Factotum advice

[Soranar]

So I have a factotum build that works pretty well

I play a small sized race (doesn't really matter which) so I can ride my mount everywhere

I max out INT

I take wild cohort at level 1 to gain a riding dog as a mount (which I level and pimp out, it becomes surprisingly tough) and I use a lance and mounted charge feats/magic items to keep it optimized

a valorous lance of collision + riding boots

Basically I'm a paladin but I'm actually useful to the party

-I heal
-I turn undead
-I find traps
-I'm a walking encyclopedia of monsters (knowledge nature, dungeoneering, arcana, religion and local maxed out)
-and I can ''smite'' anything (level 1 ability that lets you add INT to hit and/or damage, it's awesome on a mounted charge since the damage is multiplied)
-I can cast some spells sometimes

My ride skill is usually high (small race + DEX bonus + skill ranks + INT)

I also try to get the tactile trapsmith feat from doing that quest (since it makes me use DEX to handle traps, I get to add my INT on top of it too)

The issue is the rest, I'm not sure what to do.

Extra standard actions are honestly not that great in my case: I rarely cast spells in combat and I usually keep my inspiration points for charging, I also rarely need more than 1 attack to kill something 1d6+ STR+ INT x 2 (lance) x 3 (spirited charge) x 4 ( riding boots) x5 (rhino's rush wand) makes quick work on most enemies

The issue is the rest

So far I was thinking strongheart halfling so I'd get a bonus feat

take wild cohort + mounted combat first

then ride by attack
then spirited charge
then knowledge devotion

My question is what's next?

-should I just keep taking more factotum levels
-aim for prestige class x?
-optimize a spell (corpsecrafter and the like)

I'm open to suggestions


The only thing I could find that was somewhat useful was the windrider prestige class (which stacks with wild cohort) but the class' spells and skills are mediocre at best, I might be better off staying a factotum

[Rebel7284]

In my eyes Factotum have several breakpoints: 1, 3, 8, 11, and 19

1. Ability to add Int to attack and damage.
3. Brains over brawn is nifty for a number of things.
8. Extra actions are super helpful. Even if you don't need them EVERY combat, I am sure than an extra buff or debuff or move into position is amazing flexibility when the situation comes up.
11. One of the few ways to overcome ANY Spell Resistance, more fun for builds that focus on spellcasting.
19. Not sure why Factotums get their capstone at 19, but here it is...

Generally I prefer the 8th level breakpoint. You can go into several directions from there.

1. Combat Focus: Take Warblade or Crusader, or even Ruby Knight Vindicator. Their full BAB is really helpful and the ability to use Cunning Surge to execute two standard action maneuvers in the same turn is super nifty. RKV, of course makes you the king of action economy, eventually adding extra swift actions and some helpful divine magic, but likely at the cost of one more BAB (but hey, you can cast Divine Power with an extra standard action when that matters). You can get up to 8th level maneuvers.

2. Caster focus: As the game goes on, the sort of abilities you need changes. While in the low to mid level "hit it with a stick" is often a simple and effective solution at later level enemies start getting magical abilities like flight, teleportation, contingencies, better battlefield control, etc. Having better magic of your own can be really helpful.
Factotum 8/Bard 1/X 1/Sublime Chord 2/Y8.
Y can be Incantatrix to make your buff spells last all day or Dweomerkeeper or something like Unseen Seer for medium BAB with a sneak attack progression (after a dip into Spellthief with that free level). This means that you still have the option to buff up and charge in, but also, when 💩 hits the fan, you can cast multiple high level spells with that extra action.

Note: This assumes that Factotum casting qualifies for the ability to cast 3rd level spells, which it can for so many intents and purposes than I expect most DMs would allow it for qualifications, otherwise, there are several shenanigans with heighten spell which would make it work.

