Factotum in 4E

[Sorcerer Blob]

I see a lot of "How do I make Z 3.X class in 4th edition?" questions popping up of late and they've got me thinking. A lot of the responses are great as they use the RAW to make an effective character with the same flavor/fluff in mind as a class in previous editions. A lot of this is due to simple refluffing, which is one of the great things about 4E, how easy it is to refluff without changing any mechanics.

So, how would one go about making an effective true jack-of-all-trades character, such as the Factotum, within the RAW framework of 4E? Assume all official resources and settings are available.

I know a Bard with countless multi-classes would be viable, but probably not as effective as a 3.X Factotum. So, Playground, how would one go about doing this effectively and efficiently?

[NecroRebel]

There was this discussion a few days ago (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210077) that ultimately came down to an attempt to create a character who can sort of play any role in battle. We ended up suggesting a warlock|paladin hybrid who multiclassed into bard.

Overall, though, a Bard would probably be the best way to go about this, what with their bonus to untrained skills. Pick your trained skills that key off your lowest attributes as much as possible, pick up the Jack of All Trades feat, and pick a race that gets a bonus to Thievery and/or some other important skill that you'd lack training in, and your skills should all be at good levels. Then it's a matter of power choices to get the variety of abilities you'd need to be useful in any role in a combat situation.

[Daftendirekt]

And if the Jack of All Trades feat isn't enough, there's also the Jack-Of-All-Trades PP. Don't forget that.

[MeeposFire]

Bards should never take the jack of all trades feat.





They should take the bards of all trades feat. Same thing but better.

Another option is to go thief and use the jack of all trades paragon path. Doing so can get you nearly every skill trained if you take a multiclass feat and a theme that gives a free skill (like escaped slave). In addition it gives a +5 bonus on all skill checks on top of the training bonus so it has a better skill mod than the bard (even if he takes the jack of all trades PP which actually diminishes the impact of the bard of all trades feat) and it treats a natural 20 on a skill check as auto success and it counts as a double success in a skill challenge.

As skills though that is probably the best and unlike the bard you can invest feats into improving your skills that the bard can't (since the feat bonuses would be overruled by the feat bonus from bard of all trades and if you are trained then you lose all the benefit of being a bard in the first place).

[Epinephrine]

Isn't there some half-elf paragon path that allows you to use your allies' powers?

Edit - Half-elf Polymath; you get a second dilettante-like power (so you can have 2 off-class at-wills), train 2 additional skills, and can borrow powers from your allies.

Also, paragon multiclassing with (name of paragon feat for dilettante - versatile mastery?) allows you choose powers from any class, which could certainly seem factotum-ish.