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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 7:22PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jan 11, 2005
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I posted a similar inquiry over on the Eberron board, thinking the collective setting knowledge might be of some benefit, but I've received nothing. So I turn here.
My goal: to build an effective House Medani Inquisitive for an Eberron home game. Here is a description of the characteristics of such a rake that I pulled from eberronunlimited: "When secrets and plots are as much the coin of the realm as the galifar, the value of the counter-spy cannot be undervalued. From the inquisitive sleuths that simply observe the scene of a crime and gain seemingly unnaturally canny insights as to what happened, to the risk taking playboy lifestyle of an agent tasked with discovering what nefarious plot is being devised and putting a stop to it before it has time to come to fruition, you are a Medani. While your character may never have heard of Sherlock Holmes or James Bond, they would doubtlessly see both men as brothers, cut from the same cloth as himself."
Such a character, in my view, should be trained in Insight, Perception, and Streetwise, for sure. Possibly Thievery and certainly at least one CHA skill (probably Bluff over Diplomacy, but I can see both as possibilities). He should have access to Ritual Casting. Bard and Half-elf seem natural choices--to say nothing of the fact that Half-elf and Medani go together the way the designers intended. BUT, Mark of Finding is a heaping pile of a dragonmark feat and is particularly ineffective for a Bard. Furthermore, I don't buy into the Prescient Bard build and what it gives up in its WIS investment, but I can't figure out other ways to sufficiently cover those WIS skills so central to the concept (though I suppose Bard of All Trades might be a fix for this; but that begs the question of burning feat slots that I may need elsewhere). Medani Trueseer is an unappealing PP.
Have others tried building a character of this nature and done so effectively? If so, what choices have you made?
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 8:02PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Apr 25, 2002
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Bard who MC's into Sorcerer can pick up Sorcerous Vision - that lets you use Arcana for Insight/Perception.
Honestly, I'd likely look into Bard/Resourceful Magician MC Swordmage/Sorcerer. I'd also be sure to train in relevant skills, not necessarily skills you think belong. As an example, my Bard is trained in Acrobatics - because there's a benefit to being trained in Acrobatics, but not Diplomacy. Bard of All Trades resolves the Diplomacy skill check problem nicely enough, though.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 8:06PM
#3
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It should be noted that, for 4e purposes, Medani and Half-Elf are not "intended." Any race can be part of any house in Eberron's 4e, by intention. The developers opened it up on purpose.
As for the build, Arcana can cover nearly every skill in the game with the right classes. Bard, being able to MC into multiple classes, can cover all of that. Plus you can abuse the fun RAW loophole in Resourceful Magician to get eight Cantrips.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 8:19PM
#4
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For detectives, Avenger is the natural fit. WIS/INT, can snatch up the relevant skills pretty easily, they even like being half-elves and Scholars.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 8:26PM
#5
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For detectives, Avenger is the natural fit. WIS/INT, can snatch up the relevant skills pretty easily, they even like being half-elves and Scholars.
Wait, capital-S Scholars? Meaning the theme? That's the theme on my favorite character (and I wouldn't trade it for anything), but he's almost comically unoptimized (I'll just say "Runepriest MC Bard" and leave it there). Never thought I'd see it actually recommended in CharOp. What do Avengers like about it?
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 8:48PM
#6
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You're a half-elf, it gives +INT to damage in exchange for being good at monster knowledge. What do you think you're gonna do with it?
I suggest tacking Divine Identification (from the Strange Gods article in D398) on as well.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 9:08PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Apr 19, 2012
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The Traveler's Insight feat is so great combined with Scholar, as well. It's my favorite combo.
The idea is that Scholar's feature lets you learn all core languages and Traveler's Insight gives you a feat bonus to Insight equal to the number of languages known.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 9:24PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Apr 29, 2006
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As far as key abilities and skills go, I would cast my net a bit further. Inquisitor-type characters in popular media are usually portrayed as being extremely smart and/or knowledgeable. And its usually be combining their observations with past knowledge that they get their greatest epiphanies. So I would add Intelligence and all the knowledge skills to the list of considerations.
And, yes, that seems counter-intuitive to narrowing down this character build to something manageable. But bare with me.
The Legend Lore skill power allows you to replace History for a knowledge check once per encounter, and the Arcane Mutterings skill power allows you to replace Arcana for a social skill with the same frequency. It is a bit of an investment though. You'll need to take these two specific skills, devote your 2nd level utility power, and probably pick up the Skill Power feat while you're at it. But with a decent focus on int, you can effectively turn two skill into eight (arcana, bluff, diplomacy, dungeoneering, history, intimidate, nature, religion). Or at least do so often enough to have profound flashes of Holmes-y brilliance. And you can then focus on Wis to up your perception and insight checks. Streetwise is left out of the loop, you can still cover that with the Seek Rumour ritual to use Arcana instead.
Also, a focus on Int also opens up some additional class and build options. Avengers (Wis/Int), Invokers (Wis/Int), wizards (Int/Cha and Int/Wis), Artificers (Int/Wis), Warlocks (Cha/Int), Shamans (Wis/Int), Psions (Int/Cha and Int/Wis) as well as cunning bards (Cha/Int) are all excellent options as far as primary stats are concerned. Though if you'd rather skip Int, Clerics (Wis/Cha) and Paladin (Cha/Wis) could possibly work. Either way, you have more options than just Prescient Bard.
There are also some themes that work very well with this type of character. Seer is very effective. At 5th level, you get a bonus to Insight and Bluff, and at 10th, you always roll Perception twice. And the powers are pretty nice too. Guttersnipe is a solid theme, and at 10th level you get an sizable power bonus to Streetwise and the ability to make a free action Streetwise check 1/day. Very nice if you can wait that long. And Scholars get bonus languages and skills.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 9:26PM
#9
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..and nevermind the little detail that whomever you play with at a table will hate this character, but I guess that comes with wanting to be Sherlock Holmes.
An indicated level start would be useful information, as for example there is a paragon path that allows you to base all Int/Wis/Cha skills on one of the three.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 9:36PM
#10
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I suggest tacking Divine Identification (from the Strange Gods article in D398) on as well.
I don't see this in the Compendium, but the name intrigues me. Would you be so kind as to elaborate a bit?
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