Inquisitors are mostly martial, with a good number of out of combat tricks. I find they will spend most of their time attacking, often spending their spells on a buff or 2. They have a few good save or sucks to augment their list. They should cary arround some scrolls of less frequently required utility spells on their list.
Bane is by far their most important ability. It is a huge boost in power when you get it (equivalent to ~6 levels of rogue sneak attack)
Like a bard, I feel that focusing on the casting stat primarily is wrong. Str or Dex are the most important, with only a 16 required by high levels in Wis.
Witches, Wizards, Sorcerers, and arguably Summoners are the only non-martials in the game. Everyone else has the capabilities to fight well with weapons.
Inquisitors are martial characters.
Should I think of them as casters, or martials? Or are they good at splitting the difference, like bards? What's the relative importance of their class abilities? Or their stats?
Other thoughts?
They are absolutely awesome monstrous combatants. They rely on buffs, specifically on Swift Action Buffs.
2-3 rounds into the fight, they will be near unstoppable.
Did I mention they're awesome?
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They also receive a sweet ass hat as a class ability
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I agree I wouldn't raise it [WIS] above an 18, as you're right, it is a martial class, BUT you need a minimum 16 by the time you get 6th level spells.
For myself, I'll be playing in PFS, which caps at level 12. Kind of takes the WIS priority down a notch.
I built a melee inquisitor, and it works like an a la carte fighter. Instead of one great trick, like power attack, you have a lot of options.
With a suite of judgements and a few buff spells, you can easily customize yourself for the opponent of the day. That more than makes up for a little more damage from fighter feats. Inquisitors have great skills too.
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I'm amused by the various ways in which the Inquisitor is the opposite of a Bard.
Bards are Arcane, Inquisitors are Divine.
Bardic performance buffs the party, Solo Tactics helps the Inquisitor alone.
Bards get a lot of buff spells, Inquisitors get a lot of save-or-suck spells.
Bardic Knowledge encourages Bards to focus on Int for Knowledge skills, Monster Lore lets Inquisitors dump Int without neglecting Knowledge skills.
Even the fluff paints Bards as jocular and amiable, and Inquisitors as dour and asocial.
I'm amused by the various ways in which the Inquisitor is the opposite of a Bard.
Bards are Arcane, Inquisitors are Divine.
Bardic performance buffs the party, Solo Tactics helps the Inquisitor alone.
Bards get a lot of buff spells, Inquisitors get a lot of save-or-suck spells.
Bardic Knowledge encourages Bards to focus on Int for Knowledge skills, Monster Lore lets Inquisitors dump Int without neglecting Knowledge skills.
Even the fluff paints Bards as jocular and amiable, and Inquisitors as dour and asocial.
Now I want to see you roll up a Gnome Bard/Inquisitor.
Now I want to see you roll up a Gnome Bard/Inquisitor.I'm amused by the various ways in which the Inquisitor is the opposite of a Bard.
Bards are Arcane, Inquisitors are Divine.
Bardic performance buffs the party, Solo Tactics helps the Inquisitor alone.
Bards get a lot of buff spells, Inquisitors get a lot of save-or-suck spells.
Bardic Knowledge encourages Bards to focus on Int for Knowledge skills, Monster Lore lets Inquisitors dump Int without neglecting Knowledge skills.
Even the fluff paints Bards as jocular and amiable, and Inquisitors as dour and asocial.
I'm thinking chainsaw glaive, treasure hunter bard, maybe black powder inquisition... Deep gnome!
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Inquisitors... All the best parts of being a cleric with none of the "Please spend your standard and channel!" business.
I have a Half Orc Inquisitor(Preacher Variant) that has epic face melting intimidation skills(level 5 w/ a minimum roll+modifiers of 25). I molded him after a First Mate for a pirate ship. He has passable Diplomacy and Bluff skills, but when push comes to shove he growls and people does what he says. Demoralize is fairly lackluster against those pesky un-dead NPCs but that's what Bane is for!
So far my favorite spells are
0-level
BRAND! I'm a pirate so I like to put my name on things I own!
1-level
Bless- Who doesn't love buffing?
2-level
Blistering Invective, oh man. Its a dazzling display that doesn't take a full round action, doesn't burn a feat, AND catches them on fire? Downside? If you cast it in front of a mob they might want to hit you.
I love the Inquisitor!
nobody expects them.
