Need advice for / critiques for a Rogue Inquisitor Build

[itazuranarisu]

So a friend of mine is going to be converting an old 3.5 campaign we stopped into a Pathfinder campaign. I had been working toward Shadowbane Stalker as a Rogue Cleric of Olidammara. Now the build I'm looking at is a Unchained Rogue (Rake)/Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer) using the Dazzling Display / Shatter Defenses path for sneak attack.

My plan is to use the Rake's Bravado's Blade along with the inquisitor bonus to Intimidate from Stern Gaze to leave many enemies shaken and then spend a lot of time getting sneak attack. The problem is making sure I get a lot of attacks. My plan was to get as many Attacks of Opportunity as possible. The best seeming way I could find to do this was to take the Snake Style feat path so that eventually there would be the chance of every missed melee attack from debuffed opponents would mean sneak attacks for me. However, I'm a little unhappy with the fact that these sneak attacks require me to use unarmed strike. Dunno if I am missing any other really easy ways to have enemies incur lots of AoO, but I'd be happy to hear what everyone thinks.

I'll post the build notes here too, for reference.

Str 11
Dex 18
Con 12
Int 18
Wis 15
Cha 11

Feats- Talents:
Human: IUS
Flaw: WF (Rapier)
1st: Ex Rog Talent(Min Mag:Ray of Frost)
Weapon Finesse(from unchained)
2nd: Major Magic (Shield)
4th: Ninja Trick (Style Master: Snake Style)
3rd: Dazzling Display
5th: Combat Reflexes
7th: Snake Sidewind
9th: Shatter Defenses
11th: Snake Fang
12th: Two-Weapon Fighting (Slayer: Ranger Combat Style)
13th: Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Beyond that my feats are up in the air. I've considered bookish rogue (mostly for flavor because I can imagine the character as conceived enjoying pawing through a "borrowed" spellbook and experimenting around with different spells in downtime with hilarious consequences. I'm not exactly looking to optimize, but I also want to every once in a while really shine in an encounter and I'm pretty sure building this the right way that should be possible.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice.

Cheers!

[itazuranarisu]

OK so I didn't want to double post, but it seems I missed the window to be able to edit my original. I forgot to include that I'm planning on going Rogue 4/ Inquisitor 16.

That's not set quite in stone though I think the more levels in inquisitor the better for the sake of spells.

[Mysterious Stranger]

What are you looking to get out of the rogue? For the most part you are better off sticking with a single class. Inquisitors have a lot of level dependent abilities that are going to be weakened by multiclassing.

If you want to get a free intimidate when you attack then Cornugun Smash is a much better way. Since it requires 6 ranks in intimidate you really can’t pick it up until 7th level, but any time you hit and are using power attack you get a free demoralize attempt. Also if you are going for a demoralize build consider going half orc for the favored class bonus. Assuming you max out intimidate this gives you +2 to intimidate per level.

Use your teamwork feats to get more attacks of opportunity. Both Outflank and Paired Opportunists allows for extra ways to gain attacks of opportunity.

Blistering Invective allows you to make an intimidate check against everyone in 30’ radius and does 1d10 points of damage, and possibly catch on fire.

I think you are focusing too much on getting attacks of opportunity especially with the snake style. Even with combat reflexes and a high DEX you still only have so many attacks of opportunity. Unless you invest in an amulet of mighty fists your unarmed strikes are going to have a hard time hitting and bypassing damage reduction. The amulet is way overpriced and not worth the cost.

Also what weapon are you using? You have weapon focus rapier but are taking two weapon fighting. Rapiers are not light weapon so take huge penalties when used with two weapon fighting. You would be better off with short swords.

You also want to pick up signature skill intimidate. At 15th level you should be able to exceed the demoralized threshold by 20 to get the cowering condition on your targets. You may want to use pick up thing to increase your intimidate to like skill focus. This would be a better use of your feat than the snake style.

[itazuranarisu]

Ok, so don't get me wrong. All of that sound pretty good for the intimidate build, but I am kind of fixed on certain things. The character already exists and is a human. Also, at the very least I'm obligated to keep divine casting levels of some kind because I took 2 levels of cleric (which the DM is willing to let me change over to inquisitor). I guess basically the main things that I want are a reliable way to get sneak attack much of the time (that's what the Shatter Defenses is for .. and of course not available til level 9 but that's how it generally goes), a decent chance to avoid getting crushed for the time I'm spending in melee, and continue to serve my primary function as skill monkey.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the main reason I'm looking at AoO and trying to increase them is that it's a way to get extra attacks as a rogue who hurts for extra attacks unless there's someone around to cast haste.

Pretty sure with the way the Teamwork feats work for the Inquisitor Outflank would only give them attacks of opportunity whenever you score a critical hit but I could be misreading that.

[Mysterious Stranger]

You are mistaken on how teamwork feats work for the inquisitor. The inquisitor is the only one who gains the benefit (Increased flanking bonus and attack of opportunity) from the feat. The ally’s position and action must still meat the prerequisites of the feat. So as long as your ally is flanking the target your flanking bonus goes up to +4, and whenever they score a critical hit against the flanked target you get an attack of opportunity. Their flanking bonus is unchanged, and if you score a critical hit they gain nothing.