Hi again, some of you may have seen/helped me decide between a solo cleric or a solo inquisitor. As the title says, I'll be going with inquisitor, thanks all.
Soon I will be making the character, and one trouble seems to be feats. I'm thinking of playing half orc for the falchion proficiency, bonus to intimidate (a decent debuff I already get a bonus to; I don't expect to use it often but I'm sure it can be situationally useful and part of the reason I decided on inquisitor was the plethora of skills), and because it fits the character I want RP wise.
I was thinking of going for a switch-hitter build, using the falchion primarily and a longbow before closing (don't want to let that juicy proficiency go to waste), but longbows take a lot of feats. It is kind of tempting to go human for the bonus feat, but I really like the other bonuses of the half orc.
I've pretty much decided to take vital strike, as it will mean less investment in ranged combat, and I don't have to use it for melee combat. Anyways, I was planning to move around a lot (travel domain) so moving/shooting in a round sounds pretty good to me. I believe this to be the best course for my character to take, but I still seem to have a feat problem.
I want to invest in good ranged combat, taking things like deadly aim and point-blank shot, but I also want more of a focus on melee combat. I'm not sure what my feat progression should look like, but tbh I'm not super worried (I know class abilities like judgement and bane will offset a total reliance on feats for effective combat).
I don't think this campaign will go much farther than 10th level, though I'm not entirely sure. Any advice about feats/if i should switch to human will be greatly appreciated, but do note I do NOT want to focus exclusively on ranged combat, a stealthy snipe-fest between me and the DM does not sound fun even if that is how I want to open most combat anyway.
Thanks for reading this far, and thanks for any advice!
EDIT: forgot to mention, I don't want any archetypes so vanilla inquisitor is very much preferred w/ travel domain.
Really think you have to go either animal or feather domain. In a solo campaign you need something to help you trigger your teamwork feats. Take boon companion and maybe go with a velociraptor. Get ring of tactical precision with spell sharing. I went with sanctified slayer (The per day judgements might not be a good idea) I went pure archery and Have the animal companion take the front. If you want to be a switch hitter take power attack... with divine favor, studied target, and a 14 str at level 1 I would hit at +5 and 2d4+6.. at level 3 get power attack. After boon companion go archery but honestly I would skip power attack.
I played a switch-hitter half-orc inquisitor, but I used a great-axe. I took Improved Initiative at 1st level, and Reactionary, and got my initiative up to +11, I think.
Are there some Combat Intimidate feats you can take? Dazzling Display or Cornugan Smash? Enforcer and Bludgeoner?
Well, I think you've convinced me to go with a velociraptor w/ animal domain. I still want to go with the switch-hitter path, probably with minimal investment in archery as it will only be used to start combat. I'll take Power Attack level 1, Deadly Aim and Precise Strike level 3, Boon Companion (I don't even gain the companion until level four, no reason to take it at an earlier level) at level 5, Outflank at level 6, Toughness at 7, and Vital Strike and Paired Opportunists (for times when I cannot flank) at 9. I don't think we will be going past level ten as I said, but if we do I'll think of something at that point.
Thanks for all the advice, don't think I have room for intimidate feats or imp init. The only thing is maybe replacing toughness w/ imp. init, or maybe vital strike but I think I like my feat progression as it is.
One thing to keep in mind is that judgement/bane/spells will help improve both combat styles as well, so some of the missing feats won't matter as much. I like the idea of using the velociraptor as a flank buddy. Thanks for the advice!
I know you would prefer to avoid archetypes but you should really think about it. Judgement is honestly so limited to be pretty useless especially in solo campaign. Ideally go with something that could be used multiple times throughout the day. Sanctified slayer would be a strong route.. move action until later on but +1 hit/damage/knowledge/perception/bluff/sense motive/survival and dc for spells. At level 4 you could get sneak attack.
To honestly break the game and have your gm's eyes bulge go monster tactician. With the animal companion you are a party of one. (imagine later on summoning critters each with precise strike.
