Okay, first off, yes, I understand certain things in the playtest document have already been stated to be under review/slated to be changed.
I just wanted to get my thoughts on the Inventor playtest down though.
1) The initial proficiencies seem fine. Starting with Expert in Fortitude and Will saves seems like an interesting mix. There's a little part of me that thinks they should get 4 + Int mod in trained skills, but that's not a deal-breaker by any stretch of the imagination, as Int is their key ability. Starting Inventors are probably going to be Trained in 5-7 skills plus Crafting.
Likewise, the Attacks and Defenses training seems alright. From the Hit Points gained per level, along with other considerations, at least at early levels, they're not intended to be front-line defenders/tanks.
2) Explode - I'm concerned about the accidental friendly fire possibilities of this, but it's not dealing so much damage that you're likely to wipe your own party with it.
I would not mind seeing a feat that changes the area of effect of Explode, though. Perhaps something like the Cleric's Directed Channel feat, where they can turn it into a cone.
3) Innovations - okay, here's the core of the class.
Armor innovation - the armor is mechanically similar to chain mail or a breastplate, but in the composite group. I'm not sure the group actually matters as a) the Inventor doesn't gain access to armor specialization as a class feature and b) has the option at 9th level to choose a resistance to weapon damage types.
The Initial Armor Modifications seem fine. It's not a lot of resistance, but it is resistance at 1st level and going forward. I feel that the Thermal Insulation is going to be the go-to one to avoid damage from critically failing at Overdrive.
The Breakthrough Armor Modifications also seem balanced, but I feel that there could be another option or two here for some flavor. Just having "take a weapon damage type resistance" or "upgrade to heavy armor" seems a little lacking.
The Revolutionary Armor Modifications also seem balanced, but again a little lackluster in the flavor department. It's either broad-band energy resistance, broad-band physical resistance, strong focused physical resistance, or an extra Rune. I feel that the extra Rune is going to be the go-to choice for a lot of Inventors simply because it offers more flexibility.
All told, the Armor Innovation isn't bad. You can be very tanky with it, but it's very much resistance based. The right modifications can offset, with damage mitigation, the lower AC that the Inventor will have compared to other users of medium or heavy armor. At a minimum, you'll have two energy resistances, and feats can crank that up.
Construct Innovation - I like this one, simply because it has lots of different options. You gain a minion, it has lots of inherent immunities due to being a construct, and the initial modifications are a good mix.
You can make it amphibious (although since it doesn't need to breath, presumably it could walk along the bottom of a body of water, which may not be ideal), give it better senses, increased mobility, extra attacks or better skills.
That's a nice mix of options.
The Breakthrough Construct Modifications are also a nice mix of options. Better weaponry, a climb speed, more Hit Points, or better skills. My one complaint here is that the climb speed is only half it's land speed. Given that if you take the amphibious option as an initial modification, it's got a swim speed equal to it's land speed, but it's climb speed is only half that?
But then, I may have been considering a spider construct....
The Revolutionary Construct Modifications are again, an interesting mix. Flight, the ability to slot a property rune, damage resistance, or the ability to transform into a barricade.
I feel that there's a lot of interesting flavor possibilities that don't detract from it's usefulness in combat in the Construct Innovation, but then, it's something that allows more options than Weapon or Armor Innovations, simply due to the nature of the Innovation.
Weapon Innovation - As with the Armor Innovation, I like the whole "even if others are trained in the base item, they're not trained in this", because it keeps people from treating Inventors as loot piñatas.
The Initial Weapon Modifications are... an odd mix.
Complex Simplicity is probably going to be the go-to choice, at least for Inventors who stick to simple weapons, because it increases the damage die, and gives it a versatile damage type, which is useful against certain monsters.
Most of the rest of the options though.... In a flavor sense, it's interesting.... "How does your warhammer have the trip trait and do slashing damage?" but outside of the trip trait, I'm not sure how useful most of those are. Okay, that's a lie. The Segmented Frame option for a polearm just sounds funny as all get out.
The Modular Head... okay, if you look at that in isolation, it's kind of meh. It only really starts to shine with further modifications, but I still think the increase damage die is going to be more popular.
