Zinc Saucier XXX: Factotum!

[dysprosium]

Welcome one and all to the thirtieth Zinc Saucier challenge, where Playgrounders come to test their skill in the art of beautiful and bizarre (and bizarrely beautiful) builds, summoning a savory dish of superb swordplay and sublime sorcery.

The challenge? To come up with a build that has the same abilities and feel as the Secret Ingredient WITHOUT actually using it!

For the thirtieth challenge, we are emulating the class that emulates all of the others; from Dungeonscape it's the Factotum

Our challengers will have about 3 weeks to build a complete build up to Effective Character Level 20 using a 32 point buy and all official WOTC D&D 3.5 materials (excluding Dragon Magazine, but including any WOTC online enhancements) with the abilities and feel of a Factotum without actually using any levels in it.

Entries must be submitted by Monday, 11:59pm GMT, 5 January, 2015. As usual, please submit your entries via private message to the chairman, so as not to influence the other sauciers.

Judges will then have until Monday, 11:59pm GMT, 26 January, 2015, to post scores for all dishes.

If there is no or very limited interest expressed either in thread or PMs to the Chairman, this round will be closed early.

Contestants will be judged and awarded a score out of 5 in each of 4 categories;

* Innovation (Uniqueness in character concept, race, class, etc)
* Power (How powerful and versatile it is compared to the base class)
* Elegance (What can only be described as how well the build "flows", i.e not using lots of 1-2lv dips, sacrificing flavour for power or using flaws)
* Ingredient (How well the build captures the abilities and feel of the base class)

Presentation would be best in the style of how the iron chef does their presentations, however any style is allowed so long as it is clear on how the build was made.

Recommended style:NAME OF ENTRY


Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features


1st
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


2nd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


3rd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


4th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


5th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


6th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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7th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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8th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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9th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
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Feats
New Class Abilities


10th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
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Feats
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11th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
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Feats
New Class Abilities


12th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


13th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


14th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


15th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


16th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


17th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


18th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


19th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


20th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities



Code immediately below (spoiler).

Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features


1st
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


2nd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


3rd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


4th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


5th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


6th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


7th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


8th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


9th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


10th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


11th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


12th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


13th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


14th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


15th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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16th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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17th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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18th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
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19th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


20th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities


For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)Spells per Day/Spells Known


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


13th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


14th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


15th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


16th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


17th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


18th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


19th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


20th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


Code immediately below (spoiler)Spells per Day/Spells Known


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


13th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


14th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


15th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


16th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


17th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


18th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


19th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


20th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-



Please do not post details of your build on the board before it is ready, so as not to spoil the surprise for others.

Sauciers may submit as many builds as they want but please don't use Leadership, as we don't want to overfeed the judges.

Previous challenges;
Soulknife (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225187)
Bard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229736)
Monk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233749)
Assassin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239294)
Barbarian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243627)
Warlock (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247169)
Paladin * (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252932)
Warblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256004)
Pyrokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259654)
Ninja * (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263278)
Druid (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265347)
True Necromancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=276267)
Dervish (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280212)
Whisperknife (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285337)
Epic Infiltrator * (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289233)
Master of Vipers (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=295287)
Ranger * (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=298478)
Flayerspawn Psychic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16076729#post16076729)
Totemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16448992#post16448992)
Walker in the Waste (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322436)
Drunken Master (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16879574#post16879574)
Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333648)
Duskblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=339182)
Psibond Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346900)
Argent Fist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=353923)
Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=360816)
Artificier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=365391)
Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370235)
Spellthief (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=377945)


* Classes marked with an asterisk have had their original posts updated to reflect the final results.

This competition is inspired by the Playground Iron Chef Competitions and uses mostly identical rules.

Also it comes with double prize money. Why? Because we care!

Allez Sauciers!

[dysprosium]

A few administrative notes:

Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt and generic classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em.

Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.

Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, may lose you points. Please note the following: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using too many sources may be an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not.

Concerning Experience Requirements: Each build is allotted exactly 200,000 EXP. This is roughly 10,000 EXP more than necessary to get to 20th level. Please take note of this when planning your character for circumstances like LA Buyoff, Item Crafting, Magic Use, Multiclassing EXP Penalties, etc. Please note that this is a change from past rounds that dysprosium has been the Chairman. Let's try this out (Thank you to Kazudo, who I lifted this from :smallsmile:)

Definition of Power for scoring: Since this has been a point of contention, let me lay down this guideline. Since the goal is to emulate the Secret Ingredient, achieving much higher power than the Secret Ingredient is capable of is overkill and should be marked accordingly. Likewise if the build cannot match the power of the Secret Ingredient it should be marked accordingly. Individual judges can decide how much is too much for Power scoring, as each judge will have different tastes. The goal here is to prevent all entries being Wizard 20 because "they do it better."

