I'm pretty new to pathfinder, I played the beginners box at GenCon last year. This year I signed up for 5 PFS events and I need a character. I'm pretty interested in the inquisitor and the Andoran faction. I'm picturing a ranged support character more than a front line guy.
Race Aasimar
Algn: CG
Worship: Cayden Cailean
STR 14
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 16
CHA 12
Traits: Reactionary - for +2 ini (pretty sure I want this)
Either: Sacred Touch - for auto stabilize
Hunter's Eye - extended range for bow
Domains: Either Conversion or Travel, I'm leaning towards Travel
Spells: 0: guidance, daze, detect magic, create water
1: bless, cure light wounds
I've read a bunch of threads on equipment, so I should be ok there. Any advice or suggestions welcome.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Welcome to PFS!
First, if you're going to be a "ranged" character, I assume that means a bow, yes? If so, you probably want higher DEX than that, since your ranged attack rolls are based on DEX. Also, if you're playing a support role, you probably don't need your WIS to be that high; mostly all that gets you is higher save DCs on your spells, and you're probably not casting that type of spell; bless, for instance, has exactly the same effect whether your WIS is 16 or 11. (Not that I'd go with 11 WIS, but you get the idea.)
Also, what books do you have? That'll let us know what options to suggest and what to not bother with. :)
Thanks Jiggy. I have the core rule book, inner sea world guide, advance players guide, advanced race guide, ultimate combat, ultimate equipment, and ultimate magic.
I planned on starting with a short bow and then upgrading to a composite longbow after the first adventure. If I'm not putting a lot into wisdom then I should probably forget about the conversion inquisition and go with the travel domain for the extra movement. Don't really want any stat under 10 so should I adjust my stats to
STR 14
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 12
I assume I'd put my stat bonuses into dex as I level and a wisdom stat item so I could eventually cast 4th lvl spells?
For your first feat, you're probably going to want Point Blank Shot
I believe there is an alternate Aasimar, that gives +2 to dex and wisdom (Plumekith aasimar). I think it also has some archery traits associated with it. Its spell like ability is see invisibility instead of daylight though... im not sure how attached you are to daylight.
for first level feat take pointblank shot for +1attack and damage when with 30ft
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I think I'd change the race if I were you. You're not taking advantage of the aasimar stat boosts, and can't abuse the Blood of Angels alternates, so I'd suggest a race with a flexible +2(human or half-Orc are the better ones for this, human gets you level 1 precise shot, half-Orc gets you the ever lovely darkvision). Making a tegu either wouldn't be horrible, as it gives bonuses to your two main stats, and Con is less valubable to an archer. A 16 Dex is the minimum for an archer(see exception below). Archery adds a lot of penalties from rapid shot, deadly aim, and the like, so you definitely need to compensate for that. If you want, take a single level dip into crusader cleric of erastil and make your attacks on wisdom. If you take this route, I'd pump wisdom and take conversion(which allows you to dump charisma at basically no penalty, helping you out further in the stats department)
You definitely need precise shot by 3rd level. A -4 penalty to hit will be present too often.
Traits: I don't believe you will find range to be an issue often, or at all in PFS. I've never seen it come up for somebody using a longbow, and I have 2 retired characters. The human trait world traveler gives you knowledge local, one of the few inquisitors are missing (and would love)
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What is preferred is to obtain a Wand of Bless, rather that have Bless as a prepared spell. As Jiggy said, there is no difference in bonuses. If you would have Bless in your prepared list, it would only increase the duration of the Bless, nothing else. Moreover, 90-95% of combat situations lasts less than one minute, so having a Wand of Bless would cover the duration of each combat.
You can also use a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, rather than the spell in your prepared list. Each wand has a full 50 charges, so 50 uses of the spell, rather than a single use from the list.
These wands are cheap in terms of using prestiege points to buy them (2 PP for a Level 1 wand with 50 charges), however if this character is entering its first scenario, you can keep Bless and Cure Light Wounds on your list until you have the Prestiege to buy the wands.
Remember that in the rulings of Society Play, you can change whatever aspect of the character, as long as you do it before the first mission at Character Level 2+.
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You have a good build. Just a few things you might want to think about.
Race: Human
Gain a bonus feet at level 1. That way you can start with point blank shot, and precise shot. For a range combat character those feet's are a must have. And with you only playing a few games waiting for level 3 will seem like for ever. In the same line your ability scores with being human. It will allow you to customize your lay out more.
Traits : Reactionary is good all the time. The down side to Sacred Touch is it is touch and your a divine caster. You are much better off going and taking stabilize as a 0 level. Hunter's Eye is good if you need the proficiency in the weapon. As for the range there are only a hand full of scenarios, and modules that encounters happen at more then short range. I would recommend taking something else.
Any advice or suggestions welcome.
So this is just the "plain jane" aasimar, yes? If you get the Blood of Angels book there are other types of Aasimar to choose from. The "Garuda-blooded" subrace would probably be ideal for a ranged character, since it grants a +2 to DEX instead of CHA. Also I would recommend getting the advanced race guide as there are a variety of options in there.
