pathfinder 2e investigator guide

Pathfinder 2e Investigator Guide: An Overview

Pathfinder 2e’s Investigator is a unique class, excelling at methodical investigation, clue-finding, and utilizing Alchemy, differing from typical dungeon-delving heroes.

Investigators in Pathfinder 2e represent a departure from traditional frontline combatants. They are masters of deduction, utilizing keen intellect and specialized skills to unravel mysteries and overcome challenges. Unlike warriors or spellcasters, Investigators thrive on gathering information, analyzing clues, and strategically exploiting weaknesses.

This class blends combat prowess with investigative expertise, offering a unique playstyle centered around “Stratagems” – carefully formulated plans to maximize damage and control the battlefield. They share similarities with Rogues, boasting numerous skills, but distinguish themselves through Advanced Alchemy and high Intelligence.

Core Concepts & Playstyle

The Investigator’s core revolves around methodical problem-solving and strategic combat. Players focus on “Formulate a Stratagem,” dedicating turns to analysis for a single, powerful Strike. This contrasts with multi-attack builds. Skill proficiency is paramount, enabling success in investigation, diplomacy, and lore.

Investigators function as Scouts, Strikers, Faces, and even Healers, showcasing versatility. Alchemy provides potent tools, while high Intelligence fuels skill checks and strategic thinking. Expect a slower, more deliberate pace, rewarding careful planning and observation.

Key Abilities & Statistics

Intelligence is the Investigator’s primary ability, driving skills and Stratagem effectiveness. Dexterity is also important for defense and some skill checks.

Importance of Intelligence

Intelligence is paramount for Investigators, influencing nearly every facet of their gameplay. It directly impacts skill checks, crucial for investigation and problem-solving, and powers their signature Stratagem ability, determining its damage and effectiveness.

A higher Intelligence score also enhances the Investigator’s access to and proficiency with Advanced Alchemy, allowing for the creation of potent potions and mutagens. Investing heavily in Intelligence is not merely recommended; it’s fundamental to maximizing the class’s potential.

Role of Dexterity & Other Stats

While Intelligence reigns supreme, Dexterity plays a significant supporting role for Investigators. It impacts their Armor Class, Reflex saves, and several key skills like Stealth and Acrobatics. A moderate Dexterity score ensures survivability and utility outside of investigations.

Constitution is important for hit points, given the class’s lower starting value. Strength is less crucial, and Charisma can be useful for social encounters, but are secondary to Intelligence and Dexterity.

Class Features Breakdown

Investigators utilize unique abilities like Formulate a Stratagem, Devise a Stratagem, Seek & Discover, and Alchemical Expertise to solve mysteries and overcome foes;

Formulate a Stratagem

Formulate a Stratagem is central to the Investigator’s combat style. This action allows the Investigator to spend an action to analyze a foe, preparing for a powerful, focused attack.

It grants a bonus to the next Strike against that creature, encouraging a single, high-damage blow instead of multiple weaker attacks. The bonus increases with level, making it a consistently valuable ability. Careful selection of the target is crucial for maximizing its effectiveness;

Devise a Stratagem

Devise a Stratagem builds upon Formulate a Stratagem, allowing Investigators to add additional effects to their Strike. These effects, chosen during the devise action, can include debilitating conditions or extra damage types.

This ability requires careful planning and resource management, as it consumes Focus Points. Mastering Stratagem combinations is key to unlocking the Investigator’s full combat potential, offering tactical flexibility and significant damage output.

Seek & Discover

Seek & Discover is a core Investigator ability, allowing them to quickly analyze a scene or creature, revealing hidden clues and weaknesses. This action utilizes the Investigator’s high Intelligence and skill proficiency, granting crucial information for investigations.

Successfully using Seek & Discover can uncover vulnerabilities exploited by Stratagems, or reveal vital details about a foe’s nature, enhancing both combat and roleplaying opportunities. It’s a defining feature of the class.

Alchemical Expertise

Alchemical Expertise is a defining characteristic of the Investigator, granting access to a wide range of potions, elixirs, and mutagens. This proficiency, fueled by Intelligence, allows Investigators to create powerful concoctions for healing, buffing, or even temporary combat enhancements.

Mastering Alchemy provides versatility, enabling them to function as healers, support characters, or augment their investigative abilities. Careful resource management is key to maximizing this potent skillset.

