Archibald Marlowe
Archibald Marlowe
Sheet
AC 12 · HP 20 · 30 ft.Saving throws
Skills
- ArcanaINT
- HistoryINT
- InsightWIS
- InvestigationINT
- ReligionWIS
Weapons
Tools
Languages
Features
17 featuresAlways on
- Field Note
When When he succeeds on an Intelligence check related to a subject he has studied
Archibald recalls obscure lore about a creature, location, or magical phenomenon and uses that knowledge to guide the party.
- Annotated Evocation
When When he casts an Evocation spell or damaging cantrip
He unspools a precisely measured burst of force or flame from a studied formula in his spellbook.
- SpellcastingLevel 1
You can cast wizard spells using Intelligence as your spellcasting ability. Your spellbook starts with six 1st-level wizard spells, and you can prepare six spells from your spellbook. You can use an arcane focus or your spellbook as a spellcasting focus.
- Ritual AdeptLevel 1
You can cast any spell in your spellbook with the Ritual tag as a ritual, even if it is not prepared, as long as you read from the book while casting it.
- Arcane RecoveryLevel 1
When you finish a Short Rest, you can recover expended spell slots with a combined level equal to half your wizard level, rounded up, and none can be level 6 or higher.
- ScholarLevel 2
Choose one skill proficiency you already have from Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, or Religion. You gain Expertise in that skill.
- Wizard SubclassLevel 3
You gain a wizard subclass of your choice.
- Evocation SavantLevel 3
Choose two 1st- or 2nd-level Evocation spells and add them to your spellbook for free. Whenever you gain access to a new spell slot level in this class, you can add one Evocation spell of that level to your spellbook for free.
- Potent CantripLevel 3
When you cast a damaging cantrip at a creature and miss with the attack roll or the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target still takes half the cantrip's damage, if any, but suffers no additional effect.
- Creature TypeHumanHumanoid
- SizeHumanMedium or Small, chosen when you select this species
- SpeedHuman30 feet
- TraitHumanResourceful, you gain Heroic Inspiration whenever you finish a Long Rest
- TraitHumanSkillful, you gain proficiency in one skill of your choice
- TraitHumanVersatile, you gain an Origin feat of your choice
- Origin FeatHumanAlert
- ResearcherSage
You know how to find facts, records, and learned contacts related to your area of study. In practice, you can usually identify where scholarly information is kept, and you can call upon academic networks for leads or interpretation when your research touches their field.
Spells
13 spellsSpellcasting. Archibald Marlowe casts with Intelligence (spell save DC 13, to hit with spell attacks).
Cantrips (at will): , , , ,
1st level (4 slots): , , , , , , ,
2nd level (2 slots): no spells
Gear
9 itemsWeapons
- QuarterstaffQuarterstaff, usable as a weapon and as an arcane focus
- QuarterstaffA backup quarterstaff from sage training, kept as a walking staff and writing aid
Tools
- Calligrapher's SuppliesCalligrapher's supplies for copying and annotating texts
Gear
- SpellbookA scholarly spellbook containing his wizard formulas
- Scholar's PackA pack of travel supplies suited to study and field work
- 2×RobeFormal wizard's robe
- Book (History)A book of history notes and citations
- 8×ParchmentSheets of parchment
Purse
- 13×Gold PiecesGold pieces
Appearance
Archibald Marlowe is a lean human man with careful posture, ink-stained fingers, and expressive gray eyes that seem to be measuring every room he enters. He keeps his brown hair tied back with a ribbon, wears a practical robe layered over a scholar's travel clothes, and carries a worn quarterstaff marked with tiny tally scratches. A pair of round spectacles rests low on his nose, and he always has a strip of parchment tucked into a sleeve or collar. His look is equal parts academic and battlefield-ready, as if he expects to defend a lecture hall at any moment.
Mannerisms
He speaks in careful, complete sentences and often pauses as if mentally citing sources before he answers. He taps the ferrule of his quarterstaff against the floor when thinking, adjusts his spectacles before making a decisive point, and unconsciously straightens any book left askew within reach.
Personality
Patient, observant, and gently inquisitive, Archibald prefers careful analysis over bravado. He is compassionate in a quiet way, often helping first and explaining later. He respects expertise wherever he finds it, but he is stubborn about doing things the proper way once he has convinced himself it is the right way.
Ideals
Truth and mercy should serve one another. Knowledge is most valuable when it protects the vulnerable, and power is only worth keeping if it can be used without cruelty.
Bonds
He is devoted to preserving lost knowledge, especially spells, histories, and inventions that could protect common people from tyranny or catastrophe. He keeps a promised list of names in the front page of his spellbook, people who sheltered him during his first reckless expedition, and he will not rest until he repays each kindness.
Flaws
He can become so absorbed in a mystery that he ignores immediate danger, and he sometimes treats living people like research problems with feelings attached. When insulted, he gets pedantic in the worst possible moments. He also trusts written evidence more readily than witnesses, which has led him astray more than once.
Quirks
Background
Archibald Marlowe was raised in a university district where human ambition was measured in footnotes, not sword strokes. The son of a modest copyist, he learned early that books were more than objects, they were arguments preserved in ink. His talent for recall won him a place among the sages, but his curiosity kept growing past the safe edges of a library. He became obsessed with the practical side of lore, the way spell formulas changed in the field, how old theories survived or failed under pressure, and why so many priceless truths were buried behind locked doors or locked minds. That curiosity eventually drew him into wizardry. Archibald apprenticed under a patient but exacting evoker who taught him that magic is not merely a subject of study, it is a language that can answer with force. He still thinks of himself as a scholar first, but his spellbook is annotated like a battlefield manual, with margins full of observations, diagrams, and emergency notes. Now he travels to verify legends, recover lost treatises, and prove that learning can be a shield for the innocent as surely as any wall of stone.
“The son of a modest copyist, he learned early that books were more than objects, they were arguments preserved in ink.”
- Background
- Sage
Connections
Species
Human
Media
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