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I am playing a half-orc investigator, with the intent of doing primarily mêleé and being the knowledge person in the group. This is a PFS character, currently level 1, so things can change. The party bard is playing an archetype that sacrifices Bardic Knowledge, so I have to0 cover that gap.
Race is not subject to change. We dicided as a group that we would all play PCs with darkvision.
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Stats:
STR: 12
DEX: 17
CON: 14
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 7
Traits:
Outcast (Half-orc racial, +1 to Survival, Survival is a class skill)
Reactionary (Combat, +2 initiative)
Feat:
Weapon Finesse
Level 2: Empiricist Archetype
Level 3: Feat: Weapon Focus (Rapier) & Inv. Talent Quick Study
Level 4: +1 DEX
Level 5: Feat Fencing Grace & Inv. Talent Inspired Alertnes
Level 7" Feat Extra Inspiration & Inv. Talent Infusion (Alch. Discovery)
Level 8: +1 INT
Level 9: Feat Medium Armor Prof. & Inv. Talent Combat Inspiration
Level 11: Feat Agile Mneuvers & Inv. Talent Sickening Strike
Level 12: +1 INT
I probably won't bother with medium armor proficiency; mithral breastplate has ACP-1, and if I swap Reactionary trait for Armor Expert, I can ignore even that.
Given your stats and your feat choice, perhaps a first-level dip in Swashbuckler (inspired blade) would help you with the combat side of things.
Do you really need Agile Maneuvers? Remember that for all weapon maneuvers (disarm, trip, and sunder) you can apply your dexterity to your CMB instead of your strength if you're using the weapon with Finesse (see FAQ)
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Given your stats and your feat choice, perhaps a first-level dip in Swashbuckler (inspired blade) would help you with the combat side of things.
Do you really need Agile Maneuvers? Remember that for all weapon maneuvers (disarm, trip, and sunder) you can apply your dexterity to your CMB instead of your strength if you're using the weapon with Finesse (see FAQ)
Good point. Agile maneuvers is unnecessary.
Wow. I had not looked at the Inspired Blade. That looks like a perfect fit for this character. The only possible downside I can see is that multiclassing would delay investigator talents. I'll definitely have to think about this one.
Swashtigators are popular for good reason. Not needing to use feat slots for Weapon Focus (rapier) and Weapon Finesse is great for feat-starved Investigators. And being able to take Fencing Grace at first level, where it has the most impact, is also great.
Personally I have a level 2 swash/investigator. The one level dip is a hassle but you get all those feats along with riposte which kinda stacks as you level. I have a post going right now you might want to look at for some ideas. If you go mutagen for dex I would move your wis up to 12. I found saves are always needed so going the whole fate's favored and sacred tattoo for the +2 to all saves might be a good idea.
Str is nice, I actually tried it but had no luck. Between str draining effects and fellow players getting in the way of the spear I just wasnt feeling it. Granted groups vary, some people will work with you and others might not realize in their rush to get in front... While enlarge is nice you are also losing 2 to dex (so your ac actually goes down 2)and another to hit...which is offset by the +2 str... still kinda hurts at low levels
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Find a way to fit Mutagen in. For a melee Investigator, it's too good to pass up. On a Dex build, you'd take a penalty to Wis, but that's easily overcome. You're boosting your to-hit and damage by 2 and AC by 4 (2 for Dex, 2 from natural armor that stacks with Barkskin) while it's active.
I feel like there is a trait somewhere that lets you use Perception for tracking instead of Survival. That might be a better direction to go than getting Survival as a class skill. It won't help you wandering around the desert, but it would mean you can follow tracks with your insane perception.
Personally, I like finding a way to fit in Expanded Inspiration as well. Free Inspiration uses is great, and there are a lot of useful skills in that group (diplomacy, perception, sense motive, etc.) Underworld Inspiration is good, but a bit less of a priority.
As mentioned, if you're going dex, you want the Inspired Blade dip, if you decide to go STR, then you save yourself a bit of pain.
Personally I'll always recommend in favor of a STR investigator. Level 3 you take Mutagen, no questions asked, and level 5 you get Quick Study, again no questions asked. You will do this or suffer. From there you're pretty free to go as you please.
I also suggest going str with a longspear. I have a lv12 melee empiricist that did this. He went 16+2/13/14/16/7/7. the 18 str gets you though levels 1 and 2. Grab mutagen at lv3. You can't take quick study at three unless retraining, I say not worth and just pick it up at 5, one level of it being a move action isn't bad, you only have 1 attack per round anyways at lv4. Then pick up an inspired weapon and combat inspiration at 9 and be awesome!
Use heightened awareness, and later heroism to pump up your knowledges.
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Swashigator Vs Strength Based Reach
The Str Based build will Have the Higher DPR.
The Swashigator Blows out the Skills department.
Neither is wrong at all and BOTH have their place. It is just in the end game more of the extracts lean towards boosting STR more than Dex.
I personally like the Dex build as Darring Do and Inspiration is very nice. Plays like a much Better rogue (A class I won't play). And you can have the whole Mutagen+ Cat's Grace+ Reduce Person by Level 5. With Parry and Riposte you can do some work when forced into combat or singled out when the tank is busy.
That is just the comparison of the Two. One has a better DPR and the Other has more skill synergy.
I honestly think you will be fine with a Bard Inspiring you as well. You will be the rogue type without taking such a horrid class like rogue.
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There's no reason the Str based investigator does not also have major skills
I did not say he does not have major skills.
It is just the Dex version is better at skills than the STR version.
A Str Investigator takes an INT hit when Mutagen is Online and his Dex skills (Like disable device) will not be as high as the guy with a 26-28 Dex.
So the swashigator will have a higher INT and DEX based skill checks. Which covers alot more than STR based SKills...most STR based skills become Obsolete with Extracts anyways. Climb is replaced with Fly, Swim you can gain breathing underwater and a swim speed.
Not to mention Darring Do offering situational boosts to certain skills when needed.
Dex-Based performs better at a lot of skills, yes.
By the way, is it just me or is Acrobatics prohibitively difficult in this game? I have a LV9 DEX-based character with maxed Acrobatics + derring-do and I cannot reliably move thorugh occupied squares, last time my character almost died when the AoO turned out to be a crit.
Questioner archetype can anything whether in melee combat? Can someone try?
problem with the questioner is that they can't cast in armor and they don't get mage armor.
There's always Arcane Armor Training for the ol' mithral kikko.