Archivist

A gnome hangs from the ceiling using a rope tied around his waist, utilizing his vantage point to study the walls of the ancient temple. He frowns for a moment, then mutters a quiet incantation, causing glowing words to appear on the stone surface. Reaching for the worn, leather-bound book on his belt, the gnome smiles and begins transcribing his discovery.

Ducking behind a stalactite to hide from the searching eyes of the demon, a half-elf quickly racks her brain for information about the creature. In a flash of inspiration, she recalls a textbook diagram detailing weaknesses in the demon’s chitinous armor behind its knees. The half-elf calls out to her allies, informing them of the vulnerability and allowing them to strike a crippling blow.

Where clerics gain their divine magic through servitude to one or more gods, the archivist focuses their energy on study and an intellectual pursuit of the divine. To an archivist, the power of the gods is simply one more frontier to be explored, studied, and chronicled. An archivist’s pursuit of knowledge often takes him to faraway places where he can delve into forgotten tombs and sift though ancient libraries.

Scholars of the Divine

Archivists use their intellectual abilities to study magic in all of its forms. An archivist views divine magic as simply another way of accessing the Weave, a route which can be accessed by those with the talent and determination to do so. While some archivists are deeply religious, relying on their chosen deities to guide their studies, others are less so, viewing the gods simply as powerful beings who merit a healthy respect. Archivists come from all walks of life, but they share a common pursuit of knowledge. The world is a big place, and an archivist sees it as full of opportunities to make their next big discovery.

When not exploring new ways to tap into the Weave, archivists often study magical creatures, taking careful notes on their physiology and their unique abilities. An archivist's notes might be filled with observations on creatures she has encountered in her travels, helpful tips from her colleagues for dealing with certain monsters, and unanswered questions about a particular beast she has been studying. Archivists are often sought for their expertise when strange aberrations run wild, and their knowledge can be an invaluable asset on the battlefield.

Archivists tend to congregate in temples, universities, and libraries, quiet places where learning and quiet reflection can flourish. Such places also allow archivists to discuss their findings with each other; an archivist will often keep pages of notes full of information learned secondhand from his fellow scholars. But only so much can be learned from the safety of a college, and any archivist worth his prayer book knows that the greatest discoveries are only made in the face of danger. Old tombs, ancient temples, and other forgotten corners of the world hold plenty of secrets and every archivist dreams of being the one to uncover them.

The Archivist

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Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Cantrips Known	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+2	Spellcasting, Polyglot	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+2	Scholarly Path, Otherworldly Insight	3	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	-	3	4	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	4	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	Polyglot	4	4	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—
6th	+3	Scholarly Path Feature	4	4	3	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
7th	+3	-	4	4	3	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	4	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
9th	+4	-	4	4	3	3	3	1	—	—	—	—
10th	+4	Scholarly Path Feature, Polyglot	5	4	3	3	3	2	—	—	—	—
11th	+4	-	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	—	—	—
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	—	—	—
13th	+5	-	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	—	—
14th	+5	Scholarly Path Feature	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	—	—
15th	+5	Polyglot	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	—
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	—
17th	+6	-	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	1
18th	+6	Spell Specialization	5	4	3	3	3	3	1	1	1	1
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	5	4	3	3	3	3	2	1	1	1
20th	+6	Divine Insight, Polyglot	5	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1

Paths to Knowledge

An archivist is most commonly motivated by the promise of learning something new. For some, this means delving into ancient ruins in search of a forgotten tome or inscription. For others, knowledge comes from direct experience; such archivists often seek out magical phenomena or rare creatures in hopes of studying them up close.

In their pursuit of knowledge, archivists often uncover many secrets which have been accidentally or intentionally hidden from the common people. An archivist may uncover dark rituals, learn terrible truths about the world, or even learn powerful words which hold dreadful power. To be an archivist is to protect this knowledge, both from those who would abuse it for their own selfish ambition and from those who would destroy it out of ignorance or fear.

Creating an Archivist

When you create an archivist, consider what drove you to pursue your arcane studies. How was your character first exposed to magic? Did you have a natural aptitude or were your studies hard-earned with practice and hours of study? Were you taught by another archivist or other wise figure, or were you self-taught? What drove you to pursue divine knowledge as a scholarly endeavor?

