Suggestions for Factotum build

[Learn34]

Edited based on below discussion & further research

I'm looking for suggestions for a factotum build, trying to lean into the Jack of All Trades element. I'm trying to keep this independent of any given party/campaign, the idea being the character is a 5th wheel/backup/sidekick for any given roll. I'm really only looking for suggestions on class levels and feats.

I'd like back-up options for anything which is noted as requiring me to convince a DM of something

The rough outline I've got so far is:
Race: Human/Whisper Gnome (EWP is replaced by CW-shifted weapon familiarity)
Factotum 8 / Cloistered Cleric 1 / Swordsage 1 / Factotum 10
Feats:
>Flaw 1(If flaws): Font of Inspiration
>Flaw 2(If flaws): Font of Inspiration
>Human: EWP(Gnomish Quickrazor) // Ideally get a Feycraft Gnomish Quickrazor to avoid burning a feat on Weapon Finesse
>1&3: *
>6: Item Familiar
>9: *
>12: Deadly Aim (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/deadly-aim-combat/), assuming I can talk a DM into allowing it. Otherwise ? (Don't have enough BAB to make Manyshot worth it, IMO.)
>15: Darkstalker
>18: ?Imperious Command? ?Magic Item Crafting? ?FoI#3?

Cloistered Cleric Domain Picks: Knowledge Devotion, & *

Swordsage Maneuvers & Stance:
>Manuevers
>>Shadow Hand: Cloak of Deception, Shadow Jaunt, Shadow Garrote
>>Diamond Mind: Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Mind Over Body
>>? One left, not sure what to take
>Stance:

Assassin's Stance IF the DM doesn't go for a hyper-strict RAW reading of the "Stances Known" text else:
Child of Shadows, or Island of Blades if going the "Pet Combat" route.

*Grouped options*:
>Metamagic/Caster Focus:

Feats @ 1, 3, & 9 = Spell Focus, Metamagic School Focus (Transmutation, Abjuration, or Conjuration), [Sculpt/Echoing] Spell. I'd probably move the feat-level associations around so as to not waste MMSF for 6 levels.
Cleric Domain Choices: Planning for Extend Spell & [Luck/Law/Trickery] Devotion

>Pet Combat:

Feats @ F1, F2, 1, 3, & 9 = F1(Mounted Combat), F2(Ride-by-Attack), 1(Animal Cohort), 3(Spirited Charge), 9(Natural Bond, if I can convince the DM; else ?)
Cleric Domains: 1 of Animal/Luck/Law/Trickery Devotion + Time/Liberation Domain

>Individual Combat

Feats @ 1, 3, & 9 = Quickdraw, ?, Mercurial Strike
Cleric Domains: Baator Domain to use Darkness et al. as combat debuffs OR
1 of Animal/Luck/Law/Travel/Trickery Devotion + Time/Liberation Domain


Known problems:
>I'm only getting to 13BAB, so I'm heavily reliant on getting 1 good attack and may have trouble therewith. That said, damage is expected to be mostly coming from Iajutsu Focus, so I should be attacking FF (and thus generally-sorta-usually denied DEX/Dodge/etc.) targets most of the time (and if I can't, I should probably find something else to do than hitting the enemy with a stick).
>None of my feat picks really enhance my out-of-combat ability, but I'm also unclear on which options would be the most broadly applicable or fill the most-often overlooked holes.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Take Font of Inspiration (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070606) 3+ times.

The Baator domain in SC is a planar domain, check SC p282: "A planar domain counts as both of a cleric's domain choices."

Law Devotion and Travel Devotion are both pretty good choices. What spells do you plan on DMM: Extending? Keep in mind after the CD errata, DMM only works on divine spells.

If you play as any type of Gnome that gets a racial weapon proficiency/familiarity, you can swap whatever gnome weapon is printed for the Gnome Quickrazor (CW p154-155). So a Whisper Gnome in RoS may be a better choice, considering you have Darkstalker in there. (Disregard if your group still uses multiclassing xp penalties for some reason.)

You've got Assassin's Stance, so maybe take Craven to add your level to your damage when sneak attacking. Also consider taking Weapon Finesse, unless you've rolled amazing stats and can afford a decent Str.

