Inquisitor Spell Choice

[Blave]

Sources: Core and APG only

My Inquisitor has just hit level 3 and I'm not sure which spell I should learn. So far I have Divine Favor, Protection from Evil and Cure Light Wounds. I need some advice on what spells to pick at level 3 and beyond.

The party has a Cleric, so I'm not too concerned about situational spells like comprehend language. My Wisdom is a bit too low (14) to take spells that allow a save. I'll probably take shield of faith later but right now it won't do much that isn't already covered by Protection from Evil.

I think Remove Fear is reasonable. Fear is a somewhat common effect and having the ability to remove it on demand seems useful.

Does anyone have some good spell picks for 1st (and higher) level Inquisitor spells?

[Scavion]

Litany of Sloth. Super crazy good.

[Blave]

Blave wrote:

Sources: Core and APG only

;-)

[Scavion]

Blave wrote:

Blave wrote:

Sources: Core and APG only

;-)

Oh poop. Uhm. Uhhhh. Yeah Remove Fear is pretty aight.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Bless

I find that goody two shoes characters, especially Paladins and Clerics, get creeped out when my LN Tiefling Inquisitor of Asmodeus Blesses them in PFS games, saying "accept the Blessings of the Prince of Darkness"

[Haldrick]

First: expeditious retreat, magic weapon (and probabily swap it out at 5th) maybe alarm.
After that it depends on your build and the rest of your party. Invisibility can be good. Find trap is better for you then the cleric.

[GoldEdition42]

No doubt for Expeditious Retreat. Great spell. Otherwise you have a good selection of 1st levels.

With only the APG to use (no Inquisitor spells in Core) it is a bit tough to get some of the better second level spells.
Invisibility for certain and Resist Energy for a solid second pick.

I find Spiritual Weapon is handy for those times you can't get into melee and don't want to stand around looking bored.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

True Strike

[ChainsawSam]

The problem here is that we don't know what your role within the party is. Inquisitor is an extremely flexible class.

Does the party expect you to do scouting? Tracking? Principle damage dealer? Are you the party's primary medic? Are you one of the party's primary faces?

All of the above pretty drastically changes what should and should not be on your limited spell list.

A few general guidelines:

1. If it makes you better at smashing things, take it. ignore if silly requirements, action economy, or abysmal duration make the spell worthless

2. If it is an offensive spell which save negates, skip it.

In general, you're going to want as many buffs as possible and you wont have high enough DCs to reliably affect the enemy. There are a couple exceptions, but these two rules will help your process.

Basics:

Expeditious Retreat is always good to have. Remove Fear is something you at least want on wand/scroll.

Alarm and Comprehend Languages are also great spells that you should consider for wand/scroll.

Wrath looks like a neat spell, it isn't. It's single target Divine Favor with the same crap duration. If it had a longer duration (to the order of 10 min+) then you could conceivably use it to call a known target in advance. As is, you'll seldom have the action economy to make it work and Divine Favor is a crap ton better as it does the same thing without limiting you to a single target.

Flames of the Faithful is really tempting when you first get second level spells, but the duration is terrible. Since there are better buffs to cast (Divine Favor for instance, FotF generally just makes you trip over your own actions rather than helping. At higher levels when you have a shot at precasting things are a bit different.

Situationally:

If the campaign is going to have the character crusading around a lot with heavy alignment ties, Corruption Resistance is a great first level spell that you should at least have on a wand. Skip it otherwise.

If the DM is the kind of person who likes to throw around phrases like "You wake up, your gear is missing and your hands are tied" then Burst Bonds is practically an essential first level spell. Just remember that it is terrible for grappling.

If the Party expects the Inquisitor to do any scouting then the Invisibility and Disguise spells are great.

Blistering Invective is like Dazzling Display+.

If the Inquisitor is using a weapon with a large crit range, Weapon of Awe is pretty decent assuming you consistently have time to cast it.

If the Inquisitor is the party's primary medic, Sacred Bond is still mediocre.

Honeyed Tongue can be a really solid spell in campaigns with a lot of social emphasis.

That obviously isn't everything, but it is enough to take you through second level spells. By then you should have a more firm grasp on your character and spell selection will come more naturally to you.

[Blave]

Thanks guys (and/or girls)!

