How does inspiration work?

[weckar]

The factotum is stated to gain inspiration at the start of every encounter. For the sake of sanity I am going to assume this means ever combat encounter. But it never appears to go away if unused. How much of it can you stock up, then? It appears uncapped!

[Fizban]

I mean, it's pretty obvious that it's intended to be that many inspiration per combat encounter, even if the text doesn't say inspiration goes away at the end of comat. Of course that's the same as telling people it's pretty obvious that Erudite is supposed to have X many unique powers per day rather than X per day per level, or that chain gating solars and demanding free wishes from Planar Binding aren't intended either.

So hey, if your DM's allowing it and you think it's fun then go ahead.

[grarrrg]

While the original FAQ is awol, someone has a copy/paste in a thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7256665&postcount=5)

When playing a factotum (Dungeonscape, page 14), what
happens to inspiration points unspent at the end of the
encounter?
Unspent inspiration points are replaced when the factotum
returns to his full number of points once an encounter ends.
...
Can a factotum (Dungeonscape, page 14) use his
"cunning insight" to boost his save outside of combat (for
example, against a poison trap)?
Yes, you can use such abilities outside of combat. An
"encounter" is more than a combat, but it also includes any
other significant event in the game such as stopping to bash
down a door, navigating a rickety bridge, or dealing with a trap.
If the characters have a minute or two to catch their breath and
rest, assume that the last encounter has ended and all per
encounter abilities refresh.

So anytime a unique event/encounter/whatever starts you jump back to full Inspiration Points

[Crake]

While the original FAQ is awol, someone has a copy/paste in a thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7256665&postcount=5)


So anytime a unique event/encounter/whatever starts you jump back to full Inspiration Points

Yeah, a factotum can use his inspiration-based abilities out of combat practically at-will (except for the ones that also come with daily limits of course).

[weckar]

Cool, I expected as much. Just a matter of balancing the amount of Fonts of Inspiration I take, ya know?

[Zombimode]

Cool, I expected as much. Just a matter of balancing the amount of Fonts of Inspiration I take, ya know?

In my experience, Font of Inspiration is a bit overrated. Sure, it's good, but it costs you feats and as a factotum you need feats to actually do stuff effectively.

[weckar]

I think it is popular mostly for its exponential effects. Especially as a multiclass Factotum it seems basically required.
I am not otherwise sure what feats a Factotum really needs, though. Knowledge Devotion, maybe? That seems about it.

[Zombimode]

A factotum Needs ways to translate the potential they get into actually effective Actions.

A factotum gets a small number (per day) of lower Level spells. If you don't know how to make those count it is underwhelming.

It gets bonuses to skills. If you don't know what to do whith it, it is underwhelming.

It gets bonuses to Str and Dex check. Again, if you don't know what to do with it, it is useless.

Relying completely on Inspiration for damage is not economical (and begs the question why you are not playing a rogue instead).


The factotum class on itself does not give any answers to what to do with the benefits. It Needs a Player with solid rules Knowledge in Addition to carefully selected Tools to realize the factotums potential.
If you plan to spend many of your rather few feats (since the factotum does not give any free feats) on Font Of Inspirtation, you are limiting the number of Tools available to you.

I'm not saying that you should never take Font of Inspiration. What I'm saying is that before blindly taking Font of Inspiration, you should ask yourself what you actually plan to do with your character and then prioritize feats to this effort. If you then have feats to spare, sure, Font of Inspiration is a fine choice.

[weckar]

I see what you mean. Any handbooks emphasising this part of the class, at all?

I wasn't planning to build for combat, regardless, but still.

[Telonius]

While the original FAQ is awol, someone has a copy/paste in a thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7256665&postcount=5)


So anytime a unique event/encounter/whatever starts you jump back to full Inspiration Points

The FAQ is still up on the Wizards archives. (Googling it is a bit weird for some reason). Link to the page here (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a); it links to .zip files containing .pdf's.

[Nifft]

I see what you mean. Any handbooks emphasising this part of the class, at all?

I wasn't planning to build for combat, regardless, but still. The easy way to play an effective Factotum seems to be:
- Don't multiclass.
- Focus on UMD, much like a Rogue might. Get yourself enough wands that you have things to do with your bonus Standard Actions in combat.
- Pick spells with high utility and some combat value, like Draconic Polymorph, where one use of your SLA could solve an encounter or last through a combat.

That leaves the majority of your resources available for non-combat stuff.


The FAQ is still up on the Wizards archives. (Googling it is a bit weird for some reason). Link to the page here (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a); it links to .zip files containing .pdf's.

Thank you!

[weckar]

Don't Multiclass? :smallconfused:
The class seems terribly frontloaded, does it not? Important abilities don't really scale with class level either.
And for a skills master, its skill points/level are... not the best, but not terrible.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Don't Multiclass? :smallconfused:
The class seems terribly frontloaded, does it not? Important abilities don't really scale with class level either.
And for a skills master, its skill points/level are... not the best, but not terrible.
I really want to love the Factotum, but godDAMN is it overrated and awkward. I've got a whole rant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?514427-Seriously-****-Factotums&highlight=invisible) on all the problems you run into trying to build one. As Zombimode mentioned, it's a class that offers you a lot of decent utility things while forgetting to include a point. You're a lightly-armored medium-BAB generalist with no bonus damage and with crappy casting for at least half your career, at which point you graduate to second-rate Wizard. You're decent at skills, but skills (generally speaking) suck. You really don't want to buy Font of Inspiration, because the rewards are sad unless you invest a whole lot of feats in it, and you need those feats to muster up some sort of combat option.

Basically, it's a great second half of a gestalt.