Archetypes Compendium

The thunderstriker adopts an unusual fighting style, gripping a heavy weapon with both hands and switching to a defensive posture with weapon and buckler, lashing out with the shield with surprising speed and power.

Many fighters believe the tower shield is a tool suitable only for troops on the battlefield, claiming it is too large and bulky to use in skirmishes or within dungeon corridors.

Some fighters focus their efforts on finding the biggest, heaviest, most imposing weapon they can find and training to manage and harness the weight of their massive weapons for maximum impact.

Trained under great masters who preached the simple truth that two are better than one when it comes to weapons, the two-weapon warrior is a terror when his hands are full.

Not all fighters need weapons to make their mark on the world.

The unbreakable is a warrior of indomitable will, unstoppable and implacable once he has set his mind upon a course of action.

Devoted to the perfection of a single weapon, the weapon master's meditations upon his favored weapon border on the obsessive, but none can deny his consummate skill.

Gunslingers usually don't use heavy armor, but there are a few who use and modify their armor to protect themselves from both traditional weapons and gunfire.

Pistols and other one-handed firearms are often easy to conceal and faster to load than other firearms, and do sufficient damage for most situations.

Gunslingers use a potent mixture of common sense and manual dexterity in order to control the fickle power of their weapons.

While most gunslingers have favorite firearms, there are those rare ones who choose to specialize in one-handed firearms exclusively.

Some inquisitors, as they learn more about the threat of possession and the machinations of the planes, task themselves to expel possessing spirits and conniving outsiders from the world whenever possible.

While all inquisitors hunt the enemies of the faith, sometimes, either through political maneuvering by her enemies or an unyielding tenacity that breaks her faith's basic tenets, an inquisitor can find herself a heretic.

Some magic items are heretical by nature, enabling the unfaithful to spread wickedness.

This inquisitor uses guile and deception to blend in among the enemies of the faith rather than confronting them head-on.

Some inquisitors wander the land to spread the true word of their faith.

There is a sect of inquisitors in some religions that believes it is not enough to hunt the enemies of the church—one must also devour those enemies' sins.

The world is full of dangerous magic, and many recoil in the face of such power.

When pursuing justice for their faith, inquisitors sometimes hunt sorcerers, witches, wizards, and other practitioners of arcane magic—but especially witches, since their devotion to a patron is often seen as suspect by many religions.

A select group of magi are called to carry a black blade—a sentient weapon of often unknown and possibly unknowable purpose.