[PF] Tinker Class optmization?

[Michael Alves]

Hi, im looking for a way to optmize a Tinker: d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/interjection-games/tinker

I'm playing a lvl 4 gnome gestalt Tinker // Alchemist. The Alchemist side is ok, but i wanted this character to be a mad gnome that was intellectualy brilliant but crazy, and worked with some kind of technology based on gears and chemestry. The problem is the "gears" part. I picked the Tinker class because it looked nice and interesting with the blueprints, an Alpha minion, and some other bots to command.

But when i finished the character and looked at the numbers... omg it was terrible...
The minions with the best choices for melee combat are worse then summoned creatures. Even the Alpha is worse then a barely optmized summoned wolf. (And they can summon many of them...)

The damage "upgrades" are pathetic... adding 1 damage...
Compared to a Eidolon the Alpha is a little kid. And the Eidolon is not really something powerful.

Everything i tried to build around did not work so far.
I found nothing i could use, or even exploit to bring this character to the same level as a normal fighter/wizard or anything else that others will play in this game.

Anyone played with it, and know what are the tricks that i'm not seeing, to make this playable?
It's important to say that i, and my table are of very experienced players, and we are on the high side of optmization. The DM knows that and throw very hard encounters at us. (For example, Frost Bombs are know to be very powerful, but in this game its almost useless, because if you cannot optmize the Save DC, enemies will almost never fail.)

So any idea of how to optmize this class? Thank you.

[Florian]

Refluff an (U)Summoner (Inevitable) to be Int-based and stick with the tinkering theme?

[Michael Alves]

I was thinking about that Florian, but i did not want exactly a "pet".

What i was more interested in the Tinker was the fact that you could "build" different "bots" using different configuration of blueprints... it felt "mechanical" in a way that Summoner would not.
A spell list for example would feel completly out of character.

Yeah, i know you can reskin everything, i know, but i wanted a class the fitted the idea better then just reskin a wizard to have "tools that just happen to do exactly what spells do".

I thank you for your help anyway.

Anyone have any other idea?

[Florian]

Seriously, I don´t have a clue how that particular class can be salvaged. It suffers the typical problems of a multi-pet class but has´t much to offer besides that.

For example, for "pulling a MacGyver", I actually think that using a spell-based class is fine, as long as you switch to Power Words for being the tinkering components that you know how to use.

[TheSethGrey]

I know it's not PF, but there's a 3rd party 3.5 book I know of that has a class called the Tinker which gives you a framework to build anything and then sets you loose, I could dig it up for you if you want.

[Michael Alves]

I'm grateful for the answers.

TheSethGrey if you can find it, please tell me the book.


Florian, i found that the only action you can exploit with then are drinking alot of potions.
Sad thing is that i cannot abuse it in the campaign we are playing because magic itens are rare, and we don't have enough gold to allow me to chain use potions.

I even tried buying some of the books of the author of the class to see if i could find anything, but he makes zero feats, and only more pile of useless modifications.

Sad thing for a class with a good flavour to end like that.

[roko10]

The Vanguard (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/ascension-games-llc/vanguard) gets a pretty beefy robot companion, as does the Machinesmith (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/louis-porter-jr-design/machinesmith). Both of them are 1-6 casters on top of that, though the Machinesmith has an flurry of interesting "spells" that grant additional Robot Buddies.