Factotom Starting level 3 Need help

[Enochi]

Wracking my brain here on the Best way do start this character.

I'm trying to build a Factotum on a 32-point buy with access to most all feats but no flaws.

Should I just grab nothing but fonts of inspiration? or Should I get super nice things like Keen Intellect, Initiate of Faerie Mysteries, Nymph's kiss, and Knowledge devotion?

My role is going to be Party Trapfinder and Face. Huge party with 2-3 Clerics 2 Barbarians, 1 fighter, 2 Wizards, A druid and a Ranger in addition to myself.

Have access to pretty much everything. But now I'm trapped by the the plethora of possibilities. Standard Wealth by level so 2700 gp.

Am I just over thinking this?

[Venger]

there are 12 people in your party? jeez.

the handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=2720.0) is a helpful place to get acquainted with the basics.

[Gildedragon]

Hey! Lookee here who it is!
I need to set an alert or something to warn me when these things come up

Anyway, regarding your question: Go for the pretty things

Font of inspiration really shines if you are having to use a ton of extra actions to supplement your damage, which, tbh, isn't your area to shine. Your area to shine is being talky and being trapfindy.

Focus your slas on solid utility spells

Because some of your stats (I'm looking at you Wisdom) will suffer, your spot and listen probably won't be too good. Remember to use Aid Another in those. Keep the Ranger watch; play cards with him or something as you guys look for any danger approaching the camp.

Between all those casters you ought be pretty cozy with buffs.
You also probably go first in the round too... (you or the wizard that has cast nerveskitter).
So your combat round is:

Single Monster:
Identify Monster, move in Iaijutsu Focus them with Kn Dev and 1 IP for Int to Damage
let the others move in and inflict serious damage. Use a reach weapon.

Various Monsters:
Identify Monsters
Point out Biggest Threat to the Guys
Go take take care of a smaller threat while the Barbarians or Fighter eat the Big Guy's face (IF+KnDev+1ip)

Various Monsters and Traps:
Identify Monsters
Point out which you need taken care of for you to work the trap
Disable the Device

[Eldaran]

Factotum is not a very good face, they have almost nothing that makes them good at being a face other than once per day adding their level to a skill check and their small amount of spells that many classes can do better. Given the enormous size of your party a Bard would be a great face and amazingly helpful in combat with bard song.

[nyjastul69]

Factotum is not a very good face, they have almost nothing that makes them good at being a face other than once per day adding their level to a skill check and their small amount of spells that many classes can do better. Given the enormous size of your party a Bard would be a great face and amazingly helpful in combat with bard song.

A Factotum can be a very good face if angled that way. All class skills. Max out Diplomacy. Pick up +6 in synergy bonuses by 2nd or 3rd level. Some of the skills to build these synergies are face skills as well. Choose a feat or to augment said choices? You are good to go. These are the low to mid op choices that do that well. After this base we can add the level to a check once per day.

ETA: That being said, Bards are a better face and likely a better fit for this party.

[Gildedragon]

Factotum is not a very good face, they have almost nothing that makes them good at being a face other than once per day adding their level to a skill check and their small amount of spells that many classes can do better. Given the enormous size of your party a Bard would be a great face and amazingly helpful in combat with bard song.

Having class skills and enough points to get synergy bonuses is pretty much halfway to face (the DCs are pretty low). If one remembers using Perform to perform diplomacy-esque effects (which one should) one is pretty much there (esp with tumble and sleight of hand, which get Int and Dex to it). With a couple of skill boosting items and circumstances (ornate weapons, fancy clothes, situational advantage) one can hit them pretty reliably. Maybe not quite at lvl 3, but that's part of the charm.

