Factotum without Font of Inspiration?

[13_CBS]

While I was coming up with a second character (Beguiler//Factotum) for a gestalt game described here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281924), in case there are too many beatsticks in the party and they end up needing a skillmonkey or something, I started wondering; how much does a Factotum's famed flexibility and effectiveness drop if the Factotum cannot take Font of Inspiration? To quote Eldariel in another thread...


you can freely use your feats for 5 Font of Inspiration (the bare minimum in my opinion).

...the feat seem to be extremely important, and every single Factotum-focused build I've seen has the character taking several Fonts of Inspiration.

So how viable is the Factotum when it only has a limited number of FoI points? Would you even say it drops to Tier 4, by virtue of being decent at some things but not really excelling in any?

[Muggins]

The Factotum's reliance on Font of Inspiration is largely based on their Cunning Surge class feature, which lets them take multiple standard actions in a single turn. Even if you're not going to abuse Cunning Surge, the Factotum has such a slot progression for Inspiration Points that you're probably going to run out during combat anyway.

If you're feeling strapped for feats, you might want to take Psion levels instead of Beguiler. Psionics don't seem to use as many feats as Arcane or Divine magic do, and if you're that desperate for illusions you can always be a Spell-to-Power Erudite.

[13_CBS]

It's not so much that I'm strapped for feats as much as I'm concerned that my DM won't let me take Font of Inspiration. That said, Shapers have a lot to offer to skillmonkies...hmm...

[Muggins]

Factotums are still fantastic skill monkeys without Cunning Surge. Font of Inspiration just helps them be more useful inside combat, where they can easily run out of Inspiration Points within a few rounds.

Font of Inspiration is official WotC material, so I'd just print off the page and show it to your DM if they've got a problem with it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

[Slipperychicken]

...the feat seem to be extremely important, and every single Factotum-focused build I've seen has the character taking several Fonts of Inspiration.

So how viable is the Factotum when it only has a limited number of FoI points? Would you even say it drops to Tier 4, by virtue of being decent at some things but not really excelling in any?

Without FoI, he's great out of combat, but not in combat. Even with Iaijutsu shenanigans, he's worse than a Rogue in a fight. You could probably do okay putting those feats toward archery and knowledge devotion.

FoI is awesome because it lets you flurry everything to death with ALL THE STANDARD ACTIONS. And before 8th level, you just have to settle for flanking someone and blowing all your IP on d6s to one-shot him.

[Chronos]

The thing with Font of Inspiration is, due to the way it scales with the number of times you take it, you probably want to either spend almost all of your feat slots on it, or none of them. And the thing with spending all of your feat slots on it is, it doesn't leave you any room for any other feats. Personally, I'd rather have a bunch of other varied feats than a bunch of copies of the same one.

Yes, this will make the Factotum less useful than the Fighter in combat. Which is as it's supposed to be: There's a reason why the Fighter is called that. But you're still hugely useful outside of combat, far more than anyone else who isn't a primary caster, and you're still pretty good in combat, too.

[eggynack]

The thing with Font of Inspiration is, due to the way it scales with the number of times you take it, you probably want to either spend almost all of your feat slots on it, or none of them. And the thing with spending all of your feat slots on it is, it doesn't leave you any room for any other feats. Personally, I'd rather have a bunch of other varied feats than a bunch of copies of the same one.

Yes, this will make the Factotum less useful than the Fighter in combat. Which is as it's supposed to be: There's a reason why the Fighter is called that. But you're still hugely useful outside of combat, far more than anyone else who isn't a primary caster, and you're still pretty good in combat, too.
This doesn't seem entirely true. You're effectively constructing a false dichotomy between taking nothing but font of inspiration, or taking everything but font of inspiration. You are correct that the way font of inspiration scales incentivizes taking it infinite times, however the marginal utility of inspiration points compared to other feats tends to go down as you accrue more and more of them. Inspiration points act on a per-encounter basis, so the goal is to take font of inspiration enough times that you don't expect to lose all of them during any particular encounter, and then move on to other things. I don't think taking the feat once is worth it, however when you get somewhere between three and five times, you can generally move on to something more sparkling with variety. In conclusion, I'd rather take the feat zero times than one time, but I'd probably rather take it five times than ten times. If you're ending every encounter with points to spare, then you're not actually getting anything from the extra times you took the feat.

