Investigator - Level 2 Gnome Feedback


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Grand Lodge

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Gnat the Gnome
Female Gnome Investigator 2
CG Small humanoid (gnome)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+1 armor, +4 shield, +2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 16 (2d8+2)
Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +4; +2 vs. illusions, +2 bonus vs. poison
Resist poison resistance
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee cold iron dagger +1 (1d3-1/19-20/×2) and
. . masterwork shortsword +2 (1d4-1/19-20/×2) and
. . silver dagger +1 (1d3-2/19-20/×2) and
. . (M) starknife -5 (1d4-1/×3)
Ranged shortbow +4 (1d4-1/×3)
Spell-Like Abilities
. . 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound (DC 12), prestidigitation (DC 11), speak with animals
Investigator Spells Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +6):
1st (3/day)—shield, detect undead, comprehend languages
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 12
Base Atk +1; CMB -1; CMD 11
Feats Splash Weapon Mastery
Traits chance encounter, collector, cross-knowledge
Skills Acrobatics +6 (+2 jump), Appraise +8, Climb +3, Craft (alchemy) +10 (+12 to create alchemical items), Disable Device +13, Escape Artist +6, Handle Animal +2, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8, Knowledge (engineering) +9, Knowledge (nature) +8, Linguistics +8, Perception +8 (+9 to locate traps), Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +6, Spellcraft +8, Stealth +11, Use Magic Device +6; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, alchemy
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Daemonic, Gnome, Infernal, Shadowtongue, Sylvan
SQ illusion resistance, inspiration, master tinker, poison use, trapfinding +1
Combat Gear Potion of cure light wounds, Wand of cure light wounds, Acid (2), Alchemist's fire (2), Oil (4), Sunrod (3); Other Gear Quilted cloth armor, Arrows (20), Cold Iron Dagger, Masterwork Shortsword, Shortbow, Silver Dagger, Starknife, Handy haversack (15 @ 20.92 lbs), Adventurer's sash (empty), Alchemy crafting kit, Battle mask, Belt pouch (empty), Flint and steel, Thieves' tools, masterwork, 140 GP, 6 SP
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Special Abilities
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Alchemy +2 (Su) +2 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Chance Encounter (1/day) Re-reroll failed Acrobatics, Bluff, Disguise, Sleight of Hand or Stealth check, keep 2nd result.
Collector (Disable Device) If have collection within 5 ft gain +2 trait bon to selected skill.
Cross-Knowledge (1/day) Once per day, you may treat an extract you drink as if your caster level were 1 level higher as long as that extract appears on the wizard spell list and the alchemist list of formulae.
Illusion Resistance +2 racial bonus to saves against illusions.
Inspiration (+1d6) (5/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Master Tinker You are proficient with any weapon you have personally crafted.
Poison Resistance +2 (Ex) +2 to save vs. Poison.
Poison Use You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Trapfinding +1 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
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Gnat has always had a curious nature, she wants to explore EVERYTHING! Gnat's parents moved to the Mendov region with the 3rd crusade, fleeing from blighted Sarkoris,, and raised a precocious child in Kenabres.

The entire land is in constant turmoil. Yet Gnat's parents made a living providing services to the constant influx of crusaders.

Gnat followed the great trades of her family and became a tinkerer, a purveyor of potions, and student of alchemy, but this wasn't enough. Gnat's innate curiosity encouraged her to investigate constantly. She combed the city first, learning all it's haunts, all it's nooks, all its crannies.

But this wasn't enough, never enough, there had to be more! So she began searching outside the city, exploring the region. It was all fun and games, until someone gets hurt, right? She found herself trapped behind a constant shifting front line of a demonic scourge. She saw no way to return to the city. She thought she was lost, bereft of friends, allies, and surrounded by evil and the enemy.

All was lost, how is a young, inexperienced, little gnome to survive by herself, then the miracle happened, a young human female warrior aided Gnat. Helping her sneak past a group of cultist to return to the city and safety. The woman did not give Gnat her name, but did present her with a pendent, a holy symbol of Desna.

Gnat took this to heart and converted to worship of the Goddess, unsure whether the woman who helped her was simply an acolyte, an avatar or the Goddess herself. But Gnat swore to take the guidance and to work with all her skills to free the region from the demonic influences.

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Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Played several sessions with this character now with a party of 3 other characters in the Wrath of the Righteous campaign.

This is a VERY weak combat character. Partly because of it being a gnome with only a d3 or d4 minus one and also because of no true enhancements to damage (backstab/etc). Though through the use of inspiration the character has been able to disarm her opponents several times, reducing the threat to her and tieing up her opponent enough to allow party members to come to her aid to subdue the enemy after eliminating their own opponents in multi-opponent battles.

Given her low strength and small size many of the typical formulaes of strength enhancement and enlarge are not a real enhancement for the character.

Her lack of ability of sharing her cure light wounds to others is also a major limitation for helping the party as a healer.

Her out of combat utility cannot be over emphasized. She easily identifies potions and various magical items. often using her inspiration on her craft checks, her spellcraft rolls, and her knowledge rolls.

Her heal checks helps our low level party staunch some wounds and stabilize party members who have gone down.

She often has endangered herself in fights in order to provide flanking bonuses for fellow party members, but her low AC places her in harms way often.

She has been able to shine in stealth investigations prior to the main bulk of the party approaching city intersections, allowing the remainder of the party to buff or prepare for battle, while she scouts ahead and reports back, before scurrying back to the party.

It is questionable whether this character will ever truly excel in contributing to fights on equal footing with fellow party members, and it it hoped that her out of combat situations counterbalances this liability to the parties survival.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

While the stat block above reflects the Release one abilities of the class, the character has been played both with Release one and release two updates to the Investigator class.

There was NO significant difference in play for this character between the two updates to class abilities as the most significance was poison use.

It did help to be able to lower the cost of replenishing alchemical fire through the use of Craft Alchemy in the evenings.

Also the character was able to use tanglefoot bags with skill (most characters I played in the past seldom used the tactic to control/delay opponents/battlefield control) since they would simply have killed the enemy instead.

The class weakness does require more creative solutions to survival on the urban battlefield.


miniaturepeddler wrote:

Gnat the Gnome

Female Gnome Investigator 2
CG Small humanoid (gnome)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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I'm new to Pathfinder and all RPG actually. I am trying to understand the Investigator's abilities, since it really interests me. Can you explain the Investigator's "Inspiration" ability? Can the Investigator inspire others or only herself/himself? An explanation would be of great help.

Thanks, and thanks for all your work on this week's Con.

Jim the uneducated

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