Factotum Gestalt Help

[UmpteenthDoctor]

I am curious about making a Factotum Gestalt for a campaign we are gonna play soon.

But I am not sure what to run with it, what to adjust around it and so forth.
I have considered Warblade, Swashbuckler due to their Int Synergy and weapon focused.

Artificer for the sheer ability to create magical or psionic items.

I know in Gestalt you need a passive or secondary class with a primary or active class.

So Factotum is a secondary or passive class. What should I go with?

[Eladrinblade]

Factotum//Warblade is my favorite gestalt of all time. I think it's as good as you can get without being cheesy.

[Emperor Tippy]

Rogue 1/ Factotum 11/ Swashbuckler 3/ Decisive Strike Invisible Fist Martial Monk 2/ Fighter 2/ Exemplar 1

Or Factotum 16/ Swashbuckler 3/ Decisive Strike Martial Monk 1.

In either case with Psion 20 (possibly with a psionic PrC if you have a specific one that you like) on the other half.

The Factotum 16/ Monk 1 one gets you Int to AC twice which, when combined with a fully augmented Inertial Armor gives you an absurdly high AC while Swashbuckler gets you some melee damage.

Factotum 11 gets you the ability to ignore SR/PR, effectively unlimited daily uses of free quicken thanks to Cunning Surge, tons of skill points, a massive initiative boost, and the other abilities. The first build also nets you a number of extra bonus feats. And if your DM will let you grab Craven from Cunning Strike or you don't want Craven then go Feat Rogue for another bonus feat.

For the Psion half, take Midnight Augemntation and get another point of essentia from somewhere and use that on Bestow Power. That gives you PP recharge that is independent of environment or items and your Psion abilities give you the casting that you need to be really relevant in D&D. Oh yeah, take the Telepathy ACF at 5th level so that you can take Mindsight.

For extra lulz make your race Gray Elf and take 10 levels of this (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625d) PrC on your Psion half.

Once you hit 4th level in that (ECL 9) take the Jade Crystal and then go to a fast time plane to age up to Venerable for +3 to all mental stats with no penalties before then paying to have Kissed By the Ages cast on you so that you pick up the Endless Quality and can never die via old age. If you are starting above ECL 9 then you can backstory it with you being however old you want (a few million years can be fun).

[Waker]

Assuming you wanted the Factotum as the passive class, the ones I would suggest are
Wizard,Psion, Archvist, Artificer- A classic for a reason. Some of the most powerful classes in the game, they grant an absurd amount of options with their array of spells/powers/infusions. The factotum nicely shores up a few weaknesses such as low health, skills and reflex, while granting super handy things like extra standard actions and ignoring SR.
Warblade-Makes for an excellent smart warrior. Outside of iajutsu focus and tripping, Factotums normally lack access to many sources of reliable damage. The Warblade helps even things out with it's high BAB and maneuvers.

Other classes can manage well enough, such as Fighter, but the benefits aren't quite as noticeable or the synergy isn't as good. A Sorcerer for instance would benefit from everything the Factotum has to offer, but the Int focus wouldn't allow you to take full advantage of what the class has to offer.

[UmpteenthDoctor]

What about the StP Erudite? I know it has low start up but as they get stronger as they get to higher levels they become power houses and can have access to virtually all Psionic Powers.

btw how powerful would a Psionic Artificer//StP Erudite be?

[Emperor Tippy]

Oh yeah, for melee a Factotum 16/ Decisive Strike Martial Monk 1/ Swashbuckler 3// Warblade 20 makes just about the best unarmored smart fighter that you will ever find. Especially if your DM lets Factotum qualify for Craven.

Duel Stance Aura of Perfect Order (get it from the Devoted spirit item) and one of the Shadow Hand stances (I prefer Balance on the Sky but that can be pricy and Assassin's Stance works great if you can get Craven) along with Shadowblade and play as a Gray Elf.

If you aren't in range of your enemy then use Cunning Surge to pick up a standard action, move within range of your enemy, whack them once with a Decisive Strike as a full attack, use Cunning Surge, and then whack them with a Strike Maneuver for double damage (may or may not double bonus dice, the rules are a bit iffy). If you use a weapon that weapon finesse applies to then you can be getting Dex and Int to AB, Int to damage (potentially 4 times), Dex to damage (potentially twice), Str to damage (potentially twice), HD to damage (potentially twice), Power Attack (potentially doubled as well), etc.

It's one of the nastiest gestalt melee builds around, can still skill monkey with the best of them, and is great fun to play but its mostly plays as a really supped up Warblade.

Oh yeah, thanks to Aura of Perfect Order you can get 1/round with an AB of 54 pure vanilla (no feats or items - besides the one to get AoPO). Otherwise known as enough to hit (with full Power Attack) every single monster in the MM1. Damage wise you can consistently throw out two hundred plus points of damage pretty much regardless of the situation.

[Emperor Tippy]

What about the StP Erudite? I know it has low start up but as they get stronger as they get to higher levels they become power houses and can have access to virtually all Psionic Powers.

btw how powerful would a Psionic Artificer//StP Erudite be?

Straight Psion is better than StP Erudite because the Psion can just get the Spells that have been converted to powers from an StP Erudite.

And combing a Psionic Artificer with an StP Erudite wouldn't be much more powerful than either one of its parts really.

Generalist Wizard 5/ X 10/ Archmage 5// Psion 20 would be far more powerful than the PA/StPE combo.

Although either of those with Factotum 11/ Ur-Priest 9 on the other half would be even more powerful.

[UmpteenthDoctor]

Well that is true the Psion can learn any psionic power like that.
Except they know only a limited number, though very useful amount.
Thanks for the Info though.

[Waker]

btw how powerful would a Psionic Artificer//StP Erudite be?
Not all that much more powerful. Don't get me wrong, you'd be quite handy in a situation where you have time, but the combination wouldn't noticeably improve you overall attributes (HP, saves...) nor give you better action economy. That is why people tend towards having a good active/passive combination.

[MeeposFire]

The factotums arguably best ability are the extra standard actions you can get. It would be best to make sure you have quality optoins for those standard actions. If you want the warrior route warblade is better than swashbuckler for that very reason. The extra standard actions can be used with your standard action strikes so you can make some nasty combos. think of smacking a target with Time stands still+raging mongoose (or girralon flesh rip)+diamond nightmare blade (or strike of perfect clarity/mountain tombstone strike etc).


Spellcasters work as well since most spells are standard actions (ditto manifestors etc).

[Person_Man]

I'm fond of Factotum//Totemist or Incarnate. Your Skill checks will be insane, Int to Str helps on Grapple checks, and there are plenty of cool Standard Action soulmelds. It's definitely Tier 3, and won't be able to keep up with the Wizard//Duskblade in the group or whatever. But it's fun.

[Waker]

I'm fond of Factotum//Totemist or Incarnate. Your Skill checks will be insane, Int to Str helps on Grapple checks, and there are plenty of cool Standard Action soulmelds. It's definitely Tier 3, and won't be able to keep up with the Wizard//Duskblade in the group or whatever. But it's fun.

While I do agree that a Factotum//Incarnate is a hilariously skilled skillmonkey, I have to question the statement of applying Brains over Brawn to a grapple check. While the ability does get applied to any skill that is Str/Dex based as well as checks, grappling is neither. At best, it is described as "like a melee attack roll", but at no point does it ever say it's an ability check. You could apply BoB to Initiative, Bull Rush, Overrun, and Trip attempts, as those each use the terminology of Strength or Dexterity check..