Investigator
The investigator seeks to uncover the truth, whatever it is, by following leads to find hidden items, reveal plots, and identify and pursue the culprits. As an investigator you will hone your analytical mind, practice and employ surveillance and forensics to gather data, and most of all, keep an open mind to possibilities that you might have previously discarded. You could fill the role of a police officer, private detective, corporate intelligence agent, insurance fraud investigator, or any other trade that involves uncovering secrets.
The investigator can also be an intuitive, yet cynical, world- weary and dogged pursuer, whether they look to put things right for the sake of justice or some sense of personal redemption would be a question many might ask.
Role in Striker
In an adventuring party, the investigator is great at gathering information, or organising a party investigation.
Making an Investigator
The Investigator comes in a few archetypes: analyst, bounty hunter, police, seer and spy, so just how your character became a seeker of the truth, and what motivated them is a wide canvas. Do you have a well developed sense of civic duty? Do you seek revenge for some past life event, for which all criminals must answer? Or are you simply excited for a life you see as less ordinary?
Quick Build
You can make an investigator quickly by following these suggestions.
Choose Talents
Select the following 10 skills as talents:
Health, Focus, Perception, Resolve, Agility, Insight, Deceive, Investigate, Society, Cbt-Ranged.
Choose Background
Choose the infantry background to optimise your initial skill range.
Apply Ranks Per Level
At each level (including the first), you distribute:
- 4 ranks to the range of skills, and
- 4 ranks to the range of techniques
presented under your chosen archetype.
The investigator's primary skill is Investigate. You should try to have at least half your level as ranks on this skill.
Archetypes
The investigator has archetypes, represented by the titles: Analyst, Bounty Hunter, Police, Seer and Spy, and they are described under the following headings.
While the skill spreads are presented under each archetype, there are many skills that they all have in common.
Analyst
The analyst is an investigator that relies on brains more than brawn, they are a collector of information on disparate subjects, fuelling their ability to understand the meanings of clues.
Analysts are the brains trusts that detectives in police forces or field agents in secrets services rely on for the deeper intelligence, profiling and analysis from disparate sources of data.
Analyst Talents
Anaysts are different enough from other investigators that talent list should look different:
Health, Focus, Perception, Resolve, Agility, Insight, Investigate, Antiquities, Science, Society.
4 ranks spread to these skills
Forensic-Tools, Qtm-Tools, Scan-Tools, Surveillance-Tools
Perception, Resolve, Insight, Stealth+MIND|SKILL***, Deceive, Investigate, Persuade, Antiquities, Science, Society
Cybernetics, Genetics, Machinery, Materials, Medicine, Munitions, Neuronetics, Robotics
4 ranks spread to these techniques
Forensics (Investigate), Interrogate (Investigate), Surveillance (Investigate), Track (Investigate), Bureaucracy (Society), Finance (Society), Law (Society)
*** You can choose one aspect when putting your first rank on this skill, you must spend a rank on getting a second aspect.
Bounty Hunter
The bounty hunter is typically a lone operator, working at the edges of both law and society. They are self-reliant, suspicious, relentless and whatever energy is not spent on finding their quarry, is spent on looking out for number one.
4 ranks spread to these skills
Disguise-Tools, Qtm-Tools, Scan-Tools, Surveillance-Tools, Vcl-Air, Vcl-Ground, Vcl-Space
Perception, Resolve, Agility+BODY|SKILL*, Insight, Stealth+BODY|SKILL*, Deceive, Investigate, Persuade, Society, Survival
4 ranks spread to these techniques
Disguise (Deceive|Perform), Sleight-Of-Hand (Deceive), Interrogate (Investigate), Surveillance (Investigate), Track (Investigate), Bushcraft (Survival), Revival (Survival), Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival)*
First-Strike (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Vital-Harm (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Wpn-Blades-Short (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Clubs (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Fistload (Cbt-Melee), Sniper (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Flechettes (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Pistols (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Rifles (Cbt-Ranged)
* You can choose one skill to base this technique
** You can choose one skill to base this technique, if you need the technique under another skill, you must take the technique again, based on the new skill.
*** You can choose one aspect when putting your first rank on this skill, you must spend a rank on getting a second aspect.
