Cryptid Scholar (Investigator Archetype)
If medieval bestiaries, video game wikis, and the entire pseudo-science of cryptozoology are anything to go by, it becomes increasingly clear that mythological beasts of cultures past and present are an endless source of fascination for the very human beings who created them in the first place.
Admittedly, at the time, the people telling those stories in the ancient past were completely convinced that such creatures did exist, with some being based on very loose accounts and descriptions of real-world animals, or were wholly fictitious entities that may very well have been allegories in their own right.
Regardless, where storytellers speak of monsters, there will be those that wish to catalogue and understand them, especially in a fantasy world where that instinct can be channeled towards a scholarly understanding of actual monsters.
In many fantasy rpg games, knowledge skill checks to identify monsters that a character has never encountered before can be explained as the character having heard stories, or perhaps read through a bestiary. However, while your average adventurer might focus on the strengths, weaknesses, and perhaps behaviors of a monster, today’s subject: the cryptid scholar, seeks to understand all they can about monsters, delving into the ecology, the psychology, and the biology of such beings.
While others feel dread at the sound of the massive footfalls of the dragon, these scholars grow excited, eager to study them and even interview them if given the chance.
This fascination gives them a reputation of being eccentric, which might make them seem strange to others, including their peers and colleagues in academia, but most don’t mind, instead pursuing rumors of monster sightings to observe them in the field. Naturally, they work best with a party of adventurers to help protect them, as well as benefit from their vast knowledge.
Naturally, these scholars are extremely knowledgeable about monsters, even those associated with disciplines that the scholar doesn’t know as much about.
In combat, these scholars can give advice and observations on the tactics and limitations of a species to give allies an edge in defending against them.
Additionally, they can end this advice to signal the perfect moment to strike, giving allies a lethal edge for a few seconds.
Put in game terms, this archetype forgoes their normal studied combat ability and studied strike to grant buffs to allies, as well as granting a similar studied strike to all allies. Essentially, your strategy will be buff the defenses of allies and yourself while wearing down the studied foe until the perfect moment to finish it off together, which admittedly takes some setting up. With that in mind, I’d recommend defensive extracts and discoveries to help bolster allies and prepare for the finishing blow.
The name choice of the archetype and the flavor text leans heavily into the “brilliant scholar, considered foolish, mad, or just eccentric by their peers”. However, there is also an element of the passionate biologist, the person who wants to show the world how wonderful and interesting these creatures are, while dispelling falsehoods against them. So yes, there’s definitely room for taking inspiration from Steve Irwin and the like.
Due to their nature as guardians of fate, norns do not typically allow mortals to approach unless they have need of guidance on some great destiny. That isn’t stopping the fey anthropologist Mixi Tallfellow from trying to secure an interview. Ironically, the fey will allow this, but only because the party’s destiny is so interesting.
The party happens upon an owlbear tearing into an overturned cart. When they attempt to intervene, a voice from under the wagon asks that the beast not be harmed. If they comply, the wiry old man thanks them for the rescue, and hands them a copy of a monster almanac he has been working on.
Adventurous and endlessly curious, Alvad, musetouched elven aasimar, has documented the many strange beasts that live in Brennivale for half a century. However, a strange plague has come to the heart of the forest, something that even they have never seen before.