Lore masters are subject-experts - bearers of specialized and oftentimes forgotten or secret knowledge. While diverse in many respects owing to their disparate subjects, lore masters have much in common. They are fastidious researchers, and apt to pick up small pieces of magic when it can aid them in their quest for knowledge
Example Backgrounds: Scholar of False Idols, Yuan-Ti Anthropologist, Preserver of Ancient Tomes, Order of Candlekeep Initiate, Student of Dead Languages.
Level 1 Talent
Esoteric Lore: When you gain this talent you gain a bonus background in addition to those you gained at character creation related to some kind of specialized knowledge. This is your loremaster background. When you make a skill check using your loremaster background and fail, you may re-roll one of the dice, possibly turning a failure into a success.
Level 2 Talents
Epistolary magic: You’ve learned to send letters with magic. You carry pieces of paper that you may write notes upon, and through a ritual that takes one minute to perform, fold them into a paper bird that magically flies to their intended recipient in a matter of minutes, regardless of the distance. They may reply by writing a return message on the paper, which returns to you shortly thereafter.
Sentient book: You have acquired a rare tome imbued with magical sentience. It speaks to you telepathically, and has a personality determined jointly by you and your game master. While you possess this tome, you can cause it to manifest a spectral companion near to you, that takes the form of the face of an ancient scholar, a cascade of text, or a floating tome. In any case, it is no more than 30cm across, is made of a kind of magical mist, can hover in place, and sheds faint light. You can command it to move anywhere within 100m of you, and you may see and hear as though you were standing in its place. You can dismiss the spectral companion at any time.
Level 6 Talent
Lore Master’s Magical Secrets: You’ve uncovered a rare book with secret techniques few have ever glimpsed. When you choose this talent you gain a book and may choose any level 1, 2, or 6 talent from any other class. While you have this book on your person (such that you are free to consult it in quiet moments), you may use that talent.
Level 10 Talent
Theory of everything: You’ve discovered the secret principles that underly everything, and this knowledge has many applications to an adventurer. If you like, you’ve discovered some incredibly important secret, or heretofore unknown knowledge - work with your GM to determine what this might mean for your character in the context of your game. Your learning, as well as your maximum learning, increases by 2.