History BadassBookworm / TableTopGames

*** Eldar Farseers even more so -- visionary masters of lore, leaders of craftworlds, and seriously badass fighters. Now compare them to the [[MonsterClown Great Harlequin]], the ''leader'' of the race's organization of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot historian-librarian-bard-acrobat-ninjas]] who are some of the most feared close-combat specialists in a game that already turns everything UpToEleven.

** In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', Magister Oric of Wurtbad, author of ''Perilous Beasts: A Study of Creatures Fair and Foul''. He actually confronted every sentient creature in the book and spoke to them face to face. He managed to talk to Daemons, Dragon Ogres, Chaos worshippers (including full-fledged Champions), Skaven and Dark Elves -- all creatures that are insanely violent, xenophobic and very easily capable of killing a man. It took him fifty years and cost him one of his hands, but he lived to tell the tale in the end.

** In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', Magister Oric of Wurtbad, author of ''Perilous Beasts: A Study of Creatures Fair and Foul''. He actually confronted every sentient creature in the book and spoke to them face to face. He managed to talk to Daemons, Dragon Ogres, Chaos worshippers (including full-fledged Champions), Skaven and Dark Elves - all creatures that are insanely violent, xenophobic and very easily capable of killing a man. It took him fifty years and cost him one of his hands, but he lived to tell the tale in the end.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** As far as tabletop games go, the wizard class (or magic-user, in the older versions) is probably the oldest example. Raise your hand if you can wish for something and have it come true. See [[http://www.geneticanomaly.com/RPG-Motivational/slides/wizard.html this motivator]]. One should always remember the primary rule of Epic Levels and ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms.'' "Beyond level 20, you should listen to the wizard." Epic monks can shatter castles with their fists. Epic wizards can shatter planets with a couple gestures and some words.
** Similarly, Archivists and Cloistered Clerics (the divine bookworms) can cast Divine Power to transform themselves into beefy bruisers.
** There is a feat called Knowledge Devotion which allows one to translate knowledge about a given creature ''directly'' into more accurate and powerful attacks against that creature. Numerically, the potential benefit rivals the most powerful non-epic weapon enchantments.
** Third edition Bards are fantasy Indiana Joneses. In addition to decent fighting ability, they get the Bardic Knowledge ability. For class skills they get Appraise, Decipher Script, Gather Information Spellcraft and Use Magic device; all of the "knowing skills". They are also the only other base class that has every knowledge skill as a class skill. A successful Knowledge check gives the character (not just the player) meta-game knowledge of a creature's stats, giving the player a huge advantage in combat. And they have Whip Proficiency!
** TabletopGame/DarkSun bards may have this beat; they preserve all forms of knowledge and tradition, including poisons and martial arts, making them less minstrels and more assassins.
** Bards are also the only core class with Speak Language as a class skill; all other classes in the core books (there are a few others strewn around in other books) aside from (depending on skill selections) NPC class experts have to gain additional languages as a cross class skill (meaning it takes twice as many points).
** The factotum, a JackOfAllStats if ever there was one, [[OneStatToRuleThemAll basically needs nothing but Intelligence]] to use its abilities. A factotum with [[IaijutsuPractitioner Iaijutsu Focus]] and Cunning Insight can be a very scary melee fighter, even if he's got a Strength of 10.
** In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', when Mystra was killed and the magical weave that kept the multiverse together was ripped asunder, Deneir, a minor god of recordkeeping, art and literature, managed to hold the pieces together, pulling double duty as god of magic in the process. While this effort ultimately killed him, as he was only a minor god forced to do the duty of the immensely powerful Mystra, his efforts saved the multiverse and allowed magic to work more or less as normal.

* The TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness has its fair share too:
** The Order of Hermes from ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' are perhaps the magical researchers ''par excellence'', having spent centuries studying magic and creating spells. At least two of their Houses - House Flambeau and House Tytalus - translate that wealth of magical knowledge into taking down the Order's enemies.

