So the inquisitor might be my favorite class in Pathfinder. My -1 in PFS is a human archer inquisitor of Sarenrae. Now I want to try and build a devastated inquisitor build. For those that don't know, that means a melee beast with a BFS (big freaking sword).
I have the skeleton of a build sketched out, but I'm actually unsure which feat to take at level 1 since I can take neither Weapon Focus nor Power Attack at 1. Here is the character, any advice about level 1 feats or anything else are welcome.
Devastation inquisitor:
Maldrek Bleakheart
Oni-Spawn Tiefling Inquisitor 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38; Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 0)
N Medium outsider (native)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7
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Defense
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AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+5 armor, +1 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +5
Resist cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee masterwork greatsword +5 (2d6+6/19-20)
Ranged sling +1 (1d4+4)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration -2)
1/day—alter self
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +4):
1st (2/day)—divine favor, magic weapon
0 (at will)—detect magic, disrupt undead, read magic, sift{super}APG{/super}
Domains Tactics, War
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 5
Base Atk +0; CMB +4; CMD 15
Feats Armor of the Pit[ARG]
Traits fate's favored, reactionary
Skills Disguise -1, Intimidate +0, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Knowledge (nature) +5, Knowledge (planes) +5, Knowledge (religion) +5, Perception +7, Sense Motive +8, Spellcraft +5
Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal, Varisian
SQ judgement 1/day, monster lore +3, prehensile tail, seize the initiative, stern gaze
Combat Gear wand of cure light wounds; Other Gear kikko armor, masterwork greatsword, sling, sling bullets (10), backpack, masterwork, grappling hook, silk rope (50 ft.), spell component pouch, wooden unholy symbol (Szuriel), wrist sheath, spring loaded, 226 gp, 9 sp
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Special Abilities
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Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fate's Favored Increase luck bonuses by 1.
Inquisitor Domain (Tactics)
Judgement (1/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Monster Lore +3 (Ex) +3 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures.
Prehensile Tail Your tail can retrieve small objects on your person as a swift action.
Seize the Initiative (6/day) (Su) An ally within 30' may take the better of 2d20 for initiative
I am in the process of making a similar Inquisitor. One thing I looked at was Combat Reflexes, to later take advantage of Teamwork Tactics that provide extra AoO attempts. The biggest being Outflank.
Have you considered Sanctified Slayer? I find the always available Studied Target + Sneak Attack + Talents to be better than the limited resource judgements. And it keeps Bane.
I would skip Armor of the Pit. Over all the AC will be useful for the first few levels. Then it becomes irrelevant past level 7. As this character is not focusing on AC. I recommend Believer’s Boon Domain Strength Subdomain Ferocity. That will allow you once a day to add 1/2 your level to damage for an attack. Not as good as power attack but dose add some damage with out affecting your to hit bonus. My other suggestion takes two feet's. However after playing so many higher level games doing it is well worth the investment. Fiend Sight taking this twice lets you see in magical darkness. This is something that is a large investment. However when it dose come up it changes the encounter entirely in your favor.
Have you considered Sanctified Slayer? I find the always available Studied Target + Sneak Attack + Talents to be better than the limited resource judgements. And it keeps Bane.
I will put my vote behind this as well.
The thing is that with the ACG, there is a new feat called Pack Flanking which allows you to flank anybody you threaten as long as you are adjacent to your companion.
So with this and outflank in addition to Sanctified Slayer, you will be constantly flanking and dealing Sneak Attack all the time + you can get a roc or something and gain the ability to fly. Not only that, you can also try to go for broken wing gambit and stack AOO at a +8 each round while doing sneak attacks. The damage from SA should make up for the damage from destruction judgment.
If companion is not your thing, then standard rage dominion is probably the best if you just want to smash things really hard.
Feat wise, if you are taking tactics, then perhaps combat expertise since it is the prerequisite for many feats.
If your stayin with a tiefling and devastator build, then your level one feat is either judgement surge or armor of the pit depending on if you favor defense or offense. Personally a +2 to natural armor is far better.
I'm surprised you don't plan to carry a BF poleaxe, with a BF sword as backup. A reach weapon will sometimes give you extra attacks, which more than compensates for the slightly lower damage than a greatsword.