Possibly a dumb question, though. If you use Modular Head for the ammunition of a ranged weapon, is it one Interact action per piece of ammunition? Or is it "Interact - now my crossbow does bludgeoning!"
The Breakthrough Weapon Innovations - A good mix of mechanically interesting options.
Advanced Rangefinder will probably be the go-to choice for those Inventors who went with a ranged weapon, but Integrated Gauntlet is also a nice choice.
Manifold Alloy is an interesting choice, but the usefulness of it is very dependent on what sort of game you're in. But that's true for a lot of class options, across all classes.
One thing I'm not sure about is the "add this trait and versatile {X}" being in the Breakthrough Weapon Innovations. It feels a little weak, mechanically. But it could lead to a variety of traits on one weapon, in combination with the Initial Weapon Modification.
Revolutionary Weapon Modifications - Again, not sure that the "Add {trait}" modifications are ideal here. This is a 17th level choice. And especially because you can take Enhanced Damage (but not stack it with "Complex Simplicity"), or Deadly Strike, or Impossibly Alloy, or Rune Capacity.
Given those choices, adding "backswing and shove" to your weapon innovation.... seems weak... or at least lack-luster in comparison.
If I had to rate the Innovations, I'd say it looks like Construct is overall the best choice, just for sheer flexibility, as it can be a tank minion, a scout, a mount, etc. Then Weapon Innovation, as again, there's flexibility and some interesting options. Then Armor, as it all generally seems to revolve around "take less damage", but mostly in a limited function.
On to the rest of the class features. (And I'm going to skip some of them, like the Skill and General Feats, because those seem fairly bog-standard for the class.)
Overdrive as a "at the start of combat buff" is nice. Again, I feel that for Armor Innovations, Thermal Insulation will be the go-to choice to mitigate the occasional Critical Failure. But this provides an extra reason to go with a good Intelligence stat.
Getting the "Inventor" feat at first level is nice, and not really game-breaking. Depending on how much down-time a game has, an Inventor can, monetary costs notwithstanding, learn to make pretty much anything with very little excuse.
Reconfigure (3rd level) - retraining for your Innovation. Good option, because you never know when a choice you made earlier is going to turn out to not work well. I like that it's spelled out as a class feature.
Weapon Innovator (5th level) - appropriate level for it, and a nice boost if you selected a Weapon Innovation.
Offensive Boost (7th level) - Interesting option. It's kind of a weapon property rune without taking up a rune slot. I like how if you take the Armor Innovation, you still have access to this.
Complete Reconfiguration (15th level) - Instead of swapping out one modification (or modification feat) at a time through reconfigure, you can swap them all out at once. Saves on downtime.
Infinite Invention (19th level) - The only point where you can swap out your type of Innovation (Although, can you swap it out through retraining? I would assume not.)
Frankly, I wish this was a little lower level, at by the time you're 19th level, you're probably pretty accustomed to the type of Innovation you selected back at 1st level.
Feats (again, going to skip some things here)
1st level
Explosive Leap - Nice, but I wish it wasn't Unstable. Until we see how the Unstable mechanic changes, though, it's hard to tell if this is worth taking. Yes, it's a mobility option, but it seems niche.
Unstable Repair - so.... Battlefield Medic (sort of) on your Innovation? It does lead to the interesting conundrum of it taking one action in combat, and much longer (until you get Quick Repair, at least) out of combat.
2nd level
Kickback Strike - I'm assuming that the last sentence is supposed to say "You must end each Stride further from the foe than you began." (not Strike)
Searing Restoration - You know, I'd honestly like to see this be able to affect the Construct Innovation as well. Call it "Repair Protocols".
Transform Armor - So, everyone is already thinking of the suitcase armor up sequence in Iron Man 2, right?
4th level
Diving Armor - Nice option. It's still a bit niche, but being able to breathe underwater definitely beats the alternative of not being able to breathe underwater.
Megaton Strike - Unstable trait again (and again, we don't know how that's going to shake out), but it's a pretty beefy choice. If this wasn't limited in some way, it would end up getting used every round.
6th level
Clockwork Celerity - Until we know how the Unstable trait is going to work, it's impossible to say if this is even going to be worth taking.
