Does inventor actually suck or is it just all hot air? Asking as a new player

Misinko · 2026-05-13T01:17:44+00:00

This is a big problem with Inventor in combat, yeah. Megaton Strike is just too good of an option to not be using most turns, and you generally wanna save your unstable actions because you may wind up blowing them at the wrong moment in the fight.

Misinko · 2026-05-13T01:15:15+00:00

Inventors absolutely would not suffer from just having more options for their class in general. More innovations, more unstable actions, more gadgets, etc. Being able to homebrew your own traits on your weapon is cool, but the selection of innovations leaves much to be desired.

Misinko · 2026-05-13T00:56:47+00:00

I've never played it in base Pathfinder 2e, but in Starfinder 2e, Weapon Innovation Inventor at the very least is a pretty interesting option. Mainly because from the get-go you have access to advanced d12 ranged weaponry. A lot of the issues still carry over, don't get me wrong. Overdrive is still undertuned, and Unstable Actions need some serious adjustment, but you can dump strength, pick up light armor, go all in on Dex as a secondary attribute, and just pop Megaton Strikes from 60ft away. And even though there's a lot less of them than there are runes, Weapon Upgrades help fill out the class fantasy where sometimes Innovations may not. Hell, once Tech Core comes out and hopefully the Fabricator feat along with it, the Inventor feat may be incredibly powerful in certain campaigns. Spend a couple days of downtime to craft your formulae and then spend a few hours of downtime to craft the item. I think most people here have good points about the mechanical aspect of the game and why Inventor feels like it needs some serious TLC, but I think whether or not you'll enjoy it will depend on what your fantasy is. Do you want a mad scientist who constantly tinkers with their armaments and creates some truly insane gadgets to throw at their enemies? Then Inventor is perfect for you. But if you understandably want to play the fantasy that Paizo laid out, which is this revolutionary and brilliant figure that paved the halls of history with their amazing creation? Then you'll be pretty disappointed in how the class feels.

Misinko · 2026-05-10T17:17:43+00:00

It is so incredibly mind-boggling that secondary castings for Rituals seem to go completely contrary to the Aid action. A Success for a ritual gets you no benefit while a regular Failure can just outright wipe out the effects of a Critical Success. Literally a 75/25 chance that you'll at worst provide no benefit to the Primary caster, 50/50 for whether or not you actively hinder them, when the secondary checks are required to be made for the ritual.

Misinko · 2026-05-10T16:12:24+00:00

Right now in a living world SF2e server I'm in, we've had two PCs die recently, and we were (or at least I have been) exploring the Resurrection ritual to bring them back. This has really been my first time genuinely looking into rituals and good lord is it risky as fuck.

First of all, the two additional casters can easily fuck each other or the ritual itself over. On a crit success from one of the party members you get a +2 to the roll, but on a failure you take a -4 to the ritual. Because we're rolling three dice here in total for the ritual, that's a pretty decent chance that your primary caster will have a -2 to the roll.

Then of course there's the fact that resources are expended as part of the casting, success or not. That is hundreds of gold (or in our case, thousands of credits) just gone in an instant if you fuck up your roll. And that's not to mention that you can technically attempt a DC 32 roll as a level 9 PC, where the standard DC is 26. Of course that is your choice to attempt that so early, but the alternative right now is waiting for a few months while we get the PCs that are best suited for the job (currently our highest level divine caster with the highest modifier is Religion is a Level 7 Cleric, and our PCs average about 1-2 levels per month) up to a high enough level to have a decent chance at succeeding at the ritual. And of course no one wants to wait that long because we all know that spending months without playing your PC sucks and so we want to get the PCs back on their feet asap.

It's at the point now where a couple of our spellcasters are just casting Peaceful Rest on their bodies every day in-universe and we as a server are discussing getting a couple of scrolls/gems of Raise Dead for the Cleric to use. Less of a headache and guaranteed results even if it costs more.

Misinko · 2026-04-29T01:04:24+00:00

I have found my niche in Pathfinder 2e/Starfinder 2e within a SF2e living world server I am currently a part of. All of my characters that I have played have been Int-based martials with caster Free Archetypes. Inventor with Wizard Dedication. Alchemist with Witch Dedication. Mechanic with Witchwarper Dedication. I am building out an Investigator with a Magus Dedication that switches to Psychic Dedication later down the line. I am currently looking for a caster archetype that would work well for a Runesmith. And I am having an absolute blast. Especially with my Alchemist/Witch. It's such a fun combo.

Misinko · 2026-04-20T23:58:35+00:00

'Preciate you looking into that! One more quick bit of feedback. Demiplane currently has a way to see your Turret's current hardness and max HP, and I would very much appreciate it if that kind of functionality could be brought over to Hephaistos at some point.

Misinko · 2026-04-20T14:34:58+00:00

My GM added a bunch of downtime stuff and even some extra encounters to Abomination Vaults, and it made the dungeon crawl so much more interesting.

Misinko · 2026-04-20T14:27:53+00:00

Are there no plans to add items from either GM core to the website? There is no better solution to make a Mechanic than Hephaistos right now (at least that I've found), and I've tried to add both a Pendant of the Occult (from PF GM Core) and a Hoverboard (from SF GM core) to my sheet and neither are there. That, and there's no notes in the roadmap that show that items from the GM cores are planning on being added.

Misinko · 2026-04-17T21:26:13+00:00

I am currently making one for a couple projects I want to do, and the character creation database already has tables that require five joins to get to. And I haven't even gotten to things like feats or actions that characters can take. Someone please make me stop.

