Beast Archivist

Studying, Documenting, and Recording. Those are the words the Beast Archivists live and breath by. Finding joy in observing a creatures normal or abnormal habits and adding their findings into a document called the Beast Encyclopedia, they study creatures in order to increase the information spread. However, what makes the Beast Archivist different from the rest of the scholars is their innate ability to take what they have studied and put it into practice. They study creatures so often that they are able to imitate them almost exactly. 

The Beast Archivist studies the patterns and attacks of different creatures and adds them to their arsenal of attacks. This allows the Beast Archivist to use the innate ability of some beasts and other creatures.

Catalogue

Beginning at 3rd level when you choose this archetype, you’ve begun your journey as a researcher of all manners of beasts, whether magical or not. You gain proficiency with the Wisdom (Survival) and Wisdom (Animal Handling) skills. Additionally you gain the following feature:

Bestiary. You have a special record containing all of the knowledge you have gained about creatures you have encountered and studied, referred to as a Bestiary. The Bestiary can have whatever form you wish, such as a leather bound tome, a stone tablet covered in runes or a messy collection of parchment. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track creatures you have studied and added to your Bestiary, as well as on Intelligence ability checks to recall information about them. Additionally, after studying a creature and adding it to your Bestiary, you learn of any resistances, immunities or vulnerabilities it might have.

To add a creature to your Bestiary, you must fulfill any of the following requirements:

• You must have studied the creature out of combat for 1 hour while remaining completely uninterrupted for the duration.
• You must have spent a long rest reading and studying a text that comprehensively details the creature. The DM determines if the text has sufficient information.
• You must have participated in the killing or capturing of the creature. You can then add it to your Bestiary at the end of a long rest.

To add a creature to your Bestiary, it cannot have the humanoid or construct creature type.

Hunter's Knowledge

Whenever a creature has been fully added into your Bestiary, you learn to use your knowledge about the creature to help you in combat. Because you have spent so much time studying different creatures, you are able to copy the way they move, attack, and how they behave while in combat. When a creature is added into the Bestiary, a symbol is created on the page. 

At 3rd level, you can choose a creature from you Bestiary during a short or long rest and draw its symbol on your body to copy one of its innate traits (i.e. a boar's charge or a dragon's breath attack). You may have one symbol drawn at 3rd, two at 7th, three at 11th, and four at 15th level. 

Adaptive Tactics

At 7th level, your extensive studies of the creatures detailed within your Bestiary has given you insights into how to better deal with them in combat. While fighting a creature detailed in your Bestiary, you can grant yourself any of the following benefits:

• Exploiting Shot. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can choose to make it an Exploiting Shot. Upon dealing damage, you can make the creature vulnerable to one type of damage of you choice until the start of your next turn. (If the creature has resistance to that damage, it is ignored, and if it is immune it is instead treats as though it is resistant)
• Precise Shot. You can add your Wisdom modifier to any attack roll you make against a creature detailed in your Bestiary.
• Quick Shot. When a creature attacks you, you can use your reaction to make a quick shot at it. If your attack hits, you deal damage equal to your Wisdom modifier and the creature has disadvantage on attacks against you until the start of your next turn.
• Studied Strike. When you hit a creature detailed in your Bestiary with a weapon attack, you can choose to deal an extra 2d6 damage to it. This extra damage increases to 2d8 damage at 11th level, and 2d10 at 15th level.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest

Master Archivist

At 11th level, you’ve practically become a walking Bestiary yourself, and are unrivaled by but a handful in your vast knowledge and understanding of the creatures that live in your world. You gain the following features:

• Quick Study. You have enough experience studying creatures that you can often make assumptions and determinations about their abilities on the fly. As an action, you can choose one creature within 60 feet of you. That creature must make a Charisma (Deception) check against your Wisdom (Insight) check. If you succeed, you can treat the creature as if it was detailed in your Bestiary for the next minute.
• Improved Critical. Attacks you make against a creature detailed in your Bestiary crit on a roll of 19-20
• Command the Wild. You can cast Dominate Beast once without expending a spell slot. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You regain the ability to do so after finishing a long rest.

Zoological Prodigy

Your studies into the creatures detailed in your Bestiary has given you insight into how to use magic to take their forms. You learn the Polymorph spell, and can cast it once per long rest without requiring a spell slot or material components. When you cast Polymorph in this way, you can only take the forms of creatures detailed in your Bestiary.