I have a character idea of a brooding scythe wielding half orc inquisitor with a pet raven, who intimidates people socially and on the battlefield.
Looking at the inquisitor class there is the sacred huntmaster archtype but it sacrifices judgment and solo tactics to gain the pet immediately at level 1, and then take conversion or heresy inquisition and pump out your intimidation factor through your wisdom stat, dumping charisma.
The other option is to stay base inquisitor and then go with air subdomain, pick up a raven at level 3 (i think) and use cha for intimidation and still have judgement and solo tactics.
Any input here regarding viability and usefulness? The raven is mostly for flavor, but I get the sense the huntmaster archtype makes it more than just flavor.
I don't find judgement that useful, and I like the sacred huntmaster archetype.
Bird AComs aren't that useful (they can't talk like familiar ravens) or powerful (compared to cat or bear), but if that's what you want, go for it.
Conversion is good.
A different (not necessarily better) route is Green Faith Marshal with the Eagle domain to get a hawk familiar.
An Inquisitor receives a healthy bonus to intimidate already, half your level.
For what you're planning to do, the conversion or heresy inquisitions aren't wholly necessary. Since your planning on using a two-handed weapon you're going to be focused on strength, so you might as well spend a feat on Intimidating Prowess to add your strength to your intimidate checks. You wont need a lot of feats to build your character anyways, which is also why I think the Sacred Huntmaster isn't necessary either.
I like Judgments because they give you a lot of adaptability, and after you reach level 10 you should never need to worry about reserving them as you should probably have enough for every combat you'll have in a day.
Though it may take a few levels, the animal domain will get you a companion and boon companion feat can make it full level. This would enable you to take a Roc as your companion, which you could reflavor as a gigantic raven.
Personally I think the base Inquisitor with the animal domain can do what you want and I think the loss of Judgements is too great to spare.
You could also pick up a raven familiar with familiar bond or eldritch heritage, probably don't have the cha for heritage though.
This is just something I threw together, it's not complete but is mostly done
Intimidation Inquisitor
Half-elf inquisitor of Erastil 10 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38)
LG Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +18
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Defense
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AC 21, touch 12, flat-footed 21 (+8 armor, +2 deflection, +1 natural)
hp 76 (10d8+23)
Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +13; +2 vs. enchantments
Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +2 scythe +13/+8 (2d4+17/×4)
Special Attacks bane (10 rounds/day), judgment 4/day (2 simultaneous)
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +13)
At will—speak with animals (13 rounds/day)
Inquisitor Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +13)
At will—detect alignment, discern lies (10 rounds/day)
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 10th; concentration +13)
4th (1/day)—death ward, divine power
3rd (4/day)—communal align weapon[ACG], greater magic weapon, communal resist energy[UC]
2nd (5/day)—resist energy
1st (6/day)—divine favor
0 (at will)—brand[APG] (DC 13), create water, detect magic, light, read magic, sift[APG]
Domain Animal
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Statistics
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Str 22, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +7; CMB +11; CMD 25
Feats Boon Companion, Cornugon Smash, Escape Route[UC], Hurtful, Intimidating Prowess, Paired Opportunists[APG], Power Attack, Shake It Off[UC]
Skills Acrobatics -4 (-8 to jump), Handle Animal +10, Intimidate +29, Knowledge (religion) +13, Perception +18, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +13; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Elven
SQ animal companion (roc named Roc), elf blood, monster lore +3, solo tactics, stern gaze +5, track +5
Combat Gear maiden's helm; Other Gear +2 breastplate, +2 scythe, 27,282 gp
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Tracked Resources
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Armor Attunement (1/day) - 0/1
Bane (+2 / 2d6, 10 rounds/day) (Su) - 0/10
Command (3/day) - 0/3
Discern Lies (10 rounds/day) (Sp) - 0/10
Second Judgment (4/day) (Su) - 0/4
Speak with Animals (13 rounds/day) (Sp) - 0/13
Teamwork Feat (change 3/day) - 0/3
Weapon Attunement (1/day) - 0/1
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Special Abilities
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Animal Companion (Ex) Gain an animal companion.
Animal Companion Link (Ex) Handle or push Animal Companion faster, +4 to checks vs. them.
Bane (+2 / 2d6, 10 rounds/day) (Su) Make the weapon you are holding a bane weapon.
Boon Companion (Animal Companion) +4 levels to calc familiar/animal comp abilities (max of your HD).
Cornugon Smash When you damage an opponent with a Power Attack, you may make an immediate Intimidate check as a free action to attempt to demoralize your opponent.
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Discern Lies (10 rounds/day) (Sp) Discern Lies at will
Elf Blood Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Escape Route You do not provoke attacks of opportunity when moving through spaces adjacent to allies
Hurtful Make melee attack against creature you have just demoralized as free action.
