Advanced Feats: The Inquisitor's Edge (PFRPG) PDF

I very much agree with the sentiments expressed by the four reviewers above. When I saw the inquisitor class, I knew that it was going to be good - I just couldn't figure out exactly how it was going to be good. Inquisitor's Edge does a great job of filling out the class by giving you a better idea of where the character is coming from and giving some really nice ideas for your own builds. I'm glad I bought this and I've used a lot of it in my characters.

This installment of the advanced feats series is 16 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD and 1 page advertisement, leaving 12 pages for the inquisitor, so let's check it out!

This installment of the advanced series begins, as is tradition by now, with a comprehensive discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the class to be examined before delving into the new feats. This discussion, while not strictly necessary, makes for a compelling read nevertheless - both for novices and experienced gamers.

The crunch of the product, though, are the 30 new feats for the inquisitor, all of which come with designer's commentaries, which serves as illuminating additional pieces of information. While I absolutely love this, on the down-side we don't get fluff-texts for the respective feats like in e.g. RiP's "101 Monster Feats", but I guess you can't have everything, can you?
In contrast to my older reviews, I'm not going to offer a list of the content, but rather will mention when a feat stands out, be it positive or negative. I'll start with the first, "Cautious Trip", which is a trip insurance - if you fail an attempt by 10 or more, you no longer risk being tripped yourself. While a great idea that can be applied to other combat maneuvers, I find it odd that it does not have any prerequisites - while I don't necessarily ask for "Improved Trip", I think that at least Int 13 would have been appropriate - after all "Improved Trip" has "Combat Expertise" as a prerequisite.
"Coordinated Fire" is an awesome feat: A teamwork feat that makes it easier for allies to hit an enemy you yourself hit with a ranged weapon. Can you see the deadly sniper squads? I can!
I didn't care for the mechanics of "Defensive Disarm" and "Defensive/Offensive Insight", as all three feats grant you bonuses (a free disarm after a missed attack of opportunity and Ac-bonus/bonus to attack after a foe's missed attack) after being missed - the first feat can be powerful, but is very, very specific and the second ones have a meta-gaming problem: They grants you the Ac-bonus/attack bonus to all enemies using the same statblock, something the players will remind the DM often enough, each and every time breaking the illusion of individual enemies I seek to perpetuate in my games. Offensive insight, strangely, does not have the "all enemies of statblock xyz-mechanic". And yes, I often add little details, different weapons etc. So yeah, I won't detract a star for them, but personally, I don't care for them.
"Ducking Shot", the little brother of "Point Blank Mastery" is a feat that rocks - +4 Ac against AaOs due to making ranged attacks with easier prerequisites, offering a non-weapon-specialization alternative that does not make the other feat obsolete and avoids power-creep. Two thumbs up!

In some other installments of this series, I grumbled about some feats feeling too non-specific and while with some restrictions this of course is due to the nature of feats, e.g. the Oracle-book oozed flair and fluff. "Eschew Divine Focus" is just such a feat, allowing an inquisitor to infiltrate hostile organizations thanks not having to carry around his focus to cast. I'm not entirely sure how many groups out there make the divine focus a central part of their campaigns, but in my campaigns, it tends to be an integral factor, thus: Kudos for a simple, elegant and cool feat that should see a lot of use. "Fast Track" offers the chance to better cover your tracks and hunt your enemies faster. Elegant, simple, nice.

A teamwork feat that made me chuckle as my players will love it, is "Friend and Foe" - play good cop/bad cop with your enemies! Excellent and fun! "Gotcha" is another candidate for an elegant feat - it lets you catch falling adjacent allies via a DC 10 str- or dex-check if you have a free hand. "Magical Insight" is another such elegant feat - if an opponent fails a save against a spell you cast, he or she suffers a penalty to future saves against your magic in this combat. The restriction to one battle makes this feat not only palpable, but straight-out cool for me.

"Misdirected Strike" is another keeper - a feat that makes a valid rules-definition to making your opponents hit his allies instead of you in battle, while being hard enough to get thanks to strict feat-requirements. "Subdue" is the final feat is really liked, disposing of the penalty for dealing non-lethal damage.

Finally, we get 3 sample character builds, the bloodhound (a bounty hunter), the Wolf-in-sheep's clothing ( no not the stump with the tentacles and the squirrel, but rather an evil, but oh-so-nice inquisitor) and the detective.

