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I recently got the cool suggestion on these forums of a Soulbound Doll for a ninja PC. This strikes me as kind of awesome.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/soulbound-doll

The doll would have to use a kusarigama to threaten and attack out of its square, but it could have a great CMB with it because Tiny and smaller creatures use Dex instead of Strength for combat maneuvers.

Its stealth would also be through the roof, so a feat like Hellcat Stealth would be awesome. It could also just pretend not to be alive or hide in the figher's pocket to ride into combat.

What are the practicalities to make this work? Soulbound dolls are CR2 for some reason, (even though I'm pretty sure a first level fighter could kill a roomful of them solo) so does that mean my ECL is 2 at level 1?

Healing is also problematic - what would my cleric cast to heal me besides Make Whole? And on the subject of hit points, would my constitution be permanently stuck at "10"?

Whip or scorpion whip doesn´t matter so much for you, because you do damage from sneak attack. All whips damage is low.

If you become tiny, all your weapons do the same and reach and damage are reduced. No matter what weapon.

Your damage can come from sneak attack and poison however, which are not reduced.

Find a way to hit, do sneak attack and survive and you will be fine.

Halfling with swift as shadows racial trait to reduce stealth penalty by 10 might be good for you, since tiny creatures get a high bonus to stealth. On low levels sniping every round for SA is a good thing.

I think you missed the point of the whip - the point being, to be able to attack out of my square. And it definitely feels cheesy to be doing sneak attack damage with a weapon that doesn't deal damage, hence scorpion whip.

The halfling sniper idea is good, though. Only problem being that if I end up doing too good a job with the stealth, it'll get kinda boring. I'll just sit there and invisibly shoot.... all day...

Poisoned ranged attacks seem like a good idea.

If I took Scout and Master Poisoner from the rogue archetypes, most of my damage output would be from move -> sneak attack with pre-poisoned shrunken/arrow and be plenty high even ignoring low strength. This has the added advantage of reduce person not reducing the damage of projectiles once they are loosed from my person, but the size/dexterity related accuracy boost still applying.

I could also get proficient with a scorpion whip if I wanted to attack at range like Oterisk suggested - its a light (i.e. finessable/capable of being agile) melee weapon with reach, that doesn't have the whip's problem of not actually doing damage.

As to poisons not working all that often, all I have to do is a) keep ahead of the fort curve with master poisoner and b) keep trying. They'll roll 1 eventually!

Hey guys,

I had a cool idea for a gimmick build involving the Ninja (because ninja are cooler than Rogues) and the rogue trick minor magic -> major magic -> familiar line.

Take a high goblin and make him as light as possible. By virtue of high goblin's overpoweredness, you are already really stealthy. Now pick up Reduce person twice a day from major magic. Not only would your DM almost certainly agree to give you a cool +4 stealth bonus for that even if its not in the RAW, you're also rocking a dexterity boost and an additional to-hit increase, while not reducing your damage appreciably at all - especially if you're going the poison route or have an agile weapon.

You're going to have a tough time flanking if you decide to fight like that, but idn, maybe your DM would let you take a feat to avoid being seen under a much larger creature's body. I don't suppose one like that already exists...?

For more jollies, grab a hawk familiar and get someone to build you a really strange saddle. Now you have a flying mount with which to scout from on high, and a perception boost to go with it.

I realize now that levelling up from 18 to 19 is really kinda pointless for an inquisitor.

You get 1 more judgment per day (how many times are you going to be fighting 7 seperate encountrs in a day?), 1 more 5th and 6th level spells per day, +1 BAB, and 1 more 5th level spell known. That's it - not even + saves or increased judgement potency. Time to look somewhere else.

Another level of rogue is looking good again. With medium mithril armor, evasion will complete my "make the save = no damage" set, and the rogue talent I get can go to a combat feat. I can take that level any time I want after 5th level, and I won't lose any more BAB. It'll also shore up my lagging reflex save a little more.

Any suggestions as to another class? Preferably a high BAB class, so as not to drop my BAB any more.
Monk is out - I'm definitely playing CN.
Barbarian seems nice, especially with the stacking extra movement, but level 1 raging seems kinda limited. I'd basically be able to use it in one combat, then be afraid to use the remaining few rounds of rage Maybe I could take an extra level of rogue AND a level of barbarian, and use the extra feat to get extra rage.

Thoughts?

