Building Indiana Jones in PF1e

[TheHalfAasimar]

Okay, I don't know where I got this idea to make an action movie hero in a system that isn't quite made for that, but works pretty well anyways, but here I go again making a stupid build in... the system that I have never played. Once. In my life.

Pathfinder 1st edition.

I've done two other builds with this system, one was meh, the other was purposely bad but ended up just mediocre. So here I go again.

Level 1:
We're going to choose Rogue as our base class, because it works perfectly for Indy. I'm going to take the Burglar archetype. Note that, even though I use the Archives of Nethys and thus can see the Unchained class, it has the Debilitating Injury feature, and I seriously doubt that Indy has ever really done something like that. You could also argue that Sneak Attack is kind of useless too, but we need the Trap Sense feature, because how many times do we see Indy almost getting killed by X trap? Yes, a lot. We're going to take Human as our race, and our stats will look like this:

32 point Point Buy:
STR 15 / DEX 17 / CON 12 / INT 16 / WIS 10 / CHA 12
Yeah, we pumped our +2 to any stat into CHA because he just is kind of like that. He's not the wisest person on the planet, the only wisdom we ever see from him is 'not murder people at random' and 'oh no a trap I think I'll get out of it' so yeah, WIS is his dump. INT is high because he's a college professor, so kinda self-explanatory, CON is good, not the best, because we see him get drunk/sick/hurt and all kinds of things. DEX is rather high because we see him doing all sorts of tricky things. STR is high because he's rather athletic. So here are our skill ranks:
1 rank in each of the following:
Swim because we see him swim every here and there. Not going to invest heavily in it, though.
Acrobatics because he does flips and stuff.
Bluff because he has to bluff people here and there.
Knowledge (local) because he seems to know something about everything.
Perception because he is good at figuring out what is and isn't going on.
Escape artist because he escapes things quite often.
Use Magic Device because he tends to use a lot of sketchy things.
Knowledge (history) because he seems to have a fair amount of experience doing these sorts of things to find stuff that he can say, "It belongs in a museum" to.
Stealth because he has to do a fair amount of hiding.
Climb because he also does a lot of climbing.
Disable Device because he does a lot of breaking stuff too.

I didn't realize Rogues get so many skill points. Good thing I replaced Skilled with the Comprehensive Education trait.

Now onto our equipment:
Whip (we'll get Proficiency later)
Dagger
Revolver(we'll get Proficiency for this later as well)

We're going to take 9 levels of Rogue and the following feats:
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip)
Point Blank Shot
Rapid Shot
Bludgeoner


Talents:
Canny Observer
Demand Attention
Firearm Training
Hold Breath

And then 6 levels of Unchained Monk for the Flurry of Blows, bonus feats, and better punches, because how many times do we see Indy punching people? Answer: a lot.
Bonus feats: Dodge, Improved Grapple

We have 5 levels left to make Indy. I would take Pathfinder Delver, but Knowledge (history) isn't a Rogue skill... which is a problem. But we have Comprehensive Education! We take our last levels in Pathfinder Delver.

[Kurald Galain]

32 point Point Buy:

Note that default point buy in Pathfinder is fifteen points, not 32. I also don't think that putting a value of 10 is a dump stat. That's the default average, going down to 7 would be dumping.

I suggest going for the Investigator class here, instead of rogue; the Steel Hound archetype uses guns. Alternatively, the Brawler's ability to switch feats at-need fits Indy's improvisation style very well.

There's a couple of ways to get whip proficiency at level one, I'd recommend that. Also, there's a number of whip-related feats that would be fitting here, such as Improved / Greater Whip Mastery.

And finally, you've not selected traits yet. By default you get two of those, and you could use one to gain Knowledge History as a class skill. HTH!

[TheHalfAasimar]

Note that default point buy in Pathfinder is fifteen points, not 32. I also don't think that putting a value of 10 is a dump stat. That's the default average, going down to 7 would be dumping.