[Qc Storm]

It's not so much that I'm strapped for feats as much as I'm concerned that my DM won't let me take Font of Inspiration. That said, Shapers have a lot to offer to skillmonkies...hmm...

But... Why?

That's like preventing a fighter from taking Power Attack.

[Rubik]

The thing with Font of Inspiration is, due to the way it scales with the number of times you take it, you probably want to either spend almost all of your feat slots on it, or none of them. And the thing with spending all of your feat slots on it is, it doesn't leave you any room for any other feats. Personally, I'd rather have a bunch of other varied feats than a bunch of copies of the same one.

Yes, this will make the Factotum less useful than the Fighter in combat. Which is as it's supposed to be: There's a reason why the Fighter is called that. But you're still hugely useful outside of combat, far more than anyone else who isn't a primary caster, and you're still pretty good in combat, too.I would never blow all my feats on FoI, regardless of the character. I usually find that taking the feat 3-4 times is sufficient, though I'll probably take one more if I have flaws or a lot of additional bonus feats.

Being gestalted means you'll have more to do with your actions than just factotum stuff, so take something (such as shaper, which is my favorite class to gestalt factotum with) that works well with factotum and go to town.

With shaper in particular, make sure you grab a psicrystal and the Linked Power feat. LP allows you to use powers with long manifestation times more dynamically, since you can manifest them quickly. And in Astral Construct's case, it still comes in next round, but you're not a sitting duck while you concentrate on it.

[DarkEternal]

If your DM won't allow you to take multiple standard attacks(as mine didn't, only allows once per round or even combat to use that thing), then you don't have to go wild with FoI. If you do, however...then yeah, it's pretty vital.

[Frosty]

Multiple standard actions are awesome. Go archery. Take Manyshot. You can now do that as many times a turn as you have standard actions. :smallbiggrin:

[Muggins]

I imagine any form of Psion gestalted with a Factotum would have an astounding nova capability. With that many standard actions in a single round, why..

Shapers would have a field day with unnerfed Astral Constructs.
Kineticists would obliterate every nearby enemy, saving throws be damned.
Egoists have Hustle, Fission and Fusion. 'Nuff said.
Telepaths have their slew of Mind-Affecting powers to (ab)use enemies into standing still or killing themselves and each other.
Nomads and Seers might not be able to do much, but they still have their non-discipline powers. I hear Disintegrate is a good power.

[Talionis]

If your DM won't allow you to take multiple standard attacks(as mine didn't, only allows once per round or even combat to use that thing), then you don't have to go wild with FoI. If you do, however...then yeah, it's pretty vital.

My play group has also limited Cunning Surge to only once per round. We realize RAW doesn't limit it. But this helped make it feel more balanced.

[Big Fau]

But... Why?

That's like preventing a fighter from taking Power Attack.

Not quite. Fighters and Power Attack are in the same book, and allowing one but not the other is a foolish ban. FoI wasn't introduced in a book, it was presented in a web article (by WotC) designed for adapting things to the Forgotten Realms (the Font of Inspiration feat was added in a sidebar of that article).

It's like allowing a Bard, but banning Complete Arcane. The class loses out on a very good option (several Bard PrCs, or in the Factotum's case an ability that allows them to abuse their Cunning Surge class feature), but it doesn't render the class unplayable.

[13_CBS]

But... Why?

That's like preventing a fighter from taking Power Attack.

As Big Fau points out, it's largely due to the fact that FoI doesn't come from a proper book. One could argue that it's not even "real" WotC supplemental material the way Mind's Eye is, as it's some random article written by some random guy hired by WotC.

Now, if I were DM I'd still definitely allow FoI, but the group I play with tends to be more...conservative about this sort of thing. (For one thing, we still play with melee fumble rules and Multiclass XP penalties.)

[Rubik]

As Big Fau points out, it's largely due to the fact that FoI doesn't come from a proper book. One could argue that it's not even "real" WotC supplemental material the way Mind's Eye is, as it's some random article written by some random guy hired by WotC.

Now, if I were DM I'd still definitely allow FoI, but the group I play with tends to be more...conservative about this sort of thing. (For one thing, we still play with melee fumble rules and Multiclass XP penalties.)I'm sure you know already, but you ought to convince everyone in your group to avoid melee at all costs.

