What would be a good build for a solo Pathfinder Society agent?

[ElyasRavenwood]

What would be a good build for a solo pathfinder agent?

Would it be a bard? archeologist archetype? an archivist archetype?

How about a pathfinder chronicler prestige class? or a pathfinder agent prestige class?

Am I barking up the wrong tree? should I do a druid hunger cleric witch wizard?

What do you all think?

Thanks

[DominusMegadeus]

Bard/Mesmerist/Rogue/Inquisitor/Investigator is probably the right direction to look. Something with the right skills to get where you need to be, and enough fight in you to get out in case your cover is blown.

Mesmerist is especially nice because with Cunning Caster you can cast right out in the open if your Bluff is good enough. Always make sure to stay a good distance away when you do though to get that distance penalty to their Perception.

[G-unit]

A lot of good choices but I like investigators. Skills to spare, extracts for versitlity, and inspiration to help you out of a jam.

[ElterAgo]

Anything with lots of skill ranks, a bit of casting, and enough martial to defend himself.

Bard, investigator, or inquisitor seem like the best bets to me.

[MageHunter]

Swashbuckler/Wizard Eldritch Knight. Inspired Blade for fencing grace at first level. A single spell level behind, Medium BAB, and good HP. Plus with Magical Knack their spells are just as powerful. Lots of ideas in this thread.

[Deadmanwalking]

What other people have said, basically.

A class with 6-level casting, 6+Int Skill Points per level, and preferably social skills and trapfinding.

Which narrows it down to Investigator (preferably Empiricist with Student of Philosophy) and Bard (Archaeologist). Both of which are excellent choices.

If you are willing to do without the Trapfinding and maybe social stuff, Inquisitor, Hunter, non-Archetyped Bard, and Mesmerist become available. All of those are decent choices as well (Mesmerist being the weakest choice since it lacks healing magic to take care of itself).

If willing to also drop skill points a bit, you can add Medium, Occultist, and Alchemist to that list.

And if willing to ditch spells, Vigilante and Slayer are also decent choices (actually, Vigilante can work with some archetypes even with spellcasting, but not as well as the first tier choices IMO).

[Alex Mack]

Psychic Searcher Oracle.

Brings less versatility (and skills) but more raw power in the form of 9th level casting.

Max out UMD and carry scrolls and Wands for every occasion.

Can be combined with the Warsighted archetype for more combat capacity, and versatility. However this comes at the cost of your revelations.

[Chess Pwn]

Why are you asking this? PFS isn't a solo game.
so 1 You can't cover everything needed in all PFS games.
and 2, it's a team game, bringing a solo-guy into a team game will likely get the player out of the game.
PFS agents are to cooperate, thus bring a guy that cooperates and not one that tries to hog everything.

[Smallfoot]

Chess Pwn wrote:

Why are you asking this? PFS isn't a solo game.

so 1 You can't cover everything needed in all PFS games.
and 2, it's a team game, bringing a solo-guy into a team game will likely get the player out of the game.
PFS agents are to cooperate, thus bring a guy that cooperates and not one that tries to hog everything.

I was thinking the same thing, but consider about some of the missions our PFS characters get sent on. First thing in the mission briefing: "Agent [x] has been working at [location Y] and has not reported for a month. Find out what happened." The PFS we play is clearly a team effort, but in-game, it sure looks like the Pathfinder Society has nothing against sending individuals out on missions.

Most of the answers above do seem to go in that direction. I'd agree that the build would be a jack-of-all-trades: Lots of skills, access to magic, adequate fighting ability.

[Deadmanwalking]

That also assumes it's a PC or for PFS play...neither of which are necessarily good assumptions.

I can easily see a PC group running into a solo Pathfinder Society agent being a neat thing to happen in a game, in either a friendly or adversarial fashion.

[Rosc]

Well, there are solo Pathfinders that go on missions all the time; recovering their corpses is a frequent mission objective for scenarios, after all.

But when it comes to assigning those solo agents? I assume the Venture Bros. select their operatives with a bit more care than the name-out-of-a-hat style we see represented in some sessions for PFS groups.

