Need guidance for a rules ''legit'' factotum (3.5)

[Laharal]

Hello!

I want to play a factotum but a few places on the web showed yellow signs for potential of being broken.
What should I avoid in order to NOT be broken? My goal is to have fun, not to bend the rules too much.

Many thanks.

1) I know that a ton of grabs of the feat ''fount of inspiration'' is one of them.

[ComaVision]

1) I know that a ton of dips in ''fount of inspiration'' is one of them.

Font of Inspiration is a feat, not a class.

Without a frame of reference (optimization level of your group, or what other people in your group are playing) we can't help you much. Honestly, I don't think anyone is likely to break the game by accident with a Factotum.

[Fouredged Sword]

Avoid Iijistu focus. It's an obscure skill from an alternate setting that is not in use.

Really that is about it. The only way to really make a Factotum broken is to abuse Font or abuse Iijistu focus.

[tyckspoon]

Hello!

I want to play a factotum but a few places on the web showed yellow signs for potential of being broken.
What should I avoid in order to NOT be broken? My goal is to have fun, not to bend the rules too much.

Many thanks.

1) I know that a ton of dips in ''fount of inspiration'' is one of them.

The primary exploitable feature of Factotum is their level 8 ability, which burns inspiration points to get extra standard actions. It's an expensive abilitiy, and while it's still powerful, it's hard to really make excessive use of it without a way to get a lot more inspiration points. Thus Font of Inspiration, which is a feat you can take multiple times for increasingly larger amounts of inspiration points. How to avoid doing that? Well, don't take Font of Inspiration in every single feat slot. You probably don't want to anyway; it's boring. That way you aren't ending every encounter by taking six actions in your first turn (which is probably the first turn, because Factotums tend to have high Init scores.)

I wouldn't be worried too much about Iajutsu Focus, although ask your DM if it's ok to use - once you jump through all the required hoops to make it work (don't forget - have to strike from drawing a weapon, have to be hitting a flat-footed enemy, have to hit a pretty high skill check - it's significantly tougher than sneak attack) you're doing about equal damage to a Rogue. Is your DM freaking out about the damage of a Rogue flanking somebody and Sneak Attacking them? If not, Iajutsu Focus damage shouldn't be a problem either.. especially since the Rogue can Full Attack with his Sneak Attack, while multiple Iajutsu Focus attacks require even more shenanigans.

[ExLibrisMortis]

You should probably get a houserule about the action cost of spending inspiration points, and the stacking of abilities, most notably Cunning Strike and Cunning Surge. I recommend that Cunning Strike should require no action, and stack with itself, whereas Cunning Surge should take no action, but be usable only once per turn.

[Laharal]

Font of Inspiration is a feat, not a class.

Without a frame of reference (optimization level of your group, or what other people in your group are playing) we can't help you much. Honestly, I don't think anyone is likely to break the game by accident with a Factotum.

Thanks for your help! I wanted the big ''no-no's''. Since some guides about the class lie around the web but don't always mention that some options are a bit.. shady.

To all commenters: thank you, I'll keep your guidelines in mind!

:smallbiggrin:

[Curmudgeon]

The basic problem is that the Factotum is broken without any intention on your part. That is, "broken" in the sense of the class is so poorly written that you can't use it without causing argument at the game table.

If you're interested, here's what I had to do in order to not ban the Factotum from my games.
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. Ignore 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. I use the same definition for Font of Inspiration (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070606). (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.)

House Rule: The Factotum's Cunning Surge (an Extraordinary ability) can be used as a swift action.
Those extraordinary abilities that are actions are standard actions unless otherwise noted. This class ability does not note otherwise, but following the RAW here would make it have no use at all (use a standard action and pay 3 IPs to get a standard action).

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.

[Laharal]

Thanks to you all, I'm finishing the last details with this character.

I'd just need your take on the ''empower spell-like ability'' feat.
Spellcasting in the form of Arcane Dilettante is (Sp). However, from what I understand, to avoid exaggeration, I should use the feat for one spell a day. I'm wondering if I have to bump-up the spell slot taken by the spell affected by that feat (like a regular metamagic feat for sorcerers and wizards).

How should I use that feat? Many thanks in advance!

[Flickerdart]

Thanks to you all, I'm finishing the last details with this character.

I'd just need your take on the ''empower spell-like ability'' feat.
Spellcasting in the form of Arcane Dilettante is (Sp). However, from what I understand, to avoid exaggeration, I should use the feat for one spell a day. I'm wondering if I have to bump-up the spell slot taken by the spell affected by that feat (like a regular metamagic feat for sorcerers and wizards).

How should I use that feat? Many thanks in advance!
The feat "Empower Spell-Like Ability" works like Sudden Metamagic rather than the regular metamagic feats - you can only use it a limited number of times per day, but you pay no extra cost beyond that. There is no increase of "spell slot" level because SLAs don't have spell slots.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I wouldn't worry. Factotum is a very versatile class, but it takes a good deal of work to make it do anything WELL. Especially offense, which is usually the most noticeable thing.

[nedz]

Arguably the Sudden Metamagics should also work based on the Warlock notes in Complete Arcane, since Warlock invocations are also SLAs ?