| chaostails7 |
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.
| Petty Alchemy RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16 |
Out of curiosity, why Rogue? Invisibility, and Greater Invisibility, are both on the inquisitor list.
| EvilMinion |
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.
Careful with this last... alot of the Inquisitor goodies require immediate or swift actions... of which you only get one a round.
You often run up against wanting to do too much with not enough actions to do it.| Archaeik |
Honestly, the Thug archetype is all you were looking for, I'd pick something different since you'll never get to pick up Invisible Blade. (although I can see some utility, escape mostly)
Weapon Focus and Intimidating Prowess are ones you can get from talents. (but the latter shouldn't be necessary with all the FC bonuses)
And you need Critical Focus for Staggering Critical, so that eats another feat slot.
As to your other choices, I'd go for Furious Focus if possible, it should synergize well with Cornugan Smash.
Lunge is alright, and you will be moving in to melee quite often, so it would help prevent AoOs. The benefit only lasts through your turn, so no extra AoO range, and the AC hit lasts until you act again.
Toughness is almost always a good choice.
Step Up? You already have enough swift/immediate to worry about. You're hopefully not the tank, I wouldn't worry about it.
I could see Imp Sunder being worthwhile, depending on how you like to play.
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.
I'm also a fan of Solo Tactics, but no worries.
| chaostails7 |
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.
| chaostails7 |
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?