Inquisitor Domain (Animal) Granted Powers: You can speak with and befriend animals with ease. In addition, you treat Knowledge (nature) as a class skill.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Monster Lore +3 (Ex) +3 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures.
Paired Opportunists +4 to hit for AoOs if you and adj ally with this feat both threaten the target.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Second Judgment (4/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Shake It Off Gain +1 to all saving throws per adjacent ally
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as touch spells.
Solo Tactics (Ex) Count Teamwork feats as if your allies had the same ones.
Speak with Animals (13 rounds/day) (Sp) You can use speak with animals as a spell-like ability.
Stern Gaze +5 (Ex) +5 to Sense Motive and Intimidate.
Track +5 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
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Roc
Roc (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary)
N Large animal
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +13
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Defense
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AC 30, touch 15, flat-footed 25 (+1 deflection, +5 Dex, +15 natural, -1 size)
hp 49 (9d8+9)
Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +6 (+4 morale bonus vs. Enchantment spells and effects)
Defensive Abilities evasion
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee bite +13 (1d8+8), 2 talons +15 (1d6+10 plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
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Statistics
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Str 27, Dex 20, Con 13, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +6; CMB +15 (+19 grapple); CMD 31
Feats Hover, Light Armor Proficiency
Skills Acrobatics +5 (+1 to jump), Fly +15, Perception +13
SQ devotion, multiattack / extra attack
Other Gear +2 chain shirt
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Tracked Resources
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Armor Attunement (1/day) - 0/1
Weapon Attunement (1/day) - 0/1
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Special Abilities
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Devotion +4 (Ex) +4 morale bonus on Will Saves vs. Enchantments.
Evasion (Ex) No damage on successful reflex save.
Fly (80 feet, Average) You can fly!
Grab: Talon (Large) (Ex) You can start a grapple as a free action if you hit with the designated weapon.
Hover Can hover in place without Fly checks, and kick up dust cloud if within 20 ft of ground.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Multiattack / Extra Attack Multiattack or second attack with primary weapon at a -5 penalty.
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It's worth noting, Inquisitors aren't normally proficient with Scythes, so I had to use half-elf to get proficiency
Judgement is a pretty major combat buff to sacrifice, so I wouldn't go huntmaster unless you're really going to pull some teamwork combat hijinks.
I guess for a straight-out combat focus, you could take two levels of Barbarian to pick up Ferocious Beast (and take the Anger Inquisition and some Extra Rage for plenty of rounds), and then focus on being a pair of raging monsters with Amplified Rage. That feat is damn intense... even a bird is going to be a brutal combatant with +8's. A totally berserk raven ripping foes to shreds with three 20STR natural attacks is pretty great stuff.
Obligatory side-note: Or get it via the favored weapon of her deity.
EDIT: But an even more necessary side-note is that you shouldn't just worship Urgathoa because she gives you a scythe. Do what works well in your group.
I hadn't even thought of the scythe and proficiency, for some reason I thought it was a normal 2h weapon. And now checking, Inquisitors are only eligible for simple weapons, barring any race specific options.
The example you put forth, is it a sacred huntmaster or is it a base inquisitor, I'm not too sure. As you have the animal companion.....ah I see you went with Animal domain. I was confused as you have Erastil listed at the top as well.
Judgement is a pretty major combat buff to sacrifice, so I wouldn't go huntmaster unless you're really going to pull some teamwork combat hijinks.
I guess for a straight-out combat focus, you could take two levels of Barbarian to pick up Ferocious Beast (and take the Anger Inquisition and some Extra Rage for plenty of rounds), and then focus on being a pair of raging monsters with Amplified Rage. That feat is damn intense... even a bird is going to be a brutal combatant with +8's. A totally berserk raven ripping foes to shreds with three 20STR natural attacks is pretty great stuff.
This i may have to take a look at as well.
Quick correction, Hurtful is a Swift action to use, not a Free action. It conflicts a little with your class features but otherwise is a nice feat to have.
Yep, the first thing I noticed was that the Scythe wasn't a simple weapon because I looked at that option myself. I have this annoying habit of confusing Sickles and Scythes in my brain...
What I did with my Inquisitor was take a level dip in Unarmed fighter archtype... which in the height of Irony Gives him improved unarmed combat feat, all Martial weapons AND all monk weapons.... So yeah, unarmed fighter gets more weapons then any OTHER fighter...
but it's full BaB, gives you two or three feats out the door and fills in some fun proficiency gaps.
Looking for a bird companion? maybe do a dip in Ranger instead to get those martial weapons?
Looking for a bird companion? maybe do a dip in Ranger instead to get those martial weapons?
Thinking about the animal companion still. A roc or a giant vulture sounds kind of fun. However, not hav8ng played with an animal companion before - how important is animal handling?