What's the minimum score in a category? Assuming an entry is legal, the minimum score in any category is 1. If a judge is convinced that an entry is illegal by the RAW, the judge may give a 0 or decline to score a given entry. Because this contest focuses on Player Characters, an entry that is not technically allowed for a PC, but is viable as an NPC, counts as a legal entry, but may receive a minimum score at the judges' discretion.

Is Dragon Compendium Allowed? Yes, but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

What about 3.0 materials? 3.0 materials, whether online or in printed form, are allowed unless they've been officially updated to a 3.5 edition.

Are Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, or Kingdoms of Kalamar allowable sources? The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but the subsequent books for Dragonlance are considered 3rd party, and are therefore not eligible, despite the "WotC approved" status of those books. The same holds for Oriental Adventures (1st party) and the subsequent Rokugan books (3rd party). Materials from Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Kingdoms of Kalamar are considered 3rd party for purposes of this contest, and are therefore not allowed.

What about online sources in general? If the online source is a) published by WotC, and b) not replaced by an updated version at a later time, it is eligible. Use it, link it.

Where's the line drawn with "acceptable/unacceptable" for Unearthed Arcana? This will likely vary a bit from Chairman to Chairman. Variant class features and variant character classes are espressly permitted. Item Familiars and Gestalt have always been verboten; don't expect that to change. Flaws have similarly always been noted as warranting a deduction; while I am Chairman, I'm extending that to Traits, though they warrant 1/2 the penalty in Elegance that a Flaw would because they're roughly 1/2 as useful. Alternate spell systems, alternate skill systems and alternate crafting rules all create an uneven playing field, and as such, will be disallowed for as long as I am Chairman. Bloodlines are ripe for abuse, and will be discouraged as long as I am Chairman. Note that judges are allowed to look askance at any use of Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above, at their discretion, and otherwise penalize Elegance according to their preference.

What, exactly, does the ban on Leadership mean? As folks have started to try to work around the edges of this one, I'm forced to spell it out more plainly. No Leadership, Draconic Cohort, or Feats that grant a similar ability are allowed EXCEPT Wild Cohort while I am chairman. Any PrC you choose with Leadership or a Leadership-analog has that ability entirely ignored for this contest, as it may neither be used nor traded away via any means whatsoever.

How the heck do I even do this? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to select a combination of race, templates, classes, alternate class features, prestige classes, skills, and feats, meld them into a single character that progresses from ECL 1 to ECL 20, that is as close as possible to the secret ingredient as possible in look, feel, class features. How you do it is up to you, I recommend you read previous competitions if you are interested in seeing how others have done it before you. Capture the essence!

Is "dipping" going to be penalized this round? Considering that this is one of the classes that has lots of class features that emulate other class' features, I would ask judges to be lenient on penalizing dipping for this round.

A thread for your amusement/edification: Handy Tips for the Iron Chef in the Playground Noob (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287603)

[Sian]

hmmm.... how to do, how to do ... several parts of this class could be quite difficult to emulate

[Emperor Tippy]

hmmm.... how to do, how to do ... several parts of this class could be quite difficult to emulate

Not that difficult.

The capstone and the ability to ignore DR/SR are the only two things that I can't really think of an easy way to emulate. Pretty much everything else can be done with three base classes and two feats.

The capstone isn't actually that hard to emulate but doing so involves using a method that is generally held to be TO just one small tier below Pun-Pun.

[Sian]

got a question that might influence my choices

does Factotums exist, us merely emulating what they do, or are they 'nonexistent'?

[Jormengand]

Ooh, I'll have a go at this.

[Sian]

i actually think i'm about to have hashed out all my levels now ... now to find the proper order to take them in and such

[ZamielVanWeber]

I'll be chill and judge again. And hopefully not alone this time!

[dysprosium]

Looks like there is some interest. And a post from Emperor Tippy too!

[WhamBamSam]

I've got some ideas for how this might be done, but I think I'll sit back and judge this round so that ZamielVanWeber doesn't have to go it alone again. I'll try to get criteria up sometime over the next few days.

[Emperor Tippy]

I think I'll toss my hat into the judging ring. Factotum is one of my favorite classes after all.

[dysprosium]

I like the fact that there is judging interest.

I just hope that you all will have something to judge!

[dysprosium]

Time to peek my head in here.

So how are our potential Sauciers doing?

[Sian]

Been to busy for actually cooking the last couple of days, but i might get something down this weekend.

