Loremonger - Rank 4

Loremonger

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.

Loremongers talk a lot. It’s best to let them.

— Omin Dran

The Loremonger

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[/magicitem] — 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

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.

MABANNOK KOVRI

Gnome Loremonger (Druid)

Even without a whisper jar, Mabannok Kovri is an incomparable trove of lore. With the jar — that misty, transparent urn that all loremongers use as a tool of their station — they can scoot close to omniscience. “Mab” decants their whisper jar to share and protect any information vital to the franchise. But they have a particular sideline hobby of greedily trapping ribald dwarven poetry and recipes that “honor the noble turnip.”

Construction Permits

At rank 3, your knowledge of best practices for improving an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise results in a 20 percent reduction in your franchise’s monthly costs (see “Franchise Costs” earlier in this chapter, and “Franchise Tasks and Downtime” later in this chapter).

In addition, choose one room in your franchise headquarters that belongs to you alone. That room gains one cosmetic feature, and the headquarters as a whole gains one secret feature over and above those gained normally through franchise advancement. See “Headquarters Features” earlier in this chapter for more information.

Whispered Warnings

Also at rank 3, your whisper jar gains additional power and becomes a rare magic item. As an action, you can cause the jar to function as a wand of enemy detection, whereupon it whispers the direction to foes within range. This property of the whisper jar can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Efficient Upgrades

At rank 4, your knowledge of franchise lore and development yields further dividends. Your franchise headquarters gains one weapon feature and one cosmetic feature over and above those gained normally through franchise advancement. See “Headquarters Features” earlier in this chapter.

Whispered Arcana

Also at rank 4, your whisper jar gains access to even more magic. By whispering the name of one of the following spells into the jar as an action, you can cast that spell from the jar: detect evil and good, detect magic, detect poison and disease, find traps, [/spell]identify[/spell], or locate animals or plants. This property of the whisper jar can’t be used again until the next dawn.

Why Be a Loremonger?