|
| 4 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Can a 1st level Inquisitor use a Bane Baldric, and hence get 6 rounds of Bane a day?
If the answer is no, does this mean the Bane Baldric is useless to an Inquisitor until level 5?
This would be strange, as a non-Inquisitor gains the Bane ability of a 5th level Inquisitor.
If the answer if yes, does it follow that a 7th level Inquisitor with a Bane Baldric can use Greater Bane?
The reason I ask is that I was considering building a Musket Master / Inquisitor for PFS. I was planning on taking 5 levels of Musket Master followed by levels of Inquisitor, and buying a Bane Baldric.
Rules:
Bane Baldric
Price 10,000 gp; Aura moderate conjuration; CL 10th; Weight 1 lb.
This ornate sash of embroidered velvet stretches across the chest from shoulder to waist. If the wearer is an inquisitor, she is treated as five levels higher when using her bane and greater bane abilities. If the wearer is not an inquisitor, she gains the bane ability of a 5th-level inquisitor, but must first attune a light or one-handed melee weapon to the baldric by hanging it from the cloth for 24 hours, and can only use the bane ability with the attuned weapon. Attuning a new weapon to the baldric ends the attunement for the previous weapon.
Construction Requirements
Cost 5,000 gp
Craft Wondrous Item, summon monster I, creator must be an inquisitor
Bane (Su): At 5th level, an inquisitor can imbue one of her weapons with the bane weapon special ability as a swift action. She must select one creature type when she uses this ability (and a subtype if the creature type selected is humanoid or outsider). Once selected, the type can be changed as a swift action. This ability only functions while the inquisitor wields the weapon. If dropped or taken, the weapon resumes granting this ability if it is returned to the inquisitor before the duration expires. This ability lasts for a number of rounds per day equal to the inquisitor's level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Greater Bane (Su): At 12th level, whenever an inquisitor uses her bane ability, the amount of bonus damage dealt by the weapon against creatures of the selected type increases to 4d6.
yes, they are treated as a 6th level inquistor towards the use of bane
I was going to ask at 10,000gp does it matter?
|
It matters to someone who dips Inquisitor. Keep in mind that a Bane Baldric can only attune to a single light or one-handed weapon for a non-Inquisitor, while an Inquisitor can apply Bane to any weapon they use (one weapon at a time). So a 1 level dip and a Bane Baldric allows you to use Bane 6 rounds a day with a Greatsword, Elven Curved Blade, Fauchard, etc.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
My reading:
If you're an Inquisitor and you have the Bane or Greater Bane ability from your class, you treat the ability as though you were five levels higher.
If you're a non-Inquisitor, it grants you the Bane ability as though you were a 5th-level Inquisitor.
If you're an Inquisitor and you are below 5th level, by strict RAW you'd gain no benefit from the item. Why? Well, as an Inquisitor it doesn't grant you the Bane ability - it only enhances the Bane\Greater Bane ability you have from your class. You don't have that ability yet, so there's nothing to enhance.
House rule (and possibly RAI), I'd probably allow it to treat you as a non-Inquisitor (granting you Bane as a 5th level Inquisitor with the whole weapon attunement limitation) up to the point where you take your 5th level in Inquisitor, at which point it would treat your Bane ability as though you were a 10th level Inquisitor. And as Bigdaddyjug mentions, Greater Bane (while technically being a separate feature) really just enhances the basic Bane ability, so at 7th level Inquisitor you'd be treated as though you had Greater Bane.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What Xaratherus said.
If the wearer is an inquisitor, she is treated as five levels higher when using her bane and greater bane abilities.
A first level Inquisitor doesn't have the Bane class feature, so the Baldric would do nothing for them.
Likewise a 1st-11th level Inquisitor doesn't have the Greater Bane class feature, so the Baldric would only enhance their Bane ability until 12th.
|
|
My reading:
If you're an Inquisitor and you have the Bane or Greater Bane ability from your class, you treat the ability as though you were five levels higher.
If you're a non-Inquisitor, it grants you the Bane ability as though you were a 5th-level Inquisitor.
