Need ideas for an archaeologist/historian NPC

[Bren]

I’m looking for some ideas for an NPC I’m going to throw at my players.

Background: Currently I am running a campaign for a pair of smugglers operating just outside of Hutt Space. The NPC is an archeologist/historian who wants to book passage to the planet Vontor in the Si’klaata Cluster to do some independent digging. Unfortunately the Archaeologist doesn’t have an entry permit from the Hutt’s and is not going to get one since he/she is a proponent of a view of history that is unpopular with the Hutts. Therefore he needs to be smuggled into the Si’klaata Cluster.

The captain of the ship is very mercenary but a big risk taker and gambler, the first mate is a bit more altruistic but also much more risk averse and conservative. The captain (female Corellian) is fond of a handsome face. “I like tall, dark, and handsome – but two out of three isn’t bad.”

Some Questions

• What are some good species for the archaeologist/historian?
  
• What sort of quirks or personality traits might be interesting?
  
• I can’t decide between an Indiana Jones/Laura Croft type character or a Henry Jones Sr./typical professor type character. What do you suggest?
  
• The archaeologist/historian has a travel voucher from his university and a bit of cash, but he is probably not wealthy. What else might he/she offer to persuade the smugglers?
  
• Any other suggestions?

[Raven Redstar]

[garhkal]

I would much prefer him be based of Nick cage's character from the National treasure films.. Sucks somewhat in social situations, but got a great mind for puzzles.
As for Other suggestions.
Perhaps he has located a map clue to some lost treasure say from the sith war, or the great hyperspace war.. and he is wanting their help to get to the next clue in line.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Bren]

Some interesting ideas, please keep them coming.

I noticed the Obroan Institute for Archaeology while doing some surfing. That sounds like a good place for the Archaeologist's institute.

The Hapan idea is nice, though I'm not sure if I want a human/near-human or someone more alien. What are good non-human species for historian/archaologists?

[garhkal]

[Bren]

• My first thought was an Ithorian.
  
• A Caamasi is interesting and I like their look, but they seem more peaceful/diplomatic than really curious scholars. I could see the other smuggler wanting to help a survivor of an almost extinct race.
  
• The other smuggler is a Sallustan. That might be interesting and may sway him to help a fellow Sallustan. Hmmm...Maybe a female Sallustan to give him some romantic interest. I know Sallustan's are good in caves/underground, but is there any other reason one might be an archaeologist?

[Bren]

I'm leaning towards the a female Sullustan Archaeologist to appeal to the Sullustan male PC. I'm thinking of a field person - sort of a cross between Indiana Jones and Lara Croft but with stats appropriate to an NPC who won't steal the show from the PCs.

Comments?

Huba Neva
Type: Archaeologist
Species: Sullustan (female) Height: 1.5 meters
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 3D+1, dodge 4D, running 4D
KNOWLEDGE 3D[/b]
Alien species 5D, languages 4D (s) Hutteese 5D, (s) Tionese 5D, planetary systems, scholar (s) ancient languages 4D, (s) archaeology 7D, survival 4D
MECHANICAL 3D
Astrogation 4D
PERCEPTION 3D
Investigation 4D+1, search 4D
STRENGTH 2D+2
Climbing/jumping 4D, stamina 3D
TECHNICAL 2D+1
First aid 3D

Force Sensitive: No Force Points: 0
Character Points: 5
Special Abilities:
Enhanced Senses: Sullustans have advanced senses of hearing and vision. Whenever they make Perception or search checks involving vision in low-light conditions or hearing, they receive a +2D bonus.
Location Sense: Once a Sullustan has visited an area, she always remembers how to return to the area - she cannot get lost in a place that she has visited before. This is automatic and requires no die roll. When using the astrogation skill to jump to a place a Sullustan has been, the astrogator receives a bonus of +1D to her die roll.
Move: 11
Equipment:
Field Gear: Outdoor hiking gear (shorts, tee-shirt, & sturdy boots, plus your favorite hat), datapad, terrain charts, syntherope dispenser, glow rod, sporting blaster pistol (3D+2), utility knife in boot sheath.
Back Pack: large syntherope dispenser & grapple, ration packs, canteen w/integral microfilter, 2 glow rods, brushes and other tools, sensor pack & recording rods, pick axe (in loops on outside), one little black dress and strappy sandals.
Resources: 1500 credit travel voucher from the Institute, 1,200 credits cash.
Office Gear: Datapad with selection of datacard textbooks, conservative, unisex-style business suit to wear when not in the field, academic robes for teaching at the Institute, little black dress and strappy sandals for Institute cocktail parties and museum fundraisers.
Background: Throughout the ages, every society records in myth and history the stories of lost civilizations, ancient worlds, and fabulous treasures. Not content to read about or view such wonders on a datapad, Huba Neva is one of the few who actively seeks them out. The secrets of the ages are hers to uncover. All it takes is a little research, a little backing, and lots of luck. The competition is tight and often not very well mannered and if she isn’t quick enough or smart enough they’ll take her head along with with the prize. In the field, Neva hand-pick’s her associates and shares her good fortunes when she makes a find. If someone beats her to the site she knows that there’s always an opportunity to turn the tables.
Neva is a professor of Ancient Studies at the Obroan Institute specializing in pre-Republic history and artifacts with a focus on the era of Xer and Xim the Despot. Her theories are in conflict with the accepted Hutt version of history for that era. Currently Neva is on sabbatical. The Obroan Institute for Archaeology, often shortened to the Obroan Institute, is a research organization, part of the greater library-world of Obroa-skai, devoted to the discovery, analysis, and cataloging of species and civilizations to promote galactic diversity and understanding. The Institute's numerous experts perform both field and desk research, and the Obran Institute maintains a fleet of exploration vessels to support their activities. Obroa-Skai is the home of the oldest and most extensive neutral knowledge archive in the galaxy. It is located in the Inner Rim a stones throw from Myrkr and the Perlemian Trade Route
Personality: Neva has a driving need to preserve as much of the past as possible and sometimes she has had to be pretty rough to do so. Partly this compulsion is due to a reverence for history and the past and partly a desire to gain fame and fortune and to validate her theories of the past. Quick and nimble, especially for a Sullustan, Neva is no stranger to adventure in the field, being a Sullustan cross between Indiana Jones and Lara Croft.
Objectives: To beat the competition, the curio collectors and the Empire to the treasures of the ages – before these artifacts are lost forever and to show the rest of the galaxy that the Hutt’s version of the past is a travesty and a sham.
Adventures: [Treasure of the Ancients SotSR page 42.]