I'm surprised you don't plan to carry a BF poleaxe, with a BF sword as backup. A reach weapon will sometimes give you extra attacks, which more than compensates for the slightly lower damage than a greatsword.
The problem is that inquisitors don't get martial weapon proficiency, so my options for a pole arm are very limited. I only have great sword access through the grace of my lady Szuriel.
As for the feat, I have Armor of the Pit now, but I saw this guy as more of a wrecking ball, not a turtle, so I'll probably switch it to Judgement Surge.
As for Sanctified Slayer, don't they only get 1 slayer talent at 8th? I'll have to look more into them, but they kind of feel like they lose some of the inquisitor flavor.
I'd second Reach Weapon + Combat Reflexes for this kind of build. There are plenty of deities with access to reach weapons better than the longspear. Even if you only get one AoO per combat that's prolly more damage than you'd get out of a bigger weapon. And yeah CR is totally worth it with only 14 DEX.
Also as you can't cast divine favor as a swift action. Moving into position, buffing and provoking is a way better use of your first combat round than move and cast.
I tend to agree that the trade off for the Sanctified Slayer looks to be favorable, especially if you get yourself an AC flanky friend via animal domain, alternatively you could also look to the Growth Domain. Paired with a reach weapon flanking becomes far easier and without judgement there is less tax on your swift actions.
Sacred huntmaster is also kinda nice. Currently working on a Half Orc with a Wolverine companion and amplified rage. At level 6 you are rocking a 28 STR while raging. That's gotta hurt A LOT! Also those tricks your animal friend can learn are wicked debuffs.
I'm surprised you don't plan to carry a BF poleaxe, with a BF sword as backup. A reach weapon will sometimes give you extra attacks, which more than compensates for the slightly lower damage than a greatsword.
The problem is that inquisitors don't get martial weapon proficiency, so my options for a pole arm are very limited. I only have great sword access through the grace of my lady Szuriel.
As for the feat, I have Armor of the Pit now, but I saw this guy as more of a wrecking ball, not a turtle, so I'll probably switch it to Judgement Surge.
As for Sanctified Slayer, don't they only get 1 slayer talent at 8th? I'll have to look more into them, but they kind of feel like they lose some of the inquisitor flavor.
Honestly I feel like longspear is enough as a reach weapon, you can shoot for a glaive or something but is not that much of a difference.
You do only get 1 slayer talent at 8th, but you can also grab ranger combat style with them if you want if you wish to ignore some feat tax.
And yes, I do feel going Sanctified Slayer feels like losing a bit of flavor but the benefit is really difficult to ignore. My DM love to have multiple encounters in a day or split one encounter into 5 different parts so the day limit is really bad for me personally.
You can always re-flavor it a bit anyway. So instead of I declare judgment and judge you unworthy to exist, just skip to the I judge you unworthy to exist part and commence cleaving.
Ok, you guys have convinced me to go Sancitified Slayer. I like sneak attacking anyway, so it wasn't really a hard sell, lol. Also, Studied Target gets you attack and damage bonus right from level 1. Judgements you have to wait until 8 to get both.
Changing deities is out of the question, so I'd have to make due with whatever reach weapon I can use with base inquisitor weapon proficiencies. That means longspear, and I'm just not down with that.
I'll probably switch my level 1 feat from Armor of the Pit to Combat Reflexes, and put the 14 in Dex and 12 in Con. But I'll make all these changes after my 3rd scenario so I can play at level 1 with 19 AC and 10 HP.
Anybody got a recommendation for the level 8 Slayer talent? I'm thinking just getting access to an extra combat feat might be nice, since none of the available feats for Two-handed Weapon combat style are all that great.
How do you even get Sneak Attack off often enough for Sanctified Slayer to be worth it?
Break it down for me, if you could.
You can but it takes a lot of work and tactics. Unless your a skilled tactician I would stick away from any thing with sneak attack. I have only seen a hand full of people that can play effectively with sneak attack.
I feel the same about inquisitor archetypes as I do bard. All of them unless your doing something for flavor are weaker then the core. The Sanctified Slayer sounds nice until you really look at what your loosing.