If you're an Inquisitor and you are below 5th level, by strict RAW you'd gain no benefit from the item. Why? Well, as an Inquisitor it doesn't grant you the Bane ability - it only enhances the Bane\Greater Bane ability you have from your class. You don't have that ability yet, so there's nothing to enhance.
I think this is a case where the RAW is inadequate.
I will FAQ my original question.
|
If you're an Inquisitor and you are below 5th level, by strict RAW you'd gain no benefit from the item. Why? Well, as an Inquisitor it doesn't grant you the Bane ability - it only enhances the Bane\Greater Bane ability you have from your class. You don't have that ability yet, so there's nothing to enhance.
I think this is one of those situations where, as the Devs continually say, you have to apply common sense when reading feats. An item made to improve an Inquisitors abilities should clearly work for Inquisitors, increasing their level for the Bane ability by 5 in this case and if they don't already have it, letting them use it as if they were an Inquisitor 5 levels higher than they are.
I think this is one of those situations where, as the Devs continually say, you have to apply common sense when reading feats. An item made to improve an Inquisitors abilities should clearly work for Inquisitors, increasing their level for the Bane ability by 5 in this case and if they don't already have it, letting them use it as if they were an Inquisitor 5 levels higher than they are.
If you're an Inquisitor and you are below 5th level, by strict RAW you'd gain no benefit from the item. Why? Well, as an Inquisitor it doesn't grant you the Bane ability - it only enhances the Bane\Greater Bane ability you have from your class. You don't have that ability yet, so there's nothing to enhance.
The problem with that logic - which I mostly agree with (see my last paragraph - I stated that by RAI it probably should work for low-level Inquisitors [although not in the same fashion you stated]) - is the wording of the ability coupled with the FAQ that states that you are not treated as having a class feature until you actually reach the level where you gain that feature.
To offer an analogous argument, the Phylactery of Positive Channeling increases the damage dealt to undead and healed to living creatures by channeling energy by 2d6. That doesn't mean a 1st level Paladin who wears it can suddenly channel 2d6 of energy just because he eventually gets that feature.
But to repeat: I do think the intent is that it would be useful to a low-level Inquisitor; I don't know that I agree that it would grant them Bane at their level + 5, but I do think the RAI is that they'd gain some benefit from it.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
But to repeat: I do think the intent is that it would be useful to a low-level Inquisitor; I don't know that I agree that it would grant them Bane at their level + 5, but I do think the RAI is that they'd gain some benefit from it.
Yep totally understandable, I think from my perspective given that you possess the base class it enhances it should always be better for you than for someone who doesn't even have levels in the class, which is where I'd err on the side of letting them count as 5 levels higher. I suppose an alternative might be to treat them as an Inquisitor of level 5 until they reach that actual level. This would allow them *slightly* more out of it than a non Inquisitor (apply to any weapons rather than a single attuned one) but not so much so that they're getting a huge benefit.
|
|
Thanks for the thoughts everyone!
I agree that the strict RAW interpretation is that a Bane Baldric does nothing for a level 1 Inquisitor.
However, as we are meant to apply common sense to the rules, we are left with two possibilities:
1. An Inquisitor who has not yet gained the Bane Class Feature uses the item as a non-Inquisitor, or
2. An Inquisitor simply adds 5 to their level and can use Bane (and Greater Bane) as per an Inquisitor of their level + 5. (e.g. a level 1 Inquisitor can use Bane as a level 6 Inquisitor.)
I do think that an Inquisitor would understand how to use this item better than, say an atheist Fighter, so I am personally leaning towards option 2.
However, I don't think there is a watertight argument for either, hence the FAQ.
Any other thoughts or insights?
|
|
Some interesting points. Fortunately, in the situation the OP described, he'd have levels in a class other than Inquisitor as well, so the item would work based off that as it does for a non-Inquisitor.
Unfortunately for the OP, the way it works for non-Inquisitors means that it won't work with a musket, since it can only be attuned to a light or one-handed weapon.