What provides you with the motivation to pursue your studies? Perhaps you had an encounter with a magical creature at a young age which inspired you to learn as much as you could about such creatures. Or maybe you stumbled across an old tome and spent years learning to decipher its strange symbols and diagrams. Whatever your reason, consider how your background influences your current studies, as well as how it provides motivation for your future pursuits.

Quick Build

You can make an archivist quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in Intelligence, followed by Constitution and Wisdom. Second, choose the Sage background. Third, choose the light, sacred flame, and thaumaturgy cantrips, along with the following 1st level spells for your prayer book: bless, comprehend languages, detect magic, guiding bolt, healing word, and magic missile.

Class Features

As an archivist, you gain the following class features

Hit Points

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• Hit Dice: 1d6 per archivist level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per archivist level after 1st

Proficiencies

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• Armor: Light armor, medium armor
• Weapons: Daggers, quarterstaffs, slings, darts, and light crossbows
• Tools: Calligrapher's supplies

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• Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
• Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Nature, and Religion

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) leather armor or (b) scale mail
• (a) a component pouch or (b) a holy symbol
• (a) a scholar's pack or (b) a dungeoneer's pack
• A prayerbook

Spellcasting

As a student of divine magic, you have a prayer book containing spells that serve as a record of your life’s work. See chapter 10 of the Player’s Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and below for the archivist spell list.

Cantrips

At first level you know three cantrips of your choice from the archivist spell list. You learn additional archivist cantrips of your choice at higher levels as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the archivist table.

Prayerbook

An archivist’s prayerbook is a record of their studies and the key to their magic. Archivists use their prayerbooks to keep track of their discoveries and to prepare which spells they will be able to cast each day. At 1st-level you have a prayerbook containing six 1st level archivist spells of your choice.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The archivist table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st-level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

You prepare the list of archivist spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of archivist spells from your prayerbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your archivist level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have slots.

For example, if you’re a 3rd-level archivist, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd-level, in any combination, chosen from your prayerbook. If you prepare the 1st level spell Bless, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of archivist spells requires time spent studying your prayerbook and practicing the gestures and incantations needed to cast the spell : at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your archivist spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and notetaking. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for an archivist spell when you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Ritual Casting

You can cast an archivist spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your prayer book. You don’t need to have the spell prepared.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a holy symbol (found in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook) as a spellcasting focus for your archivist spells.

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher

Each time you gain an archivist level, you can add two archivist spells of your choice to your prayerbook. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Archivist table. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your prayerbook (see the “Your Spellbook” sidebar on page 114 of the Player’s Handbook, replacing the word “wizard” with “archivist” and “spellbook” with “prayerbook”).

Archivists and the Gods

An archivist tends to have a unique relationship to the gods, as their rigorous studies give them a closer connection than most. Some choose to faithfully serve one god, while others are polytheists, paying equal homage to several deities in turn. A few archivists avoid pledging themselves to any gods at all, prefering to view divine magic as a strictly academic pursuit.

You may want to consider which, if any, gods your character follows. Remember, an archivist is not a cleric - while they tap into divine magic, an archivist gains their power through their own studies and effort and is not bound to the service of any divine beings unless you choose to be.

Polyglot

Archivists traditionally learn several languages in order to aid them in deciphering old tomes and arcane scrolls. At 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, you learn one additional language of your choice.

Scholarly Path

When you reach 2nd level, you choose a tradition of study, shaping how you approach knowledge through one of two main schools: the Lorekeeper or the Arcane Scribe, both detailed at the end of the class description.

Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

Otherworldly Insight

At 2nd level, your studies begin to pay off in battle, allowing you to quickly recognize enemies and their defenses. Each time you use this feature, select one creature within 60 ft. that you can see that has one of the following types: aberration, celestial, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, monstrosity, plant, or undead. Using a bonus action, you study it briefly and learn one weakness, resistance, or immunity that creature possesses, if they posses any. The selected creature must have more than 0 HP at the time of using this feature for it to be successful.