3. UMD Focus: with enough item optimization and an Artificer Cohort or something, you can definitely simulate the caster focus without taking a fast casting progression class. For example, if you take Extend Spell and Persistent Spell as feats, you can then use a lesser schema of Metamagic Item infusion to Persist things from Staves/Wands. Then you can stay Factotum forever and enjoy the headaches you face at level 19 figuring out where one ability ends and another begins.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

IMO your biggest issue will be to-hit. 3/4 BaB, main attack stat is a secondary stat, knowledge devotion comes on a bit late (level 9) in the proposed build. INT to hit kinda solves this, but at lower levels that means you're not multiplying much base damage (no collision yet, not all multiples available, also sometimes the mount won't be able to charge). You can compensate by prioritizing buying all the +damage items you listed, but that means you're delaying access to tasty utility items (wands/scrolls especially), as WBL is finite.

To alleviate that trade-off, I recommend dipping Cloistered Cleric. That gets you Knowledge Devotion earlier, plus two more devotions (e.g. Law, since you're a paladin analogue), the TU attempts to fuel the devotions, and some extra spells. Delayed factotum advancement hurts a bit, but I think it's worthwhile. Since you're using inspiration a lot and the dilettante spells are good for you, you could even keep going factotum up to 19, but as Rebel mentioned, there are many routes out of Factotum.

Two small asides:
1. I suppose it goes without saying this all assumes your DM ignores multiclass penalties; otherwise you either just go Factotum 20 and enjoy the +2 inspiration point half-capstone at level 20, or be a race with favored class: [any/class you're multiclassing with].
2. I assume when you're doing the X5 calculation you meant valorous instead of riding boots, since (a) you missed valorous and (b) riding boots only multiply the damage on a crit.

[Soranar]

I misread the riding boots, good catch. They're not nearly as useful as I thought.

Yeah knowledge devotion comes a bit late but it's not that useful at lower levels when you can only get +1 or +2 out of it

when you can't charge the factotum still has a few tricks

grease + thrown daggers

-daggers are melee weapons so they trigger iaijutsu focus
-grease makes most things flatfooted

your wild cohort

-even a riding dog is a fairly big roadblock

alter self or polymorph + knowledge devotion

-a factotum staple

Finally you can make your own tanglefoot bags with alchemy so that helps if you need to keep something out of your reach

It's not barbarian levels of damage but you're a support class so you're not supposed to one shot a big bad by yourself either.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

At the very early levels, +2 to hit and damage isn't so bad. It also pretty quickly becomes better than +2. A CC 1/Factotum X with (say) 18 INT, max ranks, the Collector of Stories skill trick and no other investment has a bonus of 12+X, or 11+2X with inspiration, which gets you an average of +3 to hit and damage by level 5 or so.

I agree that you won't get crazy levels of damage without FoI/IF shenanigans, which is fine; it just feels nice to hit on those big attacks. That's why I like getting Law Devotion as well. Another option is a wand of Wraithstrike, but that comes online later and would basically replace the Rhino's Rush wand.

[Bonzai]

I have only played a factotum only once. It was in a campaign that wasn't incredibly combat focused, though I did take a 3 lvl dip into Swashbuckler for insightful strike and thematic reasons. I focused on being the party skill monkey/jack of all trades. I contributed in combat, but was happy to let others take the lead there. I had the jack of all trades skill, so half rank in everything, that could be boosted by inspirations.

The character was a changeling that was raised by an actor. He intensely studied his roles, and as such learned about a variety of things. When his adopted father was murdered, he literally became a zorro style masked vigilante named Jake Scarlet. As a changeling he could readily change his appearance, he had clothes that could be readily changed out (think there was magic item that gave you multiple outfit options if I remember right), his weapon was the rod that can turn into various weapons. He was a master of disguise, and could impersonate pretty much anyone or anything. The only persona he consistently adopted was that of the masked vigilante. This made him hard for his enemies to track, when he wasn't actively Jake Scarlet as he was never the same person twice.

Very fun character, but needs the right style of campaign to thrive in.