Inspiration points outside of combat.

[Vuann]

So I talked with DM earlier and it looks like I'll be able to take Factotum levels (currently Rogue 1). Planning on taking him to at least level 8 then going into warblade or something. Anyways I had a few questions regarding the factotum's skills in general. Here goes..

1. How do inspiration points work outside of combat? Assuming you use them all up in a battle, once the battle is over are they instantly refreshed?

Ie; the last guy dies can you instantly use opportunistic piety for as many times as you have allowed? Seeing as it's not really an "encounter" your inspiration points should never really have to be refreshed. The wording of "encounter" implies mostly during fights but I'm wondering how they work outside of that situation. It seems pretty much unlimited unless you manage to burn them all up during an NPC "encounter" or something.

2. Cunning surge uses. Seems obviously the best use is an extra spell or attack during a round, though I'm sure there are other crafty way to use it. Best use I can think of would be to make 2 strikes in one round with a ToB character. Or get 2 spells off in a row in a single round. Or a combination, fire off a buffing spell, then still get your standard attack. And so if I'm not mistaken, could you still do a full attack and cast a spell since it simply adds a standard action to your full round? If so with travel devotion you could do some cool stuff in a single round. Cunning surge an attack buff(wraith strike/true strike), swift action travel to a creature, full attack(with iteratives) with a big power attack exchange.

3. Does the cunning knowledge ability work with knowledge devotion? Ie; an encounter starts and there is a big baddie in town. You roll for your knowledge devotion check and apply cunning knowledge to ensure you get a good roll.


Also just out of curiosity, for any factotum's out there, what type of fighting style do you use? 2h sword? TWF? Ranged? I'm thinking about going Rogue1/Fact8 into warblade for the Int synergy and Diamond Mind manuevers and going 2h with a greatsword/power attack and having a reach weapon as backup. With cunning insight, knowledge devotion and spells like true strike/sure strike/wraith strike you could find plenty of buffer to pour into a solid power attack to get really good damage. And with enough inspiration points you could do this more than once a round.

[PollyOliver]

1. I don't know the RAW, but how we handle it is that you refresh your IP's by being able to stop, take a breather for a few minutes, and clear your mind. So two back-to-back fights with no chance to stop wouldn't refresh your IP's, but outside of combat you can pretty much refresh them every time you have a couple minutes for a break (we play you can refresh them while walking around, but not while, say, sprinting somewhere on a deadline or doing something that requires concentration and presence of mind).

2. Yes, yes, etc. All fun options. EDIT: Characters who take lots of Font of Inspiration also use it to "nova", I believe, and go nuts in the first round.

3. I don't see why not. One requires a knowledge check, and one boosts knowledge checks. It seems to work fine.

For the last, google "factotum of war" for some hilarity, though it is gestalt. In general, I like TWF-ers, especially if you have damage dice to amplify (and will have raging mongoose and pouncing charge with your warblade levels for pounce with four extra attacks), but it's feat heavy and conflicts with the factotum standby of taking Font of Inspiration at least a few times. Someone else could probably give you much better advice there.

[Vuann]

That makes sense, similar to refreshing your maneuvers out of combat. 5 minute meditation or something of the like.

Also do the spells being cast by a factotum follow the same rule of the original spell? As in, do swift cast spells function as swift cast spells for a factotum as well? Wraith strike seems to be a potent spell for a melee factotum. Since I'm going for a "brains over brawn" melee build, I'm looking for any advantage to boost my attack bonus for hits without relying completely on cunning insight.

[Lateral]

1. Unclear by RAW; it says 'at the start of the encounter', so any time a new fight starts you should replenish, but out of combat it's not really clear.
2. Yes, very much so.
3. Yes, as long as you have ranks in that skill, which you will.
4. Yeah. They have the same cast time, since they're SLAs.

[Cirrhosis]

i believe this is covered under the rules for things that refresh per combat, which state that such resources refresh once a minute out of combat. there's a thread around the forums someplace (hint: run a search) by the giant, who wrote dungeonscape, that says as much.

[Lateral]

Well, the Giant only wrote part of Dungeonscape, and I don't believe he wrote the Factotum.

[Cirrhosis]

fair point. still, the thread i mentioned is out there. can't be bothered looking it up at the moment though.