Inquisitor Race Conundrum

[JoCa]

I love the Inquisitor class. In an upcoming campaign, I am going to reflavor him as a monster hunter. But I am torn between races. I am NOT looking at this from an optimizing perspective.

The races I am torn between are:
Human - Pro: Extra feat so I can be a bow wielding inquisitor and have point blank and precise shot from the get go.
Con: Party has three humans already and the story idea behind the campaign is to have a diverse group as monster hunters/protectors.

Elf - Pro: Nice bonuses to Dex and Int to help with range and skills. Being an alternate race...like the aloofness potential.
Con: have to take Precise shot later and won't be quite as effective.

Dwarf: Pros: Bonus to Wisdom. Free access to dwarf weapons and can be a "get up in their grill" inquisitor thanks to a bump to Con. Fits into the party as an alternate race.
Con: Would be more melee focused than range.

Tengus - Pro: Similar to elf in exotic. Range and bump to casting stat. Lots of flavor involved.
Con: Same as elf...

So, thoughts?

[Helikon]

Dwarf!
You have many humans, Tengus are squishy and hard to play, and the grim nature of most inquisitors harmonices very nicely with dwarves.
For range Human, for melee dwarf all day long.

[calartnick]

Is your party 4 people? So three humans and you? I would say, depending on your GM, it could be nice to have someone with Darkvision, so a Dwarf would be very useful to the party that way.
That being said, a Tengu ranged monster hunter sounds pretty darn cool to me.

If you're not going for optimization like you said, I think all these builds are more than viable. You should play the character you really want to play.

[Godferret]

Dwarf. If the speed bothers you, grab the Exploration Subdomain and see through walls (to find monsters). Alternatively, if you want to be a face you can grab the conversion inquisition and use Wis for your social skills. You'll be really tough and a great caster. Plus, you'll still have longbow proficiency if you want to go ranged and you can use racial traits/feats to boost your saves super high.

[lord of rabbits]

no dampire strange he is a back story Ideal born and raced by a dranged old monster hunter who is killed so you go to look for revenge it works perfect for working at night.

[JoCa]

The setting is "modern" (ripping off ALOT from the Dresden files in terms of the Accords, White Council, Faerie Courts, etc.) and the team is a modified version of the Wardens, but having representatives from different "powers" of the Accords on it instead of just White Council wizards.

The party currently consists of two kitsune (a witch and ninja), a human druid, human alchemist, and a human paladin (Knight of the Cross). The idea is we will rotate GMs (I am the primary GM of our group) and the campaign will be episodic in nature.

So yeah...the idea of being a tengus inquisitor really appeals. I also really like the idea of the dwarf inquisitor idea too.

[Dafydd]

My vote would be elf. I really like them for most anything. The Con penalty is something you will notice very little with the good fort save and the distance you have with a bow.

Same with the tengu, though the tengu comes with that handy bite attack, meaning you will provoke your surroundings from day 1. A 5th level feat for most others.

Ask the GM if they would be willing to swap the point blank and precise shots around. The order they are in makes little sense. You can also use the trait Deadeye Bowman to get a limited form of Precise Shot. You end up ignoring the cover granted by melee people, as long as there is only 1 threatening your target. (You still take the -4 to your shot, but the +4 they get from the cover is negated.) This is a faith trait linked to Erastil, but since he is the hunter of the pantheon, seems appropriate.

[JoCa]

Or!

Dip one level (at first)into Zen Archer for the point blank/precise shot combo. Plus threaten ALL the time not just from bites but from unarmed strikes!!!

Tengu for this...

[blackbloodtroll]

Dwarf.

Although, have you considered the Half-Orc?

The "monstrous" monster hunter, is a very cool idea.

[JoCa]

So I have decided on a tengu zen archer/inquisitor mix. Entering the scene at second level. Intending to take one more level of zen archer (free feats? Yes, please!)

My current build looks like this:
STR 15
DEX 19 (17 + 2 RACIAL)
CON 12 (14 -2 RACIAL)
INT 16
WIS 19 (17 + 2 Racial)
CHA 13

Taking Point Blank as first level feat, then Precise Shot as Bonus Zen Archer feat. I get Improved Unarmed Strike, Perfect Strike for free as well as flurry of blows with bow.

And then I will take a level of inquisitor. Plan on taking my 3rd level as zen archer to get Weapon Focus and Rapid Shot, and taking Focused Shot as my third level feat. I should be on track to have Snap Shot by 9th level.

Is the tradeoff of not having one spell less per spell level worth it considering we are doing an episodic campaign?