When you use this feature, you jot a quick note in your prayerbook to remind you of your findings. So long as your prayerbook is in your possession, you remember what you have learned and will not relearn the same information when using this on the same type of creature as your original target. Likewise, your notes are carried over when creating copies of your prayerbook, allowing you to reference your findings even when using a copy of your original prayerbook. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier before finishing a long rest.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Spell Specialization

At 18th level, you have achieved a level of specialization that allows you to cast certain spells at will. When you finish a long rest, you may choose a number of spells in your prayerbook of 3rd level or lower with a combined level no higher than your Intelligence modifier. These spells are considered to be prepared for you and do not count against your number of spells prepared. You may cast each spell you designate once at their lowest level without using a spell slot. When you do so, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

In order to cast any of these spells at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal. You may choose to change which spells you have selected when you finish a long rest.

Divine Insight

At 20th level, you experience a fleeting glimpse of true divine understanding, leaving your mind forever changed as a result. Your Intelligence and Wisdom scores increase by 2. Your maximum for those scores is now 22.

Scholarly Paths

Every archivist is a scholar first and foremost, and knowledge is what they seek. How they go about acquiring that knowledge, however, is another matter entirely. The two most common archivist schools are Lorekeepers, which focus on studying magical creatures, and Arcane Scribes, which study magic from a variety of sources.

Lorekeeper

Your archivist tradition has led you to the limits of knowledge, to the things that should not be. You know better than anyone how to face of the horrors of the universe. Your knowledge is your strength and the strength of your party.

Forbidden Lore

At 2nd level, you can use your studies of various monsters to provide useful insight to your allies in combat. An archivist using a lore ability can target any creature that has one of the following types: aberration, celestial, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, monstrosity, plant, or undead. Lore abilities are mutually exclusive – when you use a lore ability with another lore ability already active, the new effect replaces the old effect.

When you use a lore ability, you must make a DC 15 Intelligence check as you attempt to recall information about the selected creature. On a natural roll of 20 (before modifiers), your chosen lore ability's effects last twice as long before fading. This extended duration lasts only for one use of the ability and ends early as normal if you use another lore ability before the duration has ended.

Depending on the type of creature you target when you use this ability, you may add your proficiency bonus to your roll for the check if you are proficient in the relevant skill: Arcana for aberrations, dragons, and monstrosities; Nature for elementals, fey, and plants; Religion for celestials, fiends, and undead

In order to use lore abilities, you must spend lore points. The number of lore points you possess is equal to your Intelligence modifier. You regain all expended lore points when you finish a long rest.

Lore: Lost Tactics

At 2nd level, your knowledge has taught you to recognize a monster's weak points, letting your allies strike more effectively. As a bonus action, you can spend one lore point to make an Intelligence check to identify the monster. If successful, you may designate an ally to receive advantage on their first attack roll against the creature on their turn. On subsequent turns, you can choose to allow the bonus to remain on your designated ally or you may use your bonus action to transfer this effect to a new ally. This effect lasts for a maximum of one minute.

Lore: Dark Foresight

At 6th level, your insight into monstrous anatomy and tactics better prepares you for their attacks, allowing you to call out valuable warnings to your allies. As a bonus action, you can spend one lore point to make an Intelligence check to study the monster. If successful, you may choose one ally within 30 ft. of you. Attacks made by the creature against your chosen ally have disadvantage. On subsequent turns, you may use your bonus action to transfer this effect to a new ally. The effect lasts for one minute.

Adept Scholar

Beginning at 10th level, you regain all expended lore points on a short or long rest.

Lore: Arcane Intuition

At 10th level, your experience has taught you the secrets of how monsters evoke magic, leaving you better prepared to counter such effects. As a bonus action, you can spend two lore points to make an Intelligence check to predict the monster’s movements. If successful, you may grant yourself and all allies within 30 ft. of you advantage on saving throws against the creature’s spells or other magical effects. Allies do not need to remain within 30 ft. of you to gain this benefit, but the ability only affects those who are within 30 ft. when it is first used. This effect lasts for one minute.

Master Scholar

At 14th level, your practice in studying monsters and magic makes you more skilled at quickly recognizing these phenomena around you. Choose one of the following skills: Arcana, Nature, or Religion. Whenever you make a check using your chosen ability, you may add your Wisdom modifier to the check.

