I decided to make an Aether Kinetic Chirurgeon for PFS and going to try fill quite a few roles if possible; *Healer, Trapmonkey, Battlefield Control, and Damage. *Healer and Trapmonkey are going to be his primary roles (Aether is great at this!), but I'm a little torn on which direction I should take.
Option 1: Take a Trait like Criminal or Vagabond Child to gain Disable Device as a Class Skill and go that route, but have no way to disable magical traps.
Option 2: Take a 1 level dip into URogue to gain Disable Device as a Class Skill and the ability to deal with magical traps. In addition to a free Weapon Finesse and a little extra damage when applicable.
What are your thoughts on both options? Or if you have a better option for dealing with traps.
*(Disclaimer - I realize that this is not the most optimal way to be a healer and am not looking for any other class/archetype options. So please do not do the obligatory "Well, here's a better way to..." I am simply looking for the best way to gain the ability to deal with Traps as a secondary role for this character. Thanks!)
If you can get a campaign trait from Mummy's Mask, trap finder lets you deal with magic traps. The link there suggests it was reprinted in People of the Sands which may help.
PFS does ban a bunch of stuff so I'm not sure whether this is viable - I can't be bothered downloading and searching their additional resources list to check.
So... for some reason that I cannot seem to comprehend, I rolled a Nat 1 on my knowledge check and forgot that Investigators gain Trapfinding at 1st level.
Option 3: Take a 1 level dip into Investigator and possible go the Spiritualist archetype to gain some really nifty abilities 3 times per day as opposed to only 1 spell per day from low Int modifier and only 1 level in investigator. This will also help shore up my Will Save (which is always good for Kineticists).
Am I missing any other really good options for Trapfinding and Disable Device out there??
If you can get a campaign trait from Mummy's Mask, trap finder lets you deal with magic traps. The link there suggests it was reprinted in People of the Sands which may help.
I will definitely have to check that option out! Thanks for the input, AVR. If that is a legal PFS option, I think that will be the way to go!
If you're dipping mostly for Disable Device, one level of Trapper Ranger is probably best, so that you don't lose BaB. Freebooter+Trapper is a nice combo.
I do like that combo! A nice little party boost to Attack/Damage, Trapfinding and Disable Device, and no loss of BaB.
Definitely going to be a difficult choice... I've definitely decided not to do the URogue route. So at this point its a choice between Freebooter+Trapper Ranger or Investigator. I like that Investigator gets a Will save boost and Inspiration, but I'd lose BaB which sucks. Definitely a difficult choice!
Thank you for the suggestion on the Trapper/Freebooter, Markov!
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If you are playing in PFS than barring a boon, Trapfinding is not available. Furthermore you do not want to multiclass if you can avoid it. I would suggest staying Kineticist all the way and grabbing Disable Device as a class skill as suggested.
To work on magical traps keep two things in mind, you can still detect magic traps just fine, so make sure Perception is high. Second there is a spell called Aram Zey's Focus that allows you to disable magical traps. It is a second level spell. You can UMD it with a UMD check of 23 from a scroll or from a wand at 20. Early on the wand might be expensive, so consider spending 2 PP for a scroll of 5 castings of Aram Zey's Focus (cost 750 gp) when you can grab the wand. Consider the Wand Key Ring if you want to avoid problems activating the wand.
I feel like with aether you could get really creative with triggering traps in the RP sense. So even if you can't technically disable them I'm sure you could create a way to manipulate them.
Unfortunately Aram Zey's Focus does not allow you to deal with magical traps, just regular traps so that idea is out.
That is true, Mort, that pure Aether could probably just utilize Basic Telekinesis to deal with a lot of traps that way. You all have given me quite a bit to think about.
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Aram Zey's Focus states:
If you don’t have the trapfinding class ability, this spell grants you the trapfinding ability of a rogue of half your character level. If you have the trapfinding ability granted by class levels, however, this spell grants you a +5 competence bonus on all Disable Device checks made to disarm mechanical (but not magical) traps. While under the effects of Aram Zey’s focus, whenever you trigger a trap by rolling poorly on a Disable Device check, you may roll a second Disable Device check. This new roll uses the same modifiers as the first roll. If your second roll is high enough to avoid accidentally springing the trap, you avoid setting it off, but still fail to disarm it. Each time you take advantage of this feature, the remaining duration of the spell is reduced by 1 minute—if less than a minute’s worth of duration remains, the spell ends as soon as you reroll your Disable Device check.
So if you don't have Trapfinding you get it. And as a rogue 1/2 your level so at say 8th lvl Kineticist you will have a +2 on the check.
However, Mort's idea is great for triggering traps, especially once you get TK Haul and can carry around a 200 pound rock to serve as your trap detector.
Aram Zey's Focus states:
If you don’t have the trapfinding class ability, this spell grants you the trapfinding ability of a rogue of half your character level. If you have the trapfinding ability granted by class levels, however, this spell grants you a +5 competence bonus on all Disable Device checks made to disarm mechanical (but not magical) traps. While under the effects of Aram Zey’s focus, whenever you trigger a trap by rolling poorly on a Disable Device check, you may roll a second Disable Device check. This new roll uses the same modifiers as the first roll. If your second roll is high enough to avoid accidentally springing the trap, you avoid setting it off, but still fail to disarm it. Each time you take advantage of this feature, the remaining duration of the spell is reduced by 1 minute—if less than a minute’s worth of duration remains, the spell ends as soon as you reroll your Disable Device check.So if you don't have Trapfinding you get it. And as a rogue 1/2 your level so at say 8th lvl Kineticist you will have a +2 on the check.
However, Mort's idea is great for triggering traps, especially once you get TK Haul and can carry around a 200 pound rock to serve as your trap detector.
I really need to stop reading things when I'm tired... When I read that on Archives of Nethys, my eyes imputed the statement in parenthesis near your bolded portion. Sorry about that, Taenia...
Given that little nugget, I think I will try straight Kineticist and pick up a few scrolls of Aram Zey's for back up uses in the even of magical traps.
Right now his stats as Str 10, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 8. Traits are Illuminator (Makes Diplo a Class Skill and grants +2 bonus) and Vagabond Child (To gain Disable Device as a Class Skill). The idea was to fit him into Silver Crusade and I liked the idea of having a decent Diplomacy score as it fits the character.
However, I may end up saving that sort of concept for a different character and put this guy in The Exchange to pick up Gold Finger (Much better version of Vagabond Child) and take Pragmatic Activator. I'll keep that in mind, DMW.
If you can get a campaign trait from Mummy's Mask, trap finder lets you deal with magic traps. The link there suggests it was reprinted in People of the Sands which may help.I will definitely have to check that option out! Thanks for the input, AVR. If that is a legal PFS option, I think that will be the way to go!
For very good reasons, that trait is banned for PFS play.