* Meet the Twilight Caste from ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. They are engineers, scholars, and lore-keepers; the original signature character, Arianna, Exalted while trying to interpret a particularly tricky poem. They are also the ones most likely to design a BFG powered solely by the flow of the universe and unleash the kind of sorcery that can scythe entire battlefields clean.
** They were also largely responsible for exiling the Primordial Malfeas to Elsewhere, and then sealing a whole bunch of Yozis (plus every demon in Creation) into him - effectively, they created Hell. The "scythe entire battlefields clean" spell is aptly named "Total Annihilation", the magical equivalent of a tactical nuke - and it's far from the only one. There is also the Light of Solar Cleansing, not to be confused with Cleansing Solar Light - killing all "creatures of darkness" (doing severe damage to bosses) within 5-10 miles from the caster. And if you are smart, you can use a Crucible of Tarim to bottle spells for future use...
** Their cousins, the Daybreak and Defiler Castes, are also this, which is unsurprising given they're based on Twilight Exaltations. As of setting start, they've only been around about 5 years, so they haven't had the chance to match the Twilights' full scope... yet.
* ''TabletopGame/ATouchOfEvil'': Anne Marie is literally one, as each book she equips increases her Combat skill.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' has the Rogue Scholar and Rogue Scientist classes. They are seekers of lost knowledge and LostTechnology, dedicated to uplifting the masses and learning all they can. However, Rifts Earth being the CrapsackWorld it is, they can also handle themselves in a fight, with weapon proficiency and hand-to-hand skills being part of their starting package of skills.
* Yawgmoth from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' started out as this before evolving to WickedCultured (he still remained badass, however).
* The ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' trading card game has T.G. Hyper Librarian, a fancily dressed but confident-looking man with a strong card-drawing effect and good attack power to back it up.

** Most any blood magician from ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', not least the Tremere clan, a former House of Hermes that turned to vampirism.

* In the world of ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', Malakim are the most badass warrior angels in heaven. Angels of Destiny are scholarly sorts based out of Heaven's library, with one eye constantly on the future. Combine the two into a Malakite of Destiny, and you get a quiet, bookish type who can take a dozen demons with him if someone crosses the line.

* Most ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' characters are this, especially if they served in the military. ''Traveller'''s life-path character creation system allows characters to learn both combat and technical skills. To use just one example, an [[SpaceNavy Imperial Navy]] officer can learn how to fix and fly starships, operate any weapon from a knife up to a ship-mounted WaveMotionGun, conduct interstellar diplomacy, or [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking navigating high society]].

* TabletopGame/ATouchOfEvil: Anne Marie is literally one, as each book she equips increases her Combat skill.

* Anne Marie in ''ATouchOfEvil'' is one, as she gets an increase in her Combat skill for each book in her possession.

** As far as tabletop games go, the wizard class (or magic-user, in the older versions) is probably the oldest example. Raise your hand if you can wish for something and have it come true. See [[http://www.geneticanomaly.com/RPG-Motivational/slides/wizard.html this motivator]]. One should always remember the primary rule of Epic Levels and ForgottenRealms. "Beyond level 20, you should listen to the wizard." Epic monks can shatter castles with their fists. Epic wizards can shatter planets with a couple gestures and some words.

