How to explain Factotums to new(ish) players.

[hobbitkniver]

So I started making a factotum for an upcoming game which will feature a team of 4 players. Generally, we would use the basic melee, rogue, divine caster, arcane caster group. I'm not especially knowledgable on everything a factotum can do and should do. Would you put them as the rogue? These players have never heard of one, and it is bound to confuse them.

[Urpriest]

They're kind of a rogue replacement, yeah. You could describe it as a rogue with less damage and more tricks.

[Angry Bob]

A factotum can perform the duties traditionally covered by the rogue, yes: Skill use, trapfinding, and mundane utility. the main difference is that a factotum doesn't get as much sneak attack, and they get a lot more stuff to play with, like some "casting" and a few unique tricks, like totally ignoring SR for one spell, getting an extra standard action, and adding their intelligence to basically everything, among other things.

tl;dr: A factotum is like a rogue with more interesting tricks.

tl;drtl;dr: A factotum is a rogue.

[Waker]

Are you planning on playing this character yourself or are you making it pre-made for another player?
As Ur Priest said, the Factotum can fill many of the same roles as a Rogue, with less damage potential (barring mischief.) The two things you need to focus on with the class is Intelligence and Inspiration Points. The majority of your abilities will revolve around one or both of those.

Brains Over Brawn: Adds your intelligence bonus to any str or dex based skills or abilities checks, including initiative and trip attempts.
Arcane Dilettante: Access to a small number of spells cast as spell-like abilities, meaning they ignore arcane spell failure. Wiz/Sorc spell list has some great options.
Opportunistic Piety: Turn Undead/Lay on Hands wrapped up in one ability.
Cunning Surge: Extra standard action in a round gives you better action economy.

Also remember that Inspiration points are refreshed at the beginning of every encounter. This feat gives you more points to utilize. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070606

Font of Inspiration
You have unearthed of well of inspiration from within your soul.
Prerequisite: Int 15, Must have Inspiration as a class feature.
Benefits: When you take this feat for the first time, you gain 1 inspiration point.
Special: You can take this multiple times. Each time you take this feat after the first time, the number of inspiration points you gain increases by 1 (for example, you gain 2 inspiration points if you take the feat a second time). The maximum number of times you can take this feat is equal to your Intelligence modifier.

[hobbitkniver]

I was going to play it myself, but after more research and hearing what you guys have said, I'll probably have to leave the rogue space to someone else. This guy always plays a rogue or a lurk or something else like it. I wasn't sure if it was similar enough to a wizard to replace one.

[Frosty]

If you want to be caster-heavy, prc into Chameleon later on?

[Angry Bob]

If you want to be caster-heavy, prc into Chameleon later on?

This one speaks the truth. Only downside is needing to take able learner which does basically nothing for you.

[Draz74]

If you want to try out a nifty non-Core class that fills the Wizard role and is easy to play effectively, I highly recommend the Dragonfire Adept (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=2). It won't be beating any optimized Wizards, but in a casual group like yours, it should be able to replace the Wizard just fine. And it's free online. It is really hard to mess up if you follow a few basic guidelines:


Get good CON and CHA scores
Get a good Use Magic Device skill. Think about what non-combat ("utility") Wizard spells the group relies on occasionally, and buy scrolls or wands of them.
Take the Entangling Exhalation (http://dnd.savannahsoft.eu/feat-900-entangling-exhalation.html) feat from Races of the Dragon. Ability Focus (breath weapon) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#abilityFocus) (from the Monster Manual) is the other almost-must-have feat.

That should do it.

[Daftendirekt]

This one speaks the truth. Only downside is needing to take able learner which does basically nothing for you.

A sane DM would see the pointless in a Factotum taking that feat and waive it, I'm sure.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

"A factorum is the guy that simply is that good. You remember the Old Spice Man? Yea, the Factorum can do all that. While also healing the party and shiving the goblin king.

The Factorum is the guy who doesn't need casting to use magic, doesn't need a big sword to hurt people, and doesn't need a bag of tricks to be effective.

Think about it like this: A wizard? That's kind of like Superman... nearly invincible, lazars shooting out of his eyes, ending encounters because he's pretty much the Mary Sue of the DC world.*

The Factorum? Is Batman. He has no super powers. He has no invincibility. He has no immunities. He's just that damn good."

