High level Factota: what abilities to take?

[Eldan]

So, I'm building an epic factotum. From level 19 on, you can select ex abilities from any base class, gained before level 15 and use them. I've looked around if someone had perhaps saved me the work of actually going through every book out there and selecting them, but apparently, no luck. So I've come to you, mighty internet: what abilities would be useful to a gestalt factotum/Artificer/Magitech templar*? I will, most likely, be a mixture of flying tank and ranged fighter, with a force gatling gun.


*homebrew class. Gets a suit of enchanted armour and, amongst other things, I'm getting mettle, flight and a lot of enhanced senses.

[SurlySeraph]

Maneuver progression is always an excellent choice.

[Eldan]

Is that possible? The entire progression? Because that would be extremely useful.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Is that possible? The entire progression? Because that would be extremely useful.

Alas, it is NOT possible. The three Tome of Battle classes have Maneuvers listed in their class features, but not on the tables, and they are untyped (like spell progression is untyped). No luck there.

[Eldan]

Thought so. A few of the warblade features might be nice, though, for adding intelligence to more things.

[Murdim]

Some Extraordinary abilities that might be of interest :

_ Rage (Barbarian). Whirling Frenzy and the other rage variants could also count, I guess.
_ Insightful strike (Swashbuckler). Intelligence to damage with finessable weapons.
_ Favored enemy (Ranger). An adaptable favored enemy, no less. Get a +8 bonus to damage and skills against whatever you're currently fighting.
_ Combat style (Ranger). Don't know if each "level" is a different ability or if you get the three feats in one swoop. If you can, then it's instant proficiency in two-weapon fighting for you.
_ +8D6 Sneak attack (Rogue)
_ +8D6 Sudden strike (Ninja)
_ +4D6/+4 AC Skirmish (Scout)
_ Evasion, Uncanny dodge, Improved uncanny dodge (various)

[Eldan]

Questionable on the combat style. By the wording of the factotum, you only get combat style mastery. That does give you the feat, since you don't have to meat the prerequisites.

If the ranger selected two-weapon combat at 2nd level, he is treated as having the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.

The question becomes, however, what does GTWF do if you don't have the other TWF feats? Only the third at tack at -10, probably, so it's not very useful.

For the barbarian, you can take greater rage, though.

[Cespenar]

Absorb spell from Spellthief?

[Ernir]

Mass Staredown, from the Complete Warrior Samurai?

Absorb spell from Spellthief?

Supernatural, unfortunately.

[Cog]

For the barbarian, you can take greater rage, though.
You can, but you'd better have rage uses from another source first. Greater Rage changes the modifiers you get when you enter a rage, but it's only the Rage ability that gives you the ability to enter a rage.

[Eldan]

Ah,, true. Mass Staredown is nice, though.

[Curmudgeon]

Some Extraordinary abilities that might be of interest :

_ +8D6 Sneak attack (Rogue)

Sneak attack is untyped, not Extraordinary.

[Alleine]

Water Breathing
Immunity to Paralysis and Sleep effects, and Frightful presence of dragons

From Dragon Shaman. Unfortunately their energy immunity ability probably doesn't work as it hinges on the breath weapon you can't get.

[raitalin]

You can take Hide in Plain Sight from scout.

[Cog]

From Dragon Shaman... energy immunity ability probably doesn't work as it hinges on the breath weapon you can't get.
Hm. If you undergo the Dragonborn ritual at fourth level...

[Curmudgeon]

You can take Hide in Plain Sight from scout.
You'll probably want to also take Camouflage, or you won't get much use from HiPS. :smallwink:

[Murdim]

Sneak attack is untyped, not Extraordinary.
Oh my, you're right :smallfrown: I remembered having heard of Cunning brilliance'd SA quite often (especially in discussions about Cunning strike's lameness), so I just assumed it was valid. And the weirdest part is, similar abilities like sudden strike or skirmish are extraordinary.

[Curmudgeon]

Oh my, you're right :smallfrown: I remembered having heard of Cunning brilliance'd SA quite often (especially in discussions about Cunning strike's lameness), so I just assumed it was valid. And the weirdest part is, similar abilities like sudden strike or skirmish are extraordinary.
The Factotum's class writeup includes a lot of ambiguity. (Few of the abilities address stacking, or spending multiple inspiration points, for instance. And then there's the whole "beginning of each encounter" IP refresh issue.) While many of these issues can be resolved by looking for the relevant rules elsewhere in the official D&D sources, too many players treat ambiguity as a license for selective interpretation to gain more character power. The result is that Factotum characters are often a pain for DMs to deal with.

As for sneak attack vs. sudden strike or skirmish, this ends up being a pretty clear power delineation. Sneak attack is better than both sudden strike and skirmish (easier to qualify for; more dice of damage). Those who insist on sneak attack as available via Cunning Brilliance clearly declare themselves as members of the "pain for DMs" camp. (If you're starting at low levels, players who pretend the basic stacking rule doesn't apply to Cunning Strike make the same declaration.) :smalltongue:

[Cespenar]

Supernatural, unfortunately.

Ah, sorry, my bad. Diamond Soul from Monk, then?