Vuann
2011-04-21, 04:41 AM
So the Factotum is my favorite class, but since it's from a splat book it doesn't have any specific PrCs or feats other than Font of Inspiration which I find is far too addicting and can overpower a factotum that gets 20+ points. I was brainstorming the other day about ways to fix that problem and came up with a bunch of other ideas. I was very inspired by Hunter Noventa's Factotum ACF's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75478) and got a few more ideas from Djinn in Tonic's homebrew Chameleon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100597) class.
I really want to create a Factotum PrC that keeps up the general feel of the Factotum but specializes him a bit. It would have to continue to progress the Arcane Dilletante ability(and work with the ACF's), probably the inspiration feature(though that could be the balancing factor) and still count as Factotum levels for use with the cunning knowledge feature. I'm still brainstorming this idea, but here are some feats and general ideas I've come up with thus far. They are probably a bit rough and could use some rewording and renaming, but the general idea is there. My thoughts will be in spoilers after each one.
Feats
Cunning Inspiration
You gain inspiration points based on your intelligence modifier.
When taking this feat you automatically gain a number of inspiration points equal to your intelligence modifier. If your intelligence modifier increases as your character levels then they are added on to this total. Any inspiration points gained by an enhancement or spell bonus dissappear when the equipment is removed or effect has faded.
This feat cannot be used together with Font of Inspiration
Basically this offers a compromise between gaining extra inspiration points without having to take multiple Font of Inspiration feats. You will end up with less overall, but it only costs a single feat and would allow you to actually specialize your factotum. It also balances out the Factotum cheese-ability of having so many points to expend. I'm actually going to use this in a PbP game on this site that has just started.
Cunning Recovery
You can regain inspiration points during an encounter by initiating a concentration check.
As a move action, standard action or full round action you may spend one inspiration point to initiate a concentration check to regain inspiration points. A move action requires a DC check of 20, a standard action requires a DC check of 15 and a full round action requires a DC check of 10. For every point you beat the check by you regain an equal number of inspiration points. These points are available for use immediately. If you fail the check you regain no inspiration points and still lose the point for initiating it. This action does not provoke attacks of opportunity and may be performed as many times per encounter as you wish.
So this is to go along with the first feat. Instead of relying on a ton of points, this would allow you to get by with less and have a way of refreshing your points. It would add a bit more strategy and inspiration point economy to your gameplay. Maybe it shouldn't cost a point to use, though it seemed appropriate. It's risky and takes an action away from you, but the benefit is good if you succeed. This is based off of the adaptive style feat from ToB though it requires you to actually make a decent roll instead of just giving up a single round for guaranteed benefit.
Heroic Muse
You may spend one inspiration point to select a temporary feat during an encounter.
As a swift action you may spend one inspiration point to gain a temporary feat. This ability can only be used during an encounter and is lost when the encounter has ended. You must qualify for this feat just as if you were going to take this as normal for your character. You may only choose one feat at a time, though you may choose to spend another inspiration point and change the feat during your turn.
Similar to the floating feat that a chameleon gets, but less abusable. It costs an inspiration point so it's not free, and only works during combat. No taking passive feats outside of combat to reap the benefits. I called it Heroic Muse since it's also very similar to the Heroics spell. Would work great for Martial Maneuver/Stance and things like power attack and combat expertise.
Greater Heroic Muse
Prerequisite: Heroic Muse
Following the same rules as the Heroic Muse feat you may spend two points instead of one and gain a second feat. You may use the first temporary feat as qualification for the second feat.
Makes this ability stronger, but still keeps it in check by following the same encounter only rules of the first. Would open up opportunities like combat expertise/improved trip or point blank shot/rapid shot, etc.. The beauty is that you can choose what seems like the best options for your current encounter. Factotums are the masters of improv so it just seems fitting.
I also have some ideas for actual abilities that a Factotum PrC may have. The trick with the PrC is to give Factotums something worthy of specializing in, but not so great that it's always worth giving up what they would get if they stayed pure Factotum. Perhaps some of the things above that I listed as feats(like Heroic Muse) might work best as an actual PrC ability that automatically scales with levels in the PrC. You may get Heroic Muse at the 2nd PrC level then gain the second use at level 6 or something. These aren't completely fleshed out so I'll just give a quick description.
