So, this is my inquisitor for a Skull & Shackles game that is restarting. So far, the party is an alchemist (Chirurgeon), a waves oracle (for the moment), a swashbuckler, and a vanilla rogue.
My inquisitor is one of Besmara, and I really prefer to keep him as one. With such a large party of dex heavy characters, I'd like mine to remain more strength focused. There's only a few things that need to remain, in my mind. These include the Birthmark trait (that's part of his backstory), as well as the Buccaneer's Blood campaign trait. I'd also like him to maintain the Heresy inquisition instead of a domain.
Anything else is up to suggestion. As it stands, this character will be rebuilt at Pathfinder standard 25 point buy.
So...ready, set, go!
How about a nice reach build? Just grab a big pointy long spear (or boarding pike; same thing really, and more thematic) and stab anyone that tries to get past you.
Two suggestions for a reach build- the fortuitous weapon property and lunge.
Fortuitous is amazing. This +1 property basically gives your AoO a single iterative 1/round (as in, 1 attack at full BAB, one attack at BAB-5, all for the same AoO). This makes getting past you a very threatening prospect. You can become a 25' wide circle of pain that enemies have to waste time going around to get at squishier party members. Funnily, it is slightly possible to get this 'fake full attack' in before you can do proper full attacks (just barely on average, I suppose).
Lunge might seem weird though. Unlike combat patrol, it does not increase your threatened range for AoOs (it ends with your turn). But it is extremely valuable since it can help encourage more AoOs through positioning.
Normally, a reach weapon leaves your enemy at 10' away at the end of your turn. That means they only need to take a 5' step to reach you, which means no AoO for your and a full attack for them. Also, if you attack the enemy first, you will most likely not get an AoO.
With lunge, you leave enemies 15' away. Many will have to move 10' to reach you, and they will draw an AoO and most likely lose their full attack. Also, with this, even if you engage the enemy first, you will likely get an AoO. And with fortuitous, that AoO is a very serious problem. So over all, this is good offense and defense, since it is an attack that deters attacks and make it hard to even reach you.
Of course, while it makes a good defense, you are not exactly a turtle here. You can make full attacks on anything in a 45' wide circle. So lots of delicious damage.
Anyway, for stats- 18/14/14/10/14/10 seems fairly solid. A nice big 2 handed hit, and still good enough at the rest to be decent.
Doesn't lunge eat a swift action? Inquisitors need those.
I think lunge is a feat, and it doesn't mention an action. You just take a -2 to AC. Not sure if that's the same one they were meaning or not.
Must be a faulty memory.
Doesn't lunge eat a swift action? Inquisitors need those.
Lunge is a feat, and just turns on when you decide to use it for an attack (much like power attack).
It is more than worth the -2 AC since it can help make it hard for enemies to get their full attacks off. Wear nice armor though (you can't get it until level 9 anyway due to BAB concerns, so you can get nice and protected by then)
I can understand wanting to stick with Heresy Inquisition, but just for the sake of mentioning it, the Chaos:Protean subdomain is pretty great for both power and flavor.
Domain Strike: Touch of Chaos takes a considerable investment to do, but the ability to punch a chaotic no-save debuff into someone as a charge or as part of a two-hander full-attack just seems to scream 'pirate-god' to me. Since so much of the Inquisitor's power comes from static bonuses anyways, a punch can still be pretty effective - particularly if you use a cestus or spiked gauntlet or whatever to do it.
Also the Preacher archetype seems appropriate for a pirate... less tactics, more shouting and aggression.
It's kind of a pity that a rapier makes for such a poor strength-weapon and none of the simple weapons seem right thematically... though on the upside, if spending a feat for a better weapon the falcata makes for a pretty beastly pirate saber.
I've been having very good luck with a Whip on my Inquisitor, though his Deity grants proficiency so it's slightly less Feat heavy.
All I can say I play a strenght heavy inquisitor in kingmaker. Half elf, armed with a falcata. While our bow ranger and Paladin deal decent damage usually I end battles if its my turn. Especially if I crit.
A besmara Inquisitor has a good weapon, maybe ask your gm if you can use a cutlass instead as it is even more piraty and should make no major diffrence. Use a buckler to get close and then fish for crits. Works like a charm. One thing I found out... Fates favored is also quite evil for inquisitors. Start with +2 to hit and damage... is awesome.
Considering the circumstances, taking Two Weapon Fighting might actually pay off here, oddly enough.
