Archivist

Overview

The Archivist is Rifts' independent academic — the historian, archaeologist, archivist, and researcher operating outside formal institutional structures. They preserve pre-Rifts knowledge, study supernatural phenomena, decode dead languages, identify lost technologies, and (in many campaigns) hunt for the specific information that the Federation or other authorities would prefer stay forgotten. They are the party's research engine: the character who knows what an artifact does, who recognizes ancient ruins, who can translate a Pre-Rifts document.

Archivists range from formal academics — operating in pockets where the Federation tolerates research — to wasteland archivists preserving fragmentary knowledge in hidden libraries, to dimensional researchers who specialize in rift phenomena and their effects. They are usually older, learned, and oddly specific about their interests.

This is a knowledge-as-power class. Its Specializations gate access to historical, linguistic, and supernatural knowledge that other classes simply don't have. It is not a combat class — its identity is research and recall.

At a glance

Class features by level

Sub-Specs

Pre-Rifts Historian

L1: Ancient Lore +1 status (cumulative with the Specialization). L7 Greater: once per long rest, identify a hidden pre-Rifts location in an area. L15 Master: once per long rest, recover a piece of lost pre-Rifts knowledge from any source.

Anomalous Researcher

L1: Anomalous Phenomena +1 status. L7 Greater: identify a dimensional creature's home plane and its specific binding type. L15 Master: predict rift behavior in a region for a 24-hour window.

Field Linguist

L1: +2 starting languages (total 5 at L1). L7 Greater: decode an unknown language with 1 day of study. L15 Master: speak and comprehend any language briefly via dimensional resonance.

Class feats

Class feats available at each feat level — you gain one at every even level, and can always pick a feat of your level or lower. The Archivist isn't a martial; its combat relevance comes from turning knowledge into a tactical edge for the party.

Level 1

• Skill Specialist (general). Gain an additional Specialization beyond your class's 3 starting.
• Polyglot Expansion. Learn 2 more languages.
• Cross-Discipline Lore. Gain the Tech Lore Specialization (or another Lore-based Specialization of your choice).
• Battle Analysis. When you Recall Knowledge about a creature, you may grant one ally who can see or hear you a +1 circumstance bonus to their next attack roll or skill check against it before the end of your next turn. Once per round.

Level 2

• Quick Study. You can Recall Knowledge about a creature you can perceive as a single action.
• Eidetic Memory. You automatically remember any fact you've ever learned (no new check to recall it), and you can attempt Recall Knowledge from even a fleeting glimpse.
• Forewarned. You add your INT modifier to initiative, and you can't be made flat-footed at the start of an encounter you anticipated.

Level 4

• Research Network. A network of fellow scholars you can query for information on a topic; a response arrives in 1–2 days (the response time is the limiter, not a daily cap).
• Translator Master. Read and translate any written language you have a sample of within 10 minutes via Cross-Reference.
• Anomaly Sense. You passively sense dimensional rifts, magical anomalies, and supernatural phenomena within 1 mile, and identify their basic nature at a glance.

Level 6

• Comprehensive Study. When you Recall Knowledge about a creature, you learn all its resistances, weaknesses, and immunities at once, and can relay them to your whole party as a free action.
• Linguist's Edge. You can attempt to parley with almost any creature even with no shared language, and gain a +2 status bonus to Diplomacy and Deception made through translation or gesture.
• Scholar's Insight. Once per 10 minutes, ask the GM one factual question about the current situation that your knowledge would plausibly cover; the GM answers truthfully (cryptically if the knowledge is fragmentary).

Level 8

• Verbal Polymath. You can speak and understand any spoken language briefly (a few minutes) without prior study.
• Lore Mastery. Your Lores and Specializations function as one tier higher than your proficiency for Recall Knowledge checks.
• Predict Action. Trigger: a creature you've Recalled Knowledge on this encounter targets you or an ally. The target of its action gains a +1 circumstance bonus to AC or to the triggered save.

Level 10

• Master Analyst. Your Battle Analysis bonus increases to +2 and applies to every ally who can see or hear you against the studied creature.
• Polyglot Master. You can read, speak, and understand any language — mundane, dead, or dimensional — without preparation.
• Field Decoder. Your Decode Artifact becomes a 1-minute activity (or a single action for a rough read), letting you identify artifacts and documents in the field.

Level 12

• Lost Library Discovery. With a focused downtime research effort, you can locate a hidden archive, lost library, or knowledgeable source relevant to your inquiry (gated by research time, not a daily cap).
• Cross-Tradition. You gain access to one magical tradition's body of information — its theory, practitioners, and practices — without being able to cast its spells.
• Weakness Exploit. When you reveal a creature's weakness, the first ally to deal that weakness's damage type to it each round treats the weakness value as one step higher.

Level 14

• Encyclopedic Recall. You can never critically fail a Recall Knowledge check, you're always treated as having an applicable Lore, and your knowledge-granted bonuses apply to all allies within 30 ft.
• Strategic Mastermind. Once per round, you can direct an ally within 30 ft to immediately Step, or grant them a +2 circumstance bonus to a save against a threat you foresaw.
• Master Researcher. Your downtime research takes a fraction of the normal time, and you can research any subject regardless of how obscure the sources are.

Level 16

• Living Archive. Your Library becomes self-organizing — search any topic in 10 minutes, and it functions as if fully equipped wherever you've established it.
• Time-Bridging Insight. Through deep study, you can access fragmentary pre-Rifts knowledge bearing on a current question or near-future event (a research activity; the GM controls what's knowable). No daily cap.
• Living Encyclopedia. You can Recall Knowledge as a free action once per round, and against creatures of your level or lower you always achieve at least a success.

Level 18

• Prescient Scholar. Trigger: an ally within 30 ft fails an attack roll or save, or is critically hit. The ally rerolls the failed roll, or you reduce a critical hit against them to a normal hit. Once per round.
• Universal Translator. You comprehend all communication directed at or near you — spoken, written, gestural, even simple psionic or telepathic intent — and can respond in kind.
• Anomaly Master. You can predict a dimensional rift or anomaly's behavior over the next 24 hours and, with preparation, nudge its timing or destination within narrow limits (GM adjudication).

Level 20

• The Sum of All Knowledge. When you Recall Knowledge about a creature, you learn everything about it and mark it for the party: until the end of the encounter, all allies gain a +2 status bonus to attack rolls and skill checks against it.
• Master Scholar's Library. Your capstone Insight Reveal's scope broadens to any subject your Specializations could plausibly touch, anywhere in history, and you can perform it on a moment's reflection rather than only after focused study.
• Foreseen Victory. Once per round, you can grant an ally attacking a creature you've studied this encounter an expanded critical range — they score a critical hit on a natural 19 or 20 against it.

Off-spotlight mode

The Archivist is not a combat class — it's designed for downtime, investigation, and research scenes. In a fight, you have trained simple weapons and no armor, which makes you vulnerable; stay back, identify enemies via Recall Knowledge, and let combat-capable allies act. The class earns its keep between battles. Ancient Lore and Magical Practice History also grant historical knowledge of magical practitioners, useful for cross-tradition research per the Magic & Psionics rules.