[D&D 3.5]Poison-based Factotum

[theonesin]

Starting in a level 1 campaign, playing a Whisper Gnome with the following ability rolls (we used d20s): 20 20 17 16 15 13

I stumbled upon the Factotum and thought it would be more interesting to take care of the party's trapfinding needs than a Rogue or Scout, and in reading up on that class, I found they seem to have a nice affinity for using poison.

Any suggestions on how I might build up such a character (possibly taking into consideration retraining feats if poisons become too weak later)?

[balistafreak]

Ask, and ye shall receive. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4854.0) a handbook

[Akal Saris]

That reminds me; the guide really SHOULD have a factotum build on there other than JaronK's!

Here's a build to get you started:

Whisper Gnome Factotum 6

Alternative class feature: use Complete Warrior's weapon swap to trade gnome hooked hammer for the gnome quickrazor in Races of Stone

Skill: max out Iajutsu Focus from Oriental Adventures

Feats
1: Master of Poisons
3: Darkstalker
6: Two-weapon fighting

Poisons: whatever you can afford until 10th level, when you can use Minor Creation to create free poisons.

Super cheap poisons for levels 1-5:
# 25g: Sleep-Smoke (Waterdeep, City of Splendors. Unconsciousness/Unconsciousness!)
# 40g: Tiny Centipede poison (1 dex woo!)
# 40g: Stun Gas (A&EG, Stuns!)
# 50g: Roach paste (DoTU) (Nauseates!)
# 50g: Darkeye (Sharn, City of Towers) (Paralysis!)
# 75g: Drow poison (Unconsciousness!)
# 75g: Snowflake Lichen PowderFrostburn (1 Dex/1 Str!)
# 90g: Oil of Taggit (0/Unconsciousness and ingested

[theonesin]

Why Two-Weapon Fighting here?

[Coidzor]

Alternatively if you have a flaw or can wait on darkstalker, Hidden Talent feat can get you psionic minor creation for poisons for an hour, I believe twice per day. This mostly depends on the idea that you can retrain the feat when you no longer need it due to being able to get the spell minor creation via Factotum and if the DM will allow Hidden Talent instead of Wild Talent.

Which would mostly obviate the need for craft poison-making as well and be possible from level 1, though you may want the skill anyway.

Also, depending upon the DM, Iajutsu focus might apply to thrown melee weapons like daggers or possibly the throwing axe/hammer, though that route is an extra feat for quick draw to achieve parity with TWF or rapid shot. Although, the ranged route, especially the bow route, has the advantage in not needing to use actions in combat to reapply poison, even if they're swift actions (I think you can only get 1 of the two weapons poisoned a round at first) due to having the poison pre-applied to each throwing weapon/bit of ammo.

[Akal Saris]

If you're going iajutsu focus, you want two-weapon fighting to have another source of extra d6's.

[theonesin]

I do have a flaw (one of the reasons I didn't play Human this time), but we're not allowed to use Psionic stuff in this campaign.

Oh, and any suggestions on where to put my stats?

[SurlySeraph]

20 Int, 20 Dex, 17 Con, the rest as suits your tastes. I'd go with 16 Wis, 15 Str, 13 Cha (before the racial adjustments, of course).
If you can fit in a level of Swordsage around 9th level, taking Shadow Blade (feat) and Assassin's Stance would be a good way to up your damage. And you'll want Weapon Finesse.

[Akal Saris]

Aye, swordsage and factotum work together amazingly well!

[Person_Man]

Most important parts of the guide linked to above for the purposes of your build:

Psionic Minor Creation (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Psionic_Minor_Creation): Can be used by a 1st level Psion (Shaper) to create any plant based poison for just 1 power point. I'm AFB right now, but IIRC the Factotum doesn't get access to 4th level spells (Minor Creation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm)) until 10th level.

Handle Animal: According to Drow of the Underdark, it's a DC 15 Handle Animal check to convince a vermin with the Bestow Venom trick to give enough poison for a single dose, and then a DC 15 Craft check to distill that material into a usable poison. Teaching the trick requires the Vermin Trainer feat or a similar ability, such as the vermin keeper prestige class. It's reasonable to assume that animals can learn a similar trick as well if the DM is willing to create such a homebrew feat (or allow Wild Empathy to qualify). It's easier to make two DC 15 checks than it is to make most difficult poison-making checks.

I don't really see it working well at low levels, but best of luck to you.

[theonesin]

Most important parts of the guide linked to above for the purposes of your build:

Psionic Minor Creation (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Psionic_Minor_Creation): Can be used by a 1st level Psion (Shaper) to create any plant based poison for just 1 power point. I'm AFB right now, but IIRC the Factotum doesn't get access to 4th level spells (Minor Creation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm)) until 10th level.

Handle Animal: According to Drow of the Underdark, it's a DC 15 Handle Animal check to convince a vermin with the Bestow Venom trick to give enough poison for a single dose, and then a DC 15 Craft check to distill that material into a usable poison. Teaching the trick requires the Vermin Trainer feat or a similar ability, such as the vermin keeper prestige class. It's reasonable to assume that animals can learn a similar trick as well if the DM is willing to create such a homebrew feat (or allow Wild Empathy to qualify). It's easier to make two DC 15 checks than it is to make most difficult poison-making checks.

I don't really see it working well at low levels, but best of luck to you.

You didn't read the part where I said I can't use Psionic stuff.

I'm not sure how I'd get a pet or anything (those require feats, right?). Are there any rules for say, trapping a wild animal and trying to get poison from it?

[Coidzor]

An unwilling one? I don't believe so. If you had a druid friend, they could wild empathy it to friendly given sufficient time and depending upon the druid's stats. Something like a viper you probably would have the best chance with working out with the DM to let you just trick it into giving you poison by getting it to bite and inject poison into something through which the poison will get into a vial... sort of like how they milk snakes for their venom these days.

Handle Animal can be used to rear a wild animal though, and I believe in 3.0 it had a DC for taming them as well. Might be able to get the DM to allow that.

If you can't get it as part of your backstory, then you might have to wait until you can buy one using the warbeast template (since I can think of no other way to buy 'em) or play through hunting something suitable down in game and rearing/taming it during downtime.

[theonesin]

No Druid in the party, but the DM himself is playing a Ranger. They get Wild Empathy too, right?

And where would I find these rules for rearing wild animals?

[Coidzor]

No Druid in the party, but the DM himself is playing a Ranger. They get Wild Empathy too, right?

And where would I find these rules for rearing wild animals?

PHB covers the DC of the check in Handle Animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm)

And yes, Rangers get Wild Empathy. Gnomes would get speak with animals if you came across a poisonous burrowing animal, though I'm not sure how useful that would actually be.