Loremaster (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

The loremaster is a gatherer and keeper of secrets. He is often obsessed by the written word, with cryptic and arcane lore serving as his devoted mistress. Holding to the adage that knowledge is power, the loremaster often forsakes material wealth and personal glory for rare or unusual information, an endless quest that brings him ever closer to his unattainable goal: perfection through edification. Often rejecting what he views as the pointless affectations and transitory pleasures of his short-sighted neighbors, the loremaster believes that the only worthwhile goal in life is the acquisition of intellectual might. After all, wealth is spent, passions fade, and the power of the body is limited by age, while the mind's capacity to grow greater with time is infinite.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype.

Prestige Class: Loremaster.

Build Classes: Wizard

The loremaster is a wizard with a focus on knowledge.

Role: Loremasters' lives are spent in study, research, and fieldwork. While the first two lend themselves to the loremaster's reputation as a bookish recluse, the latter oftentimes forces a loremaster to seek out the aid of adventurers who, through a mutually beneficial arrangement, might provide a degree of protection to the scholar while he seeks whatever knowledge he is after. For his part, the loremaster provides a wealth of information and arcane firepower to a party.

Alignment: Most loremasters cannot be bothered with distracting and pointless ethics, and so tend to be neutral, neutral good, or neutral evil.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills

The loremaster's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

These are all the class features of the loremaster.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Loremasters are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield. Armor interferes with a loremaster's movements, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells

A loremaster casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. A loremaster must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the loremaster must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a loremaster's spell is 10 + the spell level + the loremaster's Intelligence modifier.

A loremaster can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Loremaster. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

A loremaster may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the loremaster decides which spells to prepare.

Spellbook: A loremaster begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level loremaster spells (except those from his opposed schools, if any; see arcane tie) plus three 1st-level spells of his choice. The loremaster also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to his Intelligence modifier to add to the spellbook. Each time a character attains a new loremaster level, he gains two spells of his choice to add to his spellbook. At any time, a loremaster can also add spells found in other spellbooks to his own.

Arcane Ties

At 1st level, loremasters develop a bond with magic similar to a wizard's. The loremaster chooses between an arcane bond and an arcane school. Whichever option is chosen, it works just like the corresponding wizard class ability, counting loremaster levels as wizard levels. Loremasters with arcane school can only pick the divination school.

Bonus Languages

A loremaster may substitute any language for each of the bonus languages available to the character because of his race.

Cantrips

Loremasters can prepare a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Loremaster under “Spells per Day.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again. A loremaster can prepare a cantrip from an opposition school, but it uses up two of his available slots.

Knowledge Focus

At first level, the loremaster gains Skill Focus as a bonus feat and must apply it to a Knowledge skill, such as Knowledge (Arcana).

Lore

At 2nd level, a loremaster adds half his level to all Knowledge skill checks and may make such checks untrained. The bonuses gained from this ability stack with those gained from bardic knowledge and similar abilities.

Secret

At 4th level and every four levels (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th), the loremaster chooses one secret from Table: Loremaster Secrets. His is level plus Intelligence modifier determines which secrets he can choose. He can't choose the same secret twice.

Table: Loremaster Secrets

Minimum Level + Int Modifier	Secret	Effect
2	Instant mastery	Gain an additional class skill
4	Secret health	Toughness bonus feat
6	Secrets of inner strength	+2 bonus on Will saves
8	The lore of true stamina	+2 bonus on Fortitude saves
10	Secret knowledge of avoidance	+2 bonus on Reflex saves
12	Weapon trick	+1 bonus on attack rolls
14	Dodge trick	+1 dodge bonus to AC
16	Applicable knowledge	Any one feat
19	Newfound arcana	1 bonus 1st-level spell per day<ref name="Ability"> As if gained through having a high ability score.</ref>
20	More newfound arcana	1 bonus 2nd-level spell per day<ref name="Ability"/>

<references/>

Extra Languages

A loremaster learns new language at 6th and 10th level.

Greater Lore (Ex)

At 14th level, a loremaster gains the ability to understand magic items. Whenever a loremaster examines a magic item to determine its properties, he gains a +10 circumstance bonus on his Spellcraft skill check.

True Lore (Ex)

At 18th level, a loremaster's knowledge becomes vast indeed. Once per day a loremaster can use his knowledge to gain the effect of a legend lore spell or an analyze dweomer spell. If used to create a legend lore effect, this ability has a casting time of 1 minute, regardless of how much information is already known about the subject in question.

Table: Loremaster

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Arcane ties, cantrips, knowledge focus	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Lore	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3		4	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Secret	4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4		4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Bonus Language	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5		4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Secret	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6		4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus Language	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7		4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Secret	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—	—
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Greater Lore	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—	—
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	—
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Secret	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	—
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	True Lore	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Secret	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Summary of Lost Class Abilities

These abilities of the original class are lost or modified in this archetype:

• Bonus Languages
• Arcane Bond
• Arcane School
• Scribe Scroll
• Bonus Feats