And the Handle Humanoid skill is pretty much as face as one can get. It is a mundane, no save, no sr Command effect for the most common creature type that one is going to Face at.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Consider starting with a +1 LA if you can buy it off (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) at your next level-up. From then you'll be getting more experience per encounter and should catch up after the party gains a few levels. In this case, you could go Half-Giant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicRaces.htm#halfGiants) with Primordial Giant to get Str -2, Dex -2, Int +4, Cha +4, powerful build (size bonus to Intimidate), access to psionic feats, Invisibility (or Levitate or Invisibility Purge) at will, +1 caster level for spell-like abilities including your Factotum spells, +2 UMD, etc. I'm also a big fan of characters who look like big bruiser types who are instead just the opposite, so this suggestion is clearly biased toward that.

In any case, I would definitely max out Intimidate and check out the Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809). Start with Dreadful Wrath (PGtF) if possible, since a half-giant is half-human and could pick a human region. Nympn's Kiss is a superb feat to get, especially at 1st level if you can't get Dreadful Wrath (or if you make a Human). Plan to get the Never Outnumbered skill trick with the feat Imperious Command. Also plan to get armor with the Fearsome property (Drow of the Underdark version, which was printed more recently than MIC), along with any of the items mentioned in the Fear Handbook. Check out the spells listed in that guide as well, you shouldn't need more than one that causes a fear effect. Nothing says you need to know a given metamagic feat to emulate a spell with it applied, but it will be a while before you can do something like Fell Frighten Path of Frost.

I'm not a fan of Iaijutsu Focus tricks, mostly because it requires you to draw the weapon as you attack with it, so you'll almost need quick-draw and/or EWP: Gnome Quickrazor, neither of which can be taken at 1st level. You also can't get Knowledge Devotion at 1st level, you'll probably want Weapon Finesse which also can't be taken at 1st level, and Imperious Command is a really good 6th level feat if you're not small size. If you could use flaws it would be better, since those must be taken at character creation but you're starting at 3rd so they can get you feats at 2nd or 3rd level. You could use moderate taint to start with an extra feat, but that has a huge drawback. You could use a gnome race to get weapon familiarity for the quickrazor, with weapon finesse at 3rd, knowledge devotion at 6th, quick-draw at 9th (to draw a handful of marbles, drop them in the opponent's square so they're balancing/flat-footed, and full attack with IF), and would probably want TWF at 1st in this case. It's basically an all-in way to build the character, which doesn't look like what you had in mind considering the huge party.

I'd go with the Primordial Half-Giant and start at 2nd level with the +1 LA, get Dreadful Wrath if you can but it's not the end of the world because Nymph's Kiss at 1st is so good. For 32-pointbuy, after adjustments go Str 10, Dex 12 (or 14), Con 14, Int 20 (or 18), Wis 8, Cha 18. Get an Elvencraft (RotW) Composite Longbow (counts as a quarterstaff and a composite longbow) with Masterwork three times and three Wand Chambers, which costs 1,700 gp for a large size creature. Also get a Healing Belt (750 gp), a large chain shirt (200 gp), and you'll have 50 gp remaining for mundane gear. If you could have crafted the bow yourself (including masterwork) it will only cost 1/3 as much, don't forget +2 for masterwork tools if needed. Max out UMD, Intimidate, and all the social and trapfinding skills, and probably Move Silently as well since you get Invisibility at will. In combat focus on demoralizing opponents, since you won't have much damage output yourself apart from maybe one IF hit if you win initiative or get a surprise round (invisibly).

Eventually get that bow enchanted with +1 Defending on all three portions, and have one of the spellcasters put (Lesser Rod of Extended) Greater Magic Weapon on each of those. Always apply all three bonuses toward your AC, since Defending stacks with all other bonuses including other Defending bonuses. As long as you're carrying that you can activate any of the wands it contains, and per the Rules Compendium any spell completion or spell trigger item (scroll, staff, wand) takes the same action to activate as the spell it contains. A Wand of Wings of Cover is an immediate action to use, for example. Try to get an Eternal Wand of Glibness, and an Eternal Wand of Hound of Doom (CW) is superb with a decent Cha.

