[Fantasy Craft] Class Act: The Keeper

It has once been said that knowing is half the battle (and the rest of it are Red lasers and Blue lasers).  Ask a Keeper and they might tell you that knowing is the battle.  Keepers are another Specialist class, one that focuses on mastery of knowledge in the form of skills.  Even the Explorer can’t keep up to the sheer number of skill points that the Keeper starts off with.

The Keeper’s core ability is Teacher, which allows him to grant the Keeper’s teammates temporary access to one of the Keeper’s Basic Skill Mastery Feats until the end of the scene.  Basic Skill Mastery feats grant a +2 insight bonus and an increased threat range to a given pair of skills.  Doesn’t seem like much at first glance, but giving your entire team a bonus to all Investigate & Search rolls when it really counts is nothing to sneeze at.

Being extremely knowledgeable has its upsides,  the Keeper also enjoys having the Man of Reason ability, which grants the “safety net” effect of not being able to fail in a Medicine or Crafting check.  There’s something reassuring about having someone who can’t fail a Medicine Check, to be honest.

Skill rolls are almost trivial to the Keeper, especially with the Trade Secrets and Bright Idea abilities that further boost the maximum ranks for a skill, and allowing re-rolls to an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma based skill check.  Brilliant also raises the Keeper’s Intelligence Score above and beyond those granted by normal level advancements.

One particularly interesting item in their abilities is another multiple ability entry called The Right Tools.  This can gain the Keeper anything from followers, better tools, expertise in certain skills and my personal favorite: Stash It, which allows you to hide one object weighing up to 1lb. and it can’t be found by any searches unless the search scores a threat or critical success.

The most interesting ability a Keeper has however, is the Instant Solution.  It’s a higher level ability, but rightly so.  Once per session, a Keeper can make one Intelligence-based skill check automatically score a natural 20.  This is a threat and can be turned into a critical.  Also the amount of time taken is drastically reduced.  Practically an “I Win” button plastered on Intelligence-based checks, once per session as far as a Keeper is concerned.

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The Keeper’s ability as a Specialist can’t be disputed when it comes to skills.  Tremendous skill bonuses, raised skill caps, and funky abilities all stack to make the go-to guy when it comes to getting answers.  GMs are going to love Keepers, as they’re the character that the GMs are going to be feeding full of information.

That said, Keepers are also characters that require a little bit of care, lest they become too easy a target in combat.

• Learn to handle yourself in a Fight – Can’t stress this enough.  Keepers have all the answers, but they certainly won’t do much good if they don’t have their heads on their shoulders.  If you’re not keen on fighting, at least invest in some good defense Feats like Elusive.
• Specialize – This seems counter-intuitive, but being able to max out 1-2 skills rather than having middling ranges of a wide variety might pay off for a Keeper.  Consider options that will keep you useful in any adventuring party.  Medicine is a good option and so is Investigation.
• Raise your Intelligence – This probably doesn’t need saying, but I’m putting it here all the same.  Intelligence is one of the cornerstone abilities of the Keeper Class, granting more skill points as well as granting a better bonus to most skills.

Keepers are an interesting non-combatant Class.  They’re not quite as able to keep themselves alive if caught by surprise by those who would mean them harm, but given the right place, and the right time, they can completely mop the floor with their competition.

I for one, can totally see a Zhuge Liang-ish master tactician.  He’ll probably be helpless in a brawl, but his strategies are peerless.