Inquisitor Tips

[alexander leah]

Hey guys, i 'm going to make an inquisitor to join a 5 lv campaign, but i need some advice.
First of all we have 15 Pb , low wealth and no traits, is a ranged inquisitor Item dependant?
Second, fluff wise i will be a hunter sent by the Church (like the van hellsing from the movie) which domains or inquisition could be a good call? I will play in Eberron and i dont have restriction on them

[Captain Zoom]

alexander leah wrote:

Hey guys, i 'm going to make an inquisitor to join a 5 lv campaign, but i need some advice.

First of all we have 15 Pb , low wealth and no traits, is a ranged inquisitor Item dependant?
Second, fluff wise i will be a hunter sent by the Church (like the van hellsing from the movie) which domains or inquisition could be a good call? I will play in Eberron and i dont have restriction on them

If you're hunting undead, then the Final Rest Inquisition or the Revelation Sub-Domain might be good choices.

If you're not hunting undead, then a bit more information about your goals or background might help in selecting an appropriate Inquisition or Domain.

As for a ranged Inquisitor. I don't think he'll be any more item dependent as a melee Inquisitor. Instead of putting your resources into a melee weapon, you'll put them into a ranged weapon. Arguably, the ranged guy might be less item dependent if you can keep him out of melee (less need for expensive/magical armor and/or shield).

[Daanu]

In my experience the inquisitor is a very efficient class even with low wealth.

between judgements bane and the divine favor spell you should have little trouble hitting stuff at lower level. it does take some resource managment though.

The level 3 spells are where youu really start to shine

-magic vestment basically gives you magic armor for an adventuring day. at the cost of a single spell slot.

-heroism is another long lasting buff spell which will keep your hit chances decent.

-proper use of judgements and bane should allow you to deal with the more common damage reductions without relying on magic weaponry. (also silver/cold iron/adamantite arrows are nice for this purpose.)

not really sure on domains as it is largely dependant on which church. although the travel domain is very useful for just about any inquisitor build. animal domain is nice if animal companions are your thing.

using common sense there really isn't a terrible choice in domains. have not really looked into inquisitions beyond the conversion one. a personal choice since my inquisitor is also the party face.

Long story short - with proper resource managment the inquisitor can be a perfectly acceptable combatant even in low wealth settings. it does struggle on a longer adventure day a bit but no more then say a wizard.

[Daanu]

if you expect really low wealth it might be worth it to look into the protection domain aswell.

even with normal wealth it could be usefull. I mean the standard cloak of resistance does get boring in comparison to for example the cape of the mountebank

[alexander leah]

i will be an affiliate of the church, sent to hunt monsters or to make inquiries around the world, all without being a religoius itself (The DM and me has decided that my divine power will be granted to me by a ritual that the church has done to me in order to became their agent)

Glad to hear that this class shouldnt have any problem in my campaign, i like the conversion inquisition that you named, i will take it!

weapon of choice will be a bow, plus a light crossbow tied to my arm, lets stry to put down the attributes

15 pb(two +1 at 4th lv, house rules)

str 12
con 10
dex 15 +2 human +1 lv = 18
int 10
sag 15 +1 lv = 16
car 9

[Daanu]

Seems like a good build. covers all the basics for ranged combat.

Another option (if your DM allows it) is to buy charisma down to 7 and go with

Str 13
Dex 18 (15+2+1)
con 10
int 10
wis 16 (15+1)
cha 7

Now there is 2 points left to either increase your con or int to 12. Depending on your preference you could take the extra hp (and save) or an extra skillpoint (and better monster knowledges)

The 13 str is nice for carrying capacity. if your Dm does not enforce eencumbrance that's another point to spend somewhere.

Feats should be a relatively simple thing. archery being very feat heavy.

if you have a feat to spare the inquisitor has a few nice and fluffy options.

extended bane/extra bane
improved monster lore
judgement surge

[Skull]

Just remember that amongst your weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the <religious institution>, and nice red uniforms.

:P

[XMorsX]

A properly built Inquisitor is a great addition to every team. With access to bane, jusgments and buffing spells you should become a great archer as well.

Take the Feather domain. This will give you access to an Animal Companion and bonus to Perception checks. Take a Horse if you want to be mounted or a Big Cat if you would rather use it as a meat shield.

Your feats should be:

1. Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
3. Precise Shot, Shake It Off
5. Boon Companion

If the feather domain does not appeal to you, consider the Travel domain and swap Boon Companion with Deadly Aim.