Ancestries & Investigator Synergies

Investigators benefit from ancestries boosting Intelligence, like Humans and Elves, enhancing their skills and Alchemical prowess for optimal performance.

Human Investigator Options

Humans offer versatility for Investigators with their adaptable nature and bonus skill feat. This allows for early specialization in crucial skills like Society or Perception, bolstering investigative capabilities. The general ancestry feats provide options to further enhance Intelligence or skill proficiency.

Consider the Versatile Heritage feat for an additional skill increase, or the Natural Ambition feat to quickly gain access to powerful class feats. Humans are a solid, reliable choice for any Investigator build, offering flexibility and immediate benefits.

Elf Investigator Options

Elves, particularly those valuing intellect, present a strong Investigator foundation. Their +2 to Intelligence is immediately beneficial, enhancing skill checks and Stratagem effectiveness. Elven ancestry feats often focus on perception and magical aptitude, complementing investigative work.

Consider the Elven Instincts feat for improved perception, or the Lore Master feat to deepen knowledge. While lacking the human’s broad versatility, elves excel at focused investigation and skill-based builds, offering a refined approach.

Other Strong Ancestry Choices

Gnomes, with their inherent illusion skills and +2 to a mental ability, offer unique investigative angles. Kobolds, surprisingly, can excel with their trapfinding and cunning, leaning into a more rogueish Investigator style.

Leshy, particularly those with a focus on observation, can be effective, while Catfolk’s agility aids in scouting. Ultimately, any ancestry boosting Intelligence or Dexterity can thrive, adapting to the Investigator’s versatile skillset.

Feats for the Investigator

Investigator feats are crucial for maximizing effectiveness, enhancing skills, and optimizing stratagem damage output, alongside combat and utility options.

Essential Investigator Feats

Several feats significantly boost an Investigator’s core capabilities. Stratagem Origin expands stratagem options, while Quick Deduction enhances Seek & Discover speed. Advanced Alchemy feats, like Efficient Alchemist, are vital for resource management. Consider Keen Eye for Perception checks, crucial for clue-finding. Signal Study improves identifying creature weaknesses, directly impacting stratagem effectiveness. Prioritizing these unlocks the Investigator’s full potential, solidifying their role as a skilled detective and combatant.

Combat Feats to Consider

Investigators aren’t frontline fighters, but combat feats improve survivability and damage output. Nimble Dodge enhances defenses, while Weapon Specialization boosts attack rolls with favored weapons. Topple can set up allies for attacks. Finesse Weapon Mastery is useful for light weapon builds. Improved Stratagem further amplifies stratagem damage. These feats help Investigators contribute effectively in combat, complementing their investigative prowess and ensuring they aren’t solely reliant on skill checks.

Skill Feats for Enhanced Investigation

Investigators thrive on skill proficiency, making skill feats crucial. Assiduous Study accelerates Recall Knowledge attempts. Categorize aids in identifying objects quickly. Swift Deduction speeds up clue analysis. Multilingual expands communication options. Keen Observation improves Perception checks. These feats amplify the Investigator’s core strengths, allowing for faster, more accurate investigations and solidifying their role as the party’s expert information gatherer.

Skills & Proficiencies

Investigators boast numerous skills, mirroring Rogues, with a focus on Intelligence-based skills like Lore and Society, alongside Alchemy and Perception.

Core Skills for Investigators

Investigators thrive with skills supporting their investigative nature. Perception is crucial for finding clues, while Society and Diplomacy aid in gathering information from contacts. Lore skills, particularly those relating to history and magic, unlock vital knowledge.

Crafting (specifically Alchemy) is paramount, enabling potion creation and mutagen use. Deception and Intimidation can be surprisingly effective for manipulating situations. Finally, Medicine provides utility for healing and analyzing substances.

Important Skill Increases

Investigators should prioritize increasing Perception to reliably uncover hidden details. Boosting Society skills enhances interactions and information gathering. Investing in relevant Lore skills, like Occultism or Nature, expands knowledge.

Don’t neglect Alchemy; higher skill levels unlock potent formulas. Increasing Deception or Intimidation provides versatility. Finally, a boost to Medicine improves healing and analytical capabilities, rounding out a well-prepared Investigator.