I love inquisitors. They are so damn versatile. In one of my group's home games the DM set us up on a "retrieve the deific artifact" campaign, and everyone was playing one of the elemental races (1 each: Oread(me), Ifrit, Undine, Sylph, Tiefling, Aasimar), it got dubbed "The Element of Danger". Even before the campaign started I designed my Inquisitor around the concept of no matter where they hide, I WILL find them... And while most of my spell selections came about in the form of tracking and interrogation (thankfully our DM likes story driven games, plus we already had three other pure offensive characters), the judgement and solo teamwork feats were quite lovely.
If you wind up in a game where finding something or someone is a major plot point, or following them even, Inquisitor is the way to go... Seriously, twice my character went full Sherlock Holmes and unraveled the entire mystery of the current problem, and a few more times he tracked the target group through the entire city, when the DM planned on them actually getting away (it was like a DC 50 to track and catch up). Beyond that we wound up getting our own ship, to which my character quickly became the Boswon or whatever he called it (the guy in charge of boarding parties, aiming and firing the first cannon (thus calibrating the rest), and making sure the shipmates did their jobs) thanks to mad intimidation skills that even made the barbarian go "eep".
If your DM plays it right, just don't expect to be that trusted, or well liked. You are basically the shadowy secret service arm of your faith, while the paladins are the law bound militant arm. Technically as an Inquisitor you would have rank-up on the Paladins, since you would mostly be answering near directly to the heads of the faith, and would usually (were you an NPC) be tasked with the job of routing out the shameful and unfaithful in your church, yes even the paladins. It makes for a wonderful roleplay experience.
Cattoy and Helaman Nice!! I have been reliving that sketch while reading this thread.
It also inspired me to think of making a Gnome Inquisitor just to use the line "Nobody suspects the Gnomish Inquisition!"
Inquisitors are mostly martial, with a good number of out of combat tricks. I find they will spend most of their time attacking, often spending their spells on a buff or 2. They have a few good save or sucks to augment their list. They should cary arround some scrolls of less frequently required utility spells on their list.
Bane is by far their most important ability. It is a huge boost in power when you get it (equivalent to ~6 levels of rogue sneak attack)
Like a bard, I feel that focusing on the casting stat primarily is wrong. Str or Dex are the most important, with only a 16 required by high levels in Wis.
I disagree. I'm playing a Ranged Inquisitor, and it really depends on your focus. A High Wisdom bonus adds t Monster Lore, Initiative, Perception, Survival, Heal, Number of times per day you can use your domain abilities, Sense Motive, and Spells per day.
I agree I wouldn't raise it above an 18, as you're right, it is a martial class, BUT you need a minimum 16 by the time you get 6th level spells.
As far as scrolls go, if you're human you can add 1 spell known of a level lower than your highest level each level as a preferred class if you choose. And not all the spells are winners anyway.
I recommend the Jadeite's guide for more information.
Not sure where you are disagreeing with me. I said your primary should be str or dex. Your are playing a ranged inquisitor, so your probably have a high dex and moderate str.
I never said you can tank wisdom. Just that it wasn't your primary, like charisma isn't the primary for a bard. I said the exact same thing about a 16 in wisdom.All I am saying about scrolls is that they have a good spell list, but many of them are very situational and you should not invest your limitted spells known on them. Humans are a different beast because they get the overpowered ability to fill out their spell list, but not everyone plays a human inquisitor. Scrolls work well. The class doesn't really need UMD, though it doesn't hurt.
In my opinion, bards should usually aim for a starting Cha of 14. Same for Inquisitors. But with Wisdom, obviously.
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At level 10, my dual-whip Calistrian Preacher-Infiltrator enjoys her 18 Wisdom. But that may be because of how much I get from it... Conversion Domain and Infiltrator means I'm adding it twice to my Bluff and Diplomacy, using it for Intimidate, plus the standard (in the case of initiative, standard for inquisitors) addition of it to Initiative and Will Saves. The extra bonus spell is nice too... the Inquisitor Spell list has some real gems IMO.
For example, burning 3rd level spell slots, I can lock down two opponents fairly effectively for quite a while (Terrible Remorse is pretty well known, Litany of Eloquence... a no save, swift action, non-mind affecting fascinate... I've heard less about). As well, there are some good multi-purpose spells for countering enemies on the Inquisitor list as well (Judgement Light can counter invisibility, lower SR, counter DR, or buff any number of stats)
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Well, here's my first shot at a PFS build. Critiques appreciated!