Also, you may consider tossing two levels of chameleon on one side or the other, if you can. That floating bonus feat would be extremely useful, though you can always PsyRef your feats around if you want. Another use for Linked Power. Or you can just Contingency it. But still, another feat is always useful.

[13_CBS]

I'm sure you know already, but you ought to convince everyone in your group to avoid melee at all costs.


Actually, while my group is all about Not Letting Melees Have Nice Things, they also pretty much never play Tier 1 and 2 classes (they find full casters to be crushingly boring to play), and furthermore they're all pretty low-op1. So the melee fumble rules tends to add more humor and excitement to our games than misery and pain...plus it makes for pretty funny mental images when the enemy Brown Bear fumbles its own claws.

1(To give an idea as to how low-op they usually play, one of the previous campaigns we played was a 5 man party where each member had to take up at least one classic RPG role (Tank, Skillmonkey, Healbot, Blaster, Diplomat). I was the "blaster" [read: Shaper Psion, because blasting is inelegant and boring :smalltongue:], and here was how the rest of the party broke down:

"Diplomat": Changeling Monk/Warshaper with...Vow of Non-Violence? Or something. Basically, he had an aura on him that prevented people from committing violence unless they made a Will Save. You'd think he would have made for a decent melee, but his player, though he dreams of optimization, is not very good at it, so my Astral Construct ended up contributing more to melee. Oh, and he threw a couple of points into Diplomacy, but that was it. Good thing we almost never ended having to socialize!

Skillmonkey: Githzerai Rogue, TWF. He was okay, though he ended being rather squishy.

Healbot: Favored Soul. He spent all of his gold on having as high an AC as he reasonably could, then spent most of the combats using stuff like Recitation. Not a real offensive powerhouse, but he wasn't exactly game-breaking either.

Tank: Soulborn. :smalleek: And not just Soulborn, but Soulborn with, like, 12 Strength. And wielding a Truncheon, so non-lethal damage only. :smalleek: When he picked the Tank role, he interpreted it as meaning "have a sky high AC and nothing else".

That said, even though I was by far the most optimized out of the group, my Shaper Psion didn't really blow anyone out of the water, either.)

[Rubik]

Shapers are good for being optimizable in several directions, whether it be direct damage, utility, stamina, or being-powerful-but-not-overshadowing-anybody. Their powers are amazing multipurpose tools, as I'm sure you're aware.

Have you considered the constructor prestige class? (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625b) I usually take 9 levels of it, followed by a level in anarchic initiate. Excellent combo for covering all your shaper-oriented bases.

[13_CBS]

Shapers are good for being optimizable in several directions, whether it be direct damage, utility, stamina, or being-powerful-but-not-overshadowing-anybody. Their powers are amazing multipurpose tools, as I'm sure you're aware.

Sadly, I wasn't quite as multipurpose as I would've liked in that game. For one thing, Psionic Minor Creation didn't pull its weight in that game since the DM declared that poison useage was Evil, and we were all forced to be Good...though not being able to spam 996+ doses of Black Lotus Extract probably helped prevent me from overshadowing my buddies :smalltongue:



Have you considered the constructor prestige class? (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625b) I usually take 9 levels of it, followed by a level in anarchic initiate. Excellent combo for covering all your shaper-oriented bases.

I had, but the loss of manifester progression plus the entry requirements (Ecto Protection AND Repair Damage? No time for that!) made me sad. I did use the Personal Construct ACF, though.

Edit: In any case, it looks like the lack of FoI merely means the Factotum is notable less useful in combat, and less so for skillmonkeying. Since I'll still have Beguiler shenanigans to fall back on for combat, this doesn't seem too bad.

[Bakeru]

since the DM declared that poison useage was Evil, and we were all forced to be Good...Even though I think it's stupid, the Book of Exalted Deeds agrees: "Poison and disease are generally the tools of evil monsters and characters, implements of corruption and destruction. [...] Of the poisons described in the Dungeon Master’s Guide,only one is acceptable for good characters to use: oil of taggit, which deals no damage but causes unconsciousness." (Page 34)

It then proceeds to explain "Ravages and Afflictions", which are identical to poisons and diseases, except that they only affect evil beings (and bypass poison- and disease-immunity) and thus are a-OK for good beings to use.

