I did a Spiritualist (archetype) Investigator, good Int, Wis and Str.
Plopped some heavy armor, went Dwarf, played a Chronicler of the Supernatural and dungeon delver.
Hit people with axes.
Was fun! Died a noble death drowning in acid while immobilized.
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The Empiricist archetype is the first choice for many players. The archetype uses Intelligence for Disable Device, Perception, Sense Motive, and Use Magic Device checks. He can also use his Intelligence modifier instead of Charisma on any Diplomacy checks made to gather information. This ability replaces poison lore and poison resistance.
Infusion is a popular talent. It allows the character to pass out extracts, including extracts of See Invisibility.
The Quick Study talent improves your action economy in combat.
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I've played an Empiricist Investigator for low levels, and a Questioner a little farther. I don't really like what the Empiricist does but I can't deny that it's a strong archetype. The lamplighter's pretty cool too, though!
What works for melee alchemists also works pretty well with Investigators. I'm quite partial to a longspear-weilding Investigator that buffs reach to excessive levels.
An Admixture Vial can combine Enlarge Person + Long Arm for example, and let you buff yourself with both as a single standard action. Of course, this competes with Monstrous Physique/etc.
Quick Study is an absolute must of a talent, as studied combat is one of the best combat buffs in the game and an ability the class sorely relies upon in combat. Between Mutagen, Heroism, Studied Combat and Inspiration, accuracy is no problem for this class.
Therefore having a lot of attacks would work great but the class gets few enough feats that it takes forever to get archery online. TWF fares better (and you can run Artful Dodge reasonably well) but I still wouldn't consider it worth it.
Alchemy is certainly the best spellcasting for combat, but the archetypes that change it out are still good - they will make better use of the class's investigative and support potential.
So I've had a lot of fun with a empiricist, and I did take the level dip in swashbuckler. That one level honestly changed the flavor of the character.
Quick study/mutagen as said before are pretty mandatory. I've gone more of a generalist and alchemical allocation was king taking enhance potion and extend potion.
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So I've had a lot of fun with a empiricist, and I did take the level dip in swashbuckler. That one level honestly changed the flavor of the character.
Quick study/mutagen as said before are pretty mandatory. I've gone more of a generalist and alchemical allocation was king taking enhance potion and extend potion.
That's also a pretty common dip. Did you take the archetype that uses both INT and CHA for panache?
Yeah inspired, so at level 1 I had finesse, focus and fencing grace. Along with parry and riposte I had my combat pretty close to set. I have a 13 str so I went with power attack. I did go half elf for the favored bonus and since a investigator has to use umd I put my skill focus in umd. He is level 7 and i have a 19 in umd. I've had a lot of fun looking at wands i normally wouldn't touch and emergency potions.
So I pretty much have a well rounded character that is extremely accurate and does some healthy damage. Downside I'd since I can do everything I try to play him as the type that will correct someone if they are wrong, i dumped cha and honestly have had a blast. One adventure a player said that since my diplomacy was so good I should take lead... yeah didn't work out :) (at 7 with my 7 cha I have +16 diplomacy)
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I did a support investigator for a Plunder and Peril pirate game who was pretty fun. Half orc with 14 Str and 18 Int, GM gave the okay to swap the city-raised half-orc trait for cutlass prof instead of longsword prof for theme. He was pretty fun. Used Mutagen and Quick Study for combat. Didn't have the output of the bloodrager but had the skills and abilities necessary for some crucial roleplay moments.