Also to be considered I was thinking of dumping cha (7) and handle animal is not a class skill.I suppose a first level in ranger may help solve this?
Getting a companion through a level or two of another class will mean a very weak companion at the cost of weaker Inquisitor levels. If you aren't going to use one of the two ways you can get an animal through Inquisitor levels I'd use the Animal Ally feat, which gets you an animal at character level -3 for two feats instead of a level 1 or 2 animal at the cost of 1 or 2 levels of Inquisitor.
Getting a companion through a level or two of another class will mean a very weak companion at the cost of weaker Inquisitor levels. If you aren't going to use one of the two ways you can get an animal through Inquisitor levels I'd use the Animal Ally feat, which gets you an animal at character level -3 for two feats instead of a level 1 or 2 animal at the cost of 1 or 2 levels of Inquisitor.
You would use the animal ally feat then possibly boon companion feat instead of Sacred Huntmaster?
What about Handle Animal? Vital/Key?
No, BadBird said if you aren't going to use Sacred Huntmaster or Animal Domain, then go Animal Ally instead of a ranger or Druid dip.
Handle Animal is vital, but you'll eventually reach a plateau.
You need HA to make your AC do the tricks it knows, push it to do tricks it doesn't, and train a new AC tricks if the first one dies.
EDIT: If you don't have HA as a class skill, I would take a trait to get it. That gets you to the plateau 3-4 levels sooner, and every penalty to Cha is one more level delay.
No, BadBird said if you aren't going to use Sacred Huntmaster or Animal Domain, then go Animal Ally instead of a ranger or Druid dip.
Handle Animal is vital, but you'll eventually reach a plateau.
You need HA to make your AC do the tricks it knows, push it to do tricks it doesn't, and train a new AC tricks if the first one dies.
EDIT: If you don't have HA as a class skill, I would take a trait to get it. That gets you to the plateau 3-4 levels sooner, and every penalty to Cha is one more level delay.
Thanks, but what do you mean by plateau? And do you recommend any particular trait for this?
As a side note, that I possibly should have mentioned sooner, I'm looking at this for PFS. Though I think most, if not all suggestions have already been legit.
Beast Bond is a straight forward +1 Handle Animal and Ride, one of these in class, Social trait.
Combine with Omen for a +1 to Intimidate and 1/day swift action to demoralize a foe.
What I mean by plateau is that once you can hit DC 11 on a 1, you don't need anymore ranks because you'll auto-succeed a Handle Animal roll to get a wounded animal to carry out a trick it knows.
Pushing a wounded animal to carry out a trick it doesn't know is DC 27, and if your AC only has an Int of 1, then you might need to do that (Come, Stay, Attack 1 leaves you limited in what it will attack). Int 2 gives you room for (Come, Stay, Defend, Attack 1 & 2, Down, Seek) at creation.
EDIT: So at Cha 10, taking a trait to get in class, you start with a +5 on your roll. By 7th, you'll be at +11. Dumping Cha to 7 and not getting it in class or taking a trait bonus means starting with a -1 on your roll and will be 13th before you auto-succeed.
EDIT2: I should mention that if your method of obtaining an AC grants it Link, you get +4 bonus (so thresholds in the example become 3rd and 9th respectively).
Beast Bond is a straight forward +1 Handle Animal and Ride, one of these in class, Social trait.
Combine with Omen for a +1 to Intimidate and 1/day swift action to demoralize a foe.
What I mean by plateau is that once you can hit DC 11 on a 1, you don't need anymore ranks because you'll auto-succeed a Handle Animal roll to get a wounded animal to carry out a trick it knows.
Pushing a wounded animal to carry out a trick it doesn't know is DC 27, and if your AC only has an Int of 1, then you might need to do that (Come, Stay, Attack 1 leaves you limited in what it will attack). Int 2 gives you room for (Come, Stay, Defend, Attack 1 & 2, Down, Seek) at creation.
EDIT: So at Cha 10, taking a trait to get in class, you start with a +5 on your roll. By 7th, you'll be at +11. Dumping Cha to 7 and not getting it in class or taking a trait bonus means starting with a -1 on your roll and will be 13th before you auto-succeed.
EDIT2: I should mention that if your method of obtaining an AC grants it Link, you get +4 bonus (so thresholds in the example become 3rd and 9th respectively).
Thank you very much. I was just looking at the Half orcs favored class bonus (add 1/2 to intimidate and checks to identify creatures) is the extra point in intimidate worth it every other level or the extra hp each level? Currently at 9hp for first level.