[JaronK]

Honestly, the more I played Factotums, the less I used Font of Inspiration. There's just so many other good feats for a skillmonkey (Craft Wonderous Item, Darkstalker, Mindsight, Lifesense, etc) that burning 3-4 feats on it (the most I'd ever use anyway) seems like it's pushing you into one trick pony territory needlessly.

JaronK

[13_CBS]

There's just so many other good feats for a skillmonkey (Craft Wonderous Item, Darkstalker, Mindsight, Lifesense, etc)



Hmm, I've never really played a skillmonkey before (aside from one time where I was a Rogue/Swordsage, but that was more of a Sneak Attack build than anything), much less a uber-skillmonkey like a Beguiler // Factotum; what other such feats are useful for a skillmonkey?

[Chronos]

My favorite skillmonkey feats:

Darkstalker
Obtain Familiar (if you qualify for it; Factotum probably does, and Beguiler definitely)
Psicrystal Affinity (again if you qualify for it, which this character doesn't)
Craven
Shape Soulmeld (various)
Martial Study (various)
Nymph's Kiss

Plus, of course, you can take non-skillmonkey feats, too. Brains over Brawn lets factota be pretty good at fighter tricks like tripping and bull rushing, so you might want to pick up some feats to support those tactics. And Beguiler, like any full caster, can benefit from a variety of metamagics.

[Big Fau]

I had forgotten that Factotums can use the Item Creation feats. Having access to that many spells basically makes them mini-Artificers (albeit a bit more balanced).

[Rubik]

I had forgotten that Factotums can use the Item Creation feats. Having access to that many spells basically makes them mini-Artificers (albeit a bit more balanced).Yet another bit of awesomeness for 2 levels of chameleon.

[kulosle]

Inspiration points act on a per-encounter basis, so the goal is to take font of inspiration enough times that you don't expect to lose all of them during any particular encounter, and then move on to other things. I don't think taking the feat once is worth it, however when you get somewhere between three and five times, you can generally move on to something more sparkling with variety. In conclusion, I'd rather take the feat zero times than one time, but I'd probably rather take it five times than ten times. If you're ending every encounter with points to spare, then you're not actually getting anything from the extra times you took the feat.


At the beginning of each encounter, he gains a number of inspiration points determined by his level.

This isn't a per encounter ability. It's something you gain at the beginning of each encounter, my group has always ruled that if you have points left over after combat then you have some left over, this is the only thing that makes sense because how else would you spend inspiration points on non combat skills. So in all honesty you can never have too many inspiration points. That taken into mind I rarely take FoI. Instead i just go fight rats one by one till i have more inspiration points than i know what to do with.

[Miranius]

A Factotum doesn´t need FoI to be competent in battle.

Take the Travel Devotion Feat, you get swift-action movement for dozens of rounds per use, so you have a full round action or a standard action plus a second move left.
The Trickery Devotion Feat gives you a temporary clone that in later levels can almost act as a second character.

Use Iaijutsu-Focus if you can to increase your damage output (f.e. with a gnome quickrazor and the masters touch spell).

Try to create an intimidation-based build to shut enemies down (imperious command feat from Drow of the Underdark, never outnumbered skilltrick, fearsome armor enhancement or a dragonbased graft that i cant remember at the moment (head slot) that lets you intimidate on a full attack).
Combine this with high charisma (f.e. unseely fey template, magic-blooded or similar) and maybe even item familiar feat to benefit both iaijutsu focus and intimidate.... what you don`t drop in the first round will most likely be cowering before you, except maybe the BBEG.

Also try to use stunning effects or similar (f.e. born of thee thunders feat used on a persisted/permanencied magical weapon effect).

Funny thing: if you`re high level enough, all of the above can be multiplied if you cast body outside body (Shugenja spell that makes clones of you that can not cast but otherwise do everything else, if you are trying to be ridiculous: take a feat to gain a familiar and multiply HIM too via share spells plus have weapons/altered quickrazors ready that he can use to utilize your Iaijutsu focus ranks as well).

To top it off, go ranged combat and prepare your ammunition and/or traps. be creative! (khelbens suspended silence, sepia snake sigil, explosive runes, ghoul glyph, ice arrow and other spells that permanently enhance projectiles, shrink item, create acid,.......)

So no, unless you plan to play your factotum like a barbarian, you dont need multiple FoI to be outstanding.

[kulosle]

A Factotum doesn´t need FoI to be competent in battle.

