Inquisitor or Magus

We are about to start Kingmaker, and I am debating between these two classes.

I am looking at a 1 level dip into swashbuckler, and then go into either Magus or Inquisitor.

Has anyone played both? What can expect from each class, and which is the more enjoyable class?

Also for the inquisitor, I am obviously going to us a rapier and not the bow because archery is so feat intensive and only good if I can stay away from melee. Does anyone have differing opinions?

Both would synergize with Swashbuckler.

Magus is an okay flurry-style fighter that can deliver a huge Nova shocking grasp a few times per day. They use a rapier or scimitar, they use arcane pool to make it keen, they use arcane pool to make all their attacks touch attacks, and then they crit on a maximised, empowered, intensified shocking grasp. There are other ways to play a magus, but that's the most broken and thus most common. I don't like Magus because I don't like classes that are mediocre all day and then go nova on the boss. I like classes that are a little better all around. That's just me, tho.

Inquisitor is like a mini-paladin. They're also kinda Ranger-y. They also get to be awesome one or more times per day for a single combat, but it's just a little self-buff and not a tactical nuke. They track, they identify weaknesses of monsters, they Intimidate, and they use teamwork feats by themselves.

So if you wanna do huge damage, probably go Magus. If you wanna make dudes shaken and dole out divine justice, go Inquisitor.

Both are great classes. The inquisitor is a great class for always being able to be useful and self sufficient. Their high skills and domain ability make them very flexible. Judgements while only x/day are very versatile to any situation.

The biggest thing a Magus has going for them is action economy. Only class in the game that can cast a spell and full attack in the same round. Not only do you have that going for you but you also have tons of swift action abilities. Biggest perk of the Magus class is spell recall. IMHO the biggest problem with spell casters is never having enough of them. Spell recall is awesome. You dont have to take the same spell 2 or 3 times. You take it once and swift action recall it. Once you get improved spell recall and knowledge pool you are set. For sword and sorcery there is no better class.

Both would synergize with Swashbuckler.

Magus is an okay flurry-style fighter that can deliver a huge Nova shocking grasp a few times per day. They use a rapier or scimitar, they use arcane pool to make it keen, they use arcane pool to make all their attacks touch attacks, and then they crit on a maximised, empowered, intensified shocking grasp. There are other ways to play a magus, but that's the most broken and thus most common. I don't like Magus because I don't like classes that are mediocre all day and then go nova on the boss. I like classes that are a little better all around. That's just me, tho.

That's honestly a huge misrepresentation of the class.

The Magus can cast any of their spells off Spell Combat. That makes them excellent combat buffers (You get jumped without buffs? No problem. Spell Combat, cast Haste, full attack), debuffers (as much as I dislike the build, Frostbite with the right toys can render an opponent shaken, fatigued, sickened, and entangled. Alternately, Spell Combat, Black Tentacles, attack the guy in front of you who you put on the edge of Tentacles' reach. Or just, yanno, Baleful Polymorph them), dispellers (they get a souped-up Dispel Magic that works with Spellstrike), mobile skirmishers (Spell Combat -> Bladed Dash. Later, Spell Combat -> Dimension Door. Since Spell Combat is all one action, you can still make your full attack at the other end), and basically anything else you can think of with their list (and despite being probably the most restricted 6th level caster list, it has a lot of options). Shocking Grasp is but one aspect of Magus Tactics, and while it's a good trick-- and can be made into a very good trick if you like the metamagic and don't mind using a 6th level spell slot for 60+5D6+weapon damage on a single target (third, with Spell Perfection, which at that point you should be shelling out for)-- it's nowhere near their only trick.

And if they do want to use that trick, Spell Recall makes them far from a nova-oriented style. A totally dedicated Grasp Magus will be picking up as large of an arcane pool as they can to abuse that ability repeatedly. The Grasp Magus still isn't a fan of large groups of foes, and will likely go after the big guys first, but especially at the levels where they're using the triple-metamagic Grasp they have other options to handle groups (Walls, for example).

The big problem is that they ease into these capabilities; at low-levels they're by far the best at blasting and they sort of creep into the buffing role around level seven and the debuff/control role really kicks in at ten. So people try to play the mid-to-high level Magus like a low-level Magus and that just... doesn't work so well.

And is my assumption about archery being too feat intensive for the inquisitor accurate? Seems to me that by the time they have the usual feats needed to be effective, they are already at 10th level (I dont play humans, so no bonus feat).

