Factotum build with some limitations

[Leon_ares]

Alright, so I am going into a new campaign starting at ECL 10 and I am looking at being a Factotum. I have 5 other party members but I only know what one of them is playing, a lizardfolk drunken master with a decent amount of optimization. I generally play 5th wheel characters picking up the slack whenever someone rolls poorly.

I was thinking of doing a melee build but I am somewhat worried that I won't be able to do much of anything without ToB.

I know that the campaign will have a decent number of dragons and demons but I don't want to focus solely on such creatures.

I have already looked through the handbook and the playground forums but frankly with the exception of Haberdash the Masked they all use ToB or Iaijutsu Focus.

The DM has allowed homebrew pending his approval for anything and the DM has approved Collector of Stories working with Knowledge Devotion so I know I am going with that feat at least.

Limitations:

No Iaijutsu focus
ToB may be off the table
No more than 2 Font of Inspiration feats
No tripping, grappling, demoralizing etc.

[Chronos]

No tripping, grappling, demoralizing etc.
What is the nature of this restriction, and what all falls under the "etc."?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Poison? You can arguably use Cunning Insight to add your Int to the ability damage there... 3 levels of Swashbuckler gets you Weapon Finesse and Int to damage, so that'll help you dump Strength...

The "no combat maneuvers" thing is tough, because a factotum can be good at those, thanks to Brains Over Brawn.

[Nettlekid]

I played a very fun Factotum once that was designed to never be in combat. I think he made one attack roll in the entire campaign, and missed with it. He was an extreme skillmonkey, and made an amazing scout.

If I recall, the build was Changeling Rogue 1/Factotum 5 (spread among the levels so that you can get skills you want as class skills and sink points into them at opportune moments)/Mindbender 1/Marshal 1/Shadowdancer 1/Warblade 1 (I know ToB is not an option for you, so perhaps replace this with a second level of Shadowdancer, a dip into Wizard for Abrupt Jaunt, Cloistered Cleric for useful domains, or Psion for Minor Creation (for poison fun)? Or whatever.)

Feats were Expeditious Dodge and Mobility at 1 (use Feat Rogue for the bonus feat), Evasive Reflexes at level 3, Darkstalker at level 6, Skill Focus: Diplomacy from Marshal, and Mindsight at level 9. I maxed out my Hide and Move Silently, Bluff, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, and scattered other points in useful places like Tumble and prereq stuff. Because of Changeling Rogue you can take 10 on your social skills, and my level after this was Exemplar so I could take 10 on many more skills after that. I had a Ring of Invisibility so I would creep up, with Mindsight I'd be able to detect hidden enemies all around me without worry about being seen thanks to Darkstalker, and then I could telepathically communicate with my team. The character was a coward, but great at discussing things with enemies and allies alike, and playing both sides of the field.

[Draz74]

Are you set on melee? Because Factotum archers are awesome.

[Tvtyrant]

If you want to make a decent average damage character you could go with knowledge devotion and use acid or alchemist fire bombs. You add int to damage and your knowledge bonus to damage, so it becomes 1d6+6+5 and you can throw one for each hand (no worrying about the penalties as they are touch attacks.) You get about 42 damage a turn every turn with almost no deviation, and it doesn't cost much in the monies department at that level.

[Leon_ares]

Are you set on melee? Because Factotum archers are awesome.

Not completely but I frankly have never made a ranged character and have only heard how much ranged combat pales in comparison.

How exactly does poison crafting work? Sorry for such a beginner question but I haven't touched the crafting skills at all.

[Waker]

Have you considered looking at the Chameleon PrC in Races of Destiny? A Factotum/Chameleon is truly a jack of all trades, being able to do just about anything they want to.

[JaronK]

First of all, archer Factotums can be quite good. Cunning Surge goes wonderfully with Manyshot, and Knowledge Devotion gets your damage up nicely.

