Factotum variant question

[Apowerfulfoe]

Hello people of the playground! I have been lurking for a while, but this is my first post. I have done a little playing, but not a whole lot of creating so I wanted to ask for some advice. I was looking at the factotum and thinking about taking away his spells and giving him full BAB. Do you think this would be balanced?


Thanks for any advice!

[kryan]

I'd argue that it would defeat the purpose of the Factotum - that is, to be good at everything, but not excellent at anything. Full BAB is the best you can get, and therefore better than the Factotum should have, while their spellcasting is an important part of the class.

What is the goal with this change, out of curiosity?

And, to be less unhelpful - no, I don't think it is, at least assuming by "balanced" you mean "as powerful as the Factotum". Spells >> +¼/level BAB.

If you wanted to make the Factotum more strictly mundane, I'd suggest replacing spells with Tome of Battle maneuvers; that would be much more in keeping with the class.

[Apowerfulfoe]

Well, I kind of wanted a more "off the cuff" kinda factotum. The spellcasting just seems to clash with that. What if I added an ability at level 6, say;

Cunning Artificer
You may spend one ispiration point to take 10 on Use Magic Device for the enounter.

I see what you mean about a full BAB being the best, but he still would not be able to go toe-to-toe with a tanking class of the same level. Whatcha think?

[kryan]

I don't understand how the spellcasting clashes with that. The Use Magic Device thing is worse than the Artificer, Rogue, or Warlock versions (they don't need to use Inspiration points), and the Warlock version happens at 4th instead of 6th (and the Rogue gets to apply it to 3+Int skills, albeit at 10th - the Artificer is worst of the bunch, at 13th, but it's also an Artificer), though it is definitely useful. But see, the Artificer and Warlock can make magic items to use, while the Factotum can't. That makes the feature decidedly less useful than it is for those classes.

And why should they be able to stand on equal footing with a tanking class? Isn't the point that they're not focused on attacking as much? It's not like they'd never be able to hit a tank; ¼ BAB/level is really not that big a deal.

[Lateral]

I'd suggest replacing spells with Tome of Battle maneuvers; that would be much more in keeping with the class.

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