So I'm running a home game that takes place in Magnimar and the PC's have angered the sczarni enough that old man Scarnetti is calling in a professional to deal with them. They have already met this foe but they do not realize he's a foe yet. I wanted him to be the combo used in my heading because it seemed cool when someone else suggested it. I have no idea how to optimize it though.
They are sixth and he has one helper who is a Greymalkin Rogue, so I figured this enemy could be 8th-9th built around a 20-25 point buy.
Any advice welcome.
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I'd say look at an unchained rogue instead.
While I love playing my investigator, it makes for a very bad NPC class. To really make the class work requires a lot of tricks and playing really clever with your talents and alchemical buffs. It's a lot of work for an NPC. While from the viewpoint of the players, the GM is spending a lot of time on an enemy that acts a lot like a rogue or bard.
I just heard there was some really powerful synergy. Ultimately this enemy (His name is Mr. Leeds) is more of a swashbuckler/assassin who likes to ambush, isolate, and then out duel his prey. He prepares areas where he can get his foe off balance and give him the advantage. (Obviously within reason for the party to handle)
So if the combo above is a no go then it's more likely I'll just make him a straight Inspired Blade Swashbuckler.
Alchemist might end up a better fit for the same purpose. Toss out some smoke or entangling bombs, maybe vomit up a swarm or two, and then let everyone else get distracted so you ca attack. Possibly with poison, because assassins.
Overall, same synergy, but you are dealing with less resources (since investigator has a lot of the same resources, and more; mutagens, extracts, and such).
Lemeres that is such a good idea that I've already used it. Mr. Leeds is the second hired assassin the players will have to deal with, the previous one being Osborne Kingsley (see where I'm going with this?) who was an alchemist. Kingsley was hired to attack someone else but the players fought him and took him down. Part of the result of that scenario led to the hiring of Mr. Leeds. So I'd like him to be different and while I'm aware that any two given alchemists can play completely differently if I throw a second alchemist assassin in, then it's a thing and my players will react differently than how I want them to. If investigator is close to alchemist then I suppose that's on me, I don't have a good knowledge of the investigator class.
Swashbucklers make pretty good antagonists for PCs at appropriate levels, because they can be made really good at what they're good at (swordfighting!) but if the PCs want to attack the weak points not the strengths, there are a lot of inherent weaknesses in the class.
My players are a Skald/Dragon Disciple, a Hunter w/ stegosaurus, a shaman, a barbarian, and a wizard- abjurer. If that helps.
Both the Skald and the Hunter fight with polearms, and they and the barbarian all have paired opportunist.
The wizard mostly buffs and throws out the occasional magic missile.
The Shaman is playing a class that I haven't fully read so I'm not very sure of his abilities but he seems to be like a life oracle so far.
Human for the feat. The reach swordmaster flair plus a long arm extract for good reach, or step up to stay in a reach donut. Alternately, replace step up feats with CE and Imp Disarm, or following step with stepup and strike or lunge. Extracts of blur or displacement for more defense, and maybe vomit swarm if they give him space. Inspiring fortuitous rapier.
Dex>int/con>Wis>dump str/cha
Traits: brutal intellect, fencer
1: rapier finesse, focus, grace, combat reflexes
3: weapon trick, mutagen
5: quick study, concentrate poison or inspired intimidator
7: step up, sickening offensive
9: following step, combat inspiration
cult of vorg what levels of which is that build? btw TY
Swash 1 investigator 8.. huh, I put in the swash 7/9 prereqs there, sorry, no combat inspiration, all those talents need to be bumped one level forward.. boo me..
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If you're going to describe an investigator without mentioning extracts, why aren't you just building a swashbuckler? Whether your damage bonus comes out of precise strike or studied combat doesn't matter that much.
Extracts for the enterprising Inspired Blade/Investigator
level 1
Disguise Self
Heightened Awareness
Illusion of Calm
Longarm
Shield
level 2
Ablative Barrier
Aram Zey's Focus
Barkskin
Blistering Invective
Cat's Grace
Focused Scrutiny
Resist Energy
See Invisibility
Undetectable Alignment
Vomit Swarm
level 3
Absorb Toxicity
Assume Appearance
Burrow
Displacement
Fly
Heroism
level 4
Caustic Blood
Communal Air Walk
Dragon's Breath
Freedom of Movement
Greater Invisibility
Those should get you started.
If you're going to describe an investigator without mentioning extracts, why aren't you just building a swashbuckler? Whether your damage bonus comes out of precise strike or studied combat doesn't matter that much.
First of all thank you. Second who is the above directed at?
I could just make him a swashbuckler and that's my backup plan, I'm a little worried that having a poor will save will be his doom though, also a swashbuckler will have a lot less ways of isolating opponents and I don't care how well I build him If he has to fight all three of their frontline at once he's going down hard. Their paired opportunist combo stuff is pretty awesome, I figured if he was an investigator he might have some terrain stuff he could do, don't really know.
Also I recognize that using a class I don't know very well is probably setting myself up for failure but I figured if people gave me builds I could research those and it would give me a good starting point.
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Investigators are great for fighting single opponents. It's a little harder for them to manage a group, but not impossible. You said the Investigator has a Rogue helper?
For boosting damage/accuracy, look for everything you can to boost Dex. Mutagen for Dex. Alter Self (if he's already small)/Reduce Person if he's medium. Cat's Grace if he doesn't already have a +4 belt of Dex.
Then Heroism for another +2 to-hit and a +2 to saves. If you want to do what most PCs do, use a potion of Heroism with Alchemical Allocation.
For defense, all the Dex boosts will help. Also an extract of Displacement. EDIT: And Barkskin of course. And the natural armor from mutagen stacks.
Fighting a single opponent, he can burst Studied Strike. Swift study, attack, expend Studied Strike if he hits with his last attack. Repeat the next round spending Inspiration to study the target a second time. Very effective against a single opponent. Maybe not an advisable primary strategy against a group.
Other than that, extracts that help nullify group strategies. See Invisibility and Resist Energy are good if those are things the group uses. He's an Investigator, so use that from a roleplaying standpoint to make the fight harder. If he knows the group, then he'd have time to know their strengths, weaknesses, and strategies. So it's fair to have him prepared for them. Things like picking terrain that makes it hard for how they typically fight.
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First of all thank you. Second who is the above directed at?
Mostly at Cult of Vorg. While there's nothing incorrect about what he's saying, by leaving out the extracts you miss a lot of what the investigator is about.
I didn't mean to be nasty about it. But I guess I'm oversensitive about people using the investigator "wrong" :P
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Anyway, I get your concerns about a bad guy keeling over from a failed Will save. Investigators are probably better than swashbucklers at that sort of thing. But on the whole I think it's a class that works better as a PC (players enjoying all the wheels turning) than as a GM (big complicated monster to run).