Private Investigator PC

[Mistwell]

I am interested in making a private investigator type of PC.

The basic template I am drawing from for this idea is Marcus Didius Falco from the series of ancient Rome mystery books by Lindsey Davis. See:

http://sachem.suffolk.lib.ny.us/advisor/sleuth800.htm

Tough, fast-talking, too honest for his own good and a real sucker for a pretty face, he's a sort of Travis Magee in a toga. Falco describes himself as a private informer "for sad middle-aged men who think their wicked wives are sleeping with charioteers and even sadder ones who know their wives are sleeping with their nephews." And although he is a die-hard Republican, he often finds himself working as a special investigator for Emperor Vespasian.

I'd like some advice on building this character.

He will start with a level of rogue (human - 32 point buy). I'd like to make rogue the primary class, but not necessarily the only class.

The adventure he will be playing in is Ptolus, so it is 50% city based and 50% dungeon based and 0% wilderness based.

I am going to want some "face" skills, such as gather information, and bluff. Also in need of the ability to watch places or people for a while, so hide and move silently are likely useful. Spotting trouble, listening for it, and searching things will also be useful. Knowledge (local) might also be useful for this type of character.

I am going to need some skills at fighting. It's not the primary focus of the character, but he will be sent to investigate dungeons, and roust some dangerous characters. The ability to deal some non-lethal damage might be useful (but not mandatory). Probably a spring attacking type fighter, though I am open to suggestions on this.

I am open on the sources. I do know that the Urban variant of ranger is available, as are most racial paragon classes from UA.

If there is a particularly well done investigator prestige class out there from any source, I am interested in taking a look at it. WOTC offcial sources or monte cook sources are preferred, but I am open.

So far, the closest I have come is the Vigilante prestige class, but it is not as close as I would like. That character seems more batman than investigator.

Anyone have some suggestions?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Eberron has a pretty nifty Master Investigative that is one of the fastest PrCs to be able to enter. It isn't super-powerful, but it is fun and flavourful. In an Eberron game I ran, 'Sherlock Gnome' was the most beloved PC of the whole group and considered indispensible for his ability to piece together the weirdest clues.

Now, if you ever finish this PC and he ever winds up jumping through a magic portal to the real world, could you have him track down the former CEO of Osseum to make him pay up to the publishers and freelancers he scammed?

 

[Mistwell]

Now, if you ever finish this PC and he ever winds up jumping through a magic portal to the real world, could you have him track down the former CEO of Osseum to make him pay up to the publishers and freelancers he scammed?

If you are serious...I could probably find him for you. I have some lawyer-tricks that are pretty good at tracking people.

 

[Rystil Arden]

If you are serious...I could probably find him for you. I have some lawyer-tricks that are pretty good at tracking people.

Semi-serious at the least. Check out this thread. The bastard ran away with estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars of money from great game companies like Green Ronin and Bad Axe Games. A Private Investigator mentioned in the thread failed to find him, so your thread title reminded me of it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Personally, if you're not opposed to using UA, instead of starting with a level of Rogue, why not start off with a level of Urban Ranger? You'll get nearly as many skill points as a Rogue, but you'll get the tracking skills and fighting skills that such a PC would need.

And, if you wish to vary from the source material a little, you might consider some levels as a Diviner (Specialist Wizard).

If the campaign uses psionics, you might also consider levels in Soulknife or Psion.

 

[Heckler]

Not sure how this compares to Master Investigative, but there is the Watch Detective out of Masters of the Wild. Looks pretty easy to qualify for, probably best as a Ranger/Rogue. He's got a good skill list, including the face skills you want. As you advance he gains bonuses to disarming and dealing subdual damage. Also lots of good knowledge/forensics abilities.

 

[Whimsical]

The beguiler from the Player's Handbook II would make an excellent investigtor. It has all of the skills you are looking to get, and if your skills fail you, you can whip out charm person or read thoughts. And they do nonlethal damage with the whelm spell. Half elfs would work people best & elves would find clues and secret doors best. I'm looking forward to running one.

The urban druid would rawk as an investigator. He gets all of the social skills and knowledge local, history, and architcture as class skills. And he gets at 1st level +2 with Gather Information and Know(local) checks with City sense, along with adding his wisdom bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and +2 to all Will saves while in a favored city. And they get good "manipulate people" and "find things" spells that bards normally get. Playing an urban druid in Ptolus would be as awesome as playing a druid in a pure wilderness campaign.

But I really recommend that you get Crime & Punishment, which is a general sourcebook for playing a CSI/Sherlock Homes character in D&D land. It's written by Keith Baker, creator of Eberron. It includes a 20 level Investigator base class, which I recommend you take instead of Rogue levels for your character. It also has the Inquisitor, an investigative prestige class.

 

[Sejs]

Things to look at:

The Beguiler class from the PHB II.

The Urban Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana. VERY appropriate. Possibly more so than straight rogue, even. If the animal companion doesn't fit (and it may well not) ask your DM if you can possibly exchange it for some other feature, or if nothing else, a feat now and maybe another down the road when the companion would advance.

The Master Inquisitive PrC from Eberron. 5 levels long and pretty much right up your alley.

The Investigate feat, also from Eberron. If all you can get in exchange for your animal companion is a feat, take this one. It's very concept-appropriate.

 

[Whimsical]

The Urban Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana.

 

[Mistwell]

Just wanted to revive this thread, and see if anyone else has some additional ideas for this concept.

I did buy Crime & Punishment, and it's a great book. I did not end up using the class suggested, but still it's a good book and I am glad I bought it.

So far, my character is 2nd level: Rogue 1/Urban Ranger 1. To represent his military background, the DM gave me a free exotic weapon proficiency with a military-style weapon, and I chose the Great Spear. His normal feats are dodge and mobility. I know those two are not particularly Falco-like (though he does like to dodge around and flee a lot), but they were necessary I thought for survivability in that campaign. Eventually I will take Spring Attack, and that should close out the survivability feats and I can focus more on flavorful things.

Urban Tracking has worked wonders in this Ptolus campaign. I have been able to track down our criminal targets well with it, bypassing some very tedious investigation that would have been necessary without it.

But now I am once again focused on prestige classes or multi-classing.

I was originally considering going for the Vigilante prestige class from Complete Adventurer, which has as one of it's specific arhetypes a private investigator, but someone wisely pointed out to me that the prestige class is quite wonky and does not actually accomplish it's goal (like an arcane spell list, but cannot cast spells freely in armor and no protection spells to make up for that - and class abilities like quick hide that don't actually do anything at all).

I could just work with my DM to fix that class (like giving them light armored casting, and fixing quick hide to be a move action to distract to hide AND hide in that same move action). But I would prefer to look around again first and see what is out there that is closer to my character concept.

This character will need to be able to fight in addition to the investigative focus. We are getting into a lot of dangerous scraps, and while he isn't a front line character he needs to be able to hold his own because the healing isn't all that available most of the time until after a battle.