1879: Professions High Tiers: The Investigator

Investigator

At Warden, the Investigator puts to use the hard-earned lessons from their earlier Tiers. They gain considerable prowess in a fight, learning how to Disarm an opponent, how to Spot an Armor Flaw and make use of it, how to score a Critical Hit and see to their own Defense, and when all that fails, how to Resist Pain and guard their mind with Safe Thought. They also gain edges in social encounters, learning the arts of Diplomacy and how to see the Truth Through Lies. In keeping with the literature around this sort of character, they gain a special ability that lets them learn from taking a beating. While it costs permanent Damage to gain this ability, being able to determine someone’s secrets from the fact that they’re attacking gives the Investigator one more edge that could be critical in cracking the case.

At Master, the Investigator picks up more Social edges, putting them on a par with the Aristocrat in dueling with Cutting Words and Witty Repartee. They always have an Escape Plan, and can dust themselves off with Relentless Recovery. The final special ability, though, allows the Investigator to know that one crucial fact that unlocks the entire case. The color of the cigar ash, the species of reptiles found in Equatorial Guinea, the fact that there was no 19th of February in the year 1760 in the French province of Lorraine due to the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian – each of these reveal the murderer and explain the sequence of events, and of course the Investigator just happens to know this obscure fact. Never, under any circumstances, play Trivial Pursuit for money against an Investigator.

Skills and Abilities

• Warden
  • Core Skills
    • Diplomacy, Disarm, Spot Armor Flaw, Steely Stare, Truth Through Lies
  • Optional Skills
    • Critical Hit, Defense, Leadership, Resist Pain, Safe Thought
  • Abilities
    • The character may spend Karma for PER-only Tests.
    • The character gains +1 to their Mystic Defense.
    • The character gains +1 to their Physical Defense.
    • In Dolor Veritas: The Investigator must spend 2 permanent damage points to gain this ability. How and why a person attacks others reveals information about themselves. Any time a person directly involved in a current investigation attacks the Investigator, the Investigator learns one key secret about that person, or related to them, for every Wound or cumulative Wound’s worth of damage points taken. If the attack is against the Investigator’s Social Defense, the Investigator learns one key secret for each extra success the attack scores. Multiple attacks by the same person in one scene count as a single attack.
• Master
  • Core Skills
    • Cutting Words, Oratory, Second Chance, Soul Aegis, Witty Repartee
  • Optional Skills
    • Escape Plan, Perfect Focus, Relentless Recovery, Resist Magic, Unflinching Fortitude
  • Abilities
    • The character’s Max Karma increases by 15.
    • The character gains +1 Recovery Test per day.
    • “Things Only I Would Know” for £500: The Investigator may spend a Wound’s worth of Strain to recall an obscure fact from some vaguely related field of knowledge that ties together the available information, gaining a critical insight into the case at hand. The Gamemaster determines the actual fact involved, and provides the revelation that the Investigator has, although the player is encouraged to suggest possible facts.