I do agree with Jiggy about your DEX. If you picked Garuda-blooded that would give you more, also you could dump your CHA if you are not worried about social skills. Inquisitors get lots of skill points so you could even dump INT a bit if you want, though that will hurt your knowledge skills.
The "sacred touch" trait could be replaced with the orison "stabilize" if you want - the only advantage of the trait is that it does not provoke AoOs. Reactionary is very good generally. If you are not going to dump CHA you might want to look at the Dangerously Curious trait as UMD is a golden skill in PFS. You don't need it as much as non-casters but it can be useful and you do get a lot of skill ranks.
The Conversion Inquisition is good for making skill checks with a high-WIS character. If you are going this way, you might as well dump charisma, as you won't need it for anything.
The travel domain is very good generally for just about any character. The +10 to your move speed is the biggie. I actually kind of like the Exploration subdomain, though the basic travel power to ignore difficult terrain is nice too.
Your spell list is decent. You might want to fit read magic in there so you can use scrolls that you find.
CLW will be a necessity until you can get wands, but thanks to the way the prestige system works you should be able to get a wand for 2PP before your second adventure. After that you might want to switch out CLW because as an Inquisitor you don't get a lot of spells.
Bless is nice for 1st level generally as the duration will last a whole fight. But the bonus isn't that large, and it won't stack with a bardic song if you have a bard. The other ones I would look at are things like shield of faith, divine favor, and protection from evil. These are only single person buffs, but they are all pretty effective. You might not need the defensive ones so much if you are hanging back and staying out of range.
If your Wisdom is high then ear-piercing scream is a decent one, as it dazes opponents and damages them. It targets Fortitude, sadly, but at low levels you have a decent chance of it dazing enemies. The big downside of it is the short range. At higher levels it won't be worth much.
Anyway, that's my 2¢.
Peet
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Here is my advice.
I build a character that I spent tons and tons of time on the stats, abilities, and what I was going to do level by level for mechanical advantage.
I had fun for almost half a session. My character was just a walking win button. One combat in, and the other people were impressed. Second combat, and I they looked a little bummed, so I claimed to be out of my spell (20 cha sorcerer, I had a lot more than 2. . . ) and it was only going to get worse. I tried the character at the local con, hoping for a different result, and it was, if anything, worse. Now that character lives on a shelf. Honestly, I will not be playing it again any time soon. It was a great thought exercise, but it is (1) boring, I know what it can do, (2) takes the fun away from other players, and (3) the character is a machine. It has no personality, so I don't care about the character any more than I care about my oven.
So, now I built an laughably put together character that violates every guide I have seen (14 cha on a druid? check! Blight archetype? check! low Str so it is an ineffective melee combatant? check!)
I built a wonderful story, and what the character was, why she was, how she came to be (Basically, I followed the character history section of Ultimate Campaign). I love the character. She does amazingly unexpected things, has fun, and is designed almost entirely to make everyone else shine. I like being the helpful one. I like letting other players shine. it is a completely different way to build and role play. I love it.
So, in short after all that TL;DR, build what you like to suit the play-style you like. Otherwise, no matter what the sheet of paper says, you won't have fun, and if you are not having fun, why play?
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* The pinned thread "Guide to the Guides" contains two reviews on
inquisitors (with some contrasting views, which is nice)...caveat: PFS characters retire before high level, so lower-level abilities are most optimal in the campaign.
* If you're going to have two 10 stats. go ahead and drop one to an 8 or even a 7.
* As noted above, the Garuda-Blooded Aasimar is a leading contender (though trying to drink out of your Cayden Cailean mug with a beak instead a mouth will provide for much amusement). Works well with the Animal(Feather) domain.
Following Kiinyan's suggestion, an iconic 3rd-edition style half-orc with dumped charisma using the Conversion Inquisition is crunchy -- and who wouldn't love free Dominate attempts?
...assuming archery focus:
Garuda
STR:14
DEX+17 (raise 4th)
CON:14
INT:12
WIS+16
CHA:07
half-orc
STR:14
DEX+17 (raise 4th)
CON:14
INT:12
WIS:14
CHA:07
half-elf (melee, with Ancestral Arms for elven curve blade)
STR+17 (raise 4th)
DEX:14
CON:14
INT:12
WIS:14
CHA:07
dwarf (melee, with more SoS emphasis; dips fighter for plate+feat)
STR:15 (raise 4th)
DEX:12
CON+16
INT:12
WIS+16
CHA-05 ...Conversion InQ and Intimidating Prowess feat
human
STR:14 (switch STR/DEX for melee/archery)
DEX+17 (raise 4th)
CON:14
INT:07
WIS:14
CHA:12 ...doesn't need Conversion like the CHA-dumpers.
...all of these use the very efficient 15,14,14,14,12,07 20pt array.
Thanks for the advice everyone it has really helped.
