Fria Ligans forum

When a group of PCs explore a new location, whether it be castle ruins, a burial mound, a dungeon... should the GM show a gaming group the

diagram of the room, or should the adventurers sketch a rough map based on the GM's descriptions of the area. I see how option number one

takes the strain off the players, if they see drawing the adventure site room by room as a burden. But honestly, the only reason the question occurred to

me was because I was thinking about how to widen the Scholar's range of usefulness in DragonBane. If the fighters, knights, mariners, thieves, hunters,

and even mages bear the brunt of the combat encounters, and there usually are a lot of them, it doesn't seem like there is much left for the the player

who got the scholar profession.

I just lay the printed maps out in front of the players, cover unexplored parts with paper sheets, and pull the sheets back as they explore. Sometimes, if a certain part has no map (e.g. a homebrewed or improvised portion) I'll hand-draw it as they explore, but due to my drawing skills being nil this is a last resort.

It's easy to first view Scholars (and Merchants) as "similar to mages, but with less in-combat utility", but I've found there's still plenty of stuff for them to do. Solving puzzles and understanding the environment is undoubtably useful outside of combat. And in combat, the Scholar might use their first rounds to attempt to recall something useful about the creature they're facing (with a roll against Beast Lore or Myths & Legends depending on the creature) revealing mechanics that the party would otherwise be unaware of. The fact that they might be weaker in combat makes it natural for them to have the spare actions for these types of tasks (instead of the Hunter with high Beast Lore - they're busy filling the beast with arrows).

And of course - your profession is just your starting point. A few lessons in Crossbows, one combat-focused Heroic Ability, and perhaps some armor, and your Scholar is no longer a pushover in combat.

Hmmm.... Okay. You did raise some good points. And I guess if nothing else, a Scholar can always help another fighter in combat, and give them a

boon to their roll.