Str 18
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 8
Wis 16
Cha 10
intimidate with one rank at the moment is at +14
1 - feat:intimidating prowess
2 -
3 - feat: weapon focus (Greatsword),
4 - attr:
5 - feat: dazzling display,
6 -
7 - feat:
8 - attr:
9 - feat: shatter defenses,
10 -
11 - feat:
Sacred huntmaster of Gorum with the Heresy conversion. Want to work toward shatter defenses. I am debating on if i should slide power attack in at level 3 and bump weapon focus and dazzling display back a level. Then possibly something like disheartening display at level 11.
For intimidate, higher is better. If you can get a modifier equal to your HD+10, you're doing decent. The higher you get it, the easier it is to stick and lasts longer.
If you're going Shatter Defenses, you're going a debuffing fighter route and won't be as focused on damage (or Power Attack).
Shatter Defenses is an awful lot of work for a minor AC drop against your attacks after you've intimidated them and then hit them once already.
If you're really interested in Dazzling Display, I'd consider going into Performance feats to use Hero's Display with Performing Combatant. At least that way you can fear-bomb while fighting.
Shatter Defenses is an awful lot of work for a minor AC drop against your attacks after you've intimidated them and then hit them once already.
If you're really interested in Dazzling Display, I'd consider going into Performance feats to use Hero's Display with Performing Combatant. At least that way you can fear-bomb while fighting.
Awful lot of work in regards to feat investment? Or turn efficiency?
What kind of investment am I looking at in order to use Hero's Display? Just a feat slot after dazzling display and ranks in perform?
How does that play out in a battle round?
Awful lot of work with regards to both; you need a bunch of feats to go: Round 1 - Dazzling Display that's strong enough to last more than a single round, Round 2 - hit the target to trigger Shatter, then reap the benefits with subsequent hits, which may not even happen until Round 3. The benefit is that they lose their dodge bonus, which may or may not amount to much. On a character with solid Sneak Attack it may be worth it, but otherwise...
On closer inspection, forget Hero's Display unless you're going very high level. Either they changed how Performance Combat DC works, or I missed how grotesquely difficult they made it to reliably beat the 20DC.
Inquisitors get a really cool spell called Blistering Invective. With this spell you make an intimidate check to deal fire damage to all enemies within 30', set them on fire and demoralize them. It's really good for intimidate inquisitors.
Go Power Attack, Cornugon Smash. That comes online at 7th. Either Skill Focus (Intimidate) or something fun at 5th.
I'm guessing shatter defenses may not be the most optimal for this type of build, but not completely useless in a PFS scenario where levels usually cap out at 11.
Blistering invective I have seen and looks very interesting.
With shaken only causing a -2, is there a nice way to stack intimidation to cause a panicked state, which is far more useful than shaken?
If I were to go the Power Attack - conrnugun smash route, is better off to get power attack at level 1 and pick up intimidating prowess later?
All of your input has been great!
Oh and if I take the half orc favored class bonus on intimidate - do I have to take it every level and only reap the bonus point every other level or can I take a hit point at level 1 and then the intimidate 1 point bonus at level 2, then another hit point at level 3, then the half orc intimidate bonus at 4, etc?
You need BAB +1 for Power Attack, so you'll need to wait to 3rd for it anyhow.
You don't need to take the same favored class bonus each level, you can mix and match, but you won't reap the benefit of +1/2 intimidate until you have a whole number bonus (I.e. Taken it twice).
EDIT: You can't amplify the fear effect of demoralize only using the Intimidate skill (excepting a few specific cases, like the Thug archetype for rogues). However, there are some spells that someone else could cast that would amp it.
Thanks again!
Thinking on this a bit more. With shatter defenses, it works well with sneak attack builds.
Is there an animal companion that can get sneak attack and bring the heat when the sacred huntsman has him crapping in his pants?
No. Only the Teamwork feat Precise Strike (if animal Int is 3 or higher or if you can share your feats via a class ability... I forget if Sacred Huntmaster can or not), and Shatter Defenses doesn't do anything for that.
No. Only the Teamwork feat Precise Strike (if animal Int is 3 or higher or if you can share your feats via a class ability... I forget if Sacred Huntmaster can or not), and Shatter Defenses doesn't do anything for that.
Ah yes, shatter defense is only when hit by you.
With animal companions that are medium and then grow to large, the feat Narrow frame would help them to be useful in dungeons correct?
Narrow frame:
Your excellent coordination allows you to maneuver better in close quarters.
Prerequisites: Escape Artist 1 rank, animal or magical beast.
Benefit: You do not take penalties on your attack rolls or to your AC for squeezing through a narrow space that is at least half as wide as your normal space, though each move into or through a narrow space still counts as if it were 2 squares.
Normal: You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to AC while squeezing.
Would you only need to take it once they reached a large size? I'm hung up on three pets (roc, giant vulture, and rhinoceros - it's the animal of gorum and would be BA to ride around on it), all of which eventually grow to Large in size.