And is my assumption about archery being too feat intensive for the inquisitor accurate? Seems to me that by the time they have the usual feats needed to be effective, they are already at 10th level (I dont play humans, so no bonus feat).

What feats are you hoping for? Any archetypes?

no planned archetypes yet.

Point blank shot. precise shot. rapid shot. many shot. deadly aim. (pardon if the names aren't exact, I don't have a book handy).
This puts me at 9th level before I am firing on all cylinders, and that's not spending any feats on non archery areas.

no planned archetypes yet.

Point blank shot. precise shot. rapid shot. many shot. deadly aim. (pardon if the names aren't exact, I don't have a book handy).
This puts me at 9th level before I am firing on all cylinders, and that's not spending any feats on non archery areas.

What about your rapier?

The benefit of an archer inquisitor is the bane at a range of 110ft+.

Realistically, you only need Point Blank and Precise. Rapid and Deadly are good, but can be picked up later if there are other feats you want. (I would even think about leaving off Deadly Aim as you do not have a great BaB to begin with)

1st PBS
3rd Precise
5th Extend Bane (IMHO, this is a must for any inquisitor)
7th Rapid
9th (your pick)

In my experience (which has yet to involve higher level play, so I'm only talking lower levels) the main difference between the two is Versatility. An Inquisitor can do some of everything and (if built towards it) will be good at one thing, usually some sort of combat style.

The Magus is a little more focused on combat, they can Nova a whole bunch and put out high amounts of damage. So they do a good job at keeping up reasonable damage for easier fights and then bring out the big guns for tougher fights. The Magus can also be a pretend Wizard for the first few levels until their spell progression starts to fall behind. They don't have quite the same out of combat versatility as an Inquisitor but between their spells and being an intelligence based (prepared) caster they can remain relevant.

I'd say it depends more or less how combat focused you want to be. As an Inquisitor you will be good at combat while being highly versatile outside of it. As a Magus you will be great for some combats, good for the rest, and have some things you can do when not fighting.

I'm currently playing a Magus and I've played an Inquisitor (but my experience was limited to about 5 sessions). Personally I like the Magus more, but I am biased towards Arcane Spells and the Action-Economy of Spell Combat. The Inquisitor was still a lot of fun as well and the guy playing one in my current campaign can throw out pretty crazy damage with a Two-Handed Weapon once he buffs.

Ranged Inquisitors probably aren't as optimal as Melee Inquisitors but they can still be pretty effective. You can take Coordinated Shot and Enfilading Fire as two of your Teamwork feats and get some decent buffs on hitting people (assuming there are people to threaten/flank enemies). Like others have said, with Bane and Judgement mixed in (plus any spell buffs you might add) can really do some cool things with a bow. You'll just be on a slightly slower progression.

I'd try and get Precise Shot ASAP and pick up Rapid Shot+Manyshot when you can. Even with your 3/4 BAB progression I'd say getting Deadly Aim is worth it, with the Justice Judgement your accuracy should still be good enough, but it isn't something you need to go out of your way for if you don't want to.

Personally I prefer Magus, with a Melee Inquisitor second, and then Ranged Inquisitor.

The magus being the only class that can full attack is not quite true. The war priest can too it's just that he can only cast a self buff and full attack

I'm doing a kensai/Blade bound magus with a dip in swashbuckler. Having 3-4 1st level pearls of power was a must but I play him as a fighter for the most part until he novas. Focusing on the high int also gave him a lot of skills so he is actually quite handy out of Combat as well.

The warpriest really is a better magus analogue. Both can cast and attack in the same round. The warpriest is limited to self buffs but he doesn't have to use a full attack either. The warpriest can cast, move and attack in one round.

To me the inquisitor feels like a hybrid of bard and paladin.

The warpriest really is a better magus analogue. Both can cast and attack in the same round. The warpriest is limited to self buffs but he doesn't have to use a full attack either. The warpriest can cast, move and attack in one round.

While I agree the warpriest has an archetype which sort of makes the point moot if you chose to use it. I also feel that the magus is too one dimensional. I know you can try to play it like batman but you really don't have the resources to do so. The biggest strength with the magus is not using it's class features, it's using it's ability to always have the right spell and have literally every spell written into their book via exploit.

To me the inquisitor feels like a hybrid of bard and paladin.

I also agree with this but with a dash of cleric tossed in (The domains).

If I had to pick between inquisitor and magus I'd say inquisitor hands down. Divine wisdom based casters are inherently extremely strong due to huge will saves and fort saves. They also possess the ability to remove critical and debilitating abilities in exchange for some small utility.