Conclusion:
The full--color layout is nice and the one piece of artwork is also cool. Formatting is good, but the file could have used another pass at editing - I noticed 5+ minor typos, from double letters to superfluous punctuation and while they did not impede my enjoyment of the file, at this length they could have been avoided. I did like a lot of the feats, but there were some metagamey ones among them and especially some of the combat-centric feats did not impress me that much. On the other hand, I did not notice any feats that had me explode in nerd-rage or shake my head. When seen in comparison to the other installments of the series, I did prefer the Oracle-installment over this one, but it's still a good buy. Thus, my final verdict is 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the purposes of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.

The Inquisitors Edge by Open Design

This product is 16 pages long. It starts off with a cover, credits, and ToC. (2 pages)

Next it jumps into introduction and examining of the Inquisitor class. (2 pages)

Feats (6 pages)
This section has the 30 new feats for the Inquisitor class. Many of them can be used by other classes. The complete list with a few examples of what they do.

Cautious Trip – you can't fall prone while doing a trip attack.
Coordinated Fire – give bonus to next person that hits same target with ranged attack.
Defensive Disarm – may attempt a disarm when missed.
Defensive Insight
Draw Strike – can draw a weapon and strike in a single action
Ducking Shot – gives you a dodge bonus vs AoO's when firing a ranged weapon.
Eschew Divine Focus – can cast without divine focus.
Extended Use
Extra Judgment
Fencing Stance
Fast Track – reduces penalties when tracking while moving quickly.
Fearsome
Friend and Foe – lets you and a friend play good cop/bad cop to gain information etc.
Gotcha
Grudge
Hammer and Anvil – deal extra damage to flanked foes.
Improved Judgment- bonus to multi-class Inquisitor's judgments.
Magical Insight
Magical Savant – reduces the ability score needed to cast. (so one could cast 4th level spells with a 13 wisdom as a example)
Misdirected Strike
Meddlesome
Offensive Insight
Parrying Stance – when TWF may use offhand weapon and get shield bonus.
Persistent Judgment
Ranged Maneuvers – may do some combat maneuvers at a range.
Shared Judgment
Shared Magic
Subdue – no penalty when doing nonlethal dmg.
Team Defense – you and ally gain defense bonus if beside each other.
Track Spirits – can track incorporeal creatures.

Character Builds (4 pages)
They are basically advice on how to make builds that focus on certain area's of the class.
The Bloodhound – Tracker, tough as nails. It focuses on tracking. being tough and martial attacks. My first thought was Texas Ranger.
The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – More social based. Designed to go into a area, befriend people, gather information. All the while not revealing what they truly are.
The Detective – Think the new Sherlock Holmes, where he is a good detective and can fight too. Focuses on some rogue like abilities, perception and combat.

It ends with a OGL and ad. (2 page)

Closing Thoughts. Editing and layout was nice, the only artwork is on the cover which is used once more inside the book. The borders are different, I am not sure what they are suppose to be, they look ok but cut down on how print friendly it is. Most of the feats can be used by anyone, many are ranged feats, some casters and some teamwork feats. Only a few are inquisitor only, though a few of them are more geared for them. Some of the feats where very good, some where pretty good, a few I just didn't care for, and a couple I am not sure anyone would take. Gotcha being a good example, if you have a free hand and a ally is in reach, you can attempt as a immediate action to keep them standing, instead of being knocked prone/pushed/pulled etc. It is not a bad idea but honestly I just don't see anyone taking the feat when there are so many better ones.

The builds are pretty cool, though while I like the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing a lot. It is really more suited as a NPC build than a PC build for most campaigns. Which makes it less useful as advice for a PC build. So what's my rating? I am a bit torn on this one. What is good is mostly very good, but there is a few things that are not up to par on what I have come to expect in the series. So I am going to settle on a 3.5 star. Good and worth the money but could have used a little more work.

Trust Me, I'm a Succubus.

Having read other works by Sigfried Trent I had high expectations – which were once again completely fulfilled! Mr. Trent has delivered another excellent supplement which will find use in my campaign.

This booklet follows the established pattern of the Advanced Feats series: It starts with an overview of the Inquisitor class, discussing its strengths and weaknesses. This is followed by the meat of the book, a description of thirty new feats. It finishes up with three new character builds which suggest ways to effectively use the new feats. Along the way are several sidebars, which discuss design issues and (my favorite) real historical inquisitions.