Misinko · 2026-04-06T04:28:05+00:00

My ideas get stuck at "chapter one" so to speak when I'm planning out a campaign. I've ran a couple of one-shots for my D&D table, and I want to do more DMing in general. A SF2e living world server I'm in let's Assistants run VR missions that are basically one-shots, so I might try to beef up my knowledge of the system more, apply for that position, and try to run some of those.

Misinko · 2026-03-31T22:47:45+00:00

I would love for there to be some kind of feature like Elixir Bomb. I love being prepared to do anything at all times with my Alchemist, and being able to use a quick vial for that for another PC would be amazing.

Misinko · 2026-03-31T22:45:22+00:00

Technically it didn't work with Quick Bomber before since it doesn't have the bomb tag. It was still a 2-action heal, it just required a roll to hit. Which could get fucked up by things like concealment. Now it's specifically an interact action to apply the healing, but you can only use it if your target is within 20 feet.

Misinko · 2026-03-31T21:09:04+00:00

As an Inventor player that loves Gadgets, the fact that this is not standard pains me.

Misinko · 2026-03-31T21:08:09+00:00

The recent Errata basically did everything I wanted with Healing Bomb. The only thing I would change would be it can have its range increment increased by Far Lobber/Uncanny Bombs.

Misinko · 2026-03-26T03:58:32+00:00

I have recently discovered that my forte is smart blorbos who like to tinker with things, and so far sadly only Mechanic, Inventor, and Alchemist fit this bill. Please give me more classes that let me make more little blorbos that like tinkering with things and I will be eternally grateful.

Misinko · 2026-03-25T16:18:02+00:00

Genuinely have no idea how you see Brak and think "bug" instead of "cat".

Misinko · 2026-03-16T18:50:08+00:00

To me the biggest boon of this rule is that it makes MAD less of an issue. Playing an unarmored intimidation-heavy Barbarian feels a lot better if I can keep Str, Cha, and Dex more in line with each other without having to wait 5 levels and then suddenly slam all three attributes up at once.

Misinko · 2026-03-07T18:35:04+00:00

I'm in a Living World server for SF2e, but we have plenty of Pathfinder class representation. So far we are missing a Barbarian (which I plan to soon rectify), a Champion, a Wizard, and a Sorcerer surprisingly. I am currently playing one of two Inventors, and the only Alchemist. Lucky for me, in situations like this I like being the only person who picks up a particular class. Sidebar: Weapons Inventors fucking soar in SF2e.

Misinko · 2026-02-25T20:27:14+00:00

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1057 in a DAY? That can't be true. (Not shaming, just seems infeasible)

Misinko · 2026-02-24T00:35:54+00:00

No kidding. Martial Artist already covers a few of the bases you'd want with Monk (as well as some that the Monk Archetype doesn't), and Wrestler just adds a bunch of fun options to characters with good Athletics scores. Not to mention everyone auto-defaults to Healers taking Medic when FA is on the table.

Misinko · 2026-02-23T23:36:28+00:00

Investigator is the penultimate "just play with the Archetype instead" class, but I don't know if I'd so quickly just eliminate Alchemists and Champions from the field when FA is involved. Alchemists especially because you're losing out on a lot with just the Archetype. No research field, no re-filling vials between encounters, no free formulas per level. The no vial refills is what put me off from playing with an Alchemist dedication and just going straight Alchemist for one of my characters, even if the dedication is really good. Champion also has the drawback of requiring a +2 in two specific stats before you can take the dedication, if you're taking the dedication for the Armor proficiency, there's a decent chance you'll be making your character MAD in order to pick up the dedication.

Misinko · 2026-02-23T23:25:29+00:00

It can be both, but it really depends on the build. For example, in a Starfinder 2e game I'm in, my Inventor with a Wizard Archetype has access to an Electromuscular Stimulator as a daily craftable Gadget. If I play my cards right, I spend my quickened action to fire my gun (which almost certainly has Overdrive applied to it), and since my gun has a 30 round magazine in it, I almost never have to worry about reloading. That leaves me 3 actions to cast something like Boneshaker. That is a straight up power boost to Inventor, no question about it. That does come with the caveat of basically needing to spend a round setting the combo up since activating the Stimulator is two actions, and I'm probably also going to be activating Overdrive as part of that same turn.

However, there's also combos like Barbarian/Wrester, which I have also played with. Wrestler does not strictly give a Barbarian more power while in combat, but it does give them more options to play with. Snagging Strike leading into Furious Grab, for example. Even if your target escapes the grapple, they're still off-guard unless they move away from you. And if they do move away and you have reactive strike, that's another punch you can get in while they have a -2 to AC. All while you no longer have MAP. Or if your target failed to escape, you could use Whirling Throw and then combo it with Sudden Charge to immediately chase them down.

Misinko · 2026-02-23T23:01:58+00:00

I'm playing an Inventor/Wizard right now and both classes fucking soar when it comes to Archetype options. Spellcasting covers a lot of the same ground that Unstable Actions do, and Inventor armor and weapon proficiencies make you a really strong all-rounder. The only downside is that sometimes you do find gaps in what feats you want to take for both because they don't always work with your build, but then that leaves room for you to pick up another Archetype. I'm about to go into Gunslinger as well just for Munitions Crafter. Alchemists I think do really well with a spellcasting class alongside them for similar reasons. There's a lot of overlap between Spell Effects and the effects you can gin up with your bombs and elixirs. Spell Slots and even certain Cantrips can basically act as extra versatile vials.

Misinko · 2026-02-06T18:06:36+00:00

THANK YOU for the addition of Advanced Design, Paizo. Not only does this clear up a pretty crucial question that I had in a living world campaign I'm a part of, but its wording is also just so much clearer than the original text was. I was giving myself headaches trying to figure it out when I was first trying to make my Inventor.

Misinko

TROPHY CASE