Pathfinder 1E Factotums in Pathfinder

[ProfessorCirno]

Bards

"best skill monkey in the game"?

The bard's class skills are blah blah not search, open lock, or disarm device

:|

Bard is great at skills that probably won't get used that often. Rogues are still the only ones with trapfinding.

Lastly, bards get their "take ten on everything" at level 19. You rogue can live with having nineteen levels of unchallenged awesomeness at skills :U

As for Factotums, please inform me if you've ever had a player be a Factotum who was then weak at skills. If your bard outdoes the factotum, even with the "take ten on anything," your factotum is doing it so wrong.

 

[Tal_Akaan]

First: as for filling the "Dead Levels" I believe the Pathfinder conversion guide suggest that you take existing abilities that are normally gotten in the same level and break them up to fill in the dead space first, then worry about creating new stuff later. Which i think is quite possible with the Factotum.

Second: I like the idea of a more Pathfinder friendly Factotum.

What do i mean by that?

Well I think it would be good if you could rework the Factotum so that you get some more "Options" like the base classes of Pathfinder. Sorcerers get their bloodlines, Barbarians get their rage powers, Rogues get the talents (i think that's what they are called, or is it traits), and so on. giving Factotums a system like this could be a lot of fun and make for some very interesting characters.

that being said, i believe this would be very hard to implement without unbalancing the class. you would probably have to break down the Factotum completely and start from scratch.

I would love to see it if someone did it though.

 

[Chronologist]

Tal_Akaan, first of all, welcome to the boards!

I totally agree with you. I forgot that pathfinder classes have various abilities to choose from at each level (strangely enough, though, the Bard does not).

What if Factotums could select from a list of class features like a Witch, except instead of supernatural eye powers, the abilities improved the Factotum's combat, stealth, arcane magic, or healing abilities? Couple that with the standard class features and you have a character that can fill in for any role decently, and is a little better at some roles.

About breaking the Factotum down, I can definitely do that, given enough time.

So, here's what we know the "Factotum" will have:
d8 hit dice
Medium attack bonus
Good Reflex Saves
Poor Fortitude and Will saves
A pool of Inspiration to fuel its class features
A combat boost ability
A skill boost ability
A stealth damage boost ability
Arcane spells
Healing/turn undead

Now, all we have to do is figure out, say, 20+ abilities the factotum can take, one at each even level, that improve his various party roles. I recommend that, if we do this, Cunning Surge/Breach/Dodge etc. are turned into features that can be taken at these levels.

 

[Tal_Akaan]

well thanks for the welcome and support for my idea.

that being said. i'm afraid i will be very little help actually implementing these changes, for i am HORRIBLE as balancing class features and would probably just end up wrecking it.

as i said i would love to see what you can do with this idea.

good luck

 

[concerro]

I'm currently playing a Factotum, and I was wondering if I could get some suggestions on upgrading the class to Pathfinder. My ideas so far are:

1) Inspiration Pool is 2 + 1/2 FActotum level
2) Factotums spontaneously cast any spell they know rather than having prepared casting.
3) Factotums get a few more spells per day
4) Factotums get feats at certain levels, but they can change these feats at the start of each day.
5) The factotum ability to boost skill checks is only 1/2 factotum level, but can be used multiple times on the same skill.
6) Factotums recover Inspiration in the same way that psionic characters recover psionic focus: spend an action (or actions), recover Inspiration. No more "per-encounter" stuff, they can refill whenever they have the time.

Basically I'd like to make the Factotum look more like the Chameleon PrC from Races of Destiny (ie. be about 3/4 as good at any one role at any one given time) but keeping with Inspiration points and the intellectual fluff of the factotum.

Any constructive comments would be welcome.

I ran one in Shackled City, and it held up fine. They are ok as they are.

 

[Chronologist]

Factotums in Pathfinder - Now the Dilettante

Alright, after a few hours of thought I've come up with

The Dilettante
View attachment The Dilettante.doc

This is my first time placing an attachment on the forums, so I hope it works.

The class is very broad, with no defined focus. The "Insights", like Rogue Talents or Witch Hexes, let Dilettantes focus on which party role (healer, caster, stealth, melee) they want to improve.

 

[Tal_Akaan]

I realize this isn't exactly what this thread is about, but if i was going to play a factotum in a pathfinder game, using to conversions guide to convert properly.

do you think the factotum should get unlimited 0 lvl spells, like the other spell casting classes.

 

[Set]

do you think the factotum should get unlimited 0 lvl spells, like the other spell casting classes.

Non-primary spellcasting classes, like the Paladin, Ranger and Adept, don't seem to get unlimited orisons. Bards, on the other hand, do. I think of the Factotum as being more like the Bard, and yet the Factotum doesn't necessarily have arcane (or divine) spellcasting all of the time.

An argument could go either way, but I'd say not.

 

[Tal_Akaan]

yeah with how their spell casting works in general i was thinking no, but i could see it going either way.

i'll just keep them the way they are.

 

[Chronologist]

So, any comments on the Factotum build? It's been a while. I'm looking at it again and I think it's a little too weak. I'm thinking of increasing the number of times Respec (tentative name) can be used, and generally bumping up the power of their base abilities.

Opinions?