Between boosted items, constructs, and going into overdrive, having a Pathfinder Inventor in your party will keep things exciting.
Coming from the Guns & Gears book, the Inventor is a class of tinkerers. Instead of studying magic, the create and craft the impossible. In world full of magic and fantasy, Inventors bring a little more science to the table. Sure, it’s fantasy-sci-fi, steampunk sort of science. But this is the character who builds their own weapons and is always coming up with some new piece of technology that will definitely solve all of the party’s problems.
The Pathfinder Inventor Basics
With all of the new creations they’re about to bring into the adventure, Inventors are one of the Intelligence based classes, taking a boost to the attribute right from level one. They begin the game with expert level training in their Fortitude and Will Saving throws. Additionally, the gain training in Perception, Reflex, Crafting, simple weapons, martial weapons, unarmed attacks, light armor, medium armor, unarmored defense, and a number of additional skills equal to their Intelligence modifier plus three.
In combat encounters, Pathfinder Inventors will tend to rely on their inventions as much as possible. Winning the battle would be great. But they are almost more interested in testing their latest creation out in the field. Every fight is an opportunity to collect data. Conversely, in the time between battles your party’s Inventor is probably tinkering with, updating, and fixing those creations. And if not, they’re thinking about tinkering.
There may be a reflex to make an Inventor as a somewhat awkward character in social situations. And that can be a fine and very fun trope. But when a topic comes up that they have knowledge of, they are going to be able to speak on it with authority and passion. And of course, the Inventor is no stranger to the odd job. After all, neither tools nor parts are cheap.
Innovations
Chances are, your Inventor isn’t going to be a one trick pony. There’s going to be a number of things they’ve made for a number of different occasions and needs. But they’re going to have a preeminent work; a special interest, a fixation, possibly their magnum opus. The character’s Innovation represents this crafting interest.
If an Inventor’s Innovation is destroyed, they can spend a full day of downtime to attempt to rebuild it. Innovations can take the form of a suit of armor, a weapon, or a construct. And each has between seven and ten special abilities and modifications that they can add.
Equipment Traits
Depending on the Inventor’s abilities, they may be able to grant their equipment the following traits:
Climbing: The weapon is available to climb.
Hampering: After you hit something with this weapon, you can give the target a ten foot penalty to all speeds.
Ranged Trip: This is a thrown weapon that can be used to trip enemies.
Tethered: This ranged weapon can be pulled back after it is shot of thrown or after it has been disarmed.
Multiclassing a Pathfinder Inventor
An adventurer who already has a class, but also feels a need to tinker and create may want to multiclass as an Inventor. They are a good fit for characters with high intelligence who want to learn a few new tricks.
Multiclassing as an Inventor will give a player access to the feats Inventor Dedication, Basic, and Advanced Breakthrough, Brilliant Crafter, Explosion, and Basic Modification.
How to Play a Pathfinder Inventor
Inventor is an incredibly unique class. It lets you change the rules to your own gear and make things that may be otherwise impossible in a fantasy setting. But part of the nature of inventing and tinkering with these items is that you’ll have to keep track of all of it. You may need specific tools or parts. You may have an item that’s temporarily out of commission or another that’s recently changed pretty dramatically. You may also craft up some gadgets with a specific effect that’s perfect for whatever scrape your party just got into.
The kind of Innovation you pick will also shape what abilities you have and what your Inventor makes. It will likely even alter your playstyle or your character’s personality to an extent. A suit of armor or a weapon with special abilities may make you especially fast or stealthy or more fiersesome on the battlefield. But a robotic companion to help you all of the time also sounds pretty cool.
Pathfinder Inventors also have the ability to go into Overdrive. Once per round, you can have your gizmos push you a little harder to add extra power to your attacks. There’s a chance that something may explode, sure. But there’s also a chance to deal much more damage.
Build Your Own Success
For an Inventor, the time between encounters is almost more important than the time in them. You’ll spend that time working on your Innovation, making new weapons and gadgets, and preparing for whatever situation you can imagine. Not to mention, your party will almost definitely have a few favors, modifications, and requests for you.
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Similarly, you’ll want to prepare a little for what kinds of things you’ll want your character to bring to the table and make. This may mean more of the boring stuff like shopping for the parts you need. But that will probably translate to a more dynamic encounter later when all of your plans come together.
Happy adventuring!
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