@ChainsawSam: I have a pretty good idea how my character will look like. I'm the primary melee character. We also have a rogue and a ranger so tracking and stealth are covered (though I'll still get a bit tracking). We have no wizard or bard, so I'm also the walking monster manual of the group. Add a bit of party face and you get a good idea of my inquisitor.

The problem with spell selection is, there are almost no must-haves. Inquisitors get some nice spells but hardly many that scream "Pick me! All the others are inferior!". I find it far easier to build a spell list for pretty much any other spontaneous caster.

As for your suggestions: I'm not a fan of expeditious retreat. The duration is just too short for my liking. Also, I have the Travel (Trade) domain, so I'm not too slow even in my heavy armor anyway. I'll proabably pick Remove Fear at level 3. Leaves me with two more spell choices at later levels. Probably Shield of Faith and something else. Maybe Comprehend Languages.

Alarm is an interesting idea. Never used the spell but I see its worth. I'll think about that!

Wrath is horrible, as you said. Mostly because it doesn't stack with heroism.

Flames of the Faithful has an aweful duration. Curruption Resistance is most likely useless for our campaign. And Burst bonds is WAY too situational. Invisibility is a possible pick for 2nd level, Disguise self not so much. Blistering Invective is great but from UC. Weapon of Awe is redundant with Judgement of Destruction, which will probably be my 2nd Judgement most of the time. Sacred Bond is useless for the primary melee character though I guess casting it on the party's cleric would also allow him to heal me at a distance. Still not worth it and the range is too small.

Honeyed Tongue is another spell I might pick up since I'm also the party face.

[Ferious Thune]

Divine Favor is great, if you can spare a standard to cast it at the start of combat. It scales nicely and as a luck bonus, it stacks with your judgements. I'd definitely take this over the more limiting Wrath.

My typical first round is swift action judgement, standard Divine Favor (later Divine Power) then move into position.

Second round swift Bane (assuming the creature has been identified), then full attack.

It means there's less hitting things in round 1, but with inquisitor initiative, you'll likely go near the top of round 2, anyway.

EDIT: Seriously, by 6th level, this is +2/+2 and at 9th +3/+3. It almost makes the Inquisitor full-BAB. Great from a wand, too, because of the standard duration.

[ChainsawSam]

Burst Bonds is either going to be functionally useless or a godsend. Entirely depends on the GM. There are those out there that love imprisoning characters somewhere without their gear.

In your situation I would disregard anything related to tracking and let the Ranger do his thing.

As for the scout role, it depends on how things play out. Scout is a role, but it means different things to different groups. For the most part it means being 10 feet ahead and poking around for traps. For some groups however, it means actually being an honest to goodness scout. Sometimes poking around very dangerous areas quite a ways ahead of the party.

If your group does the former, disregard the role and let the Rogue do it. If your party does the latter, embrace it. Take a couple spells that aid in stealth and espionage and partner up with your Rogue. An Inquisitor and another Scout character together have the chops to do some really ballsy things while scouting.

In your case, Honeyed Tongue. Definitely.

Alarm is a good spell. If you want to use it all night to aid with the party's watch rotation then get it as a known spell. If you just want to toss it up occasionally to cover a flank while exploring then a wand will do fine. It is a really underutilized spell for the latter application and I really can't recommend it enough.

Expeditious Retreat is an amazing spell for a spell known slot. At 1min/level it lasts plenty long. Remember that you can stealth at half your speed at no penalty, expeditious retreat makes that quite a bit of distance. Furthermore it allows you to either chase down or run away from just about anything should the situation call for it which makes it a great way to piss in your GM's Cheerios (generally if the enemy is retreating on a horse it is because the GM intends for them to be a reoccurring villain, oops).

Remove Fear is good, but in my experience it serves fine as a wand. As a level 1 spell its only 750 for 50 charges and that'll last your entire career without cluttering up your spell list. Then again, it's a level 1 spell so it isn't like there are a bunch of great options. Either way.

The point of Weapon of Awe isn't the damage. It isn't great for that. However making an opponent Shaken with no save after a crit is pretty damn nice. Using a keen falchion or scimitar gives a damn good chance of applying Shaken to foes as you're fighting through them. If you're ranged, disregard cause the threat ranges suck. It'll also give you a Sacred bonus to damage during the times when you need to use one of your Judgments for defensive purposes (and you will. You will).

Anyway, good luck.