes, an historian may specialize in the hystory of a specific nation in a specific century.
Achievement of a lifetime: The most skilled specialized experts can put all their knowledge and preparation to use for doing something truly unique, something of such astounding magnificence that will probably be remembered in history. First, the specialized expert must decide which achievement he wants to produce; it must be a specific action that falls within his foremost of the field specialization. He must then prepare for this action. The specific nature of the preparation varies depending on the nature of the achievement: for a piece of art, it may require making preparatory sketches and studying the raw materials. For the unhearting of hidden knowledge, it may require undertaking extensive studies and possibly experiments. For a daring con, it may require planting rumors and forging documents and bribing selected people to ensure everything plays as you planned, as well as a pshycological study of the intended victim to see what could fool her best.
Regardless of what exactly the preparation entails, the specialized expert gains another +4 to that skill check in addition to all his other competence bonuses, and he can automatically reroll any result lower than 10.
Examples of real-world achievements of a lifetime:
the monna lisa (craft, art)
the theory of relativity (knowledge, physics)
the lord of the rings (perform, storytelling)
the Antikythera mechanism (craft, mechanics?)
the Ponzi scheme (bluff)
any olimpic record (jump, swim, and other similar stuff)
An achievement of a lifetime is something akin to those. Its result can be an item so well built that it performs better than any nonmagical item could by the rules, well above the simple masterwork bonuses (and may even stack bonuses with magic enhancement, thus providing a potential macguffin, or at least a very expensive piece of loot), and that even magic cannot replicate (at least not mundane magic, the higher level spells may); a world-famous piece of art; a seminal research; a fraud that earned millions of gold pieces.
Depending on its nature, you may be able to replicate an achievement of a lifetime. For example, if you learned to craft a supremely exquisite sword, you certainly can forge multiple copies. If you lerned how to perfect a specific jump, you can perform it many times, provided you have an identical runway. Once you made a master painting, you can paint another identical copy, though it's generally not done. If you wrote a beautiful book, you can certainly write it again, but there isn't much point to it. Once you research some particularly difficult bit of knowledge, it becomes known and your research can be found in any library, there's no benefit to replicating the research. Once you scammed a person, he generally realizes he's been scammed and you can't replicate the feat; if the information doesn't spread, though, you may be able to scam different people in the same way.
In particular this skill is meant to give some sinergy to high level wizards and artisans. even a powerful magical weapon may gain additional benefits from being crafted particularly well, giving your pc wizard a reason to undertake a quest to find the best swordsmith of the planet to create a truly unique item.
A final note: this class can be fairly strong and it could attract some pcs; but better to avoid it, as they would absolutely trump the party when it comes to their chosen task and be asbolutely useless when it comes to anything else. this is a state of being fitting for npcs