Proficiency in Lore & Society

Investigators thrive on knowledge, making proficiency in Lore skills crucial. Access to diverse Lore allows for identifying clues and understanding mysteries. Equally important is proficiency in Society skills, facilitating interactions and extracting information from NPCs.

These skills enable the Investigator to function as a “Face” within the party, navigating social situations effectively. Combining Lore and Society creates a well-rounded character capable of both deduction and diplomacy.

Equipment & Gear

Investigators benefit greatly from alchemical tools, reliable weapons, light armor, and essential adventuring gear to support their investigative pursuits and combat readiness.

Alchemical Tools & Supplies

Investigators are deeply reliant on their alchemical expertise, making a well-stocked kit crucial. This includes an alchemist’s lab, various reagents, and containers for concoctions. Prioritize acquiring acids, bases, and solvents for formula creation.

Consider investing in portable alchemical supplies for field work. Having a consistent source of materials allows for on-the-fly potion brewing and mutagen application, enhancing investigative capabilities and providing tactical advantages during encounters.

Weapons & Armor Choices

Investigators favor light armor, maximizing mobility for investigation and evasion. Leather or studded leather armor is ideal, balancing protection with agility. Weapon choices lean towards finesse options like rapiers, short swords, or daggers, complementing their precision-focused combat style.

Consider a ranged weapon like a shortbow or sling for tactical positioning. Prioritize weapons with versatile properties, allowing for adaptability in diverse situations. Remember, the Investigator isn’t a frontline fighter.

Useful Adventuring Gear

Investigators benefit greatly from tools aiding investigation: magnifying glasses, journals, and various writing implements are essential. Alchemist’s tools are paramount, enabling potion crafting and formula experimentation. A portable laboratory enhances field alchemy capabilities.

Don’t overlook mundane items like rope, pitons, and lockpicks for navigating obstacles; A disguise kit proves invaluable for social infiltration. Carrying antitoxins and healing potions is prudent, given the Investigator’s lower hit points.

Stratagem Strategies & Tactics

Investigators maximize Stratagem damage by focusing on a single, powerful Strike, coordinating with allies, and adapting tactics to exploit enemy weaknesses.

Maximizing Stratagem Damage

Investigators truly shine when they focus on delivering a single, devastating Strike fueled by their Stratagem. Prioritize feats and abilities that enhance critical hit chance and damage. Buffs from allies, particularly those increasing accuracy or providing weakness to specific enemy types, are invaluable.

Carefully select your target; a foe vulnerable to your chosen damage type will see a significant increase in effectiveness. Remember, the Investigator isn’t about sustained damage, but impactful bursts.

Combining Stratagems with Allies

Investigators aren’t solitary heroes; coordinating with your party dramatically amplifies your Stratagem’s impact. Allies who can inflict conditions like clumsy or flat-footed create prime opportunities for a guaranteed hit. Buffs that increase damage, like from a bard’s song, stack beautifully with your focused attack.

Communicate your target and intended Stratagem to ensure allies don’t disrupt your setup; A well-timed assist action can be the difference between a good hit and a critical success!

Adapting Stratagems to Different Foes

A successful Investigator doesn’t rely on a single Stratagem; adaptability is key. Against heavily armored foes, prioritize debuffs that lower AC. For creatures with high saves, focus on Stratagems that bypass resistances or inflict conditions they’re vulnerable to.

Consider enemy weaknesses – a fire-resistant creature won’t fear a burning Stratagem. Scouting beforehand allows you to tailor your approach, maximizing damage and ensuring your carefully planned attack lands effectively.

Multiclassing Considerations

Investigators synergize well with classes offering complementary skills or combat prowess, but avoid options that dilute their unique investigative strengths.

Synergistic Multiclass Options

Champions offer potent martial abilities that complement the Investigator’s strategic combat style, enhancing their single-strike focus. Wizards provide additional skill versatility and access to powerful spells, bolstering investigative capabilities. A dip into Rogue can further refine skill expertise, creating a master of infiltration and information gathering. Consider classes that don’t overly compete with the Investigator’s core strengths – Intelligence and skill-based actions – to maintain class identity and effectiveness.

