I'm building a new character for PFS and was hoping I could get some mechanical build advice.
How might I better represent the various mechanical armaments of my mechanic's mech?
Currently, I'm thinking of using a reflavored kusarigama for the claw pincer and boots (love the ability to leverage my Athletics to disarm and Trip at reach), and chakram for the buzz saw launcher. For extra range, I'm also using an arbalest for the concealed "surprise!" nail gun (not shown).
I'm wondering if there are more efficient ways of representing the mech's armament mechanically though, and so wanted to get some second opinions.
For example, I have a steel shield (I like to think of Raise Shield as his protecting the cockpit with his mech arms), but because the kusarigama is a two-handed weapon, I have to do a lot of weapon juggling to be able to use it. It also won't work too well with Tamper inventor feat I intend to take later (which I plan to combine with Kneecap at level 5 to really much up an enemy's turn before Explosive Leaping away).
Is there a more optimal solution somewhere that I might be overlooking? (I want to make absolutely certain before investing 20 AP into the kusarigama access.)
Whatever changes you might recommend, I would like to stick with inventor as it is a class I haven't tried yet. It occurred to me that a construct summoner with Meld Into Eidolon might work better to represent such a concept, but I already have a summoner in PFS.
If it helps, here is the character sheet as it stands now, and here is the current Pathbuilder progression I had in mind.
As an aside, does anyone know of a really talented artist who might take a commission to turn that miniature photo into detailed digital painting or fantasy illustration?
Anyone?
Sorry. Couple things that make my advice suspect.
One, I have only seen Inventor played a couple of times and very briefly both times. And both times, I found it to be a bit underwhelming. Also, the class doesn't seem to build characters that I am overly interested in playing, so I haven't looked into it much.
Two, and more importantly, I am not really understanding the character concept that you are trying to create. I feel like the first post is actually a follow-up post to a full description post that I am not seeing.
It certainly does feel like I'm facing a lot of constraints, some of which are self-imposed. For example some people elsewhere have recommended I get a companion construct that I can ride in. However, I already have a similar character, and never intended the mech-like battle armor to be able to act independently of its pilot wearer.
In lieu of having a true weapon innovation, I'm hoping to take advantage of weapon traits to represent certain thematic aspects of the character that also happen to combo well with his feats.
For example, I could kite someone by hobbling them with Tamper and Kneecap, then Explosive Leap behind cover to pelt them with a few ranged attacks.
Or I could use my reach advantage to skirmish in melee while still continuing to hobble the opponent with disarm and trip maneuvers with fundamental rune boosts and Muscular Exoskeleton.
Against multiple enemies I'll have Explode and Megavolt, which works well with a third action reach Strike or Stride.
Against tougher foes with resistance, I have Megaton Strike.
For tanking I have the shield and will eventually get Electrify Armor.
If I need to close quickly, or get out of Dodge, I can Explosive Leap (twice in a row if I'm lucky), then fall and use my reaction to perform a Rolling Landing. With Fleet and Speed Boosters, I should be able to cover quite a lot of ground if necessary (and get over potential obstacles as well).
Even if he's not the most optimal build, I suspect he will be fun to play because there is something he can do in almost any situation.
Now I'm just making sure I don't overlook any good build opportunities or ways to tighten the build into something more efficient.
I found Unstable to be too important to waste on Explosive leap and I soon retrained out of it. Until level 14, only 1 Unstable for most combats is a real restrain.
I planned to do the same once the pricing for blast boots became a drop in the bucket.
I don't really get why some of the weaker versions of such a cheap item is better than the class feat in nearly every way. It really cheapens the feat, especially since the boots are the same action cost and don't interfere with other abilities.
I suppose there could be some value in having both though, to allow multiple big leaps in the same encounter.