Fist of Darkness build


Advice

Grand Lodge

So, upcoming Legacy of Fire campaign.
Looking to build a stealthy, intimidating, Duergar Inquisitor of Irori.

15 point buy, all Pathfinder books allowed, 3rd party allowed(if relevant to the flavor of the AP).

I am thinking of going Heretic Inquisitor with the Heresy Inquisition.

For feats, I am considering Enforcer for first, and Nightmare Fist for fifth. For traits, I am considering Dominator and Wisdom of the Flesh.
I figure I will get a Guided Amulet of Mighty Fists as soon as possible.

I am unsure how to arrange my stats, and other than the first and fifth feats, I am unsure what to select.

Does anyone have any advice?

Grand Lodge

At around 5th, I am think Rogue/Thug dip.

Grand Lodge

This is what I am considering for a stat array:

Str 13
Dex 11
Con 12(14)
Int 13
Wis 16(18)
Cha 7(3)

Does this look good?


With a Charisma that low, you need to seriously worry about ability damage.


So first off, Irori doesn't allow you to pick the Heresy Inquisition. Unless your GM is willing to allow Heresy, you're going to have to take Conversion if you want to keep Wisdom of the Flesh. I'd look at Quain Martial Artist as an alternative, taking Adopted > Brute instead of Dominator.

I'd also check to see how being unarmed affects your Judgements. By my understanding, you wouldn't be able to use your more offensive ones (Destruction, Justice, Smiting). You'll have to pick up Improved Unarmed Strike by Level 3 if you go with Nightmare fist, but have you thought about going the Bludgeoner route instead?

How you divide up your stats will depend on how quickly you can get a Guided Weapon. If you can get one around level 3, I'd go with:
Str:7 Dex: 14 Con: 16 Int: 10 Wis: 19 CHA:3

I'm only putting Wisdom at 19 as I'm assuming you won't hit level 16. That lets you cap out at 28 Wisdom if you dump all attribute gains into Wis and buy a +6 Headband.

I'd go with an Inquisiter 8 / Rogue 4 build. Feats as follows:
1 - Enforcer
3 - Improved Unarmed Strike
5 - Nightmare Fist
7 - Nightmare Weaver
9 - Boar Style
11 - Boar Ferocity
Team Work Feats - Paired Opportunists, Precise Strike
Rogue Talent- Combat Trick: Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strikes), Beffudling Strike

Nightmare Weaver lets run up to a group of enemies, drop a Darkness spell and get a free intimidate on them. That also activates your Nightmare Fist bonuses.

Boar Style lets you change your damage to Slashing at will, and adds 2D6 Bleed damage if you hit a target twice. Boar Ferocity gives you a +2 boost to your Intimidate checks, lets you change your damage type to piercing, and gives you a free intimidate check when you tear the flesh of an enemy (2 hits land). If you hit level 13, grab Boar Shred as it lets you make Intimidate checks as a move action as well as adding another 1D6 to the bleed damage they take.

For teamwork feats, I think Paired Opportunists and Precise Strike are the strongest options for melee fighting. That's an extra +2 on attack rolls and +1D6 precision damage when flanking.

The Rogue Talents just don't really excite me that much. Go with the attack roll boost and lowering your opponents attack rolls.

Grand Lodge

I've got the Heresy Inquisition okayed by DM. He says it fits with the Heresy Inquisitor Archetype.

Also, as worshiper of Irori, I get Improved Unarmed Strike for free.
That's part of the "proficient with deity's favored weapon"(I checked).

I did not think to put 4 levels in Rogue.
Would the Ki Pool and Ninja Trick(Vanish) be better?

I like the Boar Style suggestion.

What about a level in Divine Scion later for Greater Weapon Focus, or Weapon Specialization?

Would that be worth it?

Grand Lodge

What items best synergize with this PC?


I forgot that Inquisitors gain proficiency with their deities' favored weapon. That is pretty awesome.

I thought about Ki Pool and Ninja Vanish, but the Ninja Ki pool is based on Charisma. You'd have to get a ruling from your GM, and if he says you can use Wisdom then that would be the best way to go. Being able to vanish for 4 rounds at the cost of just 1 Ki point would be really awesome.

