Revision as of 12:47, 23 February 2015

Learner

Troi, iconic learner

"Experience is the best teacher."

The petrifying gaze of a basilisk, the lightning breath of a dragon, the soul-draining touch of the undead: these powers are to be feared, most certainly. Some, however, would believe that the best way to fight fire is with fire, and so seek out ways to gain these powers - not through study or research, but through watching those who wield them. This is the way of the learner.

It is impossible to say what a learner is capable of. An individual learner may learn dozens - if not hundreds - of abilities over the course of her lifetime, as varied in power and application as the creatures that walk the world. Calling upon the power of the Blue to enhance her memory and ability to replicate the powers of monsters, the learner is a powerful ally and unpredictable foe.

Adventures: To be a learner is to be an adventurer; there is no way around it. In order to gain new abilities, the learner must seek out danger, and not just face it, but also live to experience a fearsome foe's abilities. Learners seek out adventure not simply for the thrill of it, but because that is the only way to learn new things.

Characteristics: Those who pursue the path of the learner tend to be confident, curious thrill-seekers, and while some certainly vary from this stereotype, that is the most common personality amongst learners. They tend to be rather friendly and outgoing, as having assistance in seeking out new and more dangerous monsters is usually helpful. For a learner, no threat is insurmountable; there is always an answer, it must simply be found.

Ethos: Learners tend towards a somewhat paradoxical mix of Blue and Red virtues.

Religion: Many saints look favorably on the acquisition of knowledge, and many learners revere them. Learners who worship Lucavi often worship Ajora, who prides himself on power, much as learners of a more Black bent. Naturalist learners are not terribly uncommon, as while they do not have the same relationship with Nature that geomancers do, the nature of their work is such that learners often encounter powerful parts of the Natural world.

Background: Most learners tend to have had a childhood in which they witnessed powerful creatures destroying their homes or invade their city. Some learners come from a wilderness background, coming to be more interested in the abilities of what they hunted rather than the hunt itself. A significant number of learners come from Sarteri, where wild mementos often prove to be a moderate nuisance among the villages and cities there.

Game Rule Information

Learners have the following game statistics.

Force Alignment: Blue.

Force Resistances: TO 5 + level, CO 5 + level.

Abilities: Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are all equally important to a learner. She gains bonus active meme slots based on her Wisdom, bonus memory based on her Intelligence, and additional belief-space based upon her Charisma.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills: The learner’s class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Memecraft (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10gp.

Favored By: Vesuvan.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the learner.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Learners are proficient with all simple weapons, all one-handed martial weapons, light and medium armor, and all shields save tower shields.

Bestial Lore: Learners are well-versed in the nature of monstrosities. She can make a special bestial lore check with a bonus equal to her learner level + her Intelligence modifier to determine if she knows anything about a particular creature. Making such a check is a swift action.

You can gain the normal information about the creature with this check, but also can gain access to more "meta" information that others would usually not be able to glean (for instance, if you succeed on the check by a significant margin, you can directly examine and explain the creature's stat block).

If your result is at least 10 + one-half the creature's HD, the creature - and all other creatures of the same kind nearby - gains the assayed status in regards to you for the remainder of the encounter. If you fail to grant this status to a creature, that creature is immune to the status for the remainder of the encounter.

You gain a +2 synergy bonus on this check if you have at least 5 ranks in the Knowledge skill relevant to the target's creature type.

Memory Surge (Bl): The learner has a reserve of powerful self-memory that she can use for a variety of effects. At each rank of memory surge, she gains one daily use of this resource. You regain your full allotment of memory surge after a night's rest.

As a swift action on your turn, you can spend one use of memory surge to immediately recharge one meme.

As an immediate action, when you would be able to learn a meme due to your Method ability, you can spend one use of memory surge to automatically learn the meme, without making a check.

As a swift action on your turn, you can cause the assayed status on a single target (and all nearby creatures of the same kind) within 60 feet, even if you had already failed to grant it to that creature earlier in the encounter.

Learner Secret: At 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th levels, the learner unlocks a secret of the Blue, improving her abilities in some fashion. Choose one of the following abilities; unless otherwise noted, each ability can only be taken once.