Take the Travel Devotion Feat, you get swift-action movement for dozens of rounds per use, so you have a full round action or a standard action plus a second move left.
The Trickery Devotion Feat gives you a temporary clone that in later levels can almost act as a second character.

Use Iaijutsu-Focus if you can to increase your damage output (f.e. with a gnome quickrazor and the masters touch spell).

Try to create an intimidation-based build to shut enemies down (imperious command feat from Drow of the Underdark, never outnumbered skilltrick, fearsome armor enhancement or a dragonbased graft that i cant remember at the moment (head slot) that lets you intimidate on a full attack).
Combine this with high charisma (f.e. unseely fey template, magic-blooded or similar) and maybe even item familiar feat to benefit both iaijutsu focus and intimidate.... what you don`t drop in the first round will most likely be cowering before you, except maybe the BBEG.

Also try to use stunning effects or similar (f.e. born of thee thunders feat used on a persisted/permanencied magical weapon effect).

Funny thing: if you`re high level enough, all of the above can be multiplied if you cast body outside body (Shugenja spell that makes clones of you that can not cast but otherwise do everything else, if you are trying to be ridiculous: take a feat to gain a familiar and multiply HIM too via share spells plus have weapons/altered quickrazors ready that he can use to utilize your Iaijutsu focus ranks as well).

To top it off, go ranged combat and prepare your ammunition and/or traps. be creative! (khelbens suspended silence, sepia snake sigil, explosive runes, ghoul glyph, ice arrow and other spells that permanently enhance projectiles, shrink item, create acid,.......)

So no, unless you plan to play your factotum like a barbarian, you dont need multiple FoI to be outstanding.

This. I second this. FoI stackers are just uncreative. I remember a character build that someone did that capitalized on the master of mask having proficiency with all exotic weapons. Very useful, very creative, barely any spell casting, very strong. It's up to you to optimize, not a feat.

[CraftyCactus]

A personal multiclassing fave with factotum. And monk. Yup, I said it, but hear me out.

Factotum 4/Monk 2/Ranger 2/Justiciar X

A fair bit of int-synergy between Factotum (int to everything) and the Carmendine Monk feat (int to AC). Ranger helps quickly qualify for Justiciar without loss of BAB, and give an extra attack. Monk is there to help with the grappling and to help with survivability. Factotum is for extreme flexibility--everything else is there for specificity. Justiciar is there so that grapples become 1HKO's.

Dipping monk has a few important advantages. First: +3 to all saves, which is decent for two levels. When you think about it, "winning" D&D is a matter of surviving until the end, and saves are important for that. Second: three bonus feats for two levels, turning you from "grapple-incompetent" to "fair grappler". Third: an extra attack that stacks on TWFs. Fourth: opens you to carmendine monk, which adds your massive int bonus to your AC. Find some way to give yourself AC bonuses that everybody else has, and you're golden. (e.g. cast mage armor through factotum, get a permanent Shield or a hovering one.) Last, and not least, pity from everybody else. "Oh, it's a monk. S/he must suck, so I'll be more lenient."

Ranger is nice. You'll need Track for your PrC, so it's a quick way to pick it up. Full BAB is important to grappling. TWF is great. Pick up iTWF (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedTwoWeaponFighting) and you'll have three additional attacks, on top of what you get from your BAB. Pick up Haste as a free action from Boots of Speed (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#bootsofSpeed), and that's four extra attacks. Favored Enemy is icing, or any city-based alt-class features (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) you fancy.

Factotum rounds off your grappler (who is useless against things like Gelatinous Cubes) by giving you a double-int bonus to all int/str/dex skills (due to the inspirational boost stacked on the relevant skill mod) making you relevant outside of combat. Factotum additionally give an enormous boost to saves and AC when necessary, which are particularly important for someone who launches themselves straight into a grapple. Further, the class gives a couple spell-like abilities, i.e. a free Mage Armor or Enlarge Person.

