So, I'm getting into yet another game. It's gonna be a 20 point buy, and I'm thinking Inquisitor or Cleric of Besmara, since the game is Skulls & Shackles. We're starting from the beginning, and I know we have a fighter (cad), an aquatic druid, and a dual-cursed oracle of storms. Not sure if we have any more.
Since I've never played an inquisitor, anyone have any advice? I'm in another Skulls & Shackles game (we're level 11), so I'm not so worried about spoilers for me. If need be, just put them behind the spoiler tab so that we don't spoil it for other folks.
I'm not sure on whether to choose domain, subdomain, or inquisition for the character. I was thinking that, since nobody else had it, I'd like to go with the trait of Besmara's Blessing, so that leaves me with 2 more traits (yay for house rules).
So, the questions are: race, domain/subdomain/inquisition, style of combat, spell choices, and a suggested progression for feats?
Secondly, do people have any tips for RP-ing the character?
Thirdly, with this setup, is the inquisitor a better plan? Or is a cleric of Besmara a better choice?
I think an inquisitor might be better. They have more combat capabilities due to their judgments and teamwork related abilities. Seems appropriate for a pirate. You also have the skill points to take more flavorful skills.
I think you might want to play up the Intimidation aspect. Besides the fact that you get a rather nice bonus due to stern gaze, I can definitely see it as appropriate to have someone worshiping a pirate god to have "them yellow belly sea-dogs shakin' in their boots."
I hear good things about the chaos domain. The first power is a debuff that forces rerolls with d20's and the target has to take the worse result. That is fairly powerful. Sadly, it only lasts a round, but it might be the opening needed for a key Save or Die. War or Tactics are also great choices, since one can raise damage and the other raises initiative (for the whole party), and both can let you use a power that gives you a combat feat you qualify for a few times per day. These great options would be a main draw if you decide to take cleric instead.
For style....your choices are a bit...odd. You could go with a ranged build, since every inquisitor gets bows. Your favored weapon is a rapier, so you might want to go with sword and shield since you can't two-hand it. This doesn't necessarily mean you should go weapon finesse though. You could also try going with simple weapons (for what that is worth). Otherwise, you would have to spend a feat on an exotic or martial weapon proficiency at 3rd level (or take half-elf and get it for free first level.) Cutlass seems most appropriate for such a decision since it has a high crit range of 18-20/x2, you could two hand it.... and well....it is a pirate weapon. You could find it laying about on any ship probably.
My Inquisitor is a lightly armoured, very mobile high damage kinda melee fighter. With the trade subdomain, high acrobatics, and some daredevil boots I can move around the battlefield really quickly and take out the main threat, or get into a flanking position for my teamwork bonuses.
It makes combats really fun as the high mobility gives me a lot of options in combat, and helps me pull off heroic actions, like rushing in to save a fallen comrade.
With Jugements, Bane, power attack and spell buffs I can do a lot of damage very quickly, and if I take a couple of bad hits due to my light armour I can escape quickly to heal up.
Most of my spells are buffs to help me out in combat, with the odd utility spell thrown in to help the party out. I don't have a high enough Wisdom bonus to make it worthwhile targeting enemies with spells.
Inquisitors are great fun out of combat too, because of the knowledge/social skill bonuses they get. I'm playing a human, so the extra skill points come in handy for the Inquisitors wide range of useful class skills.
For traits, I have 'Civilized' for the Knowledge Local class skill (useful for monster law vs humanoids), and 'Birthmark' which is helpful for keeping a hand free for spell casting without needing to hold a divine focus. Again, it's useful for my mobility in case I need to climb somewhere quickly or grab a fallen comrade.
I have a one level dip into Barbarian, but that's mostly just for flavour, though the extra 10 movement again fits my build well. The weapon proficiencies and rage come in handy too.
So we have Civilized and Birthmark as the two choices for traits.
I was thinking boarding axe, cutlass, or rapier as the weapon. I've heard people say buckler, so that might be an idea.
I'm hearing trade, chaos, war, or tactics as possible domain.
Now, is it a consensus for inquisitor?
So what's the reasoning for the domain/subdomain suggestions for the inquisitor?
Well my choice of Trade was for the mobility... You get the same teleport and extra base speed as travel domain, and a few social skill bonuses which fit the class nicely.
There are quite a number of good and interesting domains though, so my advice is to come up with a concept of the character you want to play, and pick whichever fits that best.
Well, since he's one of Besmara's inquisitors, I think it's narrowed down. It's down to deception, trickery, weather, or chaos.
The concept is that his mother was a notable pirate/priestess of Besmara and he was born on her ship. Sadly, while he was still very young, something horrible happened to her ship. Some say Besmara brought a storm, some say Chelaxian slaver ship met his mother's ship, others claim even stranger things but all are weird, exotic tales that have just enough truth in the region's history to be plausible.
I'd say that cleric would be more of an option if you simply fell in love with more than one domain. They have more choice in spells, but they must prepare their spells before they can use them. Inquisitor is spontaneous, and only has enough spell slots to really help in its primary purposes of some buffing anyway.
Cutlass seems like the best choice of a 'pirate' weapon if you want to spend the feat. It is basically the same as the rapier you get as a favored weapon, but you can two hand it without any problems.
I have no doubt I can narrow down on domains. Apparently the group has expanded to a freebooter, a cad fighter, a waves oracle, and an aquatic druid, so I'm stuck on the 3 options for domain: Deception, Weather, or Chaos?
I also am stuck on race.
As far as I know, there are not limit within reason. I was thinking human with Heart of the Sea would make a lot of sense.
I think I've decided it's going to be a human with the Chaos domain. Thinking he's going to be wielding either a harpoon or a boarding pike. Trying to decide what sort of weapon to have in case the enemy gets too close. Any thoughts?
Ok, armor spikes it is. Do you have any thoughts on the setup for feats? Both normally gained and through teamwork? The group and I are seeing my character as like a second line fighter, but I'm not sure exactly how to build this guy.
Knowing this, is Chaos still a good domain? Or is there a better choice? Like Weather, Storms, or Trickery?
Is increasing his number of AoO or attempting combat maneuvers worth it? Or finding ways to increase his reach?
Human + Travel or Protection. Extra feat is awesome, and the skill point means you can drop Int to an 8 without suffereing. Travel domain is hilarious with 40 ft movespeed and the move action teleport at level 8 is just stupid strong. Protection domain is practically a free, scale with level, cloak of resistance, leaving you open to take something else for your shoulder slot. 2H weapon is the easiest to build for damage, while archer is less MAD.
Joanna Swiftblade, he is a follower of Besmara, meaning I'm going to choose from her list of domains & subdomains.
Since all increases in my game cost 1 point, and it's 25 point buy, I'm definitely not dumping Dex.
I'm thinking I'm gonna 2 hand a boarding pike with spiked gauntlets when they get in close and a ceremonial rapier for other purposes.