Of course, the new feats are the main reason for buying this book, and they are very impressive. Mr. Trent has again supplied a list of useful feats which are not over-powered. As a Dungeon Master, that last point is very important to me: I really hate power creep – it makes me re-plan my adventures and messes with long-established characters, so I am delighted when a supplement expands my game's options without redefining anyone's power levels.

As with prior Advanced Feats booklets, the descriptions of the individual feats are compact and easy to understand. This makes it easy to refer back to them during play without having to stop the game for an extended reading session. Each feat also has a “Commentary” paragraph, explaining what the author intended to accomplish with the feat. I particularly like this, as it makes my job of Dungeon Master just a little bit easier: I not only know the mechanics of the rules, but I also know the overall intent. That is a valuable piece of knowledge.

There are several teamwork feats in the list, which perfectly suits my image of Inquisitors as the type of people who travel in packs. Furthermore, all of the feats are all focused on confrontation and combat, which also suits my image of Inquisitors as people who like to get out there and smite the living daylights out of heretics. I particularly like the “Meddlesome” feat, which can make it more difficult for threatened opponents to cast spells. I can already hear an NPC Inquisitor arrogantly declaring “Your blasphemous magics are worthless against me, infidel!”

My only disappointment was that there were no feats for that most unsavory of all Inquisitor practices: torture. No, I would not want the list of new feats to be gruesome, but Inquisitors are generally Not Nice People and I would have liked to see maybe just one feat specifically attesting to that.

However, some of the other unsavory aspects of inquisitions are touched on in one of the builds (Wolf in Sheep's Clothing) and also discussed in one of the sidebars (Playing Evil Characters), so perhaps my one disappointment is unfounded.

In summary: I am delighted with this new supplement, and I think you will be too.

This work starts with an overview of the inquisitor, quite a talented chap with plenty of options. Pity the first paragraph repeats itself, perhaps we should send an inquisitor after the proof-reader!

So who is this inquisitor anyway? A potent mix of religious devotee, spy, investigator and hunter (of people rather than dinner): a bit self-serving in the way his powers generally serve to enhance himself rather than the group he is in, but at least he can claim it's all to the glory of whatever deity he reveres! The special ability of 'Judgement' is both powerful and versatile, depending on what judgement is pronounced, and this is coupled with a reasonable number of skills and the ability to cast divine spells. They are skilled at both solo tactics and teamwork as well, whilst they have bonuses to many of the skills needful for effective interrogations. The analysis suggests ways of using these to optimal effect, both in designing your character and when playing him.

Many of the feats provided are combat ones, although Friend and Foe is a neat way to codify and enhance attempts at the 'Good cop, bad cop' routine. The Coordinated Fire feat gets around the difficulty inherent in trying to work with someone else whilst constrained by having to act in initiative order. For anyone who's wanted to model the Japanese art of iaijitsu, the Draw Strike feat captures the ability to draw and use a weapon - generally a sword - in a single motion. For those who want to become ghosthunters, the Track Spirits feat should come in handy, and there are several which willl work well for those who see this class as a kind of ecclesiastical bounty-hunter.

The work concludes with three 'builds' showing how the class can be developed to good effect in different ways depending on your character concept. First is the Bloodhound, who takes the bounty-hunter theme and becomes a tenacious and tough fighter who can find anyone and then beat them into submission. Next is the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, who serves an evil deity and attracts innocent souls to that god's service by appearing nice and helpful! It's good for someone who enjoys being sneaky and manipulative. Finally, a build which highlights the investigative side of the class, the Dectective. There are side notes to each one, which make for fascinating reading. The historical concept of 'Inquisition' made famous by the Roman Catholic church of the 16th century, a tool of state policy often as much as one of ensuring that the faithful keep to the straight and narrow. The role of the art of detection in a magical world, and the vexatious debate on how an evil character can work plausibly with a good party... these are covered briefly but in a thought-provoking manner.

It gives a good grounding in the capabilities and potentials of the inquisitor class, and is worth a look if you play one, or GM a group that includes one. A little marred by several minor errors which have slipped past the proofreader, and a few odd characters which I cannot resolve even with a bit of PDF-hackery, but none are enough to detract from a cracking good read on this specialised area, that will indeed give your Inquisitor an edge!