Divine Scion looks interesting. I would personally want 8 levels of Inquisitor for 2nd Judgement, keeping in mind that the Duergar alternate favored class bonus would net you 3 Judgements per day. My only concern is that you're talking about an investment of 5 feats, so you'd have to give up some of those style feats. Something like this:

1 Inq - Enforcer
2 Rog - (No Feat)
3 Rog - Iron Will, Rogue Trick - Weapon Focus
4 Inq - (No Feat)
5 Inq - Nightmare Fist, Teamwork Feat - Precise Strike
6 DSc - (No Feat)
7 Inq - Weapon Specialization
8 Inq - (No Feat)
9 Inq - Greater Weapon Focus, Teamwork Feat - Paired Opportunists
10 ??? - (No Feat)
11 ??? - Greater Weapon Specialization
12 ??? - (No Feat) or Rogue Talent

Personally, I'd skip Divine Scion and go with the more interesting feats from my first post. You're adding +2 on attack rolls and +4 damage, but losing out extra Intimidate options and up to +3D6 bleed damage.

I've got another build you might want to look at as well, Inquisitor - Heretic 6 / Monk - Grey Disciple 6. Inquisitor 6 gets you 3 Judgements per day still, but the 6 levels of Monk give you the following:

- Boost AC and CMD by Wisdom Modifier +1
- Unarmed Strike Damage is 1D8, 2D6 if Enlarged
- 3 Attacks per round through Flurry of Blows, BAB would be 10
- Fast Movement +20 Feet
- 2 Bonus Monk Feats
- Ability to spend Ki to use your Invisibility SLA for 1 round or your Enlarge Person SLA for 1 minute

My Hero Labs is also saying you can combine Gray Disciple w/ Master of Many Styles. That may be wrong, but if not spend your 2 bonus feats on Style Feats and run with a combined style!

With this build you'd use Wisdom for your Attack, Melee Damage, AC, CMB, CMD, Initiative, Casting Stat and Ki Pool, along with some other benefits.

Magic Item wise, you're going to want the following:

- Amulet of Mighty Fists, Guided and as high of an enhancement bonus as you can afford
- Headband of Inspired Wisdom +6 - second highest priority after the Amulet
- Muleback Cords - a cheap way to make up for your low carrying capacity
- Monk's Robe - if you go with the monk build, this nets you another +1 AC, an extra use of Stunning Fist and unarmed strike damage rolls of 1D10 (2D8 when Enlarged). Really good bang for the buck.
- Ring of Protection - Your only AC boosting magic item available

If you have extra cash after buying all of that, I'm a fan of Boots & Cloak of Elvenkind for this build. There's a ton of other cool stuff to grab, but I'd tailor it to the game's setting after grabbing the stuff on the list.

Grand Lodge

The Rogue(not Ninja) Ki pool Talent is based off of wisdom.

The Monk sounds cool, but I lose out on shield and armor bonuses.

If Master of Many Styles stacks, that would be cool.
Does any other archetype stack?


If you worry about AC, then maybe go crane style and fight defensively (it'll be only -1 to hit for +4 AC) - combined with a high wis and your monk AC/CMD bonus it might be better than what you can gain from armor (and you'll then get evasion as well...).

...with 6 lvls of monk (with a monk's robe) and that 28 wisdom Javaed mentioned, you'd be looking at a +11 bonus right there. Add in the crane style feat line and fighting defensively for +4 more. That's +15 to AC for no GP cost and for only a -1 to hit. With crane wing and crane riposte you'll also get to deflect an attack that does come through - and then retaliate with an AoO.

Grand Lodge

Hmm, I am not sure where I would squeeze Crane Style in.
I noticed Master of Many Styles does not stack.

Is there any archetypes that stack with the Gray Disciple archetype, other than Qinggong Monk?

Grand Lodge

If I go Inquisitor/Monk, what sort of stat array should have?

Will the lack of Thug a level hurt my ability to demoralize?


I've no answers for you, but a suggestion: Lingering Invisibility.

Grand Lodge

I have seen that, but it is hard to squeeze anything in. It's good.
Kind of a feat starved build.


If you're worried about AC, a Headband of Wisdom +6, Ring of Protection +3, Bracers of Armor +5 and Monk's Robe would combine to give you 31 AC / 26 Touch / 29 Flat. You can boost that further with Dodge, Crane Style or a Belt of Dexterity.

It looks like the only other option you can stack with Weapon Adept, that's a shame about MoMS.

If you don't take the Thug level, your chance to land a successful Intimidate won't be impacted, but the duration of the Shaken condition will be one less and the chance Frighten won't occur. I built the character out though, and at level 12 you'll have a +29 to Intimidate before you take feats into account. I think you'll be fine =)

I wouldn't mix all three classes, your BAB would be terrible. The only good thing about the Monk build is that when you Flurry your Monk levels have full BAB. The Guided weapon property will counter this somewhat, so if you want to that route I'd ditch a level in Inquisitor.