Is it an information gathering spy type of deal? Kitsune Rogue with the Realistic Likeness feat would be great. Looking into old ruins for ancient lore? Bards have an archetype so specifically designed for this that it's called Archeologist. Need to stop an elite enforcer group? Summoners and Druids can fight a squad with a squad. Need an interesting and flavorful agent for the previously mentioned cadaver recovery squad to feel motivated about bringing back after said agent inevitability bites the dust? Swashbuckler has you covered.

It's all about being great at a style of mission, having a bit of flexibility, and then hoping your handlers know the best way to put you to use.

[Chess Pwn]

If it's a hypothetical in game person then many classes could be sent on solo missions. Most of these solo missions are more watch and gather info with combat as something to be avoided. So expert NPC could fit the bill.

[ElyasRavenwood]

Thank you all for your posts and ideas.

I also remember reading the journals of Eando Kline and thought it would be fun to try and make a character which would be fairly self sufficient.

I was thinking of having my PCs encounter a lone NPC explorer in the ruins they were exploring.

Would they kill him outright. Would they help him? could he be a useful source of information?

Anyways just thinking.

thanks for your thoughts

[calagnar]

I don't know how people keep missing this spell. Anyone that can cast it and has disable device as a class skill can do any trap.

Aram Zey's Focus
Source Pathfinder Society Field Guide pg. 56
School divination; Level alchemist 2, arcanist 2, bard 2, investigator 2, skald 2, sorcerer/wizard 2
Gives you Trapfinding for 1min per level of caster.

Trait
Vagabond Child : Disable Device is a class skill and a +1 trait bonus.

I used this with great success on a plan bard. He was made to cover as many role as possible.

[RyanH]

I like the idea of trying to solo society scenarios. Non-PFS of course. Let the character be a little higher level than he should be, 25 point buy, some other boosts. There's many though that require splitting up to do everything you need to do.

I also like the idea of throwing a society character into a dungeon and having them run into the adventurer. Likely end up dead from lack of trust.

Oh, and I'd pick inquisitor. Has spells/healing/buffs, swift spells for action economy, melee and ranged with a repeater, excellent skill list and things like sift to search areas without taking risk. I love the inquisitor.

[G-unit]

Nice spell calagnar.

[Cory Stafford 29]

Trapper ranger 1/witch 9 with strength patron/eldritch knight 10.

[BadBird]

Something I've been looking at along the lines of an agent/explorer type is a seriously multiclassed Elf:

The Blinding Blade
Figher 1/ Snakebite Striker Brawler 1/ Spell Specialist Arcanist 4/ Arcane Trickster 2/ Eldritch Knight
Elf: 13STR, 15/17DEX(+1), 14\12CON, 15/17INT(+1), 10WIS, 8CHA
Traits: Magical Knack, Wayang Spellhunter: Dazzling Blade

1F. +F: Weapon Finesse / Elven Battle Training
2A. [Specialist Spell: Dazzling Blade (+DC)]
3B. (+1d6 Sneak Attack) / Elven Battle Style
4A.
5A. Accomplished Sneak Attacker (+2d6 Sneak Attack) / Arcanist Exploit: Potent Magic
6A. [Specialist Spell: Glitterdust (+DC)]
7AT. Elven Battle Focus
8AT. (+3d6 Sneak Attack) / [Specialist Spell: Lightning Bolt (+DC, Spell Bending)]
9EK. +EK: Power Attack / Persistent Spell

Elven Battle Focus with a curved blade and Power Attack will do strong damage by itself, and serious damage with 3d6 Sneak thrown in; base accuracy is solid with Heroism and typical Eldritch Knight BAB. The main trick, though, is that Dazzling Blade can be thrown with +3DC (+1 from Specialist, +2 from Potent Magic) and with Persistent Spell as well, making a target extremely likely to be blinded for the rest of the round (in other words, Sneak Attack candy). Skills are plentiful, and using stealth is both easier and safer with Vanish and