Multiclass Builds to Avoid

Avoid heavy investment in classes demanding numerous attacks per round, like dedicated Fighters or Barbarians, as this clashes with the Investigator’s Stratagem focus. Classes heavily reliant on Strength can also be suboptimal, diminishing the Investigator’s Intelligence-based strengths. Multiclassing into spellcasters with drastically different casting traditions may dilute the Investigator’s unique alchemical and investigative identity, hindering overall synergy.

Roleplaying the Investigator

Investigators are driven by curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, often possessing eccentric personalities and complex backstories fueled by their investigative pursuits.

Personality Traits & Backstories

Investigators often exhibit intense curiosity, analytical minds, and a tendency towards eccentricity. Consider a backstory involving a past mystery, a lost mentor, or a burning desire to uncover hidden truths.

Perhaps they were disgraced academics, former law enforcement, or self-taught sleuths. Common traits include meticulousness, skepticism, and a penchant for observation. They might be aloof, obsessed, or driven by a strong moral code, shaping their interactions and motivations within the game.

Investigator Motivations & Goals

Investigators are rarely motivated by glory or riches; their drives are more intellectual. A thirst for knowledge, a need to solve puzzles, or a desire to expose corruption often fuel their adventures.

Goals might include unraveling a conspiracy, finding a lost artifact, or mastering a specific field of study. Some seek justice for past wrongs, while others are driven by pure, detached curiosity. Personal quests tied to their backstory add depth and purpose.

Advanced Alchemy & Formulas

Investigators leverage Alchemy to create potent potions, elixirs, and mutagens, gaining tactical advantages and enhancing their investigative capabilities in diverse situations.

Creating Potions & Elixirs

Investigators excel at crafting potions and elixirs, utilizing their Alchemical Expertise. This allows for the creation of healing draughts, stat-boosting concoctions, and even temporary magical effects. Successful crafting requires specific ingredients, a suitable laboratory, and passing skill checks;

Advanced formulas yield more powerful results, but demand rarer components and higher skill proficiency. Mastering Alchemy provides a significant advantage, offering self-sufficiency and valuable resources for the entire adventuring party, beyond simple healing.

Utilizing Mutagens Effectively

Mutagens offer Investigators temporary physical enhancements, but come with inherent risks. These alchemical concoctions can boost stats like Strength or Dexterity, improving combat prowess. However, prolonged or reckless use can inflict debilitating conditions, creating a trade-off between power and stability.

Careful consideration of the mutagen’s effects and duration is crucial. Strategic application during key encounters maximizes benefits while minimizing long-term consequences, demanding a calculated approach to self-alteration.

Rare & Powerful Alchemical Formulas

Investigators can uncover exceptionally potent alchemical formulas beyond standard potions and elixirs. These rare concoctions grant extraordinary effects, such as temporary invulnerability, potent healing, or even limited control over elements. Acquiring these formulas often requires extensive research, dangerous expeditions, or favors from powerful individuals.

Mastering these advanced formulas elevates an Investigator’s capabilities, transforming them into formidable allies and resourceful problem-solvers, capable of turning the tide in challenging situations.

Troubleshooting Common Investigator Issues

Investigators may face challenges with low hit points and resource management; optimizing skill usage and stratagem effectiveness are crucial for success.

Dealing with Low Hit Points

Investigators start with a modest 8 hit points, making survivability a key concern. Prioritize defensive feats like Toughness and consider ancestry options offering bonus hit points.

Strategic positioning is vital – avoid direct confrontation when possible, utilizing allies as shields.

Alchemical remedies, such as potions of healing, are essential for quick recovery, and investing in the Healer skill can provide crucial support during and after combat encounters.

Managing Alchemical Resources

Investigators heavily rely on Alchemy, demanding careful resource management. Alchemical items consume valuable ingredients, so efficient foraging and purchasing are crucial.

Prioritize formulas based on campaign needs, and don’t hoard excessively.

Feats that reduce ingredient costs or increase formula yields are invaluable. Consider utilizing downtime activities to replenish supplies, ensuring you’re prepared for upcoming investigations and encounters.

Optimizing Skill Usage

Investigators thrive on skill proficiency, so maximizing their effectiveness is key. Focus on skills aligned with your chosen specialization and ancestry.

Utilize skill increases strategically, prioritizing those offering the greatest benefit.

Don’t hesitate to leverage Stratagems to gain skill-based advantages during encounters. Remember to consider aid actions from allies to boost your chances of success.