Demonologist/Alienist/Archivist archetype

Inspired by a separate discussion in the Older Editions forum, I started a thread there last week soliciting input about ideas for an Archivist-type character (from 3.5): an archetype built around implementing its knowledge for power (think: John Rodgers's "The Librarians," Giles and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, elements of Lovecraftian horror, etc.). (You can view that thread here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?524730-Building-an-Archivist-in-4E&prefixid=wotc)

At the moment, this is a purely hypothetical build question, but I'm looking for ideas to help construct a character in a campaign built more around trafficking with creatures from other planes, fending off threats from Lovecraftian monstrosities, researching ancient rituals and demon true names and lore, and the like than dungeon crawl and exploration play.

I've received some very fine feedback regarding some build elements (e.g., Artificer/Invoker/Wizard or some combination thereof or hybridded with an additional class; Scholar or Vile Scholar as theme; Divine Philosopher as PP; Sage of Ages as ED; etc.), but I thought I would add this thread here (1) to solicit advice and ideas for essential rituals, items, additional design components (from existing material, not houseruled stuff) and (2) to bring the discusson (should any ensue) to the more appropriate forum.

tl;dr: So what rituals, items, etc. would you find interesting/essential for such a build? I wouldn't want to gimp such a character from a combat perspective (i.e., build something that is a net drain on the group when combat breaks out), but I am looking to include more complementary pieces for social/roleplaying aspects of the game.

Thanks for indulging!

Here is the build I've put together. The intention here is for the character to function as the primary leader in a small party (2 other characters, each of whom has some kind of healing) with strong control powers. This is by no means a top-notch optimized build, but I think it covers many of the bases (daily granted attack, encounter save, plenty of damage buffs). I debated heavily between Deva for the stat array and Human for the extra feat and skill and opted for the latter. I haven't given much thought at all to items, and I've included no rituals; I would love for any feedback on these fronts.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Mika, level 11
Human, Artificer/Wizard, Divine Philosopher
Hybrid Artificer Option: Hybrid Artificer Will
Arcane Implement Proficiency Option: Arcane Implement Proficiency (Dagger)
Versatile Expertise Option: Versatile Expertise (Light blade)
Versatile Expertise Option: Versatile Expertise (Wand)
Scholar Level 5 Feature Option: Arcana
Human Power Selection Option: Heroic Effort
Adventurer's Scion (Adventurer's Scion Benefit)
Theme: Scholar

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 9, CON 14, DEX 12, INT 21, WIS 19, CHA 11

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 8, CON 13, DEX 11, INT 16, WIS 16, CHA 10


AC: 25 Fort: 21 Ref: 24 Will: 28
HP: 65 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 16

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +17, Dungeoneering +14, History +15, Nature +14, Religion +15

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +6, Athletics +4, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Endurance +7, Heal +9, Insight +9, Intimidate +5, Perception +9, Stealth +6, Streetwise +5, Thievery +6

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Scholar Utility: Use Vulnerability
Human Racial Power: Heroic Effort
Artificer Feature: Healing Infusion: Curative Admixture
Artificer Feature: Healing Infusion: Resistive Formula
Wizard Utility: Chameleon's Mask
Wizard Utility: Light
Wizard Utility: Spook
Wizard Utility: Suggestion
Artificer Attack 1: Magic Weapon
Wizard Attack 1: Beguiling Strands
Artificer Attack 1: Spike Wire
Wizard Attack 1: Phantom Chasm
Cleric Attack 1: Gaze of Defiance
Wizard Utility 2: Shield
Wizard Attack 3: Color Spray
Artificer Attack 5: Smokepowder Blast
Artificer Utility 6: Energy Conversion
Artificer Attack 7: Arc Infusion
Wizard Attack 9: Visions of Ruin
Artificer Utility 10: Slick Concoction
Divine Philosopher Attack 11: Hit the Weak Spot

FEATS
Level 1: Arcane Implement Proficiency
Level 1: Divine Secretkeeper
Level 1: Ritual Caster
Level 2: Unarmored Agility
Level 4: Versatile Expertise
Level 6: Improved Initiative
Level 8: Superior Will
Level 10: Superior Implement Training (Accurate dagger)
Level 11: Enhanced Resistive Formula

ITEMS
Shadowdance Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing) +2 x1
Distance Accurate dagger +3 x1
Shielding Blade Dagger +1 x1
Cloak of Distortion +3 x1
====== End ======

Is there a reason for Divine Philosopher? I don't really see it as doing anything out of the ordinary. The AP feature isn't horrible(~reroll when you need a reroll), the utility is an extra standard once per day, but...