Grand Lodge

So, for monk route, Str:7 Dex: 14 Con: 16 Int: 10 Wis: 19 CHA:3?

As I am not using any third party material(which is potentially available), I may be able to convince my DM to stack Master of Many Styles, but I will not lean on that.

By the way, thank you for all the help.


No problem at all, you've helped me quite a bit in the past =).

I'd probably stick with those attributes. You don't need Str long term, and you should be able to get a Guided Amulet of Mighty Fists by level 3.

The first couple of levels will be rough, but will go fast. You'll probably want a couple of buff spells to help you out in melee range early on and you should be able to muddle through. A friend of mine is in a similar boat going for a Dex based monk. He couldn't hit the side of a barn on our first couple of adventures, but the second he got that amulet he turned into a powerhouse. Those combat Styles can be really effective.

Let me know how this works out for you. It seems like a really fun character to play. Btw, did you settle on how you're going to role play the character?

Grand Lodge

I like the idea of being cold, dispassionate, and physically emotionless, while being observant, so I can give calculated responses allowing me to speak the right words at the right time.
The Inquisitor/Monk with a Heretical view of the teachings of Irori will supplement this well.
I have yet to work out the details of these Heretical views.
I have also yet to decide if I will be male or female.

With the all the Desert Terrain in Legacy of Fire, I am considering the Daysighted alternate racial trait, which will decrease my darkvision to 60ft, but will remove my Light Sensitivity.

Grand Lodge

How should I arrange my Inquisitor and Monk levels?


blackbloodtroll wrote:
How should I arrange my Inquisitor and Monk levels?

Just take whichever class boosts your power most at that point. Most of your feat's requirements are easily met, so that's no real issue.


You can also use the snake style for AC, using your sense motive instead.

Grand Lodge

Does not Snake Style eat up immediate actions?


Sadly it does, didn't notice that.

Grand Lodge

To dump the armor quickly, I think second level will go into Monk.

Also, I just found out 3.5 Sandstorm is allowed.

Not sure if there is anything in there worth taking though.


I think you've mentioned this character somewhere before.

Also, I need to check with my DM if he'd ever let me play a Duergar. Very unlikely, but worth a shot.

Grand Lodge

I did, but for different reasons.

Grand Lodge

Okay, important update:
DM has allowed Master of Many Styles and Gray Disciple to stack.

What should be altered to reflect this new option?


I'm wrapping up at work and my notes are at home, so I'll get you some details in a bit. Basically though, you're going to want to make use of 2 combat styles. Boar for the intimidates plus one more, Crane is a good option for the AC bonus.

Grand Lodge

Yeah, Crane or Marid is what I was thinking for a second style.
Crane for AC, Marid for reach, and cold damage.

For the other trait, I chose Two-World Magic to get the Penumbra cantrip.
This cantrip will be quite the boon for me.


Penumbra is awesome, though you can handle the vision problem with the a racial trait if you don't mind reducing your darkvision to 60 feet. I only mention it because a cantrip like Breeze or Drench would help you out in the desert quite a bit.

1I - Enforcer
2M - Boar Style
3M - Crane Style, Dodge
4I - No Feat
5I - Precise Strike, Nightmare Fist
6I - No Feat, Gain 2nd Level spells (Darkness)
7I - Nightmare Weaver
8I - Paired Opportunists
9M - Boar Ferocity
10 - No Feat
11 - Boar Shred
12 - No Feat

If you want to go with Marid Style you'll need Elemental Fist first. In that case grab it at level 2 and your 2 Styles at level 3. I think that's the best way to build out your talents. If you'd rather have Boar Shred earlier (for the Intimidate as a move action) you can pick it up at level 9 by delaying Nightmare Weaver till level 11. Personally, I'd go with the AOE Intimidate.

Grand Lodge

That seems awesome.
One of the reasons behind Marid Style is that there is a lot of creatures vulnerable to cold within the AP.

I still have no decided whether to choose Acrobatics or Stealth for Wisdom of the Flesh. I am leaning towards stealth.

Thanks again, by the way.

Grand Lodge

A bit of an odd update.

I have been told that 3rd party material is allowed.

Is there something too good to not add to the build later that is 3rd party?

I am not familiar with a lot of 3rd party material.

Grand Lodge

You can see the current build here.

I am thinking of dropping two levels later in Mighty Godling, and picking up the Exploration Subdomain, and the Mystic Inheritance Divine trait, to grab the Wizard Arcane School(Teleportation), for the Shift ability.

What do you think?

Is this the right path?

Grand Lodge

Perhaps the Night Subdomain is better?

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