Creative Improvisation
Once per encounter you may spend an inspiration point to perform a special ability of another class.
Basically a watered down version of Cunning Brilliance that lasts for only one round. You would choose from a small list of abilities, each one having a different initiation action similar to the ability you are improvising. Some of them can be used like a counters such as evasion. Others could be spell-like abilities, perhaps even a one round sneak attack/skirmish that scaled based on your level. Lots of potential here. As you leveled higher in the PrC you would gain additional uses of the ability. To keep it in check the list would have to be focused and not overly powerful, but useful enough like an ability to increase a save, dodge an attack or perhaps even do something like an abrupt jaunt. Maybe instead of gaining additional uses you simply gain access to a larger list as you gain levels in the PrC.
Improved Cunning Knowledge
You may spend 2 inspiration points to gain a temporary bonus to a skill check for any skill that you have at least one rank in. You may add your class level plus your intelligence modifier to this check. If the skill is already based off of your intelligence modifier you may not stack the bonuses. Instead of once per skill per day, perhaps it could be used once per day for a single skill and it's uses may scale up as you level.
Could be used when you need that epic skill check and can't afford to fail. By limiting uses per day it would be your ace in the hole. It could possibly gain uses as you leveled, though if it was considered to powerful maybe it's only usable once per day max.
Not sure what to call this one, but it'd basically be a freebie that would allow you to take one regular factotum ability while being in the PrC, but would require you to reach the same level with both classes combined. For instance if the PrC opened up at level 6 you may decide to wait until 10 to take it.You may really want to get cunning defense for the dodge bonus, so as your single choice you could still take that at level 16 by counting up your factotum and PrC levels combined. Factotum 8 + Prc 8, etc..
Focused Arcane Dilettante
I don't have a description yet, but I'm working on this. My idea is that by taking the PrC you would get some sort of bonus to this skill and it would be generic so that it would work with the ACF's from Hunter Noventa. I'm thinking it could be as simple as allowing more than one of your highest level spells per day that may scale as you level. That alone is a big power improvement, but it couldn't be unlimited or it'd cause problems no doubt. Like at PrC level 3 you get to use 2 of your highest level spells per day. At level 7 you could grab 3 then maybe that's the limit.
For the Martial Variant that doesn't have that limitation perhaps it could eliminate the need for burning up an inspiration point to execute a maneuver. Or perhaps you could choose more than one stance instead of being limited to a single one as written. Or both.
Balancing this would be tough, but it'd have to be something useful that wouldn't automatically make anyone playing a factotum take the PrC without a second thought. I'd try to shoot for entry as early as level 6 so the decision to enter it would be tough. You may wait until 9 so you don't lose cunning surge then take the PrC. And about cunning surge.. I can't take credit for this but I like the idea. I found it on some random site while looking around the other night and I think it has merit. It simultaneously chokes the cheese-ability out of cunning surge without your DM getting pissed off, but at the same time giving you options so that you can tailor it to your liking.
Cunning Surge (Ex): Starting at 8th level, you learn to push yourself when needed. By spending 1 inspiration point, you can take an extra swift action during your turn; this becomes an extra move action if you spend 2 inspiration points instead, or an extra standard action if you spend 3 inspiration points instead. You can purchase any combination of these three additional actions, but you cannot purchase the same one more than once per round. If you purchase two extra actions for one turn, you become fatigued until the end of the encounter. If you purchase all three additional actions, you become exhausted until the end of the encounter. You cannot use this ability if you are already exhausted.
While you could use this to go supernova, it'd be at a great cost so you'd have to use it wisely. Since you can't go nuts with it, the lack of mass inspiration points via Font of Inspiration points is meaningless.
At any rate that was my brainstorm. I'm looking for opinions on the overall balance of these ideas and feasibility in play. I may take some time this weekend to actually put this together, but I'm still working out some details. I'm really considering slowing down the progression of inspiration points by taking the PrC so that you have to choose wisely. By taking the PrC you get some cool abilities, but the balance is that you won't have 25 inspiration points to work with and would have to play more intelligently. Probably taking advantage of the recovery feat to keep yourself fueled in a long encounter. This way those that like to burn up lots of inspiration points and play a more generic factotum may skip the PrC altogether since they'd lose out on that freedom.