Why Arcane Proficiency in Dagger? Or not having a 20 Int. Wisdom/Enhanced Resistive Formula feels not super useful when you only get Infusion once per encounter.

Traveler's Insight ought to be a feat consideration with Scholar at 10th. Huge feat bonus to Insight.

Consideration with Deva is Battle Intuition - you could dump Dex to 8 and take it at 1st level.

You have Unarmored Agility but no Hybrid Talent - Invoker gets Hide as an option.

Good questions, all, and thanks for the response! Keep in mind most of my considerations are to capture the flavor of the character conceit rather than truly optimized choices (though I hope the character still plays reasonably well!).

MwaO said:

Is there a reason for Divine Philosopher? I don't really see it as doing anything out of the ordinary. The AP feature isn't horrible(~reroll when you need a reroll), the utility is an extra standard once per day, but...

Click to expand...

It's really to extend the character conceit of the scholarly type using her knowledge in combat as well as noncombat situations more than anything else.

Why Arcane Proficiency in Dagger? Or not having a 20 Int.

Click to expand...

AIP is to avoid implement swapping and thus having a weapliment with range and melee capacity. Since Use Vulnerability (and knowledge skill use, in general) key off both INT and WIS stats, I want to keep both as high as possible. That's certainly an argument for Deva (as is Battle Intuition below, and I've gone back and forth on this a dozen times), but I ultimately decided the extra feat and skill (again, with skill usage being a premium for this character conceit) wer more valuable.

Wisdom/Enhanced Resistive Formula feels not super useful when you only get Infusion once per encounter.

Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by linking WIS and ERF. ERF is a way to get additional healing on a character that doesn't have the full complement of the leader feature by being hybridded.

Traveler's Insight ought to be a feat consideration with Scholar at 10th. Huge feat bonus to Insight.

Click to expand...

Absolutely true! But would you swap out any of the current feats for it? If so, why?

Consideration with Deva is Battle Intuition - you could dump Dex to 8 and take it at 1st level.

You have Unarmored Agility but no Hybrid Talent - Invoker gets Hide as an option.

Click to expand...

See my reasoning above for the racial choice; but try to persuade me otherwise! I'd like to hear your thinking.

The lack of HT for hide armor is because I don't want to provoke and am not using a staff.

Here are some rituals you might want to consider. There are many more, including rituals for finding traps/secret doors/dealing with hazards and hostile environements, traveling, excavating areas quickly, etc.

Also, you might want to peak at the list of rituals on the d&d wiki - unlike most other pages on the wiki that page along with the ritual pages are rather complete I think, and it may be helpful to sort by ritual type.

Rituals more or less directly related to archivist & preservation
Amanuensis (1st lvl, creation, 10 minutes) is nice for when you need to copy words and illustrations of a page.

Preservation (2nd lvl, warding, 10 minutes), is nice for conserving old texts and other items from deterioration.

Make Whole (1st lvl, exploration, 10 minutes) nice to repair damaged items.

Leomund's Secret Chest (6th lvl, Exploration, 10 minutes) enable you to keep a chest somewhere (hopefully safe), and summon it to deposit valuable texts/icons before banishing it back to its initial location.

Scribe (10th lvl, exploration, 10 minutes) enable you to auto-record for 2 hours while doing other things at the same time


Some rituals related to knowledge-gatherthing

Seek Rumor (2nd lvl, divination, 30 minutes) could be nice for and inquisitive scholar who takes to the field in search information.

Last Sight Vision (2nd lvl, divination, 10 minutes) enable you see the lasts rounds prior to death of a creature when used on a corpse or skull.

Object Reading (5th lvl, divination, 1 hour) enable you to see images related to an object, depending on what you specify.

Speak with Nature (5th lvl, divination, 10 minutes) can be used to gain knowledge from natural beasts and mundane plants.

Speak with Dead (6th lvl, exploration, 10 minutes) can be used to question corpses.

Find the Path (6th lvl, exploration, 1 hour) can be used to find the direction to a location you know only by name, in addition to getting there quicker.

Inquisitive's Eyes (8th lvl, divination, 10 minutes) can be used to sense what occured in a location some hours past.

