Cartographer Kit (Society Member)

Basic Information

Proficiencies

This kit does not describe the scribes that tally in the Mordentshire print shop, those who produce the cartographical maps or scribe the city guides and gazetteers. It instead focuses on those people who, for the benefit of the society, travel the core and document the sites and places they visit.

The cartographers of this kit are eternal wanderers, driven to travel and see all the marvels of the world they live in. Their occupations and the reasons they may give for their traveling may differ, but all enjoy it tremendously.

Some wander the domains on their own, but most hook up with adventuring parties or join a caravan.

People of all races can become members. While demi-humans are often not attracted to the wandering professions, as they are often ridiculed or treated with suspicion in areas outside Darkon, there is nothing that stops them from becoming members.

Also, cartographers can be of almost any class. The kit includes warriors, wizards, rogues, and even the occasional inquisitive priest. Paragons and paladins are excluded, however, as they are incapable of the neutrality that is required for a cartographer to do his job. Priests of Bane or Ezra are likewise disallowed to join the society, as these churches are often deeply involved in the domain’s politics. Priests of other religions, including those of Hala, are welcome to join.

Cartographers must be either Neutral Good , True Neutral or Lawful Neutral, in order to maintain their objectivity when they chronicle events. Cartographic NPCs may also be Neutral Evil.

A cartographer frequently is called upon his intuition to separate fact from fiction. As such, his Wisdom should be 12 or higher. Furthermore, a member needs a good demeanor to entice people to relate their stories and information to him, so he needs a Charisma score of at least 10.

Most cartographers dress simple, as to not alienate themselves too much from the common people, who are frequently their most valuable resources for information. Some cartographers maintain collections of clothes for different occasions and fashions, but most stick to a neutral, sometimes bland, style of clothing that allows them to easily blend in with society. There are otherwise no specific visual signs to indicate someone is a cartographer.

Cartographers are outgoing people who make friends easily. They quickly adapt to a new environment and are able to blend in with any crowd. Even the most paranoid people eventually warm up to the cartographer, as he projects himself to others in a manner that make him feel familiar and trustworthy.

While they quickly gain confidence with people, cartographers are also careful not to get too involved. They are expected to act as observers, only to document what they encounter. As such, they generally take a passive stand in most situations that would otherwise prompt people to interfere. While this is often seen as a sign of cowardice, this is actually needed to maintain the integrity of the society, and thus most members follow the rules as they are laid down when they first join.

Not all cartographers are so passive, however. Some members are not less eager to fight evil when it rears its ugly head than any adventurer would. They view the rules as ‘guidelines’, and will gladly join a party when it is obvious the right thing to do. They often justify the breaking of the rules by claiming that whatever happened would have happened anyway, sooner or later, so why not ease suffering now?

Still, these members rarely charge into battle at a whim, and take time to carefully analyze the situation, sometimes at the irritation of their fellow men.

A cartographer’s ability to blend in with a new environment makes it less difficult for him to talk to people who would otherwise be complete strangers to him. Whenever dealing with commoners (mostly unclassed characters), the character gains a +2 reaction adjustment modifier. The modifier does not apply to militia or other officials, who generally view the cartographer as a meddler. Demi-human cartographers have a far more difficult time blending in, and they only gain this benefit in those areas where their race is accepted.

Cartographers also have an extensive knowledge of the geography of the domains and a fine sense of direction. Whenever a cartographer is supposed to be lost, either in a maze, a forest, or when suddenly transported by the mists, the character can try to check where he is. If the character has arrived at a place he has visited before, this check is automatic, provided there are any landmarks that can tell him so.

Otherwise, the DM should make a wisdom roll for the character. On a successful roll, the character gets a sense from where he is. He might be able to relate a landmark to a reference in his documentation (“That mountain looks like it could be mount Baratok. I must be in Barovia.”), or he just gets a ‘feeling’ of which direction to go. If the wisdom check rolls up a natural 20, the character has his references wrong, and gets a totally wrong idea of where he is.

Cartographers have a hard time dealing with people who have strongly aligned motivations. At best, these people see the cartographer as weak and spineless due to his affiliation with an society that is impartial and indecisive. At the worst, the character is regarded as being opposed to what they believe. Unless the person encountered is a commoner (see above), cartographers have a -2 reaction adjustment penalty when dealing with people who are not at least partially neutral (be it lawful good or chaotic evil).

Most of the cartographer’s skills are maintained by travel. A cartographer is an eternal wanderer. He cannot stay at the same place for longer than one month, and he must have pressing reason to stay at all (though careful research of the area counts as a reason). Should he, for whatever reason, exceed his stay, he looses all the benefits of the kit until he has wandered for double the time he overstayed his stay.

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