The Path Less Traveled is a regular series in which I’ll be examining a single specialization from the Star Wars Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny lines of games. The purpose and hope is to take a look at a specialization that perhaps many players might overlook or ones that are somewhat new to the game lines. We will look at strengths and weaknesses, synergies with other species and specializations, roles in a party, how to incorporate them into a campaign, and perhaps some uses which are not always obvious at first glance.
Overview
George Lucas, regardless of recent trends to mock the man, is responsible for a large portion of happiness in my life. He’s created some of the most iconic and incredible fictional settings, characters, and events that have crafted modern film-making and mythology. He should be heralded as the godfather of modern mythology. Not only did he bring us Star Wars, but he created several other characters and achievements in film. One of those characters was Indiana Jones. The modern adventurer/archaeologist has grown into a legendary Hollywood franchise. So when skimming through Enter the Unknown for the Edge of the Empire game line, I was thrilled to see the Archaeologist as one of the character choices. Indiana Jones meets Star Wars. Nice. However, in discussions with players it appears this is one of those character concepts that is often overlooked because of its non-combat nature and its knowledge skill-based concept. So let’s dive into the Archaeologist and see how one can be a blast to play.
Skills and Characteristics
As part of the Explorer career, the Archaeologist gets Astrogation, Cool, Knowledge (Lore), Knowledge (Outer Rim), Knowledge (Xenology), Perception, Piloting (Space), and Survival to start, adding Athletics, Discipline, Knowledge (Education), and Knowledge (Lore) as a result of the Archaeologist specialization. So, without a doubt, Intellect becomes the critical characteristic when building your character. If you love a Knowledge-based support character, the Archaeologist is a fine choice, adding Athletics and Piloting as things you can gear yourself towards. Of the other career skills, Cunning is the only characteristic that comes up more than once. All others represent each characteristic only once, so you’re free to branch out and focus on just about any other characteristic you like during character creation. Cunning, with Perception and Survival as career skills, is one you likely will want to focus on as you build up your PC. For combat, Brawn may be your characteristic of choice, as the talent tree of the Archaeologist has Melee-based talents in it, but not many, so it’s fairly safe regardless of how you go.
Species
Intellect-focused characters are the ones you want, for certain, with Cunning perhaps as a second focused characteristic, or whichever secondary you want to focus on. The Drall is the only species to start with a 4 in Intellect, so they definitely should be in your consideration. After that, the Muun and Neimoidian are the only two species with 3s in both Intellect and Cunning. After that, species with a 3 in Intellect and a 2 in Cunning come from a long list: Cerean, Elomin, Ishi Tib, Lannik, Sakiyan, Chiss, Shistavanen, Chadra-Fan, Duros, Polis Massan, and Quermian. Any of those could make a fantastic Archaeologist. But, also consider, with Intellect being the only must have characteristic you need at character creation at a 3 or higher, you could spend just 30XP to raise a 2 to a 3, and then your species options jump higher exponentially. So don’t be afraid to mix it up and have fun with any number of species you enjoy.
Talents
The talent tree of the Archaeologist is an interesting one, with a unique path down the tree. You can really only head down the tree on the far left and right columns, and then must come back up through the middle columns. Looking at the tree, you’ll find a couple paths and about three categories of talents: Combat/Fighting, Endurance/Resilience, and Knowledge talents. So the Archaeologist can hold his own in a fight, last longer than the others, and know everything about where he is.
The combat talents are few, but good in a fight, especially up close, focusing on incapacitating an opponent, rather than killing them. Stunning Blow allows you to deal Strain damage with a Melee check, as opposed to wounds. Hard Headed lets you perform a check to remove a negative status effect like staggered or disoriented. And Pin lets you immobilize an engaged target until the end of your next turn with an opposed Athletics check. Knockdown is also available to let you knock a target prone with any Triumph you roll with a melee weapon.
For the talents that increase the character’s ability to stay upright, you have a couple ranks of Grit and some Toughened, but you also get Durable, Resolve, and Enduring… all designed to keep you on your feet. After that, you get into the Knowledge-based talents, of which there are many, this being the Archaeologist’s trademark. Well Rounded lets you pick any two skills and make them career skills. For just 5XP that’s a bargain, saving you XP down the road in anything you want (like that missing combat-based skill?) Researcher and Respected Scholar help make knowledge checks faster and easier. Each of those talents have two ranks in the tree. Knowledge Specialization has two ranks, and it lets you pick any Knowledge skill, and with it use Triumphs for extra successes during those checks, making you learn and know more facts about what you’re doing the check about. Museum Worthy is the big knowledge talent in the tree, allowing you to take an action once a session, and get any piece of information about a relic, ruin, or piece of history with a hard check.
Specialization Synergy and Character Concepts
The great thing about non-combat specializations is that you can combine them with just about any combat specialization and you’re in good shape. Pick what you like being good at in a fight, and combine it with the Archaeologist, and you’ll have a great character concept. But to really take advantage of the Archaeologist’s melee-based talents, you’ll want a melee fighter. An Enforcer, Marauder, or Commando could make great combos for combat. But again, because there are just a few combat talents, picking something else won’t really hurt much. A Soresu Defender would also be fun to combine with the Archaeologist due to the reliance on Intellect.
I know that it doesn’t 100% match up with everything above, but I would love to match up a Gunslinger with the Archaeologist. I’d love the idea of getting an Indiana Jones type on the table with a bit more gun fighting action.
For non-combat specs, just about any of the Knowledge-based specializations can be a fantastic combination. An Analyst would be fun to combine. You have an old Archaeologist thrust into the civil war, with his or her old knowledge and talents at their disposal. The extra Knowledge-based talents would make this character an intellectual juggernaut. A Survivalist would also be fun, narratively easily blending with the Archaeologist’s tendency to get out and about in the wilderness. In fact any of the Seeker specializations could be fun to combine.
Those are just a few fun ideas. Have you run a fun Archaeologist build? Have you had some fun combinations you put together or ones you’ve wanted to try?
Scott Alden
Latest posts by Scott Alden (see all)
- We Never Saw His Face… We Saw His Soul - May 7, 2019