• Chicanery (Me): When you successfully grant the assayed status, you become a font of knowledge of how to interact with such creatures to your advantage. You and all allies gain a +2 insight bonus on skill checks made against creatures with the assayed condition, plus an additional +2 insight bonus for every five memeticist levels you have.
• Improved Draw (Me): When you use the Draw ability, the temporary active meme benefits from an amount of temporary memory equal to half your memeticist level, rounded down. (Prerequisites: Draw, Memeticist level 6th+)
• Improved Lancelet (Me): The range of your Lancelet ability is now 120 feet. (Prerequisites: Lancelet, Memeticist level 6th+)
• Improved Observation (Bl): You can use Observation as a move action, rather than a standard. (Prerequisites: Observation, Memeticist level 6th+)
• Lucubration (Me): When you successfully grant the assayed status, you become a font of knowledge of how best to defeat such creatures. You and all allies gain a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls against creatures with the assayed condition, plus an additional +1 insight bonus for every five memeticist levels you have.
• Moxie (Me): When you successfully grant the assayed status, you become a font of knowledge of how best to avoid the creature's abilities. You and all allies gain a +1 insight bonus on saving throws against against racial abilities from creatures with the assayed condition, plus an additional +1 insight bonus for every five memeticist levels you have.
• Puissance (Me): When you successfully grant the assayed status, you become a font of knowledge of how to bring such creatures down. You and all allies gain a +2 insight bonus on damage rolls against creatures with the assayed condition, plus an additional +2 insight bonus for every five memeticist levels you have.
• Resistance (Bl): You gain a +4 insight bonus on saving throws against status effects. You can take this ability multiple times; its effect stacks.
• Tenacity (Me): When you successfully grant the assayed status, you become a font of knowledge of how to dodge such creature's attacks. You and all allies gain a +1 insight bonus to AC against attacks from creatures with the assayed condition, plus an additional +1 insight bonus for every five memeticist levels you have.

Learner Talent: As a learner progresses in her training, she gains access to new and unusual applications of the Blue. At 10th level, and every two levels thereafter, she gains access to one of the following abilities.

• Absorb (Bl): When the learner learns a meme via draw, she may temporarily deny the creature the use of its ability. If the creature fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + memeticist level + learner's Cha mod), it loses access to the ability the learner learned for 1 round/memeticist level. (Prerequisites: Draw)
  • Soak (Bl): If the learner is the target of an ability, she may attempt to learn it, as though she had used draw to do so. If she does so and successfully learns the meme, the ability is negated as though countered. This talent only works on abilities the learner has not yet learned. (Prerequisites: Draw, Absorb)

