The Ancient Historian (Character Kit)

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==The Ancient Historian==
The title of this kit refers to the character's area of concentration, not his age. Ancient historians prefer the company of musty old tomes to that of most other creatures and spend much of their time nestled in underground carrels of vast libraries.
The majority of ancient historians' discoveries come from new insights gleaned from ancient texts. In addition, these historians develop new theories about established historical facts and principles.
For the most part, members of this kit delve into past events with little concern about how their discoveries may affect "contemporary" life. That kind of understanding will come with time.
Requirements: Ancient historians must memorize and organize vast storehouses of seemingly disparate facts and then synthesize them into a meaningful whole. For this reason, they must possess a minimum Intelligence score of 14-in addition to the standard requirements for a historian.
Role: Ancient historians rarely accompany heroes upon epic adventures. However, they may be the impetus behind such adventures. For example, an ancient historian may require a rare tome to complete his studies, so he hires some heroes to retrieve it from its current location.
Also, the heroes may occasionally require the services of an ancient historian. Who else could accurately tell them the particulars of the ancient curse which protects an artifact they've been hired to find.
Governments and nobles often commission these historians to gather and maintain national records and histories. In addition, some ancient historians specialize in the history behind magical items or artifacts (using the Spellcraft nonweapon proficiency).
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Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, dart, sling, and staff.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Required: Ancient History, Ancient Language, Reading/Writing, and Heraldry. Recommended: Modern Languages, Spellcraft.
Equipment: Ancient historians must have access to major libraries to continue their studies. Without this access, they cannot progress from level to level. In addition, they must maintain their own personal libraries.
Keeping a personal library costs an ancient historian 250 gp per level. Thus, a 4th-level ancient historian must pay 1,000 gp to maintain his personal library. The historian must pay this amount when he reaches the next level. He will not receive the benefits of the new level until this amount is paid.
An ancient historian rarely strays far from his library and always keeps a notebook, a pen, and a bottle of ink with him just in case.
Special Benefits: Ancient historians receive a +2 bonus to all Ancient History proficiency checks. This is due mostly to their strong relationship with librarians and book sellers in their area. These merchants and scholars provide the ancient historians with first crack at the finest research materials.
Additionally, an ancient historian can seek out a patron to cover the costs of maintaining his personal library. To successfully do so, the ancient historian must make an Ancient History proficiency check every time he advances a level (the check can be made at 1st level). If he succeeds, the historian has found himself a patron and does not have to pay the library upkeep fee this level.
The ancient historian must make this roll every level in order to keep his patron. If he﻿ fails, the patron discharges him, and he must somehow come up with the library upkeep fee himself. He can try again for another patron (or even the same one) when he reaches the next level of experience.
Any time that the ancient historian fails such a check, though, he suffers a cumulative -1 penalty to his chance to retain a patron the next time he attains a new level of experience. This prevents the ancient historian from abusing his patron's good will.
The ancient historian's patron may also help with other costs. Often the patron will provide the historian with meals and a place to sleep. Upon occasion, the patron may even finance purchases of truly rare and important tomes or historical pieces. Alternatively, the patron may agree to finance an expedition to locate such items. Either way, the ancient historian must make a check against his Ancient History nonweapon proficiency to convince his patron that the item is worth the cost and effort.
Special Hindrances: Ancient historians must always appease their patrons. For example, ancient historians must ask their patrons' permission to leave town.
Whenever an ancient historian wishes to leave town, the DM should roll an Ancient History proficiency check. If the roll fails, the ancient historian does not have permission to leave.
The ancient historian can ignore his patron and leave against his wishes. However, he will immediately lose his patron's support. When the historian reaches the next level, his attempt to find a new patron (or reestablish relations with the old one) becomes quite difficult. In fact, the historian must make a History proficiency roll with a -4 penalty to determine if any patron will have him.