Police
Police represents your former (or possibly current) career as a serving officer in a government or corporate jurisdiction. You will generally have a rank in this service, even after retirement, and you will have several contacts, both within the service and as a result of your various cases.
Police tend to combine their investigative and persuasive skills with their knowledge of the law to solve cases. Their success is often tied to their ability to leverage the advice of experts, rather than having that knowledge themselves.
In the course of their investigations they can come into physical conflict, which they try to solve as efficiently as possible, exploiting weaknesses, rather than just going into stand-up fights, like a soldier would.
4 ranks spread to these skills
Forensic-Tools, Scan-Tools, Surveillance-Tools, Vcl-Air, Vcl-Ground, Vcl-Space
Perception, Resolve, Insight, Deceive, Investigate, Persuade, Society, Stealth+BODY, Survival
4 ranks spread to these techniques
Forensics (Investigate), Interrogate (Investigate), Surveillance (Investigate), Track (Investigate), Bureaucracy (Society), Law (Society), Inspire (Persuade), Revival (Survival), Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival*)
Grapple (Cbt-Melee), Overbear (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Fistload (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Pistols (Cbt-Ranged)
* You can choose one skill to base this technique.
Seer
The Seer is a psionic investigator, that uses esoteric and occult abilities to find people or things. Corporations and governments if they have one of these at all, will have them as their lead investigator in a team, pursuing a quarry. Their uncanny and spooky insights, giving them advantages in finding and interrogating targets.
The seer has access to psionic skills on top of skills more common to other investigators.
4 ranks spread to these skills
Forensic-Tools, Scan-Tools, Surveillance-Tools
Perception, Resolve, Insight, Stealth+MIND|SKILL***, Deceive, Investigate, Persuade, Society, Survival
4 ranks spread to these techniques
Calmness (Insight|Resolve*), Clarity-Save (Insight), Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival*), Forensics (Investigate), Interrogate (Investigate), Surveillance (Investigate), Track (Investigate), Bureaucracy (Society), Finance (Society), Law (Society), Bushcraft (Survival), Revival (Resolve|Survival*), Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival*)
Precognition (Clairsentience), Psychometry (Clairsentience), Remote-Seeing (Clairsentience), Thoughtseeing (Clairsentience), Empathic-Projection (Telepathy), Focus-Drain (Telepathy)
* You can choose one skill to base this technique.
*** You can choose one aspect when putting your first rank on this skill, you must spend a rank on getting a second aspect.
Spy
As a spy, you are adept at stealth and deception, pretending to be loyal to one side, but actually working for the other. Although, this is classically, the province of international espionage, and to a lesser extent corporate, it is also the skill set of the undercover police operative.
Spies have access to the largest number of skills out of all the investigation professions. This generally means that you will tend to be more of a jack of all trades, rather than really being able to master a few areas.
4 ranks spread to these skills
Aegis, Disguise-Tools, Forensic-Tools, Qtm-Tools, Scan-Tools, Surveillance-Tools, Vcl-Air, Vcl-Ground, Vcl-Space
Perception, Resolve, Agility, Insight, Stealth+BODY|MIND|SKILL***, Deceive, Investigate, Perform, Persuade, Antiquities, Science, Society, Survival
4 ranks spread to these techniques
Disguise (Deceive|Perform), Sleight-Of-Hand (Deceive), Calmness (Insight|Resolve*), Clarity-Save (Insight), Interrogate (Investigate), Surveillance (Investigate), Track (Investigate), Language (Society), Bushcraft (Survival), Revival (Resolve|Survival*), Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival*)
Dodge-Attack (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Grapple (Cbt-Melee), Multi-Attack (Cbt-Melee), Overbear (Cbt-Melee), Skirmish (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Wpn-Blades-Long (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Blades-Short (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Clubs (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Fistload (Cbt-Melee), Dodge-Effect (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Pistols (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Rifles (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Spray (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Thrown (Cbt-Ranged)
* You can choose one skill to base this technique.
** You can choose one skill to base this technique, if you need the technique under another skill, you must take the technique again, based on the new skill.
*** You can choose one aspect when putting your first rank on this skill, you must spend a rank on getting a second aspect.