* ''{{Rifts}}'' has the Rogue Scholar and Rogue Scientist classes. They are seekers of lost knowledge and LostTechnology, dedicated to uplifting the masses and learning all they can. However, Rifts Earth being the CrapsackWorld it is, they can also handle themselves in a fight, with weapon proficiency and hand-to-hand skills being part of their starting package of skills.
* Yawgmoth from ''MagicTheGathering'' started out as this before evolving to WickedCultured (he still remained badass, however).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
** Space Marine Librarians and Techmarines are psychics and engineers in an organisation badass down to the man; they use their extra abilities to ''kick even more ass''.
** Eldar Farseers even more so -- visionary masters of lore, leaders of craftworlds, and seriously badass fighters. Now compare them to the [[MonsterClown Great Harlequin]], the ''leader'' of the race's organization of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot historian-librarian-bard-acrobat-ninjas]] who are some of the most feared close-combat specialists in a game that already turns everything UpToEleven.
** The [[MachineWorship Adeptus Mechanicus]], although many of them will just [[DirtyCoward run for their lives in fear]] there are some [[TechnoWizard Magos]] whose [[HollywoodCyborg enhancements]] and [[ImprobableWeaponUser equipment]] make them more than a match even for a Space Marine and have no problem in showing it.
** Any Champion of Tzeentch would be one, to say nothing less of the master of change himself. Notably Ahriman is both an extreme bookworm and can kill a Monstrous alien with one smack of his staff.
** And [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/The_Guy_Who_Cried_Grendel Adept Castus Grendel]] from a game session report, who [[AscendedFanfic made it]] into {{canon}}. As non-melee oriented character as they get, who tried to delay a major daemon for a round (the question was already not whether PC can win, but whether they can [[TakingYouWithMe take it with them]]) and [[RandomNumberGod on a good roll]] decapitate it with one strike of a common knife. And later made a star career on killing ridiculously powerful daemons.
** Don't forget the Emperor of Mankind. This is the guy who personally engineered the Space Marines and a lot of other stuff, including: planning the renovation of the Golden Throne and the Empire's beachhead in the Warp to try and get access to the Old Ones' Webway (which was inherited by the Eldar) with the aid of legions of Adeptus Mechanicus. Granted, this is to be expected from someone with at least 30 millenia of time under his belt. A self-proclaimed atheist and a really big supporter of science and its progress.
** What about [[StateSec Inquisitors]]. These are the guys who are supposed to root out, study and purge all threats to mankind whether within or without and often are very good at taking to the battlefield themselves alongside the RagtagBunchOfMisfits that they have recruited from all over the place.
*** In fact one could consider the Inquisitors as being the 40k equivalent of [[MassEffect Commander Shepard]].

** What about Inquisitors. These are the guys who are supposed to root out, study and purge all threats to mankind whether within or without and often are very good at taking to the battlefield themselves alongside the RagtagBunchOfMisfits that they have recruited from all over the place.

** Space Marine Librarians and Techmarines are psychics and engineers in an organisation {{Badass}} down to the man; they use their extra abilities to ''kick even more ass''.

* The ''{{GURPS}} Black Ops'' RPG setting features an organisation of Badass special ops/[[TheMenInBlack MIBs]], with two divisions filling the ''Badass Bookworm'' category: the Science division (multidisciplinary scientists) and the Tech division (engineers). The former usually knows medicine and how to best fix or take apart the human body, while the latter can build ultra-tech (if unstable) superweapons.

** DarkSun bards may have this beat; they preserve all forms of knowledge and tradition, including poisons and martial arts, making them less minstrels and more assassins.

** Bards are also the only core class with Speak Language as a class skill; all other classes aside from the non-core spell thieves, paragon humans, and (depending on skill selections)NPC class experts have to gain additional languages as a cross class skill.

* In ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution'' your starting psionic talents are based on your wits score, so it's very easy to make this kind of character. A character of this sort is also included in some of the book's fluff.

* In ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution'' you starting psionic talents are based on your wits score, so it's very easy to make this kind of character. A character of this sort is also included in some of the book's fluff.

* The [[TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness World Of Darkness]] has entire playable supernatural factions devoted to this trope:

* Meet the Twilight Caste from ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. They are engineers, scholars, and lore-keepers; the signature character, Arianna, Exalted while trying to interpret a particularly tricky poem. They are also the ones most likely to design a BFG powered solely by the flow of the universe and unleash the kind of sorcery that can scythe entire battlefields clean.

** The Ordo Dracul in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' throws themselves into this trope. The Sworn of the Axe, the "militaristic" faction of the Ordo Dracul, are Badass Bookworms par excellence. For the "goon squad" of the covenant, the Sworn of the Axe is nevertheless filled with geniuses, mad scientists and librarians... all of whom are dead fascinated in mowing over anybody that stands in the way of Transcendence from vampiric existence. However, the Ordo Dracul's founder, Vlad Tepes, subverts this trope quite a bit, though; Vlad starts out as Vlad The Impaler (yes) and it takes him 200 years to get to the point where he can ''read''. Then he goes on to become the Vampire Creator/LRonHubbard.