I suggest going for the Investigator class here, instead of rogue; the Steel Hound archetype uses guns. Alternatively, the Brawler's ability to switch feats at-need fits Indy's improvisation style very well.

There's a couple of ways to get whip proficiency at level one, I'd recommend that. Also, there's a number of whip-related feats that would be fitting here, such as Improved / Greater Whip Mastery.

And finally, you've not selected traits yet. By default you get two of those, and you could use one to gain Knowledge History as a class skill. HTH!

Oh, whoops. This is the new stat layout:

STR 12 / DEX 14 / CON 12 / INT 16 / WIS 7 / CHA 12

Also, thanks for the advice! I'll keep it in mind... there's just so much content...

[Maat Mons]

If you don’t mind a bit of magic, there’s always the Archeologist archetype for Bard.

I would take Pathfinder Delver, but Knowledge (history) isn't a Rogue skill...

Just so you know, in Pathfinder, class skills and cross-class skills both have the same max rank cap and the same skill point cost.

[Baroncognito]

What's wrong with Bard? You get whip proficiency and Archaeologist gets you trap finding and all whatnot.

There are tons of spells that don't really come off as "knowing magic"
Cantrips: Unwitting Ally, Know Direction, Sift, Grasp
1st Level: Anticipate Peril, Borrow Skill, Detect Secret Doors, Identify, Jury-Rig, Skim
2nd Level: Absurdity, Alacrity, Investigative Mind

[MultitudeMan]

OK, I know it's 3.5, but I was instantly reminded of this build .

[TheHalfAasimar]

OK, I know it's 3.5, but I was instantly reminded of this build .

Hey, PF1e and D&D3.5e might as well be the same with a few homebrew rules, yeah? I'm sure it doesn't matter.

[Maat Mons]

If you’re not digging Rogue but still want Trapfninding, here are the ways I’m aware of to get it.

Spoiler: PF1e Trapfinding

Show

Base Classes

• Alchemist (Alchemical Trapper [Kobold])
• Alchemist (Trap Breaker)
• Alchemist (Vault Breaker)
• Bard (Archeologist)
• Bard (Archivist)
• Bard (Detective)
• Bard (Sandman)
• Druid (Nature Fang)
• Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer)
• Investigator
• Ranger (Trapper)
• Ranger (Urban Ranger)
• Oracle (Seeker)
• Rogue
• Rogue, Unchained
• Slayer
• Sorcerer (Seeker)

Traits

• Trap Finder

[Curse]

As we see in the last crusade the whip is part of his backstory so proficiency should be available at lvl 1 if possible.
I think he should have more charisma and possibly some feats supporting bluffing. As you see with all the female students adoring him the charisma stat should at least be 16 better 18.

How do you interpret the scene with the arc of the covenant and closing the eyes to avoid judgement? Is that a demonstration of intelligence (analyzing the situation) or wisdom (perception, willpower and intuition)? It appears to me as if wisdom is not necessarily a dump stat but I am very conflicted about it. He would definitely need it for survival in some situations and he shows a lot of determination and willpower which is a hint at a high will save ...

[TheHalfAasimar]

As we see in the last crusade the whip is part of his backstory so proficiency should be available at lvl 1 if possible.
I think he should have more charisma and possibly some feats supporting bluffing. As you see with all the female students adoring him the charisma stat should at least be 16 better 18.

How do you interpret the scene with the arc of the covenant and closing the eyes to avoid judgement? Is that a demonstration of intelligence (analyzing the situation) or wisdom (perception, willpower and intuition)? It appears to me as if wisdom is not necessarily a dump stat but I am very conflicted about it. He would definitely need it for survival in some situations and he shows a lot of determination and willpower which is a hint at a high will save ...

Wow, I forgot about Last Crusade... It's been a minute since I watched any of them (other than Raiders) because I rewatched it... thanks! I really am not good at this, and I forgot about a lot of stuff.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Why not Vigilante with their whip talent? He does have a double life after all

[TheHalfAasimar]

Why not Vigilante with their whip talent? He does have a double life after all

Good point...