• Arithmetic Overflow (Bl): As a move action, you can spend one use of memory surge and choose a meme. Until you next use that meme or until the end of the current encounter, the amount of memory you can allocate to that meme is unlimited.
• Buffer Overflow (Bl): As a move action, you can spend one use of memory surge. You gain temporary memory equal to one-half your memeticist level, rounded down, which lasts for 1 round/memeticist level. While you have more memory allocated than your normal maximum memory, memory that is locked becomes unlocked with recharge 6 or the value of the meme to which it is allocated, whichever is higher (thus, it is possible for a meme to recharge, but the memory that was allocated to it to still be locked). If a meme would recharge but the memory allocated to it does not unlock, that memory is freed from that meme.
• Cache Flush (Bl): As a standard action, you can spend one use of memory surge. You can flush a number of active meme slots equal to your Intelligence modifier, and fill the now-empty slots with other memes of your choice. Any memory that was allocated to those memes is now freed; all memory that was locked to them now becomes unlocked with recharge 6.
• Countermeme (Me): When the learner is targeted by, or in the area affected by, a creature's ability from which she could learn a meme, and she has that meme as one of her active memes that is not currently in use and is recharged, she can use that meme as an immediate action in response to the creature's ability, countering it. Doing so counts as using the meme, and thus it must recharge, but it begins doing so immediately as though its duration were instantaneous. (Prerequisites: Lancelet)
  • Disable (Bl): When the learner learns a talent via lancelet, she may temporarily deny the creature the use of its ability. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + memeticist level + learner's Cha mod), it loses access to the ability the learner learned for 1 round/memeticist level. This effect counts as a status ailment. (Prerequisites: Lancelet, Countermeme)
• Deep Secret: You gain an additional ability from the Learner Secret list of your choice. You can take this talent multiple times.
• Draw Mastery: The temporary active meme you gain when using draw benefits from memory equal to one-half your memeticist level, rounded down. This memory cannot be reallocated nor removed from the meme. (Prerequisites: Draw, Memeticist level 12th+)
• Expanded Methods: You can choose an additional method of learning that you do not currently have access to. You can take this talent twice.
• Hot Swap (Bl): As a standard action, you can spend one use of memory surge. You can reallocate your belief-space among your active memes, as though you had gotten a night's rest.
• Immunity (Bl): Choose a status ailment other than dead. You are now immune to that status ailment.
• Lancelet Mastery: When you mark a creature with lancelet, all creatures of the same kind with the assayed status in regards to you also become marked. (Prerequisites: Lancelet, Memeticist level 12th+)
• Observation Mastery: You are considered to be benefiting from your observation ability at all times, to a distance of 5 feet per 2 memeticist levels. You can still use a move action to observe creatures at a greater distance than that. (Prerequisites: Observation, Memeticist level 12th+)
• Overclock Memory (Bl): As a swift action, you can spend one use of memory surge. For 1 round/memeticist level, you add 1 to your recharge die.
• Peep (Bl): Requires the Observation method. As a standard action, you may attempt to learn information about a creature with Close range. When you use your bestial lore ability, you gain awareness of the creature as though you had used status, which lasts until the end of the encounter. (Prerequisites: Observation)
  • Scan (Bl): Requires the Peep ability. When you use your bestial lore ability, you learn additional information about a creature, as though you had used the creature loresight meme with memory invested equal to your memeticist level. (Prerequisites: Observation, Peep)
• Segmentation Fault (Bl): As a standard action, you can spend one use of memory surge. You gain a bonus active meme slot, filled with a meme with the [Learnable] descriptor that you do not know, which is flushed and lost when you next use that meme or until the end of the current encounter. The maximum amount of memory you can allocate to that meme is equal to one-half your normal amount, rounded down. When you use the meme, the memory locked to it becomes unlocked with recharge 6.
• Feat: The learner may select a bonus feat in place of a talent.

Learner Memes

What follows is a description of how a learner learns memes, and the meme lists.

Unlike most Force-users, memes of a learner are not influenced by his memeticist level. Instead, the effectiveness of a meme is dependent upon how much memory he devotes to it. Expressions such as "100 feet + 10 feet/memory" mean that, for every point of memory you have invested in the meme, add an additional 10 feet to the range, and so on.

The saving throw DCs for all of a learner's memes are 10 + her Charisma modifier + one-half the memory invested.

Learning Memes

Learners can gain access to memes in a number of distinct ways, each of which differs significantly from each other. To that end, the effects that can teach a learner a given meme are referred to as templates, and are described as concisely as possible while also still acknowledging the differences between learning styles.

Some memes can be learned through multiple means; in this case, the different ways in which the meme can be learned are separated by a semicolon.

Feats

The following are a selection of feats that are relevant to akashics.

Design Notes

November, 2003. Twelve years later, still working on making this class viable in D&D. Maybe this time, we can put this beast to rest.

Memes do not need power scaling. That is my final decision. Memes will function akin to gifts in that the power scaling is controlled by points; whereas gifts require some number, memes are controlled by how many you can pump into them.

Oh right. Once you use a meme, until it recharges, all the memory you stuck into it are "locked" into that meme until it recharges. This completely avoids the akashic craziness of having all your memory available all the time.

Also this meme list is bad and you should feel bad. Fix it.

Lower-level learner abilities, and the assayed concept, taken from here. But... you know what's cool? Not making bonuses dependent on skill checks and DCs, and instead making them level-based. Less swingy that way.