Consult Mystic Sages (10th lvl, divination, 30 minutes) uncover some info or clues about the world around you, up to info accessible by the most learned sages.

History Revealed (11th lvlm, divination, 10 minutes) to see the most defining moments of a willing or helpless creature.


Rituals for foiling lies/disguises

Breach Disguise (5th lvl, divination, 1 minute) grants a small bonus to detect disguised creatures, and enable using Arcana in place of Insight to see through disguises.

Discern Lies (6th lvl, divination, 10 minutes) can be useful when dealing with untrustworthy sources.




Some warding rituals for keeping objects and knowledge safe

Alarm (1st lvl, warding, 10 minutes) get an alert when someone intrudes a specific area.

Secret Page (1st lvl, warding, 10 minutes) is a good candidate to hide away dangerous knowledge.

Thief's Lament (6th lvl, warding, 1 hour), can be useful for making it trickier for people to sneak up on you and stealing your stuff.

Glyph of Warding (7th lvl, warding, 10 minutes) is another useful deterrent against thieves.

Conceal Object (10th lvl, deception, 10 minutes) useful to hide away important objects.


Fun ritual (?)

Dream Concordance (11th lvl, Travel, 10 minutes) : Enter the Plane of Dreams, can be used for a lot of funny things.



If you, during the course of the campaign, find that you use a specific ritual or ritual group a lot (like divination or exploration for instance), you might want to consider getting one of the "mastery" feats. The Divination Mastery feat for instance, grant a +2 feat bonus to initiative checks, allow you to perform divination rituals 4 level higher than you, and you can ignore the cost of a ritual of your level or lower once per day.


Another thing you might want is a familiar. I quite like the Coure Attendant; you get +2 to Arcana, quick-draw 1/round, and the active benefit is nothing to scoff at either. If you think you're going to face many undeads, the Specter is another nice option, granting necrotic resistance and +4 to undead knowledge checks.

This is super useful, Arikabeth! Many thanks!

I'm no CharOP expert on items, but if you're going to use a Long Range dagger, you might as well get the Distance Weapon instead, which is lvl 2 instead of lvl 1, if that's not a problem - it increases long range by 10, and doesn't increase short range, but makes it so that you take no penalty for throwing at long range.



Other items related to knowledge checks which could prove interesting
(Note that the item bonuses don't stack with other items granting item bonuses to stats like Arcana or other knowledge-related skills)

Goggles of the bone collector - lvl 9, head - +3 item bonus to monster knowledge checks, (and some minor action power you'll probably never need)

Lens of discernment - lvl 10, wonderous item - minor action encounter power: +10 to monster knowledge checks vs a single creature

Demonomicon - lvl 13 (RARE!), tome, many attributes, among them +5 item bonus to knowledge checks related to abyss and monster knowledge related to demons

Mundane knowledge-related things:
Beastiary (25 gp) - when you have an hour to spare to study a creature (might not happen that often?), can grant a reroll to a monster knowledge check
Inquisitive’s Kit (40 gp) - a bunch of detective items, mechanically grants bonus to search checks for something specific.


About the rituals and knowledge checks, even though I'm 90% sure it won't be a problem (even though I don't know your group), I'll mention it just because the 10% chance of unfun is not cool:

Find a good balance between your character feeling useful with lots of neat utility rituals and abilities, finding creative ways to overcome obstacles and gaining info without using rituals as crutches, and the DM having you discover things gradually. Try to involve the other characters to assist in their own ways instead of having the DM dump "here is all you need to know" when succeeding with a knowledge search ritual.

Find some more elegant houserule way of handling the monster knowledge checks than the rules as written. If I recall correctly it is a free action which anyone can take any time on any creature, which reveal their keywords, origin, resistances and "what their powers do", the last part being kind of vague. I'm not completely certain what's the best way of doing it, but I don't find it that appealing as written, and suggest you try to find a more interesting spin of it. Maybe that's just me though, and sorry that I don't have completely concrete advice on how to run the monster knowledge checks (my 4E experience is quite limited).

I've seen some groups require a minor action for knowlege checks, and requiring 3 successful checks to know what powers do, but I can't vouch for that being the most fun/balanced way of handling it (I know powers are 100% transparent when used, but I mean knowing what their powers do before they use them).


Tl;Dr: Trust in your DM, just make sure you're on the same page about rituals/monster checks (even if that should go without saying).