What is the point of this class? I think they have a cool name but I expected something along the lines of a Paladin Archetype.
So, what is the lure or point, if any?
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What is the point of this class? I think they have a cool name but I expected something along the lines of a Paladin Archetype.
So, what is the lure or point, if any?
Thematically, it is a cross between a Cleric and Paladin without the alignment restrictions. He is the one who does the dirty work.
Mechanically, it is a cross between a ranger and a bard. You always have something you can do in any situation, and you benefit any group you are in with your versatility.
Personally, I love them. Best built class in the APG, and arguably better build than most of the core classes.
Think Batman. With Religious motivation (is there a bat god?).
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I'm not sure either, OP. They are a solid class overall, though. Similar and inferior to a cleric to an astonishing degree, but still quite capable.
I hate the name, though. I don't find it cool at all.
They are a strong class due to their ability to fill nearly any role. They can be two handed fighters, archers, buffers, healers, trap finders, anti-mages, skill monkeys, faces, etc. While they aren't the best class for any one of these roles, their true power shines through in their versatility. They can easily fill 2-3 of these roles without much trouble and do them well. They'll never have the DPS of a barbarian, or have as much healing and buffing as a oracle or cleric, but they can complacently fill the roles of a healer, buffer, and melee DPS all in one character, and have skill points left over to be the trap finder or face.
I personally love them for how potent they are at acting as an anti-caster. The combination of good saves, Stalwart, their judgement, and their spells makes it easy to get to the mage, and stick to them.
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Calling the inquisitor Van Hellsing or Solomon Cane would be as accurate as calling the Barbarian Conan or the Monk David Caradine's character from Kung fu.
It represents a specific brand of gritty, organized monster hunter. One outfitted by a religious organization to hunt heretics and enemies of the faithful, or simply kill monsters.
As far as who or what is a heretic: All the gods hate rovagug, all the good and neutral gods hate Lamashtu and her monsters and beasts. Doesn't matter whether you are of the god of righteous fury, of the god of crafting or of the god of love, if something eats, kills or predates upon your faithful, you have a certain set of skills for hunting it, you cast judgement down upon it, and you suffer not the monster nor the heretic to live.
edit: at least thats one interpretation
Think Batman. With Religious motivation (is there a bat god?).
That's how I like to describe the class too.
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Ah yes my favourite class.
There are two answers to this:
1) Thematically. Inquisitors fill a role that doesn't really fit with Clerics and Paladins. Paladins are holy knights, champions of light and righteousness. Clerics are representatives of their gods chosen to lead their congregations and act as the mouthpieces of their gods.
Inquisitors are none of these things. Inquisitors are troubleshooters for their deities. Where a Paladin confronts head on an Inquisitor searches and discovers, rooting out threats to their gods. Where a cleric stands as a direct mouthpiece of their gods an Inquisitor instead works in the shadows, investigating and quietly protecting.
In short a Paladin is a champion, a Cleric is a spiritual leader and an Inquisitor is a holy investigator.
2) Mechanically. Inquisitors have unique mechanics that make them interesting. Bane and Judgement are great personal buffs and teamwork feats help to add an extra dimension. The spell list boasts many excellent buffs and a lot of swift action effects which give the class a lot of flexibility and versatility.
And that versatility is their key strength, they can fit virtually any role in a party; healer, tank, damage dealer, ranged combat and buffer. Crucially they can switch between these roles effectively even mid combat and fill holes as needed.
An inquisitor always have something up their sleeve. In that they are a bit like Batman and hey, everyone wants to play Batman, right?
:)
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They're a hybrid divine skill class--the Divine Bard if you will. I don't understand what's not to get about that.
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I always think of the Inquisitor more like Judge Dredd than Batman!
Monty Python flashbacks. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Noo! Not the comfy chair!
Just a rogue or ranger/ cleric hybrid. Mix in a large dose of religious fanaticism and boom, Inquisitor.
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1) See the thread on "How to roll a cheerleader".
