LAWHAMMER CAREERS 17 - INVESTIGATOR (Patreon)

Given we had Outlaws yesterday, it's only right we post up a Career Path to chase them. I believe it's time for some Investigators!

This is a rare example where I'm going to offer an alternative write-up to the Career already existing in WFRP4. Investigators, and the Watch, work differently in my games to how they are currently presented, so I've dropped a quick blurb to support that difference and make it clear. And, yes, I have a quotation from everyone's favourite diminutive investigator.

This comes with a sub-path for Cult Investigators (yes, a frightfully unimaginative name - anyone have any better options?), but I feel more could probably be added here with a bit of thought. So, if you have more ideas what they could be, please do post them on Discord and we can maybe develop this one further,

As always, you'll need WFRP4 to make sense of this set of Careers (p64 for the core rulebook version of this Career, which is worth a look at). You'll also need to check my post Career Paths - Extra Details.

Let's go!

Investigator
Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, High Elf, Human
Last Updated: 22/09/22

In the Old World, law enforcement is a private matter. Where the State Army Watch patrols concern themselves with night patrols and keeping the peace, they is not obligated to hunt down or prosecute felons. Instead, that duty lies with the common folk, who are charged to apprehend those they expect to be criminals and take them to a local constable. When crimes languish unsolved, as they most often do, private investigators may be hired to determine what happened. However, more often than not, the investigator is as much a criminal as the perpetrator.

To combat this, some cults - including the Sigmarite Order of the Anvil and the Cult of Verena - train investigators to conduct their affairs lawfully. But they are in the minority. Most investigators start their careers as street-level ‘thief-takers’, private individuals employed to track crooks and reclaim stolen property. Many are reformed criminals themselves, and it is not uncommon for such investigators to continue their association with the underworld. Indeed, a classic scam involves ‘finding’ a client’s stolen property in return for coin, which is later shared with the thieves.

The Guilder extras...

‘Mais, oui! But of course, I am an ’alfing. By all that’s ’oly, why would you think I was anything else? The moustache? Ah ha, mais oui, it is magnificent, non? A disguise, of course. To better conduct my business amongst your kind. We must seek the truth within – not the truth without, my friend, do you not agree?’
– Alphonse Hercules de Gascoigne, Diminutive Bretonnian Detective

‘Yeah, I foiled a plot to assassinate the Emperah! Wot of it? Blowing me horn ain’t changing nuffink here. Either you hire me to find your daughter, or you don’t. I ain’t begging. People beg me, mate, not the other way around.’
– Ahlen Rosastenstadt, Rosastenstadt Investigative Agency

Chasing criminals across the Old World without a warrant or bounty is an adventure in and of itself. Because of the dangers involved, investigators often hire muscle to support them as they travel, forming parties of mixed travellers. Some investigation companies are sizeable and offer a range of additional services beyond the detection of crimes, including undercover investigations, bodyguarding duty, and guard work.

Again, as always, if you have any opinions, suggestions, questions, or have just spotted an error, ping me over on the LAWhammer Discord and we can talk it all out there. I'm not entirely happy with the Attribute spread in this one, so if anyone has alternatives, and justifications for those alternatives, they will be greatly received.

Chat later!

Andy Law