Multiclass experiment: Inquisitor / Bard

[AquabatX]

I've been looking and poking around the boards, need some help.

I have a guy that is wanting to a make character with an interesting mix of classes...are you ready for it:

Inquisitor/Bard

They seem like they COULD go well (or well enough in our minds anyway) together, he mainly just likes the flavor of a singing/performing inquisitor, we got a good laugh thinking about it and said:
"hey let's see if we can make this work"

So here I am looking to the masses and masters.

A few more details that might help things out:

He was mainly looking to be an Inquisitor, just wanted to splash some bard in the mix. How big of a dip is the question
Chosen Deity: Cayden Cailean
Campaign we are playing: Skull & Shackles

So if you could help that would be great. Any Pros & Cons of doing this multiclass, ideas for the build, any Races, Archetypes, Domains/inquisitions, and tactical suggestions also would be helpful please if those can help make it work, its all up for grabs. GO NUTS!

We would love to see this experiment work, but totally understand if it is just not a good idea and we need to just abort this crime.

Have fun

[Mysterious Stranger]

Inquisitor is probably the worst class to multiclass. Both classes have a lot of level dependent abilities and gain more abilities as they level up. They also both get spells and even have a lot of spells in common. Dipping a level or two of bard is not really going to give you much and will delay your inquisitor abilities so you actually loose more than you gain. Also both classes are ¾ BAB classes so a single level dip actually hurts your chance to hit. They both also have different casting stats so you are going to be spreading yourself very thin.

What is he looking to get out of being a bard? If all he wants to be is a singing inquisitor just take the trait Talented. It gives you a +1 on a single perform skill, and all perform skills become class skills. If he wants some bard abilities then use the variant multiclass from Pathfinder unchained. It is much better to sacrifice feats instead of levels to gain bard abilities. This combination would actually work pretty well especially for identifying monsters. He would get bardic knowledge at 3rd level and some performances at 7th. He still keeps his full inquisitor progression so does not lose anything except feats.

[AquabatX]

I think he would like some abilities, but mainly it kinda leans more toward just the flavor.

The Unchained Variant could be a good compromise. It does sounds like a much better idea. Thanks!

[RainyDayNinja]

Hmm... with just a little bard, you're spending a standard action to throw up a +1 attack and damage buff, when you could be spending that on casting much better Inquisitor spells for yourself. The Archaeologist would perhaps fit better, letting you get luck bonuses as a swift action for those times when you can't cast buffs, but it replaces performance, so it sounds like it goes against concept.

I agree that VMC might be a better way to combine these, or switching to an Evangelist cleric for combining divine casting and bardic performance.

[Scrapper]

Mel Brooks, History of the World, Part 1 *singing* "the Inquisition! the Inquisition!"

It could work...

[AquabatX]

Scrapper wrote:

Mel Brooks, History of the World, Part 1 *singing* "the Inquisition! the Inquisition!"

It could work...

That clip is EXACTLY what came to mind, along with Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition.

[Guru-Meditation]

I think Variant Multiclassing isthe way to represent this character.

Either use Bard or Inquisitor as the main class, depending of which fluff you want to be stronger,but dont multiclass. Its not quiet like multiclassing Wizard and Cleric without there being a Mystic theurge,but close.

VMC that!

[quibblemuch]

An inquisitor of Cayden? Reminds me of another Python quote:

"And I don't want to catch anyone NOT drinking!"

[Imbicatus]

This entire concept is better served by a single class evangelist cleric.

[Paulicus]

An interesting idea, though certainly tricky. As others have said, variant MC is probably best. Melee inquisitors can do well without too many feats.

[blood_kite]

RainyDayNinja wrote:

Hmm... with just a little bard, you're spending a standard action to throw up a +1 attack and damage buff, when you could be spending that on casting much better Inquisitor spells for yourself. The Archaeologist would perhaps fit better, letting you get luck bonuses as a swift action for those times when you can't cast buffs, but it replaces performance, so it sounds like it goes against concept.

I agree that VMC might be a better way to combine these, or switching to an Evangelist cleric for combining divine casting and bardic performance.

[SARCASM] Yes, because what every Inquisitor wants is a THIRD class feature needing a swift action to activate.[/SARCASM]

Archeologist was the first archetype I though of as well, then I remembered I play both in PFS and both are starved for swift actions. Combining both would mean having class features you don't get activated until the fight is half over unless your GM lets you use move actions as additional swift actions.

Despite not having a chance to look at VMC or the Evangelist, I agree that these are probably better options. Archeologist's Luck would only start being used early if you had a pretty large number of encounters per day and ran out of Judgements and Bane rounds.