2) Consider Johnny Depp in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". That's a good Inquisitor role model. Another would be the main character in the TV show "Grimm", although the way they do the "were-creatures live among us" meme in that show doesn't quite fit the the classic RPG fantasy world.
3) I sort of agree with the Batman analogy, but only in terms of Batman's versatility. Batman is usually prepared for anything, and so is the Inquisitor.
4) I don't disagree with the Judge Dread concept either, but how do you translate that to fantasy medieval?
5) The Inquisitor seems to represents characters of a religious bent whose main passion is hunting and destroying witches, demons, and the undead. There are a lot of stereotypes available: Brendan Fraser in the Mummy movies, Peter Cushing in any number of Dracula movies, Richard Grant in that 1991 Warlock movie starring Julian Sands, Laura Craft in Tombraider, Lamont Cranston in the Shadow, Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child, Paul Blackthorne in The Dresden Files, the Brothers Grimm, etc., etc., etc., and don't forget Buffy.
4) I don't disagree with the Judge Dread concept either, but how do you translate that to fantasy medieval?
Heheheheh. How do you not?!? Despite being the spiritual iconic of the lawful neutral alignment, at least half the people who choose to play paladins play them this way.
Especially with the Gunpowder Inquisition!
Now all you need is an intelligent magic pistol of some description that will load all the various ammunition types when ordered to, and you're golden!
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To me the class is simply a divine version of the Bard. It has its own unique features, and being divine, you need to be tied to a deity, but that's a good summation.
Instead of performance, you get Judgements, Bane, and Solo Tactics (and the Teamwork Feats). Spells are comparable, and BAB and skills are similar.
The level of religious fervor that they exhibit would be dependent on the deity, and on the specific mission.
Hellknight.
4) I don't disagree with the Judge Dread concept either, but how do you translate that to fantasy medieval?
+1 to that.
Hellknights They ARE the law!
I don't know. I get what is being said. It just seems like the level of specialization is becoming...unnecessary. Clerics are pretty versatile. Couldn't a player make an inquisitor out of a cleric without the need for a special class?
And while it is occurring to me, couldn't the same be said for the Rogue and the Ninja?
A Cleric is someone who is a religious leader. There job is to run the religion and act as the voice of the deity. They are concerned with running the deities organization on the prime material plane. They are administrators, teachers, and role models of what the deity stands for. Their job is to represent the deity to the public. They are flashy and about as subtle as a brick thrown through a window.
An inquisitor is an agent of the deity. His primary job is to police the religion and deal with problems that the deity does not want exposed. He also deals with finding and neutralizing hidden threats that no one else is able to see. They are spy's, investigators, and sometimes assassins. Their job is to quietly deal with problems. They are subtle and if they are doing their job no one realizes it.
Clerics rely more on shear divine power. Their spell casting is more powerful and versatile. Inquisitors rely more on skills than magic. There spell casting while decent is fairly narrow and focused. They make up for it with other abilities like bane and judgments.
Clerics are required to live according to the teachings of the deity. Inquisitors are given more freedom to break the rules. This is especially true for lawful inquisitors.
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I don't know. I get what is being said. It just seems like the level of specialization is becoming...unnecessary. Clerics are pretty versatile. Couldn't a player make an inquisitor out of a cleric without the need for a special class?
Where do the four extra skills come from? How about all the skill bonuses (Track, adding Wisdom to many social skills and monster lores)?
It is so literally a divine Bard, I don't know what else to say, nor do I understand why this is hard to grasp.
Is it less "I don't understand the Inquisitor" and more, "I don't really care for the Inquisitor/class bloat in general?"
I agree with Mikaze's statement. I made mine to make a lawful "neutral" (PFS) Inquisitor of Achaekek. He wields a greatsword with heavy armor. The RP works great, even if the mechanics aren't quite the same. They are certainly fun to play!
They have a relationship with clerics similar as the bard has to the rogue and the ranger has to the fighter. Inquisitors are social and perception-oriented casters with a balanced buff and debuff spell list. While a paladin lives by their code, and a cleric by the law, the inquisitor lives according to command.
