
Issac Daneil |

At 2nd level, most Inquisitors (some archetypes swap it out) get Detect Alignment, where they can use Detect Evil, Detect Good, etc all at-will as SLAs.
However, Inquisitors cannot cast SPELLS of an alignment opposed to their own.
Looking up the Magic section's description of SLAs, they state:
Usually, a spell-like ability works just like the spell of that name. A spell-like ability has no verbal, somatic, or material component, nor does it require a focus. The user activates it mentally. Armor never affects a spell-like ability's use, even if the ability resembles an arcane spell with a somatic component.
A spell-like ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description. In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell.
Having a Spell-like ability already allows you to qualify for Prestige classes, so SLAs = Spells is not a new idea.
Therefore, is a Lawful Good Inquisitor only able to use Detect Chaos, and Detect good, while a Neutral Good Inquisitor could cast any except Detect Evil, and a True Neutral could cast all four?

Westphalian_Musketeer |
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Nope. Detect spells (like Detect Evil) do not have alignment ascriptions, and therefore do not hold the potential to conflict with an inquisitor's alignment.
So an inquisitor can use any of the alignment detection spells. This fits well with their flavor, as inquisitors guard the orthodoxy of their population, historically speaking. Sure, that adherent of Iomedae doesn't detect as evil, but they don't detect as good either, which makes them a heretic, and therefore in need of... re-education.