[Stealth Marmot]

Factotum is not a very good face, they have almost nothing that makes them good at being a face other than once per day adding their level to a skill check and their small amount of spells that many classes can do better. Given the enormous size of your party a Bard would be a great face and amazingly helpful in combat with bard song.

Factotums are a pretty good potential face, considering that all skills are class skills and they have a lot of skill points, being INT focused. The once per day bonus is nice, but not a huge deal. The wide capabilities of synergies is nice too.

The only thing that makes them not great at being a face is the fact that they are not charisma based at all, only part of one ability they get gets anything remotely tied to charisma, and thats undead turning at 5th level. Still, aside from a bard, or POSSIBLY a rogue, no other core class is a better face. Paladins, Clerics, and Sorcerers are so skill point starved they will barely have enough points for ONE face skill, much less all of them like a Factotum.

I'll just tell you right now, if you want to go for Face, do the following:

Knowledge Devotion Feat
Other feat: Font of Inspiration. If you have 2 from being human,get another Font of Inspiration, and keep getting it until you max it out.
5 ranks in Knowledge (local)
1 rank in Knowledges (Arcana, Dungeoneering, Nature, Religion, The planes)
Skill trick: Collector of Stories (+5 on skill checks to identify monsters).
Total skill point cost: 12

This ends up giving you a guaranteed +1 to hit AND damage to everything when you make your knowledge roll, and a well over 50% chance of getting a +2 to each or better every battle against everything based on your roll.

Spend the rest of your skills as you see fit, though I would definitely get 5 ranks in bluff at least, the synergies are great. 5 Ranks in tumble are nice too for the same reason. You get Knowledge (local) for 2 reasons. The first is because it's the knowledge you use for humanoids, and that includes the bandits, guards, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and even bugbears you will be facing early on. You will get a better chance to roll bigger damage. Second off: It gives a +2 synergy to Gather Information, an essential face skill.

You can set your stats to whatever you want, but I suggest at least a 16 INT. With the knowledges you will have combined with a High int, you will likely be a great source of info for just about anything. This especially includes monsters since you have the huge bonus, so you will be able to identify creature weaknesses easily.

I literally made a level 3 Factotum for a game I'm in. Its worked out great, though I rolled GODLY stats to that is helping. Let me assure you, Knowledge Devotion is amazing.

[Enochi]

DM Asked me to NOT take Font of Inspiration to start but as compensation let me take an Extra feat.

So I ended up going

Human:

STR: 14
DEX: 12
CON: 7
INT: 18
WIS: 7
CHA: 15

Feats:
Keen Insight(INT for Will saves and Skill checks)
Initiate of Faerie Mysteries (INT for HP bonus)
Nymph's Kiss
Knowledge Devotion

I plan on taking Imperious Command at 6th.

[Gildedragon]

DM Asked me to NOT take Font of Inspiration to start but as compensation let me take an Extra feat.

That's a super favorable trade


Human:

STR: 14
DEX: 12
CON: 7
INT: 18
WIS: 7
CHA: 15

Feats:
Keen Insight(INT for Will saves and Skill checks)
Initiate of Faerie Mysteries (INT for HP bonus)
Nymph's Kiss
Knowledge Devotion

I plan on taking Imperious Command at 6th.
Pretty good spread and feat selection. Personally I'd recommend flipping around Str and Dex (you get a sturdier reflex, better initiative, and you can supplement your to-hit-ness with ranged or feycraft weapons)

[Stealth Marmot]

Keen Insight(INT for Will saves and Skill checks)


What's this from?

[Pyromancer999]

What's this from?

Oriental Adventures. Think one of the two bonuses might be from the Dragon Magazine 3.5 update, though. Also don't think the Skill bonuses are to all skills.

[Stealth Marmot]

Oriental Adventures. Think one of the two bonuses might be from the Dragon Magazine 3.5 update, though. Also don't think the Skill bonuses are to all skills.

From the description it sounds like it replaces Wisdom modifier for INT modifier on all WIS based skills.

Better check if Oriental Adventures is OK from your DM, Seeing as how it is 3.0