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I don't know. I get what is being said. It just seems like the level of specialization is becoming...unnecessary. Clerics are pretty versatile. Couldn't a player make an inquisitor out of a cleric without the need for a special class?
And while it is occurring to me, couldn't the same be said for the Rogue and the Ninja?
I think this points to disconnect I'm seeing on tgis thread. It seems one portion of posters is focusing on the flavour (Batman, Van Helsing, Judge Dredd etc etc) and another portion is focused on the mechanical (divine bard, "differently aligned" Paladin etc etc).
Essentially, there is nothing to "get" about inquisitors - they are a base class with some interesting mechanics (judgments, inquisitions-for-domains, solo tactics, monster lore, bane) that can have an infinite array of flavours attached. Much like many of the other classes. I don't "get" what's not to "get".
As for over-specialisation and the perceived versatility of clerics - no, you couldn't build an inquisitor out of a cleric because then it wouldn't be an inquisitor (the class) though you can definitely make a cleric into an inquisitor (the concept). It could be argued that judgments are merely hard coded tweaked cleric buff spells, but their duration and resource method are markedly different.
I remember when I first got the APG I headed straight to the Summoner and Witch, skipping past that "weirdo" Inquisitor class thingy. And I'm not really a caster fanboy - the ideas, concepts and mechanics of the bright shiny Summoner and Witch were attractive to me. BUT, when I actually checked out the Inquisitor I was taken by the sheer simplicity and elegance of the mechanics and the deft weaving together of some cherished real world tropes - the Witchfinder General, the Spanish Inquisitors, bounty hunters and big game hunters, the infamous Thief-taker General.
They blend a bit of this and a bit of that. "Divine Bard" does nothing for me, nor "skill-monkey", "Judge Dredd", "Van Helsing" or "non-Lawful Paladin". To me Inquisitor's are far less and far more than each of those things, and I'll defend to the death the right of anyone to disagree with me or view the imperfect Inquisitor in any manner they see fit. After calling the Resilience Judgment.
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I agree with Mikaze's statement. I made mine to make a lawful "neutral" (PFS) Inquisitor of Achaekek. He wields a greatsword with heavy armor. The RP works great, even if the mechanics aren't quite the same. They are certainly fun to play!
I used mine to make a LG "paladin" with skill points and a 17 Wis.
Inquisitors to me embody the witch-hunter/monster-hunter/vampire slayer type. A skilled, although not dedicated combatant with plenty of tricks up his sleeve to take on whichever thing it is threatening his people (or whatever).
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You don't get Inquisitors. Inquisitors get You.
You don't get Inquisitors. Inquisitors get You.
+ 1.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Some background hooks from Ultimate Campaign. (not lifting the whole text)
behalf of your god.
Compare this to the Cleric
proclaimed that you were destined to perform a great task in service to your god.
The Inquisitor lends itself more to 'screw the rules, I'm doing what's right' than the Cleric does.
I'm currently playing an Inquisitor in a group with a cleric, paladin, two rogues and an occasional Gunslinger. however I'm playing a... special... Inquisitor, he's a Lawful Good Inquisitor of Erastil. I'm a ranged dps build that is basically a Rangerdin. Instead of smite i have Judgement, instead of Favored enemy i have Bane. i get spells of a paladin/cleric and am feated like a ranger, and it's insanely fun. however it is VERY difficult from a roleplay point of view. Erastil values Family and Community over all else, but inquisitors tend to be solitary and dont mind going around the law to do what need be done. I am level 12 and have managed to not need a single atonement, however closely i have come xD. it really is a very very tough Roleplay build, but i figured out how to do it. I joined the Silver Crusade. everywhere i go i teach others skills they need, contribute my skills as a hunter/tracker to help feed them, show them how to survive off the land, or the best ways to plant different crops. all while on a quest to find purpose after the loss of my family, parents, siblings, wife, children and all. its probably the second most fun thing ive ever played.