For poison, the easiest way to do it (though your DM may balk) is taking the Hidden Talent feat to get access to Psionic Minor Creation. Use that to make Black Lotus Poison. Now, for one hour per day, all your arrows force a DC 20 fort save or take 3d6 con damage (and again one minute later). Not too shabby. Sinmaker's Surprise is the other really good poison for this, with a DC of 24 and some acid damage thrown in (but only 2d6 con damage). I they're not poison immune, they're dead.

Note that if you go the poison route, many DMs will start throwing undead at you. Have a Rod of Defiance and Lyre of the Restful Soul, and have fun with Turn Undead.

JaronK

[Slipperychicken]

What is the nature of this restriction, and what all falls under the "etc."?

Everyone knows that real fighters never use tripping, grabbing, takedowns, disarming, or anything like that. Real fights are always two guys trading blows until someone dies :smalltongue:

[Draz74]

First of all, archer Factotums can be quite good. Cunning Surge goes wonderfully with Manyshot, and Knowledge Devotion gets your damage up nicely.

Also, Cunning Insight (INT to attack roll) works great with Manyshot as well -- get multiple "hits" out of boosting one attack roll.

Meanwhile, Cunning Insight (INT to damage roll) is awesome to combo with critical hits. You can choose to apply it after you have already confirmed a critical, thereby adding your INT to damage multiple times with just one Inspiration Point. This is nice for archers, compared to trip-Factotums who use Guisarmes or Spiked Chains, because decent bows tend to come with an x3 crit multiplier, rather than x2. INTx3 bonus damage can really pack a punch.

Factotums can somewhat alleviate the feat-demanding nature of archery by buffing themselves with Heroics. Eventually, they can also dip Chameleon for two levels or (at Level 19) use Cunning Brilliance to temporarily gain a bunch of bonus feats. However, archery is so feat-intensive that your Factotum will still want more feats, especially if you're using Font of Inspiration cheese. Flaws and dipping two levels in Fighter or Martial Variant Rogue become rather appealing temptations.

If you're going the poison-use route, then archery is perfectly compatible with that as well.

If you want to use Haberdash's main trick (dipping one level in Master of Masks for proficiency with all exotic weapons), then there are some pretty nice bows and other ranged weapons available.

I could go on with stuff about boosting Hide checks for sniping or buffing oneself with Arrow Dance, but the above are the main synergies between Factotums and archery. You'll also want to use other standard archery tricks that any class can use (a Force Bow; True Believer + Raptor Arrows for everything-Bane OR a Splitting Bow).

[Metahuman1]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148101


This might be of some assistance. With high Int, Ranks in Craft Skills an Ranks in Knowledge Skills + Knowledge Devotion.

Also, seconding that a dip in Swash buckler might be wise.


Edit: Ok, just though of something. Do you have a cleric and wizard in the party?

If so, do the following.

1: Suggest taking Item Familiar to the Wizard. He'll like it no matter what, he'll LOVE it if he does any kind of crafting at all.

2: Get the wizard and the cleric to do some magic for you to make you some really small animated objects using Animate Object, Reduce Item, and possibly Permanency, and hide them inside your armor to protect them. Fine size category if possible. Get them to make them with weapons Finesse and instruct them to help you by using there actions to give Aid Another too you. They should easily be able to make the DC 10 check to grant the bonus. Lastly, get them to make you about 6 of these, that'll be plenty to start with. Every couple of levels get them to make you a new one.

3: Take 3 levels of Swashbuckler, dump Str, Prioritized Int and Dex.

4: Take Knowledge Skills like crazy and Knowledge Devotion. Also take exotic weapons Proficiency Elven Cort Blade and last but not least, nab Power Attack.

Base Weapon Damage + 5 + Int Mod + 1 or more from Str (cause you had to have 13 to get PA.) + your BAB x 2. Not to shabby, and Factotums skills and class features, and as suggested above, those spiffy self crafted generally mundane Items form that linked resource, should leave you plenty versatile.