I am going to be a player in an Iron Gods campaign, and I am hoping you guys can help me find a class/archetype that suits what I have in mind.
I know I want to play an Android.
I want her to have little to no memory of her past, or origin.
I imagine her being obsessed with finding out where she came from, and collecting countless trinkets and bits of trash that may or may not be technology-related.
I want her to be a bit of a skill monkey, not very combat focused, in her design.
I definitely want Disable Device, Linguistics, Knowledge skills related to Technology, and Perception, maybe Use Magic Device, as class skills.
I'd prefer a spontaneous caster, if any kind of caster at all, magic is not a big deal to me, for this one.
The ability to use firearms, without major penalties, would be a bonus.
I don't really care about optimization here, I want a character that I'll have fun role playing.
How about an Investigator?
Investigation is labelled on the tin of the class, has lots of skills, can pick up trapfinding. Technology and firearms are accessible with the right feats, unfortunately (no class has built in features to gain technologist).
If not an Investigator, a bard or unchained rogue (with the right skill unlocks) should be options to look into.
I would still lean towards an Investigator as it fits your theme, and can use alchemy infusions to get out of some jams. They have all the skills you listed as class skills, and can get crazy with the right investigator talents to stack on them (inspired intelligence, and amazing inspiration for examples).
I dislike the alchemy part of investigator, but it is among my top picks, so far.
Steel Hound looked like a decent choice, as an archetype, but I am having trouble settling on any choice.
Numerian Scavenger!
A rogue archetype from the Technology Guide is what you're looking for :-)
It can also be found in the PRD :-)
As mentioned, steel hound investigator or Numerian scavenger rogue are good choices. An archaeologist bard could also work (especially with Archaeologist's Luck replacing the Bardic Performance morale bonuses with luck bonuses for an android; use your non-campaign trait on Vagabond Child to gain Disable Device as a class skill, if you want), although you don't automatically get firearm proficiency; the variant multiclassing in Pathfinder Unchained for gunslinger could be worth a look, though.
An interesting (divine caster) option might be an inquisitor (Brigh would probably be the most thematically appropriate deity for the AP) with the Black Powder Inquisition. Infiltrator, preacher, sanctified slayer, spellbreaker, or witch hunter could work for archetypes, depending on what you want (from your description, infiltrator might be the best fit for the character concept).
If you want to eventually take levels in technomancer, then archaeologist bard is probably the best choice.
As others above have said, steel hound investigator is a good choice, and if you want to get rid of alchemy (though it is really solid), sleuth does stack with it.
I actually created a slayer archetype of my own for a friend in an Iron Gods game which combines the rogue numerian scavenger with the ranger's galvanic saboteur. If you're interested, I'll post it below, and maybe your GM will approve it.
Sure, throw it on, lets see it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Highly skilled trackers and engineers, Numerian troubleshooters are the ones called upon to take an errant robot to task. Not necessarily allies of the Technic League, troubleshooters could be called upon by the more rural communities to stop the rampage of alien technology close to homes, or even be summoned to go up against the League's very own pet machines.
Class Skill(s): A numerian troubleshooter adds Disable Device and Knowledge (engineering) to their list of class skills and removes Disguise and Knowledge (dungeoneering) from their list of class skills.
Studied Target (Ex)
At 1st level, a numerian troubleshooter can only use his studied target ability against constructs. At 5th level, Studied Target can be used against all opponents as normal.
This ability alters studied target.
Technic Training (Ex)
At 2nd level, a numerian troubleshooter adds 1/2 their slayer level to Perception skill checks to locate mechanical or high-tech traps and to Disable Device skill checks against these traps (minimum +1). They gain Technologist as a bonus feat. They cannot use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.
This ability replaces the slayer talent gained at 2nd level and replaces the trapfinding slayer talent.
Lucky Dodge (Ex)
At 4th level, a numerian troubleshooter can dodge the precise attacks of even the most technologically advanced foes. The slayer gains his studied target bonus to his AC against attacks which target touch AC against his studied opponent.
This ability replaces the slayer talent gained at 4th level and replaces the terrain mastery slayer talent.
Technological Trapsmith (Ex)
At 7th level, a numerian troubleshooter can rig technological traps using the remains of destroyed constructs with the clockwork or robot subtype.
To successfully rig such a trap, the slayer must spend 1 minute working on the destroyed construct and succeed at a Disable Device check (DC = 10+the construct's HD).
On a failure, the trap doesn't function and the construct's remains are ruined. On a success, the slayer creatres a mechanical trap with the following statistics.
Rigged Construct Trap
Type mechanical; Notice Perception DC 20; Disable Disable Device DC 20
EFFECTS
Trigger location (all spaces occupied by the construct's remains); Reset none; Effect blast of electricity (1d6 electricity damage/2 HD of construct); Reflex negates (DC = 10+1/2 the slayer's level + his intelligence modifier); multiple targets (all targets within 5 ft. of construct's remains)
Other types of destroyed constructs can serve as suitable materials for a rigged construct trap (at the GM's discretion).
Constructs destroyed by disintigrate or similar effects that leave no intact remains cannot be used to create a rigged construct trap.
This ability replaces slayer.
Robot Slayer (Ex)
At 8th level, a numerian troubleshooter knows just where to strike robots to incapacitate and disable them. When they deal sneak attack damage to a robot, they ignore all hardness that robot possesses.
This ability replaces the slayer talent gained at 8th level.
Sensor Evasion (Su)
At 17th level, a numerian troubleshooter has mastered the art of evading technological and magical observation. They can use the Stealth skill against constructs and magical sensors (such as those created by arcane eye or clairaudience/clairvoyance) at no penalty even while being observed when utilizing slayer's advance.
This ability alters slayer's advance.
As I said, I originally designed this for a friend of mine, and he ended up enjoying it pretty thoroughly. Early on in the campaign there aren't a ton of constructs (depending on your GM's preferences for how to run the order of events), so you may feel a bit under par to start with, but you should start feeling very valuable between your skill selection and specialized robot killing techniques (the robots tend to be some of the scarier enemies).
|
Investigator with firearms on an android... don't. It's gonna be too feat-starved to really work well. It's cool in theory until you really crunch the numbers. Then you're just disappointed.
Firearms on an android is surprisingly tricky actually. Almost all of the classes have issues;
- The standard gunslinger works, because it gets the all-important dex to firearms damage, but you get a lot of deeds that are meaningless because you don't use gunpowder weapons.
- The techslinger archetype is terrible because it encourages you to specialize in specific types of guns. The truth about WBL high-tech guns is that you will continually find better ones as you keep leveling up, of different types.
- The Savage Technologist barbarian is kinda awesome but as an adroid you can't get Morale bonuses. Except you could take the Empathy feat. Check this out. This archetype is exceedingly good with high-tech guns that don't need difficult reloading.
Techslinger is still good, because the guns there are powered by batteries with 10 charges, so you only need to reload every 10 shots.
If you get off several shots on touch attack with DEX on damage and maybe deadly aim, you´ll do more than enough damage.
Other guns can still be used for other effects.
And some guns not being total killers on some circumstances is actually a lot more balanced than the original thing.