My main issue is that i have a couple of directions which i could take it but i'm highly uncertain on if they're to similar and if they are, which one i like the best ... note the xkcd i posted in the last contest. If i had to guess somewhere between 2/3rd and 3/4th of the time it takes for me to cook,is juggling around between a number of build ideas, with the rest being a roughly even split getting the ideas, actually writing it down and figuring out the fluff

[ZamielVanWeber]

I think I'll toss my hat into the judging ring. Factotum is one of my favorite classes after all.

Oh snap. I suddenly feel inadequate.

[WhamBamSam]

Oh snap. I suddenly feel inadequate.And I suddenly feel compelled to compete instead of judge in a "notice me sempai" kind of way. On the other hand, this has to take a back seat to Iron Chef: Slime Lord. I've been waiting for that one for so very long.

[Sian]

Finally(!) finalized my build to the point where i can start throwing it into tables... only took quite a bit of time (and searching for a few obscure combinations)

[Sian]

... sigh ... just as i'm making my finishing touches on my build i notice a major crunch issue ... not quite back to the drawing board, but might as well be

[ZamielVanWeber]

I have faith in your Sian! Do your best!

[Sian]

looking at it, i'll probably need another day or so to iron out the issues i stumbled upon since to fix it is to invalidate a few other things which would then have to be fixed as well

[dysprosium]

Considering that as of now there are no entries, I am extending the submission deadline!

Two more weeks I say!

EDIT: OP is now edited with new submission deadline.

[dysprosium]

Happy Holidays for those followers, lurkers, Sauciers, etc.

(Please apply correct holiday greeting to your specific holiday :smallsmile:)

[Red Rubber Band]

So did anyone end up putting in a build? This would have been of great interest to me, unfortunately it came at a rather time limited part of the year.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Easiest judging ever?

[dysprosium]

So did anyone end up putting in a build? This would have been of great interest to me, unfortunately it came at a rather time limited part of the year.

The extended deadline came and went with no entries.

I'm not really surprised considering the time of year and the plethora of other Playground Contests around--Iron Chef had one of its most requested ingredients for this round and Junkyard Wars triumphantly returned not to mention the Iron Chef Homebrew Round beginning.

Combine all of this with a contest that was fading to begin with and you get no entries.

I can leave this open to see if anyone would like to participate.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Unfortunately this is the only one I care about. This is by far the hardest of them, and the least applicable, so I am not surprised people aren't quite as enthused.

[Red Rubber Band]

Damn. I don't have anywhere near the amount of system mastery/knowledge to make this happen and it would have been interesting to see how people managed it.

[Thurbane]

Would still be interested to see some entries, but I won't get a chance to enter myself. :smallfrown:

[Curmudgeon]

One big problem with using the Factotum in a competition is that the class is very poorly written (perhaps the most poorly written of all the D&D classes, and that's saying something). Because of all the issues — which would cause games to grind to a halt as fuzzy writing was argued — I used to ban the class from my games. I eventually did spend the time to slog through all the problems. For those who are interested, here's the result of the effort I had to put into the class to make it playable:
The Factotum's Cunning Breach actually does work in my game, despite the authors not having the slightest idea how spell resistance functions in D&D. Strike the last, nonsensical, sentence of the paragraph.

Ninjas, Scouts, Factotums, and other classes with Trapfinding can use Search (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/search.htm) to find traps with DCs higher than 20 and Disable Device (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/disableDevice.htm) to disarm magic traps, just as Rogues can. However, this does not override explicit limitations stated elsewhere in the rules, including the following spells:

Explosive Runes (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/explosiveRunes.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Fire Trap (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fireTrap.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Glyph of Warding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/glyphOfWarding.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Spike Growth (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spikeGrowth.htm) can only be found by a Rogue.
Spike Stones (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spikeStones.htm) can only be found by a Rogue.
Symbol of Death (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfDeath.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Fear (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfFear.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Insanity (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfInsanity.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Pain (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfPain.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Persuasion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfPersuasion.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Sleep (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfSleep.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Stunning (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfStunning.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Symbol of Weakness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/symbolOfWeakness.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.
Teleportation Circle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/teleportationCircle.htm) can only be found or disabled by a Rogue.

Factotum inspiration points aren't gained when an encounter ends, or after a few minutes; they're only gained at the beginning of each encounter (when you roll initiative), exactly as stated. Also, I've decided among the various possible meanings of "gains" to treat it as synonymous with "attains" (rather than "adds") here; IPs thus refresh to the specified total rather than keep accumulating. (The FAQ made up something counter to the RAW.)

House Rule: Bonus damage from the Factotum's Cunning Insight is negative energy damage when used with a spell or effect that deals negative levels or ability damage, making it consistent with the treatment of bonus damage from sneak attack when used with weaponlike spells. (This follows the pattern of a WotC Rules of the Game (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20040309a) article, months before Complete Arcane made that Skip Williams house rule official.)