In addition, you gain additional lore points when you reach 14th level. Your total number of lore points is now equal to your Intelligence modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Arcane Scribe

Your archivist tradition is that of the arcane scribe, seeking obscure magical knowledge and learning to cast spells which are usually only practiced by a select few. Your thirst for knowledge is matched only by the skill with which you wield your magic. You are a collector of information, a student of magic in all its forms.

Arcane Adept

At 2nd-level, your reflexive grasp of magic allows you to create a wide array of simple effects. Add three cantrips from any spell list to your list of cantrips known. These are in addition to the number of cantrips known listed in the Archivist table. The cantrips need not be from the same spell list.

Divine Knowledge

At 6th level, you gain the ability to utilize many forms of divine magic, even forms outside of the usual scope of an archivist's studies. Add three spells of your choice from among the cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger spell lists to your prayerbook. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the archivist table, or a cantrip. The chosen spells count as archivist spells for you and can be prepared as normal.

Higher Mysteries

At 10th level, you tap into divine magic known only to a few. Choose one cleric domain. The domain’s spells are added to your prayer book, count as Archivist spells for you, and may be prepared as normal. For any domain spells which are already in your prayer book, you may select one spell of the same level from the Archivist spell list to add to your prayer book.

Practiced Efficiency

At 14th level, your studious practice with magic enables you to more effectively utilize your resources in combat. When you cast a spell of 3rd level or lower with a casting time of one action, you may cast a cantrip as a bonus action. This feature can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier. All expended uses recharge at the end of a long rest.

Archivist Spells

Cantrips (0 level):

Guidance

Light

Mending

Message

Prestidigitation

Produce Flame

Sacred Flame

Thaumaturgy

Thunderclap

1st Level:

Bane

Bless

Charm Person

Command

Comprehend Languages

Cure Wounds

Detect Evil and Good

Detect Magic

Expeditious Retreat

Guiding Bolt

Healing Word

Identify

Illusory Script

Jump

Longstrider

Magic Missile

Protection from Evil and Good

Sanctuary

Shield

Shield of Faith

Speak with Animals

Thunderwave

Unseen Servant

2nd Level:

Aid

Augury

Darkvision

Detect Thoughts

Enhance Ability

Flaming Sphere

Gentle Repose

Hold Person

Invisibility

Lesser Restoration

Levitate

Locate Animals or Plants

Locate Object

Magic Mouth

Misty Step

Nystul’s Magic Aura

Phantasmal Force

Prayer of Healing

Silence

Spiritual Weapon

Warding Bond

Zone of Truth

3rd Level:

Animate Dead

Beacon of Hope

Bestow Curse

Blink

Clarivoyance

Counterspell

Dispel Magic

Feign Death

Fly

Glyph of Warding

Haste

Lightning Bolt

Magic Circle

Mass Healing Word

Moonbeam

Protection from Energy

Remove Curse

Revivify

Sending

Slow

Speak with Dead

Speak with Plants

Spirit Guardians

Tongues

Water Breathing

Water Walk

4th Level:

Arcane Eye

Banishment

Blight

Confusion

Control Water

Dimension Door

Divination

Dominate Beast

Guardian of Faith

Hallucinatory Terrain

Leomund’s Secret Chest

Locate Creature

Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum

Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere

Polymorph

Stone Shape

5th Level:

Commune

Commune with Nature

Contact Other Plane

Dispel Evil and Good

Dominate Person

Dream

Hold Monster

Legend Lore

Mass Cure Wounds

Modify Memory

Planar Binding

Raise Dead

Rary’s Telepathic Bond

Scrying

Seeming

Wall of Stone

6th Level:

Arcane Gate

Chain Lightning

Create Undead

Find the Path

Forbiddance

Guards and Wards

Heal

Harm

Planar Ally

Programmed Illusion

Sunbeam

True Seeing

Word of Recall

7th Level:

Divine Word

Etherealness

Fire Storm

Mirage Arcane

Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion

Plane Shift

Resurrection

Reverse Gravity

Sequester

Symbol

Teleport

8th Level:

Antimagic Field

Control Weather

Demiplane

Dominate Monster

Holy Aura

Mind Blank

Power Word Stun

Telepathy

9th Level:

Astral Projection

Foresight

Gate

Power Word Heal

Power Word Kill

Time Stop

True Resurrection

True Polymorph

Weird