Why Improved Trip? You can get Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) for a riding dog that can trip, and as a gnome you can also ride it. Let it move you up to your target and then you can full attack.

I'm not sure what you mean about not attacking opponents' full AC, that's not what Iaijutsu Focus does: "If you attack a flat-footed opponent immediately after drawing a melee weapon, you can deal extra damage, based on the result of an Iaijutsu Focus check." The Quickrazor is so you can draw the weapon before every attack. You need quick-draw so you can draw weapons or weaponlike objects as a free action. Put a bunch of ball bearing (A&EG) in a folded cloth and put it in your belt to ready it as a weaponlike object. You can quick-draw it (free action), drop it in an adjacent space occupied by an opponent (free action), and if the opponent doesn't have 5+ ranks in Balance they're considered to be balancing and thus flat-footed as long as they remain in that space. You can also accomplish this by casting Grease, or Ice Slick (FB) on the Cleric list, under the opponent. Even if they have Uncanny Dodge or similar, they're still considered flat-footed and you can deal IF damage to them, you'll just lose out on sneak attack. If an opponent does have 5+ ranks in Balance, find a different way to attack them.

Be sure to get max ranks in UMD, put a wand chamber in your weapon or shield, and fill it with a Wand of Wraithstrike. Per the Rules Compendium, spell trigger and spell completion items (wands, staffs, scrolls) take the same action to activate as the casting time of the spell being used. So that's still a swift action to activate, and you'll be attacking your target's touch AC (minus Dex and dodge bonuses if they're flat-footed). A Wand of Command Undead is also pretty amazing.

[Learn34]

Responding in sequence:

I had considered FoI*3 as an option, but was looking at it in the "if I've got nothing better to take" sense.

Boo on me for not reading through everything thoroughly, though without a way to nix the cost amp of Extend, I'll probably dump both domains into Baator or replace Planning with something else (gotta go back to a list I was referencing).
>On that note, the DMM was the only means I could think of off the top of my head to drop Extend from +1 to +0 without taking class levels (as I can only take 2 dips without loosing out on 7ths via Arcane Dilettante and really want the SS & Cleric dips) .

Whisper gnome is tempting, but there's a decent chunk of (IMO) wasted racial features (vs. none as a human), though I'll see if there's means to replace the anti-giant and Goblinoid parts.

Honestly Combat Expertise & Improved Trip were there just to make more use of Brains Over Brawn, and you're right that there's probably better uses for the feats.

The "not attacking vs full AC" bit was directly in reference to the need for a target to be flat-footed to trigger Iajutsu Focus, and thus generally-sorta-usually denied DEX/Dodge/etc. to AC. Looking at the quickrazor entry it doesn't require quickdraw to use in-and-of-itself, so I was planning on using a wand-chamber (or just hold a wand in my off-hand) with a Wand of Distract Assailant Yeah the wand-chamber with wraithstrike is better. That said, I could parley the Quickdraw Marbles trick into a Mercurial Strike feat pick as a side piece.

[Paragon]

Why Improved Trip? You can get Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) for a riding dog that can trip, and as a gnome you can also ride it. Let it move you up to your target and then you can full attack.

Srd specifies :
If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only make a single melee attack. Essentially, you have to wait until the mount gets to your enemy before attacking, so you can’t make a full attack

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

On the flat-footedness tricks, Ice Slick is a Cleric 1 spell, so maybe DMM: Quicken or a Circlet of Rapid Casting?


On the Mounted Combat (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#mountedCombat) portion of the SRD quoted, that only applies if you're directly controlling your mount. In that case the mount acts during your turn, and you lose a move-action worth of time waiting for the mount to reach the opponent. If the mount is deciding its own movement and actions, as a trained animal companion would, and acting on its own initiative, you're just along for the ride. When your turn comes up, if you're adjacent to the opponent, you can make a full attack.

[Halrax]

The stance you get at 1st level of Swordsage is always a 1st level stance, as per the class description. You'll have to take a second level of Swordsage or the feat Martial Stance if you want the Assassin's Stance.

[Learn34]

D***it, yeah you're right. Edited.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The stance you get at 1st level of Swordsage is always a 1st level stance, as per the class description. You'll have to take a second level of Swordsage or the feat Martial Stance if you want the Assassin's Stance.