Since you only get a couple normal attacks and don't get a bonus magical attack until late (if at all?), having offhand attacks could actually be very handy when a whole chunk of your damage potential doesn't care about the usual offhand problems. For a great pirate theme, you could go with a rapier and cestus (say, fingerless leather gloves studded with sharktooth?).
Since I'm just sitting around right now... here's an example -
Black Jack, Human (Dual Talent) Preacher Inquisitor of Besmara.
Having a high dexterity is extremely useful anyhow, so with a 25point buy and the dual talent feature:
16/18
15/17
14
10
14
8
Feats:
1.Two Weapon Fighting
3.Improved Unarmed Strike
5.Domain Strike: Touch of Chaos
7.Dragon Style
9.Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
At 9, with the Destruction Judgement, you'd be looking at something like ~
Rapier: 1d6+2, +7STR, +4Judgement, +3DivineFavor = 19.5/19.5
Cestus: 1d4+2, +10/3STR, +4Judgement, +3DivineFavor = 21.5/14.5... +swift action Touch of Chaos.
With buffs boosting attack and no Power Attack penalty, the two-weapon penalty would probably be well worth it to draw that much extra punch (no pun intended, really) to your full-attack. Theme-wise, weaving deadly rapier strikes and chaos-infusing punches together sounds like a true Besmara disciple to me... but of course you can do rapier-and-cestus without using Improved Unarmed Strike and Domain Strike just fine.
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Do you have the technology?
BadBird, I am strangely liking your suggestion. Although I will probably stay away from the domain strike and the domain, since I really love the heresy inquisition. That said, everything else looks nice. What would you replace the Domain Strike with, at level 5?
Amateur Swashbuckler with the Parry and Riposte deed is a cool option, but you won't be able to make counter-attacks unless you have the Extra Panache feat giving you more than 1 point of panache. On the up-side, both of your weapons feed panache, so it shouldn't be hard to refill.
While wearing a cestus you don't need Improved Unarmed, so you could drop Improved Unarmed/ Dragon Style. Dragon Style adds great mobility and a significant chunk of damage, but depending on how your group handles the 'start your style' nonsense the swift action could get really annoying. Double Slice is a simpler way to up your offhand damage.
Considering how useful and thematic Amateur Swashbuckler is, you could go
1.TWF
3.Amateur Swashbuckler
5.Extra Panache
7.Double Slice
9.ITWF
and dominate with your rapier like a Swashbuckler.
Nothing will beef you up like the reach build suggested above. That and a boarding pike are extremely good for the campaign. Coupled with a source of slipstream (multiple castings stack) you're going to be very impressed.
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I ran an Inquisitor of Besmara in Skull and Shackles myself. I started off using a boarding pike reach build, but quickly switched over to a high-strength rapier user. I personally took the Conversion inquisition, and had the social skills (especially Intimidate) to become captain.
Since using a rapier two-handed with power attack isn't super feat intensive, I could focus on stuff that made me a scarier captain, like the Intimidating Prowess feat, and other Intimidate-based feats like Cornugon Smash. The rapier isn't the best weapon for two-handing, but you get free proficiency, it still gets the 1-to-3 Power Attack ratio (just not the 1.5x strength), and we ended up fighting (and killing and looting) enemies with magic rapiers, so it just kind of worked out.
My absolute two favorite spells were:
Blistering Invective: Roll Intimidate foes in a 30ft radius and maybe set them on fire!
Flames of the Faithful: the rounds/level duration isn't so hot, but using a high-crit range weapon like a rapier or cutlass while using your judgment ability to make this spell grant it the flaming burst quality is pretty great. If you combine this with the Precise Strike teamwork feat, you could easily be rolling plenty of d6's on your attacks.
Alright! I've finally figured it out. I definitely like the suggestions, and this has definitely given me the help necessary to rebuild this guy how I like. Thanks, folks! I appreciate it!
You can´t use rapier two handed with power attack. Read it up. Does not work
Well, regardless, I'm not going the PA route, so I'm not concerned on that one.
You can´t use rapier two handed with power attack. Read it up. Does not work
Unless something changed, there's nothing in the rules prohibiting two-handing a rapier or getting two-handed power attack damage with it. It's kind of a downer not to get the usual strength bonus with it, but there can be reasons to go that road.
As far as Parry and Riposte goes, having the Preacher's ability to re-roll attack rolls at will can cross with Parry for a really fanatical defense when you just don't want to get hit.