Megavolt - Similar to Megaton Strike, in terms of "will get used every round if allowed".
Visual Fidelity - I like this one. Extra senses, turns invisible creatures into just concealed, and can counteract blindness. Doesn't say it applies to a Construct Innovation (if you have one), so I'm going to assume that it doesn't.
8th level
Gigaton Strike (requires Megaton Strike) I'm not sure this is really worth it. A feat choice to add a "maybe I shove you" to another feat. Especially considering that Megaton Strike is probably going to end up on a limited use per combat.
Overdrive Ally - Okay, it's only a one-round buff, and it requires an action, but it's an interesting option for when you're pretty sure an ally is going to hit.
My problem with the 8th level feats is that if you didn't take Megaton Strike at 4th level, and you don't have a Construct Companion, your only choice for this level of feats is Overdrive Ally. (Yes, I know you can take feats from earlier levels, and I think that's going to happen a fair bit.)
10th level
Electrify Armor - I don't like that it's unstable, but I understand why it's unstable. Also, it lasts a minute, so hopefully you shouldn't need to activate it a second time in combat.
Manifold Modifications - This is probably going to be the go-to choice for 10th level feats. It just makes your Innovation BETTER. And that's the core of the class.
Tinker's Meddling - ehhh.... I mean, okay, only on a Critical Failure does this go awry, but *looks at Manifold Modifications* this just isn't selling itself to me.
12th level
Boost Modulation - It takes an Interact action, which is fine, and it lets you swap out your Offensive Boost damage type to one of two other types, which is very nice, in terms of "that monster has a vulnerability to {X}"
Gigavolt (requires Megavolt) - okay, unlike Gigaton Strike, I think this one is worthwhile. GS's possible shove does not compare to bouncing a line of electricity off of walls.
Shared Overdrive (requires Overdrive Ally) - this turns Overdrive Ally into a longer buff. Nice choice. I think this brings Overdrive Ally up to really being worth taking, if an Inventor wants to go that route.
14th level
Eternal Meddler (requires Tinker's Meddling) - You have to wait four levels after getting Tinker's Meddling to make that feat really worthwhile. But then, they get the same Offensive Boost you have until you prepare again.
Question - if you have Boost Modulation, does it switch over your ally's boost on the same Interact, or is it stuck at whatever you had your Offensive Boost on at the time?
Unstable Redundancies - Until we know how the Unstable trait is going to shake out, there's no way of knowing if this is worth taking.
16th level
Soaring Armor - "Yeah, I can fly."
You Failed to Account for... THIS! - Mad Scientist your way out of an attack with a Crafting check. The usefulness of this will depend on your AC versus your Crafting DC. If you've been ignoring that skill (although WHY?)....
The problem with the feats for this level is that there's only two feats, and one of them requires Armor Innovation. So, if you took Weapon or Construct Innovation, and you're not dipping into lower level feats, you have one option.
18th level
Devastating Weaponry (requires Weapon Innovation) - hits EVERYTHING in the area of effect. Weapon AOE. Uh... might have an issue with friendly fire.
Engine of Destruction (requires Construct Innovation) - your Construct strides and then unleashes the same size AOE as Devastating Weaponry. See the above friendly fire issue.
Multifarious Meddler (requires Eternal Meddler) - Automatically apply your offensive boost to the entire party. Oh look, a damage option without friendly fire accidents.
Negate Damage (requires Armor Innovation) - as a reaction, block 50 damage. Nice. And Unstable. But uh, if it wasn't, that would be your reaction every round.
Every Innovation type gets a choice here. Or, if you've gone the "Meddler" route, you're a damage buffing machine.
20th level
Full Automaton - Permanently quickened; what you can do with it depends on your Innovation. Seems pretty in line with other classes perma-quicken.
Ubiquitous Overdrive (requires Shared Overdrive) - Automatically Overdrive six allies when you kick in Overdrive.
If you didn't go the Overdrive upgrades, there's only one choice for 20th level, but it's a nice choice.
If you did go with the Overdrive upgrades (and I think you can go both the Overdrive route and the Meddler route with your feat picks), you're disgustingly good at buffing your party's damage.