Archetypes: A

You have trained your body to perform incredible, seemingly superhuman feats of grace. You move in ways that leave your opponents caught off guard and fumbling for a response, turning every fight into performance art.

You enjoy tinkering with alchemical formulas and substances in your spare time, and your studies have progressed beyond mere experimentation.

A highly guarded castle in the middle of an extravagant ball, the headquarters of a city's infamous thieves' guild, the locked room in the back of a cultist hideout—all perfect targets for you to use your expertise at blending in. Rather than skulking through the shadows, you use your training and latent supernatural abilities to become a mirror, playing on the perceptions of others and taking on whatever role necessary to get in and out of your destination before anyone has a chance to think something is amiss.

Performing an alter ego means going unregarded. Passing as just a face in the crowd is crucial, and accolades come as the gratitude from your leaders or coin from your clients, rather than the awed adoration from a crowd. This arrangement might suit you fine, as you thrive in a job well done and on the thrill of walking flagrantly past your duped adversaries. Or it might become pent up, until you can't resist a dramatic reveal or a signature calling card that shows you were there. One final word before speeding away from the castle, a gloating message left behind, or some other sign reveals your skill—usually too late for your victims to do anything about it.

You have befriended an animal to serve as an able assistant and loyal guardian.

Adventurers raid tombs for material gain, but true archaeologists treasure the knowledge gained from such sites. You might accomplish your goals with scholarly learning, by training to overcome the tricks and traps set by ancient peoples and rivals, through magical training, or even with a bit of inexplicable luck.

Bows of all types are powerful weapons. Generals and hunters alike recognize the power in dealing death from long distances, and from behind cover. Those dedicated to the bow—from mysterious cloaked strangers to heartless snipers—are often viewed with a mixture of respect and fear. Like any weapon adept, the archer's skill is forged through experience and constant practice. A true archer becomes one with the bow and is able to accomplish with that weapon things that most would consider impossible, or at least nearly magical.

“Load Vofalais, load! That fey-blighted moth will be coming around for another pass quick as a blink and if we don't meet it with a rain of cannon fire, you'll be wishing you had a diving suit like mine. Steady the aim there! Steady... fire!”

— Khoumrock Blackthorne, captain of the Unsinkable and self-proclaimed slayer of "giant evil moth gods."

The artillerist's maxim holds that while fights might be won with swords, battles are won with cannons. Or in a pinch, with trebuchets, siege towers, catapults, hwachas, and all other lethal miscellanea of a combat engineers' corp. As a true artillerist, you leave the penny-ante pistols and broners to those who only need to operate on a small scale. You're a consummate professional in the art of big guns, a maestro at merging mathematics and manpower to transform whatever castle wall, infantry battalion, or rampaging dragon offends you into a smoking crater in the ground.

You're not just some daredevil demolitionist, though. You're part of a team, accustomed to coordinating with your unit to maximize your time and effectiveness. Whether jumping in to help your crew load the next round, quickly calculating the trajectory of the engine's next shot, or taking the shot yourself, your presence on the team ensures their chances of success are maximized, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Targeted killing through stealth and subterfuge is the expertise of an assassin. While assassins are skilled in ending lives and many are evil, some live by a moral code, preying on the wicked, the cruel, or those who revel in unchecked aggression or power.