3rd Party Member - Inquisitor vs Bard

[Deyvantius]

Ok so we have a druid and a sorcerer in the party.

Druid will summon and Sorcerer will be protean bloodline.

What's the best 3rd member. Inquisitor vs Bard and I the ability to disable magic traps is given to me freely along with 1 free skill point per level (that must be disable device).

I'm leaning Bard to assist the summons but Inquisitors are nice

[David_Bross]

Bards make better skill monkeys (arguably the best in the game). That said, in a party with fewer members, you might compare the two on their own merits alone, which would probably tilt the scales towards inquisitor with a sorcerer already in the party. The sole merit I'm looking at here is potential party you're buffing as a bard and DPR once buffed vs Inquisitor DPR alone.

That said, play what you enjoy playing.

[Gerald]

Inquisitor can help man the front lines with the animal companion of the Druid, and help with the healing as well. I'd want the inquisitor in this party rather than the bard.

[Gilfalas]

Gerald wrote:

Inquisitor can help man the front lines with the animal companion of the Druid, and help with the healing as well.

Also with the Animal Domain and the Boon Companion Feat your Inquisitor could add a full strength animal companion of his own to the party. Extra flanking, extra tanking and melee damage.

Your party seems a little melee light and that could shore it up with the Inquisitor himself. Add some teamwork feats to the pet as possible and it gets even better.

[Deyvantius]

Damn!

Inquisitor it is...

[Weirdo]

If your reaction to "Inquisitor" was "damn," maybe you should play the bard. Neither is a bad choice and you can build a melee bard, too.

[Deyvantius]

Weirdo wrote:

If your reaction to "Inquisitor" was "damn," maybe you should play the bard. Neither is a bad choice and you can build a melee bard, too.

I only said "Damn!" because everyone favored the Inquisitor

[Weirdo]

Ah, proceed then. Bonus nobody's mentioned yet - Restoration is on your spell list and not on the druid's or the bard's.

[Matt2VK]

One other suggestion is grabbing a melee type bard archetype. There's a couple of very decent ones that can fill that role.

[Deyvantius]

I'm actually looking at the Ranger now too. I think he fits better

[soupturtle]

If you're considering ranger as well, I'd go for that. Particularly, I'd make a switch hitter ranger. You can be the front line when your party needs you to (which will be most of the time), but with all the control spells a druid and a sorcerer have access to there will also be times when you can keep the enemies at a distance and shoot them full of holes without having to come near them.

[Dan Rope]

The other guys are casters, uh? And one of them is going to summon meat shields, isn't he/she? Then the path is clear to me:

-Play a bard.
-Use the Magician archetype (one that aids casters instead of improving attack and damage rolls)
-Use your feats to become an archer.
-(Optional): Be human and in addition to Point-blank shot, use your extra human feat to pick Rapid Shot. Be awesome from the 1st level.

[Jodokai]

Dan Rope wrote:

(Optional): Be human and in addition to Point-blank shot, use your extra human feat to pick Rapid Shot. Be awesome from the 1st level.

My personal opinion is Rapid Shot at first level is a horrible idea. You have a 0 BAB, add -2 for Rapid, -4 for firing into melee and even with an 18 DEX you're -2 to hit. Precise Shot would be a much better choice.