Inquisitors and Betrayal Feats

[Kristal Moonhand]

I've found something in Betrayal Feats that doesn't make sense and was hoping someone could explain it to me.

Betrayal Feats wrote:

Characters with class abilities granting allies access to teamwork feats (such as cavaliers or inquisitors) can select these teamwork feats normally, but allies who are granted these feats can use the feats only as initiators, not as abettors. An inquisitor could not grant an ally the Ally Shield feat and then use the ally as a shield, for example, but he could allow that ally to use him as a shield.

Which is all well and good... If you're a Cavalier. However, that's not how the Inquisitor ability Solo Tactics even works!

Solo Tactics wrote:

At 3rd level, all of the inquisitor’s allies are treated as if they possessed the same teamwork feats as the inquisitor for the purpose of determining whether the inquisitor receives a bonus from her teamwork feats. Her allies do not receive any bonuses from these feats unless they actually possess the feats themselves. The allies’ positioning and actions must still meet the prerequisites listed in the teamwork feat for the inquisitor to receive the listed bonus.

(emphasis mine)

So do betrayal feats just do nothing if you're an Inquisitor, or does the Inquisitor ability override the rule meant to keep you from using your allies as human shields whenever you want in the first place? Remember, it calls out class abilities that involve "granting allies access to teamwork feats", which Inquisitor specifically does not.

[Gallant Armor]

Kristal Moonhand wrote:

I've found something in Betrayal Feats that doesn't make sense and was hoping someone could explain it to me.

Betrayal Feats wrote:

Characters with class abilities granting allies access to teamwork feats (such as cavaliers or inquisitors) can select these teamwork feats normally, but allies who are granted these feats can use the feats only as initiators, not as abettors. An inquisitor could not grant an ally the Ally Shield feat and then use the ally as a shield, for example, but he could allow that ally to use him as a shield.

Which is all well and good... If you're a Cavalier. However, that's not how the Inquisitor ability Solo Tactics even works!

Solo Tactics wrote:

At 3rd level, all of the inquisitor’s allies are treated as if they possessed the same teamwork feats as the inquisitor for the purpose of determining whether the inquisitor receives a bonus from her teamwork feats. Her allies do not receive any bonuses from these feats unless they actually possess the feats themselves. The allies’ positioning and actions must still meet the prerequisites listed in the teamwork feat for the inquisitor to receive the listed bonus.

(emphasis mine)

So do betrayal feats just do nothing if you're an Inquisitor, or does the Inquisitor ability override the rule meant to keep you from using your allies as human shields whenever you want in the first place? Remember, it calls out class abilities that involve "granting allies access to teamwork feats", which Inquisitor specifically does not.

There are 4 betrayal feats that require that your ally have the feat as well:

Ally Shield
Reckless Moves
Splash Volley
Wild Flanking

Ally Shield, Reckless Moves and Wild Flanking could be initiated by an Inquisitor whether or not the their allies have the betrayal feat and would work normally.

I would vote that given the wording of Splash Volley, both allies would need the feat to pull off the maneuver.

[Claxon]

No, they just basically don't work for Inquisitors.

Even though the Inquisitor's ability work differently from the Cavalier's ability, it is obviously the intention of the devs that these classes can only use the abilities as abettors, not as initiators (unless the other player has also taken the feat). It is done precisely to keep players from being jerks to other players and doing things against their will.