Justiciars, I feel, are oft overlooked. I won't deny that a vanilla druid could crush you in a straight-up brawl. As far as melee characters go, however, what's not to like about taking out a foe in a round or two with a grapple check (plus a trivial touch attack)? On top of that, you can deal strength damage with each attack, meaning that your grapple checks are progressively stronger. Heck, familiarize yourself with grappling rules, and you can try this combo (before you get Hog-Tie):

Round 0: Win initiative. You better because initiative is a dex check, and factotum gives int to dex checks. If you want, Nerveskitter is an option for arcane dilettante as well. Or get a wand of it; you're a friggin' skillmonkey! If Font of Inspiration is restricted, save your inspiration for saves and decisive boosts.
Round 1: Boots of Speed + Charge + Grapple (i.e. football tackle), +3 to att, move up to 90' and land a touch attack (against a flat-footed foe who hasn't gone in initiative yet), disable the most threatening enemy.
Round 2: With 5 BAB or less, pin. With more, pin, then drag your victim towards a melee ally who can act as a flanking partner. If you've got enough move in you, give your buddy an AoO against your victim!
Round 3: Boots again, full attack. Release the pin for free, then Flurry/Haste effect/TWF/iTWF/BAB against the flanked foe. Drop their strength with each hit that lands, and use your final attack to initiate a grapple again. Repeat from "Round 2" until enemy drops.

That's the basic idea, improve it once Hog-Tie and Improved Hog-Tie are obtained. Get to Factotum 8, and/or buy Belts of Battle to condense some of those things into a single round. Your saves and AC will allow you to survive the grapple fest.

Why bother with grappling at all? A) It's an excellent way to get battlefield control. Sure, there are always magical ways to evade and escape, but you can always upgrade your manacles to counter that kind of stuff. In fact, the character is fairly resistant to AMFs, considering that most of your strengths are innate, so welcome friendly casters to cast them in places you'd like to grapple, or do it with a wand.



Okay, so why bother with this non-gestalt build? The character is mechanically useful and flavorful, and works quite effectively without much inspiration. Of course, adding more inspiration can greatly augment effectiveness. This is an idea I've tinkered with and recently put into use, and have greatly enjoyed so far.

Now, considering that you ARE gestalt... you've tons of options. First, you can finish factotum 8 for the extra action and awesomeness. You can dip cleric 1 for two domains and auto-success UMD for their spells. You can dip Swashbuckler 3 for int-to-damage and the alt-class feature, Arcane Stunt (swift blur, swift expeditious retreat, feather fall, swift jump, or swift spider climb 1+int mod times per day). You can get druid levels and make yourself a grappling god, although I don't know how MAD issues could be resolved. Or be a transmuting wizard and polymorph to your heart's desire, plus get tons of uses of Wraithstrike. Get spellthief levels, and steal spells every time you damage in a grapple. If you want to increase survivability, dip Fortune's Friend and snag those luck feats, and enjoy the 1/day +5 to your barrage of attacks, for kicks. Literally. Be creative.

Indeed, I went on a huge tangent. Even though the build shows only four levels of factotum, if you try playing it, I guarantee that the factotum feel is still very much there; factotum's really a matter of "do I get int-to-X at this level yet?". And... it can do quite a lot without the extra inspiration from FoI. Compared to a rogue, this is much more close-up and less fragile (it has to be). In terms of party function, this character basically gets to point at a bad guy and say, "You can't play today. Go to time out." I like it because even without gestalt, it's really hard to die, I feel useful all the time both in and out of combat, and I don't overshadow other players by wiping the field, thus bringing up power issues. Rather, I lock down the most dangerous threat with a strong chance of overall survival, and get away with being rather high-powered for a melee guy, unnoticed. I can only imagine having even more fun with this in gestalt, unless everybody plays nonsense like full wizard/cleric, but you never know. My two cents, for what they're worth.

[Chronos]

Quoth kulosle:

This isn't a per encounter ability. It's something you gain at the beginning of each encounter, my group has always ruled that if you have points left over after combat then you have some left over, this is the only thing that makes sense because how else would you spend inspiration points on non combat skills.
"Encounter" doesn't necessarily mean "combat". If you're just walking along in the dungeon and you find a trap on the floor, you're having an encounter with the trap. If the door at the end of the hall is locked, you're having an encounter with the lock. When you're trying to persuade the duke to fund your expedition, you're in an encounter with the duke. Any time you would have any reason to use inspiration points, you're in some sort of encounter or another.

[JaronK]

Hmm, I've never really played a skillmonkey before (aside from one time where I was a Rogue/Swordsage, but that was more of a Sneak Attack build than anything), much less a uber-skillmonkey like a Beguiler // Factotum; what other such feats are useful for a skillmonkey?

May I humbly suggest this guide?