The Conversion inquisition is only good with Intimidate-focused builds. These work best with melee Inquisitors that use Cornugon Smash and can combine attacks with Intimidate checks. As an archer you cannot do that, so I suggest that you avoid the Conversion inquisition.

The feats tha have been suggest (extended bane/extra bane, improved monster lore, judgement surge) are nice but should probably never get picked as the archery route is extremely feat starved. They are good for the melee two-hander Inquisitor that does not have any feat other than Power Attack, but not for you. I would actually suggest that, if you do not take an animal companion, you dip into 4 lvls of weapon master fighter after your first 5 lvls of Inquisitor so that you can obtain faster the snap shot feat tree and have access to weapon training and point blank master. Remember that weapon training + gloves of dueling is a permanent +3/+3 attack and damage bonus to every attack. Even if you reach lvl 20, with a 4 lvl dip you will still reach at the third judgement ability. After this the Inquisitor does not learn any really great feature anyway.

The stat array that I recommend is

STR 14
DEX 18 (+1 at 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th lvls)
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 7 (+1 at 20th lvl)

Having +2 at your Str mod is essential for increasing your damage. You do not need to start with 16 Wisdom, you can increase it when you need it to cast by buying a Headband of Wis +2. Even in a low wealth campaign you should have 4k to spend by lvl 13 (even later if you multiclass).

[alexander leah]

you all bringed up some very good advices, i will modify my build to include some of them

xmorsx: i cant dump to 7 unfortunately, and animal companion isnt real my thing, but travel domain is very good, and also fit my concept!

with stat i could go something like this
two +1 at 4th lv (house rules)
STR 14
DEX 15 +2 human +1 lv = 18
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 13 + 1 lv = 14
CHA 8

feats
lv 1 point blank, rapid shot
lv 3 precise shot
lv 5 ?? (Deadly aim maybe)

any advice on some particular spell?

[XMorsX]

I see. You should really not spend attribute points on stats other than your higher. A most efficient stat array if you cannot dump Cha more is this:

STR 14
DEX 19 (+1 at every 4 lvls, including the stats from the house rules)
CON 12
INT 8
WIS 14
CHA 8

Take Deadly Aim at 5th lvl, after this Manyshot and snap shot, combat reflexes and improved snapshot. An ioun stone in a wayfinder can give you free weapon focus, or dip fighter to speed up the feat progression.

2nd lvl spells: Weapon of Awe, Flames of the Faithful, Invisibility

1st lvl spells: Divine Favour, Litany of Sloth, Shield of Faith, Protection from Evil, Wrath

[alexander leah]

we get two +1, but we cant put them in the same stat

[Lazurin Arborlon]

All good advice so far...I am playing an Inquisitor that just hit level 6. It is a great class for low point buy. I have conversion inq. and going weapon finese. pairing down the number of needed stats significantly. Conversion was mostly because we sorely needed a party face...there are some great spells that synergize with it though so even if you dont go all in on intimidate with Cornugon etc...it is still really useful.

[XMorsX]

alexander leah wrote:

we get two +1, but we cant put them in the same stat

Well, I kind of expected it. Then your stat array is fine as it is.

Also, see if your GM will let you take at least one trait. You will greatly benefit from Fate's Favored because of Divine Favor. It will make it give you +2/+2 attack and damage bonus right from lvl one.

[rorek55]

would it be worth going gunslinger 5 for dex-damage on an inquisitor? If not, would going 1-2 levels of holy gun (or gunslinger) work well? I Like the thought of an inquisitor with a gun, but not sure how it would work out.

[XMorsX]

The bow is better. Granted, if what you want is a gunwielding inquisitor, 5 lvls of Gunslinger / Musket Master work well. Shieldmarshal is also an interesting PrC after 5 lvls of Gunslinger, up to the 8th lvl anyway, as the last two lvls are pretty mediocre.

[Gilarius]

rorek55 wrote:

would it be worth going gunslinger 5 for dex-damage on an inquisitor? If not, would going 1-2 levels of holy gun (or gunslinger) work well? I Like the thought of an inquisitor with a gun, but not sure how it would work out.

I've made a gunslinger5/inquisitor3 (so far). It is very good at ranged damage but isn't yet anything more than that. If you want to play an inquisitor then you're better off playing an inquisitor and not multi classing just for mechanical benefits. I only changed class because I was bored with just shooting.