Player Help Bot

[Steelixian]

Hi, I have been working on bringing in an Android sort of Artificial Intelligent NPC into the game soon. It will be a go to for the players when they need a little direction. The android will have a lot of missing data banks the players will have to recover in order to retrieve the information. My question here would be, Has this been done before, And what sort of NPCs other GMs add as a little guidance. Without the player party abusing it ( I added data banks for that reason so it has limited information/knowledge to begin with )

My second question is a class for this Android as I will like to partake in a little combat and be there mainly as a support. What sort of classes offer the best buffs and debuffs that would help. I personally have only played Dex focused classes.

[zza ni]

how about split personality (i mean one with different 'programs' to upload that can be switched by command \activation). say a rouge-like personality ('trap detected!, do you wish to execute the trap removal countermeasures? ') and maybe healer (think about the bot from '6 heroes').

[Cevah]

A bard is good for buffs, and has some healing. Staying out of the line of fire while giving buffs would work well. RP could be the bot is trying to collect stories (i.e. bard tales) so as to recover what it lost in its banks. Recovering a bank could act as a leveling function.

/cevah

[Thunderlord]

A sensei monk gets "Advice" which is just bardic performance. A level in cavalier opens up Battle Herald.

A Standard Bearer Cavalier gets banner at first which stacks with Battle Herald. The idea is that your bot can survive combat and offer advice and other goodies.

Evangelist Cleric might also be good since he gets channel energy and bardic performance but that is leaning on the abusive side. You could even make the players pay for the cleric's wands and not to make a little more fair. The cleric could offer the out of combat aid the players need during exploring or role playing. The only problem is that Evangelist is supposed to be a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon, meaning that they "Evangelize" their faith. It doesn't really fit the flavor. The Oathbound Paladin with Oath of The People's Council also gets bardic performance and fits the flavor better. A robot that swore to help the Party and it gives speeches or advice during combat.

I recommend Battle Herald. You could even cleric into battle herald if you wanted to. Variant Multiclassing Cavalier gets you challenge at 3rd level which lets you single class into Battle Herald with your bardic performance class ergo meaning more spell levels or class abilities. A fifth level paladin gets divine bond and there are some neat variant bonds that the party could benefit from.

A non Battle Herald option is just standard bard who can buff and do knowledge checks for the party. you can build into lore warden or pathfinder chronicler if you wanted to. I've heard oracles are good with knowledges too.

[maouse33]

lolz. crossblooded sorcerer to level up and get "mending" and "make whole"... and give you some blood... because... classes... lol.

[Zolanoteph]

While I loathe sci fi anachronisms and won't touch the flavor I do have practical build advice for a noninvasive helper npc.

A human fighter can be an outstanding help bot.

Aid another (standard action)
Battle cry feat (Swift action)
Combat advice (move action)
The human feat chain defiant luck, inexplicable luck, bestow luck (immediate action)
Savin shield (immediate action I believe)

Here's the idea: turtle up in armor, get a shield, givem 14 charisma and use this guy to hold the line and buff allies in a martial way. This build allows the players to hold onto the spotlight and isn't hard to manage as far as bookkeeping is concerned. He can let players reroll saves, force enemies to reroll crit confirmations and help out in fun ways.