I never forget a detail … though many wish I would.
— Loremonger mantra
Information has value, and the loremonger is that information’s keeper. A franchise’s loremonger studies and records all lore relevant to its operation, including tracking the economic, technical, and arcane methods by which the franchise can be improved. A loremonger records the deeds and history of the franchise, including the names of places visited and people met during missions. Those records are then sent to Head Office (often through a franchise’s documancer) to ensure brand integrity.
As a loremonger, you are a studious individual, usually with an interest in history or technical subjects. You might revel in your role, working as a central figure in your franchise as you use your knowledge to promote it. Or you might operate from the shadows, resembling a clever spymaster and allowing others to be the franchise’s public face. You help advance your franchise by discovering secrets, tracking important lore gained during the characters’ travels, and reporting on competitors’ goals and methods.
Noteworthy Loremongers: Mabannok Kovri
Essential Functions: Record names, dates, and vital information
Position Proficiency: In addition to the proficiencies noted below, you can add your proficiency bonus to an ability check to analyze the operation of a franchise, assess historical records, or decipher codes.
The Loremonger
| Franchise Rank | Features |
|---|---|
| 1 | Proficiencies and Starting Equipment, Whisper Jar |
| 2 | Need to Know, Whispered Encyclopedia |
Proficiencies and Starting Equipment
As a rank 1 loremonger, you gain one of the following proficiencies of your choice: artisan’s tools (choose type), navigator’s tools, vehicles (land), or vehicles (water).
Head office also grants you the use of an appropriate tool kit if you chose a tool proficiency, as well as ink and an ink pen.
Whisper Jar
Also at rank 1, you are the beneficiary of a whisper jar — a common magic item resembling an ether-filled jar with a long tap hose. The jar is used to record others’ stories and your own observations, like a verbal notebook with unlimited space. The whisper jar records as fast as a creature can speak into it, and whispers back words at the same pace they were recorded. Activating the playback of a particular recording is an action.
Things Recorded in Your Whisper Jar
| d8 | Recording |
|---|---|
| 1 | A live recording of the only performance of the mostly forgotten stage play Tabaxi on a Hot Tin Roof |
| 2 | The life’s work of the loremonger who owned the jar before you |
| 3 | Every courageous thought you’ve ever had, to cover for how scared you are most of the time |
| 4 | Everything, because everyone else around you will eat their words one day! |
| 5 | The top seven places to eat fried rat skewers in every settlement you’ve ever visited |
| 6 | The entire family tree of every royal line, extant or lost, in Faerûn |
| 7 | A moment-by-moment review of your favorite Jim Darkmagic stage performance |
| 8 | The sound of raucous applause, which you play back liberally |
Need to Know
At rank 2, your insight grants you preternatural knowledge of the creatures around you. As an action, select one humanoid you can see and make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. On a success, you learn the following information: the creature’s name, up to three aliases it has used within the past month, its primary profession, and its skill proficiencies. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. You can use this feature only once on any creature.
Whispered Encyclopedia
At rank 2, your whisper jar becomes an uncommon magic item that can tap into the broader lore of Acquisitions Incorporated. As a bonus action, you ask the jar for information on a specific subject and make a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check. On a success, the jar plays back a recording on that subject, made somewhere, sometime by another Acq Inc loremonger. This property of the whisper jar can’t be used again until the next dawn.
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