[Naaman]

Obviously, this is just an opinion... But the sullustans always grossed me out.

Its almost impossible to get rid of pcs once you dangle treasure in front of their face.

If any of your players are like me, though, you'll have to offer them something truly special to make it worthwhile for the player. I like for my characters to gain things other than material wealth. A unique, but not game breaking, force power, or an item that permanently boosts an attribite, or just enough of a rare alloy to make a special weapon or suit of armor, etc etc.

[Fallon Kell]

[Bren]

[mdlake]

Personality: On reading of the flirtatious pirate, my first thought was an archaeologist who likes her back, but is so painfully shy, proper, and/or awkward as to work against her. But you're pointing the romance a different direction, so that's no good.

Dirty trick: Neva knows just enough to make useful tactical suggestions. ("The Ponda warriors invariably attempt to strike from behind, even when it's expected. It's a ritual demonstration of cunning. I expect twice this many will be circling around us now, if they aren't already behind us.") Do this three or four times, just enough to get the players trusting her judgement. Then let her be wrong.

Adventure element: Engineer a real dilemma for her, something on the magnitude of save-this-relic-or-the-crew's-lives. Lots of ways this can go, according to how her relationship to the PCs unfolds. Obviously, you'll need to take care that this doesn't become a case of the GM playing by himself while the players watch, but, it can work. Maybe it's a morality test of the PCs: did they earn her devotion, or will she drop them in the soup to save history? Maybe it's a dilemma (at least one of) the players can appreciate, and Neva asks them to make up her mind for her. Maybe she has to die to save the relic, and begs PCs with her last breath to deliver it, no matter the cost. Maybe she has to decide, British Museum style, between keeping or returning a relic--which is more important: honoring the obscure culture's customs or letting the rest of the galaxy know something about it?

Personality: If your players are inclined to use her as an extra gun, Neva exhibits a healthy cowardice. No matter how they goad her, she dives for cover and stays there when the blasters start to blaze. ("That's what I hired YOU for!") Get players used to this, so used to it that they don't give it a second thought. Now you've got a classic deus ex machina handy: the bad guy has a PC dead to rights, sloooowly lines up his shot, and ZAP! he goes stiff and falls, revealing a wide-eyed and shallow-breathed Neva behind him, blaster in hand. (This can be combined with the moral test above: do the players deserve rescue? It can also be combined with the dilemma above if Neva is a pacifist instead of cowardly.) Bit of a stretch alongside an adventurous personality, I admit, but one can be brave and adventurous about going into the field while drawing the line at actual killing and dying.

Personality: Fallon Kell's suggestion of Holmesian assessments is excellent. Alternately, take it in a comic direction by making Neva wrong, badly wrong, all the time, when she does it. Better make the pay good, 'cause PCs won't be motivated to protect her professional work for its own sake in this scenario.

Adventure element: Neva and the PCs turn up evidence of an ancient atrocity. It's long over, and all involved dead, but it's just the kind of thing to fire tempers and trigger another deadly round of feuding. Academic honesty demands it be brought to light; prudence and compassion demands letting sleeping dogs lie.

Adventure element: the PCs find a Hutt sympathetic to Neva's theories, or at least willing to take advantage of rivals' reactions thereto, and offers enough funding and/or protection to allow her to find her evidence and publish. But upon accepting the offer and finishing the work, Neva and the PCs find the Hutt also expects her to publish in a particular way, and maybe fudge the data just a bit. And now they owe him.

[Bren]

Hey interesting ideas everyone. It should make the adventure more interesting. Thanks.