Hi,
So I'm trying to come up with potential 7th level characters for a game I'll be in presently, and an inquisitor of Ragathiel has made her way into the "semifinals" of my selection process. Basically just as the subject line suggests, I'm trying to choose her domain/inquisition, and I'm trying to figure if there's much/any difference between the two. My first impulse is to go for the domain, valuing the multiple uses/day smite over the 1/day retort, and the two versions of barbarian rage look to be to-may-to/to-mah-to.
Is there an angle I'm missing?
Ghorrin Redblade
how much leveling do you expect to do?
i like destructive smite more than hateful retort, but they're probably about equal in power (one gives you a bunch of extra damage in 1 swing 1/day, the other gives a little extra damage on a lot of swings), so you're mostly deciding between the rage abilities...
if you're gonna be 7th for most of the time you play then anger is obviously better (since you get the rage at 6th instead of 8th), but if you're going to make it past 12th level you're better of with rage so you can grab a rage power. if you expect to spend most of your time between 8th and 12th there's not much difference so you can just pick based on smite vs. retort.
Thanks for the feedback, guys.
I'm honestly not sure how much we're expecting to level, but nate, you make a good point about the Inquisition giving me the bird in the hand 2 levels earlier. In noodling around with it in Excel, it looks like if I've got a Wis of 16, the Inquisition version gives me one less round per day than the domain version. As for the "smite vs. retort" issue, I'm starting to come around to the retort, if only because with rage rounds, bane rounds, judgments, spells, it seems like a lot to keep track of, and then throw another half-dozen smite efforts on it?
I swear, I just might flip a coin on this one. :)
Again, thanks for the thoughts on this. Much appreciated.
Ghorrin Redblade
PS - Follow-up question: in neither case do I get a Greater Rage, right? That is a class feature of barbarians, not a feature of rage itself, or at least that's how I've always seen it.
PS - Follow-up question: in neither case do I get a Greater Rage, right? That is a class feature of barbarians, not a feature of rage itself, or at least that's how I've always seen it.It´s a class feature of the barbarian, so you´re right, no way to see that.
OTOH, your level count as 1/2 Barbarian levels and Greater Rage would be BRB11, even if it was coupled to Rage you wouldn´t have a chance to get it.
Actually, if I read it right (questionable given the time of night), for Anger, your bar level = Inq level -3, so if Greater was on the table, it could be had as an Inq 14.
Ghorrin
The Anger Inquisition gives you Rage. Greater Rage is a different ability. No matter how high your effective barbarian level goes for Rage, you won't get Greater Rage.
Correct. That aside, I would say Rage Domain is better in the long run as you gain access to Rage Powers (though not the best ones unfortunately due to the limitation of the domain), plus Destructive Smite has beautiful synergy with Rage as it is a morale bonus, hence is raised by the Courageous Weapon property (Furious Courageous whatever being pretty much standard issue for anyone with Rage); it's a rather nice consolation for when you just can't full attack, much more so than Vital Strike could ever hope to be.
Do Inquisitors get moment of greatness as a spell?
Doesn't look like it; bard, cleric, sor/wiz.
Correct. That aside, I would say Rage Domain is better in the long run as you gain access to Rage Powers (though not the best ones unfortunately due to the limitation of the domain), plus Destructive Smite has beautiful synergy with Rage as it is a morale bonus, hence is raised by the Courageous Weapon property (Furious Courageous whatever being pretty much standard issue for anyone with Rage); it's a rather nice consolation for when you just can't full attack, much more so than Vital Strike could ever hope to be.
Okay, one more valid point in favor of Rage Domain. (sigh) I really am going to be flipping a coin...
@chaoseffect, you bring up the excellent point of weapon enhancements. Both Furious and Courageous were on my radar, but starting out so far all I've got is a basic +1 weapon. I'll see if I can swing the +2 enhancement, but that's a decent chunk of my starting wealth. Is there an agreed-upon "best practices" for what order to add in enhancements, or does it not really matter?
Thanks,
Ghorrin
I would say go +1 -> +1 Furious -> +2 Furious -> +2 Courageous Furious -> +3 Courageous Furious, followed by whatever strikes your fancy that you can afford; if you have an even strength/constitution modifier you won't see any real gain from Courageous until you have an effective +4 enhancement on your weapon (besides getting a +1 for your Destructive Smite and the bonus to fear thing that no one cares about); you should have it before you have access to Rage Powers though, so yay Superstitious if you decide to go that route.
Thanks, I'll keep that plan in mind. As for potential rage powers if I go Rage Domain (aka coin lands heads), I was figuring on Surprise Accuracy for the first one, and undecided on the second (not sure yet, but I can't let myself get into too big a tizzy over a L7 char not knowing what they'll choose at 16).
I'd probably take Extra Rage Power at 13, so it's only 6 levels away instead of 9!... but yeah, quite a way away. Superstition and Reckless Abandon are always cool as you can never have too many plusses to your saves or to your attacks.
I'll consider Reckless Abandon, but I can't quite make my brain accept this character as Superstitious. If I need saves, I'll hit up a purity judgment.
One of my more interesting characters was an anger inquisition inquisitor with a 2 level dip in drunken brute / wild rager - barbarian.
Rage rounds were never a problem with the drunken brute, and I got access to rage powers via barbarian level 2 that I could later use the extra rage power feats for. The benefit of the anger inquisition is your barbarian level is level-3 vs the rage domains 1/2 level. This means you qualify for rage powers sooner than you would under the rage domain.
My shtick that I never got to fully try out would have been this:
Round 1: Move up and cast blistering invective. Enemies are now shaken.. and on fire. (the high intimidate on half orc inquisitors makes this a near guarantee)
Round 2: Use Terrifying Howl rage power - Watch as the now panicked enemies scatter from you.... While still on fire.
Quite honestly, he was a blast to play, but I never got to see how he played out past level 5 due to a heroic death standing his ground to save the rest of the party. I believe the combo I listed above would have come into play around level 11 if memory serves me.
In other words.. I vote anger inquisition. But only if you dip barbarian.. Otherwise, there is no real benefit to choosing it over the rage domain.