* Statement is exaggeration for effect and may not necessarily represent a complete and accurate description, however is close enough to still be considered valid for the discussion at hand.

tl;dr version: Do you want to be a baddass, not because some god came up and said you were, not because you can tell the laws of reality to sit down and shut up, but because you're just that damn good at what you do? Then play a Factorum.

[Frosty]

A sane DM would see the pointless in a Factotum taking that feat and waive it, I'm sure.Actually, Able Learner will let the character continue to buy any skill for 1 point/rank even after the character goes into Chameleon (who doesn't have all skills as class skills). It is SOME benefit.

[Eldariel]

Factotum is a jack-of-all-trades. That's about it. He dabbles in casting, martial abilities and everything governed by the skill system. He even dabbles in some divine arts. Want to be able to do anything? Play a Factotum. Tho you prolly want to focus him some way or the other to truly make it work out. Any non-caster specialization is plausible out of the box and if you multiclass out on level 8, you can get into some good PRC casters and be darn solid at those (Chameleon & Ur-Priest are the biggest, of course).

[sreservoir]

factorum

wait there. you keep writing factorum. it's a factotum. it's in dungeonscape. read the class over a few times, will you?

that said, the factotum really shines when you're willing to sourcebook-dive for obscure skills. lucid dreaming, iaijutsu focus, autohypnosis, anyone?

and the fact that it gets to emulate spells as SLAs rather than casting them is fun. even with component trickery written out, you can still ignore long casting times. minor creation on black lotus extract can be fun.

[deuxhero]

This one speaks the truth. Only downside is needing to take able learner which does basically nothing for you.

Actually, it's an awesome one, provided you multiclass beyond Factotum (which you are, as Chameleon has no native class skills).

[Togath]

A little off topic, but; Iajutsu focus can actually be used untrained, giving anyone with a charisma of 10 or higher about a 50% chance for extra damage.

On topic; from what I've heard about factotums(I’ve only heard about them, but haven't played one yet) their sort of like a bard(as a jack of all trades) but focus more on personal abilities and skills rather than on magic and group buffing.
In addition, if you end up building an obscure skill based factotum, a one level dip into exemplar could be good to get a boost to your skills(such as auto hypnosis, or iajutsu focus), by gaining a +4 bonus to one, and gaining the ability to take 10 on X(X=1+int modifier) skills, even in combat(good for ones such as iajutsu focus or concentration.)

[Angry Bob]

Actually, it's an awesome one, provided you multiclass beyond Factotum (which you are, as Chameleon has no native class skills).

Depends on local rules. If class skills are class skills for life, then it's useless, but you're correct if only your current class skill are actually class skills.

[Urpriest]

Depends on local rules. If class skills are class skills for life, then it's useless, but you're correct if only your current class skill are actually class skills.

It's irrelevant either way. Able Learner changes the cost of skills, not the caps. Which is useful because Chameleons don't get nearly as many skill points as Factota.

[Hiro Protagonest]

It's irrelevant either way. Able Learner changes the cost of skills, not the caps. Which is useful because Chameleons don't get nearly as many skill points as Factota.

It's factoti.

Factotice?

Let's just stick with factotums.

[Eldariel]

It's factoti.

Factotice?

Let's just stick with factotums.

Factotums is the correct plural when using it as an English word (though it does come from Latin "facere" - "to do" and "totus" - "all"). While some Latin loanwords have the "-i" plurals, "factotum" is not one of them far as I know.

[noparlpf]

Actually, Able Learner will let the character continue to buy any skill for 1 point/rank even after the character goes into Chameleon (who doesn't have all skills as class skills). It is SOME benefit.


Skills: If a skill is a class skill for any of a multiclass character’s classes, then character level determines a skill’s maximum rank. (The maximum rank for a class skill is 3 + character level.)
If a skill is not a class skill for any of a multiclass character’s classes, the maximum rank for that skill is one-half the maximum for a class skill.
For example, a 7th-level rogue/4th-level wizard (an 11th-level character) can have as many as 14 ranks in any skill that is a class skill for rogues or wizards. That same character can have as many as 7 ranks in any skill that is not a class skill for rogues or wizards.

See that big bold or? If you have a skill as a class skill for any of your classes, you can continue to advance it even if you multiclass into a class that doesn't have that skill as a class skill. It's not your level in the class which lets you use that skill, it's your total level (probably not counting LAs and RHD). Otherwise the level+3 rule would be breakable by taking one level in a bunch of classes with, say, Hide as a class skill and putting four ranks into it at each level. Say Rogue 1/Bard 1/Ranger 1. Your maximum ranks in Hide would be 12 rather than 6. The way it does work, Rogue 1/Wizard 2 still gets a maximum of 6 ranks in Hide.