No, it says you gain a 1st level stance as a 1st level character. Taken in context and it means you can only pick a 1st level stance if that's the class you pick at 1st level, but otherwise all of your stances known are based on initiator level. If you want to take a strict RAW reading of that, any character who says they're planning to take future levels in Swordsage, Warblade, and Crusader gets to learn their first 1st level stance from each of those as a 1st level character, regardless of what class they actually start with. Even if those future initiator levels will be taken after level one thousand, you'll still get a 1st level stance at 1st level from each of those classes, by RAW.

[Learn34]

So, to be fair, I (acting as a DM) tend to be a stickler for RAW readings, even when they're asinine. However, both sides of this debate have merit, so I'll revide the core post again to address the ambiguity.

[bean illus]

There's nothing wrong with Imp Trip on a facto, but i wouldn't on a gnome.

But ditch facto after level 11. And ZERO FoI feats, make do with 6 points per encounter.

Choose Illumian, and Aeshkrau; for another +2 to trip, and to all Str checks and skills, a +1 CL to all spells and SLAs. Aeshkrau also alows you to pump Str, and dump Wis (so Str to trip also).

Now you cast enlarge, and trip at ...
+4 size, +4 Imp Trip, +2 Aesh, +4 Str, +4 Int = +18.
It's a start.
Of course, later you'll have +10 Str, +12 Int = +32 trip.
The gnome facto sits about 11 less.


Head into Chameleon 7. Spend those 3 feats on Planar Touchstone, Extra Slot, Extra Slot. You lost one 7th, and two 6th level arcane spells;. You got 4 daily spells, one 6th and one 7th each of arcane and divine, and added Miracle to your spell list but also 50 other spell slots and more than double the choices.
And you get Divine Power, which sets your BAB at character level.

Or skip tripping. This saves 2-4 feats. Maybe keep Darkstalker. Or anything.
Choose the Naenhoon sigil, and twice a day you can fuel a metamagic feat with turn attempts, with no effect on casting time. Choose a different metamagic feat daily with your floating bonus feat from chameleon. Don't forget that cleric, chameleon, and factotum all have turn uses to burn.

EDIT:
Facto 4/ CC 1/ Cham 2/ Facto +1(5)/ Cham +3(5)
This gets the tripping, and floating feat, and turn undead. Then decide either 3 more facto for cunning surge, or 2 more cham for double aptitude (at least then you'll have something to do with cunning surge).

Flaw: Combat Reflexes
Flaw: Exotic Proficiency - spiked chain

1. Able Learner
3 Combat Expertise / Darkstalker
6. Improved Trip / Practiced Spellcaster - chameleon
9. Planar Touchstone - Luck (1/day reroll any)
12. Extra Slot
15. Extra Slot
18. Open Feat / Extra Turning

This guys a trip monster. With guaranteed buff time for divine spells, he is yanking down anything with legs. With 20 BAB and probably ways to make the trip bonus exceed 34, while casting bunches of spells.

[Eldest]

>None of my feat picks really enhance my out-of-combat ability, but I'm also unclear on which options would be the most broadly applicable or fill the most-often overlooked holes.

My personal suggestion here is Hidden Talent: Minor Creation (Psionic). Drop a point in a few different crafts, including poison, and you can monkey up an item when needed, twice a day. It is explicitly suggested for a high psionics setting, so please do check with your DM, but it's a great way to get access to both a really neat power, and also this makes you psionic and thus opens up that world.

[Rebel7284]

I suggest insightful strike maneuver since that replaces your damage roll with a concentration check which can be helpful of you can't use Iajitsu focus.

Also, it can be really easy to pump your concentration to dumb levels.

- Give up psionic focus to take 15
- 1/day add your Factotum level (so +8)
- Tunic of Steady Spellcasting - +5 Concentration (competence bonus) or
Third Eye: Concentrate - +10 Concentration (competence bonus) depending on budget
- 13 Skill points at level 10
- Hopefully positive Con bonus

So over 50 damage as a standard action usable against opponents who may be immune to Sneak Attack/Iajitsu focus.