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, I forgot about critical focus. That can go in at 15.

Inquisitor(Preacher) 19/Rogue(Thug) 1

Feats
Level 1: Toughness
Level 3: Power Attack
Level 5: Improved Monster Lore
Level 7: Cornugan Smash
Level 9: Furious Focus
Level 11: Divine Interference
Level 13: Improved Critical (Falchion)
Level 15: Critical Focus
Level 17: Staggering Critical
Level 19: Dreadful Carnage?

"If you have an ally with Shatter Defenses, this build should help them out a lot.(by saving the action to intimidate)
It's not really worth it to pursue it yourself with only 1d6 SA / no access to Deadly Stroke."

The point isn't to make them shaken - the point is to frighten them. At level 7, I can charge an enemy, frighten them, and get an AoO as they waste their turn running away.

----

Keeping in mind what you are all saying about swifts, I think I have to make a decision between Divine Interference and Vanishing Trick.
Divine Interference wins for a few reasons:

1, because I can start using it one turn earlier in a combat (its an immediate, not a swift) after using judgement and bane.
2. I can use my preacher ability selfishly more often if I don't rely on the preacher's ability to make the enemy reroll.
3. Making an enemy roll three times to hit just seems awesome.

I'll miss the defensive possibilities, but Divine Interference just strikes me as too good to pass up.

Thug allows you to frighten with intimidate rather than make them shaken. That's the key part.

The ninja's vanishing trick is also a swift action, which also allows for a lot of fun.

Hey all.

I'm new to pathfinder, and have yet to play a real game - but I'm in love with the system, and have been browsing forums and theorycrafting like mad to try to get ready for my debut.

The class to strike my fancy at the moment is the Inquisitor. Gotta love the flavor, and the cool abilities they get are icing on the cake. That, and with all of the options they get, I think I may have come up with a fun, versatile, and powerful build.

Here are the character defining bits.

Half Orc Inquisitor (Preacher, Travel Domain) 18/Rogue (Thug) 2

Equipment

Start out with a greataxe, switch to falchion when taking critical feats
Medium armor, upgrading to Mithril ASAP for the added mobility
Buckler that I can enhance with magic vestment for when I want the extra AC/am casting a spell

Levels
1-5 Inquisitor
6 - 7 Rogue - Rogue Talent: Ki Pool
8+ Inquisitor

Feats
Level 3: Power Attack
Level 7: Extra Rogue Talent (Ninja Trick: Vanishing Trick)
Level 9: Cornugan Smash
Level 11: Improved Critical (Falchion)
Level 13: Divine Interference
Level 17: Staggering Critical

Level ?: Improved Monster Lore

Skills

Orc Inquisitor favored class bonus every inquisitor level
Keep intimidate, Survival, and Sense Motive maxed, pick up the class bonus in all of the Knowledge skills (between favored class bonus and improved monster lore, these will be kept current without any more from me)

Possible additional feats
Toughness
Furious Focus -> Dreadful Carnage
Weapon Focus -> Dazzling Display (Blistering Invective (Level 2 spell) will hopefully cover AOE intimidate)
Lunge
Step Up
Intimidating Prowess

Analysis

This character would be awesome to have in a party. Primarily dealing damage, but also frightening/debuffing enemies, either AOE with blistering invective/dazzling display or for free while power attacking. He would also be extremely mobile with teleportation and the ability to ignore difficult terrain, as well as a swift invisibility 3-4 times a day for endless utility (and a +2 to hit/+1d6 damage).
He could buff himself to be a real monster, as well as fully heal after being send into negatives with orc ferocity, and Heal - but then, any orc inquisitor can do that.
Between the no action preacher ability and immediate action divine interference, no enemy would be landing criticals on his party members - and if he wanted to, he could make an enemy roll 3 times to hit anything, with optional big penalties.
This is all not to mention the massive utility a big intimidate can have outside of combat, as well as the regular inquisitor alignment detecting, tracking, and party buffs.

The problems I see with this build:

He's going to be making enemies hate him, and he's pretty squishy. Good Constitution/Toughness go a long way towards fixing that, but a tank he is not.
He'll be really hurting for swift/immediate actions. This, I'm not really sure how to remedy.

Any thoughts on the build, answers to those problems, or more problems I haven't thought of? Like I said, I haven't actually played pathfinder, so any of you more experienced types would be more than welcome with a voice of experience.