[The-Mage-King]

See that big bold or? If you have a skill as a class skill for any of your classes, you can continue to advance it even if you multiclass into a class that doesn't have that skill as a class skill. It's not your level in the class which lets you use that skill, it's your total level (probably not counting LAs and RHD). Otherwise the level+3 rule would be breakable by taking one level in a bunch of classes with, say, Hide as a class skill and putting four ranks into it at each level. Say Rogue 1/Bard 1/Ranger 1. Your maximum ranks in Hide would be 12 rather than 6. The way it does work, Rogue 1/Wizard 2 still gets a maximum of 6 ranks in Hide.

...But it will still cost 2 skill points for a rank, because it isn't a class skill for the class you're taking. That's where Able Learner shines.

[noparlpf]

...But it will still cost 2 skill points for a rank, because it isn't a class skill for the class you're taking. That's where Able Learner shines.

Oh wait, I see what you're saying now. I didn't get that before.
Are you sure that's how it works? I mean, I guess it kind of does. I've never seen it done that way, though I guess I generally don't multiclass much and don't carefully look over the character sheets of the one guy in the group who usually takes at least three classes.

[The-Mage-King]

Oh wait, I see what you're saying now. I didn't get that before.
Are you sure that's how it works? I mean, I guess it kind of does. I've never seen it done that way, though I guess I generally don't multiclass much and don't carefully look over the character sheets of the one guy in the group who usually takes at least three classes.

Yep. This part implies that it works that way.


Regardless of whether a skill is purchased as a class skill or a cross-class skill, if it is a class skill for any of your classes, your maximum rank equals your total character level + 3.

[noparlpf]

Yep. This part implies that it works that way.

Cool, thanks. You learn something every day.
(Actually today I learned two things. One was this and the other was that getting hit in the head repeatedly with pvc-and-foam weapons causes concussions. I think I might have learned that once several months ago, but apparently the concussion that time made me forget until now.)

[Draz74]

Oh wait, I see what you're saying now. I didn't get that before.
Are you sure that's how it works?
Yep. He's right.


Cool, thanks. You learn something every day.
(Actually today I learned two things. One was this and the other was that getting hit in the head repeatedly with pvc-and-foam weapons causes concussions. I think I might have learned that once several months ago, but apparently the concussion that time made me forget until now.)

Good thing you recorded it in writing this time ... In case your memory is gone again tomorrow ...

[Godskook]

Depends on local rules. If class skills are class skills for life, then it's useless, but you're correct if only your current class skill are actually class skills.

While technically true, this forum runs on the assumption that everyone is going by RAW/RAI unless otherwise stated, and by RAW, Able Learner serves a very useful purpose in a multiclass factotum build.

The annoying part about the feat is how little use it gives during the level you take it(Since you're likely starting in the class with the skills you want anyway). It'd be nice if it weren't just a level 1 feat(I also wish it wasn't so racially limiting, but that's more understandable).

[deuxhero]

Both Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 and Temple of Elemental Evil take the route of "If a class skill for another class you have levels in, you get the max ranks, but still pay 2 skill points", so I assume that's what WoTC intended .

[Elvencloud]

Factotum? That's easy. I can do (almost) ANYTHING.

[Knaight]

wait there. you keep writing factorum. it's a factotum. it's in dungeonscape. read the class over a few times, will you?
Normally, I wouldn't bother with this image, but between the unnecessary criticism and the tone it is given it seems appropriate.
http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo316/Knaighte/Capitalize.jpg

[Godskook]

Normally, I wouldn't bother with this image, but between the unnecessary criticism and the tone it is given it seems appropriate.

:smallamused: You do realize that his use of the "?" punctuation proves he knows where the shift key is, right? :smalltongue:

[Prime32]

If you're familiar with Eight-Bit Theatre, factotum is kind of like Red Mage.

If you're familiar with Mahou Sensei Negima, gestalt factotum//warblade is kind of like Jack Rakan.

[Hiro Protagonest]

If you're familiar with Eight-Bit Theatre, factotum is kind of like Red Mage.

If you're familiar with Mahou Sensei Negima, gestalt factotum//warblade is kind of like Jack Rakan.

If you're familiar with Legend of Zelda, factotum//warblade is like Link. But instead of gadgets and potions, they use magic.