I really want to create a Factotum PrC that keeps up the general feel of the Factotum but specializes him a bit. It would have to continue to progress the Arcane Dilletante ability(and work with the ACF's), probably the inspiration feature(though that could be the balancing factor) and still count as Factotum levels for use with the cunning knowledge feature. I'm still brainstorming this idea, but here are some feats and general ideas I've come up with thus far. They are probably a bit rough and could use some rewording and renaming, but the general idea is there. My thoughts will be in spoilers after each one.
Feats
Cunning Inspiration
You gain inspiration points based on your intelligence modifier.
When taking this feat you automatically gain a number of inspiration points equal to your intelligence modifier. If your intelligence modifier increases as your character levels then they are added on to this total. Any inspiration points gained by an enhancement or spell bonus dissappear when the equipment is removed or effect has faded.
This feat cannot be used together with Font of Inspiration
Basically this offers a compromise between gaining extra inspiration points without having to take multiple Font of Inspiration feats. You will end up with less overall, but it only costs a single feat and would allow you to actually specialize your factotum. It also balances out the Factotum cheese-ability of having so many points to expend. I'm actually going to use this in a PbP game on this site that has just started.
Cunning Recovery
You can regain inspiration points during an encounter by initiating a concentration check.
As a move action, standard action or full round action you may spend one inspiration point to initiate a concentration check to regain inspiration points. A move action requires a DC check of 20, a standard action requires a DC check of 15 and a full round action requires a DC check of 10. For every point you beat the check by you regain an equal number of inspiration points. These points are available for use immediately. If you fail the check you regain no inspiration points and still lose the point for initiating it. This action does not provoke attacks of opportunity and may be performed as many times per encounter as you wish.
So this is to go along with the first feat. Instead of relying on a ton of points, this would allow you to get by with less and have a way of refreshing your points. It would add a bit more strategy and inspiration point economy to your gameplay. Maybe it shouldn't cost a point to use, though it seemed appropriate. It's risky and takes an action away from you, but the benefit is good if you succeed. This is based off of the adaptive style feat from ToB though it requires you to actually make a decent roll instead of just giving up a single round for guaranteed benefit.
Heroic Muse
You may spend one inspiration point to select a temporary feat during an encounter.
As a swift action you may spend one inspiration point to gain a temporary feat. This ability can only be used during an encounter and is lost when the encounter has ended. You must qualify for this feat just as if you were going to take this as normal for your character. You may only choose one feat at a time, though you may choose to spend another inspiration point and change the feat during your turn.
Similar to the floating feat that a chameleon gets, but less abusable. It costs an inspiration point so it's not free, and only works during combat. No taking passive feats outside of combat to reap the benefits. I called it Heroic Muse since it's also very similar to the Heroics spell. Would work great for Martial Maneuver/Stance and things like power attack and combat expertise.
Greater Heroic Muse
Prerequisite: Heroic Muse
Following the same rules as the Heroic Muse feat you may spend two points instead of one and gain a second feat. You may use the first temporary feat as qualification for the second feat.
Makes this ability stronger, but still keeps it in check by following the same encounter only rules of the first. Would open up opportunities like combat expertise/improved trip or point blank shot/rapid shot, etc.. The beauty is that you can choose what seems like the best options for your current encounter. Factotums are the masters of improv so it just seems fitting.
I also have some ideas for actual abilities that a Factotum PrC may have. The trick with the PrC is to give Factotums something worthy of specializing in, but not so great that it's always worth giving up what they would get if they stayed pure Factotum. Perhaps some of the things above that I listed as feats(like Heroic Muse) might work best as an actual PrC ability that automatically scales with levels in the PrC. You may get Heroic Muse at the 2nd PrC level then gain the second use at level 6 or something. These aren't completely fleshed out so I'll just give a quick description.
Creative Improvisation
Once per encounter you may spend an inspiration point to perform a special ability of another class.
