RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, Contributor
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Just some quick thoughts about playing the Investigator at level 1 in PFS.
Pros:
The class has inherent flavor that lends itself well to the Pathfinder Society. It was easy to develop an interesting persona that lent itself to RP interactions that, I hope, made the scenario more fun for everyone.
I found inspiration to be a really fun mechanic. There's nothing quite like rolling some bonus dice! Getting to turn a hit into a miss is just feels satisfying, and makes the class feel very active. Despite rolling poorly on some knowledge checks, I felt like I was capable of getting a lot of mileage out of my skills, especially those that could use inspiration for free.
Cons:
Does not have a lot going on at first level. Several times during the session I found myself thinking, "This character is going to be awesome at 3rd level." We were playing at a small table, so I was feeling pressed to contribute during combat, and there wasn't I ton I could do. I mostly made sarcastic remarks and told our low-INT bloodrager what to smash.
So many skills that I want. This seems a little greedy, but even with 11 skills per level, I wasn't able to train into all of the knowledge skills that I wanted--or needed--for this adventure. There are a lot of skills that seem iconic for the class or are encouraged by the inspiration mechanics (Disable Device, Perception, all the Knowledge Skills, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Linguistics, Spellcraft, etc.) With inspiration, could you afford to alternate knowledge skill points a bit? Probably. Not having them right now is one of the things that makes first level less fun to play.
It is expensive to be an investigator. Thieves' Tools, alchemy crafting kit, armor, weapon. Not a lot of discretionary funds left over at character creation if you are using PFS rules. According to the agent briefing us, I was woefully unprepared to be a pathfinder.
Summary:
I loved this class concept, and I'm glad that I tried it out. I much prefer the inspiration mechanic to getting flat bonuses to skills. The class needs a bit more punch at 1st level--and probably second. I'm interested to see what they will be using to replace sneak attack.