Looking for help on a FACTOTUM SQUAD [Pathfinder]

[subject42]

My roleplaying group has decided that our current party just isn't EXTREME enough for adventuring. We don't have enough STANDARD ACTIONS to properly handle encounters. We're going to try a one-shot with a party made up ENTIRELY OF FACTOTUMS. I'm looking for some INSPIRATION from you playgrounders on how to make an all-factotum party that will be TOO ENERGETIC FOR NORMAL ENCOUNTERS.

Any suggestions on how each one should be built? The party will consist of 4 - 5 members in the neighborhood of level 12.

We use Pathfinder as our core ruleset, liberally importing from 3.5 when a Pathfinder equivalent doesn't already exist.

[Soranar]

4 factotums, with lots of actions could just move and shoot, quite a lot. Say a party of crossbow freaks with knowledge devotion/crossbow sniper. Use your spells for crowd control like grease and such.

4 strongheart halflings sound about right. Maybe 1 strong guy to carry stuff, he could use a bow instead.

[JaronK]

Whispergnomes! You get stealth like crazy, decent stats, and free proficiency in Gnomish Quickrazors (using the Complete Warrior rules on swapping racial weapons).

As for your squad, they should all have Quickrazors and Iajuitsu Focus. You could have a few with bows (maybe Manyshot, definitely the Splitting enchantment). A few could use poison (Master of Poisons + Minor Creation + Assassination enchantment). Don't forget to have an army of undead... you might as well, right? And somebody could use Craft Wonderous Item... that's always handy.

JaronK

[subject42]

So it's best to have them all tricked out in exactly the same fashion?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

So it's best to have them all tricked out in exactly the same fashion?

The main question is whether you all want to essentially be the same character or whether you want the usual blasty/healy/smashy/sneaky/buffy role divisions. You have some good suggestions for the former; for the latter, the factotum doesn't do as well on its own in the arcane and divine roles. If you want to be factotum/chameleons, though, the sky's the limit.

[Merk]

I've found this combination to be a decent "Swashbuckler" that uses Factotum as a base:

Factotum 3 / Swashbuckler 3 / Warblade 6

Load up on Fonts of Inspiration and focus on INT, DEX, and CON, in that order.

Swashbuckler gives you Weapon Finesse and precision INT to damage (static, not variable, so it multiplies on a crit). I'd trade Grace for Arcane Stunt (from Complete Mage) in a heartbeat.

Warblade gives you Uncanny Dodge, useful maneuvers (in particular, Sapphire Nightmare Blade), INT to reflex, and INT to crit cofirmation. Get a keen rapier (or keen quickrazors if you can finesse those). Whenever you crit (often with a 15-20 range and INT to confirmation), add a point of inspiration for another double INT to damage. You can also use Iaijutsu Focus. As for flavor, Diamond Mind and Iron Heart both do "I am really fancy with a sword" pretty well.

If you're interested in tripping (or other similar things), you can get Combat Expertise and Agile Maneuvers, and then the appropriate CMB feat you want. Depending on the DM, s/he may rule that you can spend an inspiration point to add INT to a CMB check or CMD (the pathfinder SRD states that "CMB is a type of attack roll" so I'd argue it's fair game for a factotum's Cunning Insight). Warblade 11 also gets INT to CMD automatically.

Alternatively, you could go for less maneuvers and BAB with Factotum 8 / Swashbuckler 3 / Warblade 1 and spam Cunning Surge for 2 maneuvers per round when you need it.

[Talbot]

1 Whisper-Gnome focusing on Iaijutsu Focus/Stealth/Sneak Attacking, doubles as the party face since he's the only one who should bother to boost Cha (Iaijutsu) anyways (Int/Cha/Dex)

1 Grey-Elf focusing on having as many Inspiration Points as possible, with a high Wis to maximize his ability to heal the others. His secondary role is sniper/supporting archer with his Dex boost. (Int/Wis/Dex)

1 Strongheart Halfling focused on an archery build (Int/Dex)

1 Dwarf focused on tripping/grappling (Int/Str/Con)

1 Human poisoner/crafter (Int)

The Elf (and any others you can get to qualify for it) should take Faerie Mysteries Inititiate (and by having multiple users in the party, you can switch out the bonus if/when you need to).

The Human can pre-poison weapons/arrows for everybody else with no risk to them, and of course can supply all the magical gear (including Skillful Gnomish Quickrazors if you really want them). The Grey Elf stays out of combat, sniping and conserving his many Insp points, so that when he needs them he can do that classic Factotum thing of filling a necessary role for a round here or there, and his high Wis makes him the best healer. The Dwarf fills the melee role, start with tripping, and add in grappling if you like once you have the tripping setup you like (I suggest Dwarven Warpike with Combat Expertise/Improved Trip/Knockdown, but other options exist). The Halfling spams Manyshot, while the Whisper Gnomes loads up on skill tricks and spells to maximize his stealth and Iaijutsu damage. Make sure to grab Craven for him. All five should prepare different spells, maximizing your versatility. The Grey Elf may want to specialize in Buffs, the Halfling in battlefield control, the Human may want to load up on Orbs or Transformations in order to stay relevant in combat, the the Gnome on debuffs and the Dwarf maybe packing one or two spells of each type in case somebody gets taken down.

Edit: If you're open to multiclassing, my advice changes considerably.

[Soranar]

So it's best to have them all tricked out in exactly the same fashion?

Well if you concentrate on sneaking and ranged attacks, it makes sense that they'd be all built like commandos. Whisper gnomes are a great idea for that kind of thing.

The bonus feat from halfling also works well (as does the Dex bonus).

Also, if everyone is ranged then you'll rarely face people in melee combat and having their bonus to INT on damage and knowledge devotion, a factotum often makes one of the best ranged character.