If you decide to go with a reach weapon. I would pick up exotic weapon proficiency Fauchard 14gp Damage 1d10 Critical 18–20/×2 10 lbs. Quality's reach, trip. I use this on my battle oracle. It is a very effective weapon. The improved threat range makes spending the feet well worth the investment. All weapons come down to the same importance threat range and critical multiplier. The static damage will be the same on all two handed weapons, and the dice damage means little after level 6. Throw keen or take improved critical then you will threat on a 15-20 with a reach weapon.
It basically says as long as you are adjacent to your animal companion, you are flanking anything both of you threaten. So if you grab the animal/feather domain, you and your buddy will be flanking things all day and get off consistent sneak attacks. You do need 13 int and combat expertise as feat tax but I think is well worth it. Plus you can get a roc or something and fly around. If you combo it with feat that grants bonus on AOOs, you will be hitting quite often with all the bonuses with multiple attacks a round.
Your single hit damage will not be as high as a raging inquisitor with a furious greatsword. But you will be stabbing things with the precision of a surgeon hooked up to a coffee machine.
Before ACG it was usually just good positioning with litany of sloth with a reach weapon. I usually carry a wand of expeditious retreat anyway so even with heavy armor, I still move at 50ft which is usually more than enough to get in good positioning.
There are not that many deities with a reach weapon better than longspear! Shelyn is the only one among core deities and the other pantheons are not much better. All said that's about 10 deities with a reach weapon.
Edit/add on: After a short run through archives of Nethys I found 7 deities that had reach weapons of longspear, naginata, and glaive. 3 of those had longspear as favored weapon. So based on a quick look you could find half a dozen at best.
BTW OP... You said changing deity is out of the question, was this because you want war/tactics? If yes have a look at Fumeiyoshi because he has that domain and a naginata favored weapon.
I always seem to play good characters. My -1 is an archer inquisitor of Sarenrae, and my next highest character is a paladin. I wanted to go for something gritty and on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, but without going necromancer and possibly making anybody I play with uncomfortable.
It's perhaps not worth while to invest much character build effort getting a harder-hitting weapon, particularly for this sort of build. Once one adds in static bonuses the difference is small. Lots of feats get you more extra damage than, say, the difference between a longspear (1D8 reach simple weapon) and a lucerne hammer (1D12 reach martial weapon).
Very basic math that compares longspear vs. glaive vs. greatsword damage for a 5th level Inquisitor:
Average damage D8 = 4.5 (e.g. longspear)
Average damage D10 = 5.5 (e.g. glaive)
Average damage 2D6 = 7 (e.g. greatsword)
So, on average, a hit from a greatsword will inflict about 2.5 HP more than a hit by a longspear. That's substantial. Leaving aside static bonuses, the greatsword hits fully 1.5x, or 50%, harder than the longspear. Why ever choose a longspear?
At 5th level your proposed melee inquisitor will have enormous static bonuses. Something like [damage dice] +20 HP damage. That's +6 from STR, +3 from Power Attack, +3 from Inquisitor spells & abilities (could be much larger!), +7 from Bane, and +1 from a magic weapon. With some optimization and team support you can break +30 damage by 5th level.
Counting this +20 damage the above weapons become
Average damage D8 +20 = 24.5 (e.g. longspear)
Average damage D10 +20 = 25.5 (e.g. glaive)
Average damage 2D6 +20 = 27 (e.g. greatsword)
Now the greatsword only hits 10% harder than the longspear! The spear, though, gives extra attacks via AoOs. If the longspear gets one AoO for every ten regular attacks (a 10% damage boost) then your total damage is the same as it would be with a greatsword. If, on the other hand, you are able to get one AoO for every three regular attacks (a 30% damage increase) then the longspear is clearly out-performing the greatsword.
The glaive is like the longspear, but gets +1 HP extra damage per hit. The glaive gives a 4% damage boost over the longspear for our 5th level Inquisitor. Use the glaive if you are already proficient, but it's surely not worth a feat, or even a trait.
Given the choice, 'longspear or greatsword', the better weapon is determined by how many AoOs the character expects to get from reach. It's hard to quantify the 'stay away' defensive benefit of reach, so ignore that factor. If more than 1 in 10 attacks is an AoO then the longspear is better. If AoOs will be scarce, or the player does not wish to bother fishing for them, the greatsword is better.