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=11034

JaronK

[13_CBS]

May I humbly suggest this guide?

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=11034

JaronK

Ooh, I didn't know you were the author of that handbook! I'll give it a read, thanks! :smallbiggrin:

[kulosle]

But either way, it still doesn't ever say that they are per encounter points. or that they disappear after an encounter ends. It only says you gain them at the beginning of the combat. It's like saying you lose spells you don't cast by the end of the day, because you gain them at the beginning of the day.

[CraftyCactus]

But either way, it still doesn't ever say that they are per encounter points. or that they disappear after an encounter ends. It only says you gain them at the beginning of the combat. It's like saying you lose spells you don't cast by the end of the day, because you gain them at the beginning of the day.

It doesn't seem to matter what happens to inspiration points afterwards, since they really should only be used in an encounter. The DMG (p. 51) defines them as such:

Combat: Combat encounters can be divided into two groups: attack and defense. Typically, the PCs are on the attack, invading monsters’ lairs and exploring dungeons. A defense encounter, in which the PCs must keep an area, an object, or a person safe from the enemy, can be a nice change of pace.
Negotiation: Although threats can often be involved, a negotiation encounter involves less swordplay and more wordplay. Convincing NPCs to do what the PCs want them to is challenging for both players and DM—quick thinking and good roleplaying are the keys here. Don’t be afraid to play an NPC appropriately (stupid or intelligent, generous or selfish), as long as it fits. But don’t make an NPC so predictable that the PCs can always tell exactly what he or she will do in any given circumstance. Consistent, yes; one dimensional, no.
Environmental: Weather, earthquakes, landslides, fast-moving rivers, and fires are just some of the environmental conditions that can challenge even mid- to high-level PCs.
Problem-Solving: Mysteries, puzzles, riddles, or anything that requires the players to use logic and reason to try to overcome the challenge counts as a problem-solving encounter.
Judgment Calls: “Do we help the prisoner here in the dungeon, even though it might be a trap?” Rather than depending on logic, these encounters usually involve inclination and gut instinct.
Investigation: This is a long-term sort of encounter involving some negotiation and some problem-solving. An investigation may be called for to solve a mystery or to learn something new.

Essentially, a factotum's inspiration points should refill whenever he or she might need them... except, well, when they're used up partway through the encounter, of course. :smallwink:

[Miranius]

Additionally, InspirationPoints should recharge outside "encounters" at a set rate (for example 1/10 minutes) since you can`t really argue that all Factoti are complete lunatics ("Aarrrgh, if only i could remember how to cast that spell to create water. Quick, someone try to kill me!")

[Mithril Leaf]

Additionally, InspirationPoints should recharge outside "encounters" at a set rate (for example 1/10 minutes) since you can`t really argue that all Factoti are complete lunatics ("Aarrrgh, if only i could remember how to cast that spell to create water. Quick, someone try to kill me!")

Bonus points if that person's a crusader who can heal you by trying to kill you.

[Rubik]

Additionally, InspirationPoints should recharge outside "encounters" at a set rate (for example 1/10 minutes) since you can`t really argue that all Factoti are complete lunatics ("Aarrrgh, if only i could remember how to cast that spell to create water. Quick, someone try to kill me!")In that case, factotums should have a noticeably larger number of inspiration points at all levels. The big reason (or so I assume) that they have so few is that the IPs get recharged all the time.

Also, this encourages the 15 second work day, just eff why eye.

[Bakeru]

But either way, it still doesn't ever say that they are per encounter points. or that they disappear after an encounter ends. It only says you gain them at the beginning of the combat. It's like saying you lose spells you don't cast by the end of the day, because you gain them at the beginning of the day.In case you accept the official FAQ (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a) as a source, it states on page 17:
When playing a factotum (Du14), what happens to inspiration points unspent at the end of the encounter?
Unspent inspiration points are replaced when the factotum returns to his full number of points once an encounter ends.and, possibly even more relevant,
Can a factotum (Du14) use his “cunning insight” to boost his save outside of combat (for example, against a poison trap)?
Yes, you can use such abilities outside of combat. An “encounter” is more than a combat, but it also includes any other significant event in the game such as stopping to bash down a door, navigating a rickety bridge, or dealing with a trap.
If the characters have a minute or two to catch their breath and rest, assume that the last encounter has ended and all per encounter abilities refresh.