Because Factotums do not cast spells, the metamagic feats they use must be those which affect Spell-like abilities (Empower Spell-Like Ability (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#empowerSpellLikeAbility), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#quickenSpellLikeAbility), and the like). Metamagic feats applicable only to spells do not benefit the Factotum. From Dungeonscape page 16:

By spending 1 inspiration point, you can mimic a spell as a spell-like ability.


The Factotum has a caster level, but not an arcane caster level or a divine caster level. Factotums use SLAs; they are not spellcasters — either arcane or divine. From Complete Arcane page 72:

... requirements for feats and prestige classes based on specific levels of spells cast (“Able to cast 3rd-level arcane spells,” for example) cannot be met by spell-like abilities or invocations—not even spell-like abilities or invocations that allow a character to use a specific arcane spell of the appropriate level or higher.


The Factotum's Cunning Strike is limited to 1 inspiration point for 1d6 sneak attack, as that class feature doesn't stipulate an exception to the stacking rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm#stacking). (The FAQ made up something counter to the RAW.)

The Factotum's Cunning Brilliance can't be used to imitate any ability without an explicit (Ex) label. That is, you can't assume an unlabeled class ability is Extraordinary; that's not the default. (The FAQ made up something counter to the RAW.) From Player's Handbook page 180:

Natural abilities are those not otherwise designated as extraordinary, supernatural, or spell-like.
I don't ban the Factotum any more, but it was a pain in the posterior getting to where all the stupidities had been addressed and the class was usable without regularly bringing the game to a halt. There's only one house rule in there, and I think I've done a careful job of vetting the class features. Nonetheless people will disagree with me (side with the FAQ even when there's no RAW support for its answers, for instance) on several counts. The class is just that badly written.

Because this ingredient is argument-provoking, attempting to emulate its features would very likely provoke additional arguments. Knowing that some significant part of your meal (no matter how carefully cooked) would meet with rejection greatly reduces the desire to compete using this ingredient. It did for me, at least.

[Thurbane]

Interesting take on the Factotum clarifications. I definitely agree that Cunning Strike, by it's wording, only allows for 1d6 damage, and not the nova of d6 I have seen some people argue by blowing all of your inspiration points at once.

[WhamBamSam]

Wait, there's really no general rule anywhere that makes Sneak Attack always stack? That actually sort of surprises me. There must be other things besides the factotum that get screwed over by strictly enforcing that.

Anyway, I sorta lost all motivation to work on contest builds over the holidays. I barely got my Slime Lord entry in. It doesn't help that the faux factotum stub I had is pretty underwhelming, now that I go back to look at it. It's missing emulation of a number of significant features.

If you're worried about there being too many competitions running at the same time, maybe JW and ZS should alternate months or something? Might end up generating more interest for both than just having them run longer.

[Curmudgeon]

Wait, there's really no general rule anywhere that makes Sneak Attack always stack? That actually sort of surprises me. There must be other things besides the factotum that get screwed over by strictly enforcing that.
None of these have stacking language for their sneak attack:

Rogue (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/rogue.htm)
variant sneak attack Fighter (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#fighter)
Psychic Rogue (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b)
Thief of Life (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060911a&page=3) (Faiths of Eberron)
Fatemaker (Planar Handbook, pages 50-52)
Factotum Cunning Strike

[Mage keeper]

I'm in for the factotum

[Sian]

well, if someone else is up for it i'll see if i unearth my notes on how to go at it, even if its somewhat crappy, but what the heck

[dysprosium]

I thought this competition died. :smalleek:

[Sian]

Well, actually Dys, i've been thinking about giving you a prod lately to see if you wanted to reboot it for another try anyhows :smallamused:

Maybe with something with a few less flaming rings to jump through

Rogue, Samurai (the crappy CW one), Scout or Swashbuckler might all be interesting to have a go at.

[dysprosium]

I hadn't realized that this competition was missed. :smallredface:

There have been a couple of new competitions springing up too which seemed to gather more interest.

And at least two of those suggestions were on my short list of ingredients Sian.

[Sian]

Well, speaking for myself (its kinda tricky speaking for everyone), Zinc and Junkyard are probably the two contests that suit me the most, Gwan's Villianous' has to high demands in terms of fluff pieces (reading my backlog of characters in the assorted contests clearly shows that its my weakest point) and I feel that Iron Chef is a bit to ... locked ... in that theres so much the less amount of room to play in as you'd have fill in (nearly) all of the SI in, leaving you with prehaps half a build to individualize on.