Basically a watered down version of Cunning Brilliance that lasts for only one round. You would choose from a small list of abilities, each one having a different initiation action similar to the ability you are improvising. Some of them can be used like a counters such as evasion. Others could be spell-like abilities, perhaps even a one round sneak attack/skirmish that scaled based on your level. Lots of potential here. As you leveled higher in the PrC you would gain additional uses of the ability. To keep it in check the list would have to be focused and not overly powerful, but useful enough like an ability to increase a save, dodge an attack or perhaps even do something like an abrupt jaunt. Maybe instead of gaining additional uses you simply gain access to a larger list as you gain levels in the PrC.
Improved Cunning Knowledge
You may spend 2 inspiration points to gain a temporary bonus to a skill check for any skill that you have at least one rank in. You may add your class level plus your intelligence modifier to this check. If the skill is already based off of your intelligence modifier you may not stack the bonuses. Instead of once per skill per day, perhaps it could be used once per day for a single skill and it's uses may scale up as you level.
Could be used when you need that epic skill check and can't afford to fail. By limiting uses per day it would be your ace in the hole. It could possibly gain uses as you leveled, though if it was considered to powerful maybe it's only usable once per day max.
Not sure what to call this one, but it'd basically be a freebie that would allow you to take one regular factotum ability while being in the PrC, but would require you to reach the same level with both classes combined. For instance if the PrC opened up at level 6 you may decide to wait until 10 to take it.You may really want to get cunning defense for the dodge bonus, so as your single choice you could still take that at level 16 by counting up your factotum and PrC levels combined. Factotum 8 + Prc 8, etc..
Focused Arcane Dilettante
I don't have a description yet, but I'm working on this. My idea is that by taking the PrC you would get some sort of bonus to this skill and it would be generic so that it would work with the ACF's from Hunter Noventa. I'm thinking it could be as simple as allowing more than one of your highest level spells per day that may scale as you level. That alone is a big power improvement, but it couldn't be unlimited or it'd cause problems no doubt. Like at PrC level 3 you get to use 2 of your highest level spells per day. At level 7 you could grab 3 then maybe that's the limit.
For the Martial Variant that doesn't have that limitation perhaps it could eliminate the need for burning up an inspiration point to execute a maneuver. Or perhaps you could choose more than one stance instead of being limited to a single one as written. Or both.
Balancing this would be tough, but it'd have to be something useful that wouldn't automatically make anyone playing a factotum take the PrC without a second thought. I'd try to shoot for entry as early as level 6 so the decision to enter it would be tough. You may wait until 9 so you don't lose cunning surge then take the PrC. And about cunning surge.. I can't take credit for this but I like the idea. I found it on some random site while looking around the other night and I think it has merit. It simultaneously chokes the cheese-ability out of cunning surge without your DM getting pissed off, but at the same time giving you options so that you can tailor it to your liking.
Cunning Surge (Ex): Starting at 8th level, you learn to push yourself when needed. By spending 1 inspiration point, you can take an extra swift action during your turn; this becomes an extra move action if you spend 2 inspiration points instead, or an extra standard action if you spend 3 inspiration points instead. You can purchase any combination of these three additional actions, but you cannot purchase the same one more than once per round. If you purchase two extra actions for one turn, you become fatigued until the end of the encounter. If you purchase all three additional actions, you become exhausted until the end of the encounter. You cannot use this ability if you are already exhausted.
While you could use this to go supernova, it'd be at a great cost so you'd have to use it wisely. Since you can't go nuts with it, the lack of mass inspiration points via Font of Inspiration points is meaningless.
At any rate that was my brainstorm. I'm looking for opinions on the overall balance of these ideas and feasibility in play. I may take some time this weekend to actually put this together, but I'm still working out some details. I'm really considering slowing down the progression of inspiration points by taking the PrC so that you have to choose wisely. By taking the PrC you get some cool abilities, but the balance is that you won't have 25 inspiration points to work with and would have to play more intelligently. Probably taking advantage of the recovery feat to keep yourself fueled in a long encounter. This way those that like to burn up lots of inspiration points and play a more generic factotum may skip the PrC altogether since they'd lose out on that freedom.