Something to keep in mind you cant take power attack at level 1 (bab +1 req) Something to decide on is what is your plan for melee...going with a falchion and power attack pretty much sets you up... archery has more of a requirement BUT I think you get a better payoff. If a opponent drops dead in the first round there is no need to pull out another weapon :
I think Judgment is pretty darn useful. Even if you use it to give you a "fake full BAB."
I wonder how useful the Teamwork feats will be without a team? Getting an animal companion is a great idea for mitigating your "Solo-ness."
I just read the Monster Tactician archetype, and it is AMAZING!!! Forget what I just typed about Judgment! LOL
I've already decided on vanilla inquisitor, there is no reason to try to convince me otherwise. If you show me an archetype that lets me do 1000 damage 100% of the time at level one, I still won't take it.
That said, thanks for offering options. I must admit that the two archetypes you suggested are tempting, but I still want to go vanilla.
Good point about Power Attack, somehow forgot about the +1 BAB thing (probably because in my head I thought "I can emulate full BAB with judgement"). I think I'm going to take either toughness at level one or point-blank-shot, then push everything back one (so I won't get Deadly Aim until level 5. I don't need vital strike, I won't get it (I'll replace it with rapid shot). Thanks everyone for the advice.
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Rapid Shot tends to provide more damage than Deadly aim. You can carry arrows to cover basically every form of DR or hardness just remember to make your knowledge check first.
Half orcs are great but in this case I would opt to play a human to get archery going much quicker. If you want a good weapon Keltheald offers a Halberd a decent two-handed weapon and has the travel domain.
Have you thought about stats?
It's a 15 point-buy, I put 14 in str, dex, and wis, a 12 in con, and 10 in int and cha. In a solo campaign I don't think there's room for dumpstats. My social interactions will mostly be limited to intimidate which I should be passing usually, and I don't want a penalty to my currently ok knowledges. I really want to go half-orc, but switching deadly aim and rapid shot is probably a good idea, gonna do that. I think I'll go point-blank shot at level one, buy a longbow and just buy a cheap 2-handed simple weapon until I can afford a falchion. I don't want to change to human and my feats will go something like follows:
1 - Point-Blank Shot
3 - Power Attack, Precise strike
5 - Boon Companion
6 - Outflank
7 - Rapid Shot
9 - Deadly Aim, Paired Opprotunity
As said I'll be using a velociraptor, don't think there's anything I want to change.
I would try to move rapid shot as early as you can.. at level 5 it is godly. You can bane for 1 round for two arrows. My level 10 sacred slayer hits with 4 arrows.. add 3 for studied, 4 for divine favor, 4 for deadly aim, 2 for magic weapon and 2 str.. so 1d8+15 then add 2d6+2.. bonus feat went clustered shot
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I offer these suggestions because you are trying to really stretch a stat and feat intensive build on a 15 point buy so every point will count.
There is a trait that gives wisdom to diplomacy and you have it as a class skill. That will help you more than investing in intimidate and should allow you to dump CHA freeing up some more points.
Another option is 12 WIS you bring down a a bunch of stuff by a point but be level 7 you should easily have a +2 headband and a +4 by 13 is pretty trivial so you wont ever miss spell casting.
Take the feather version of the animal domain. It is thematically better with an archer/velociraptor, 1/2 lvl to perception means your skill points go a lot further, you get a fly spell something painfully missing from your list.
You may find using shield companion and archery effective. You will make your animal companion much more durable and deal plenty of damage yourself from range. Then wade in only toward the end of combat.
There is a new feat in ultimate wilderness that helps animal companions intimidate if you still want that as part of your build.
The feat is called Ferocious Beast (Combat).
For a solo campaign I would want Perception, Diplomacy, an animal companion (extra hp, damage and secondary checks), healing spell (remove spells and restorations included), 14 con, a decent set of monster knowledges, and good DPR. I think your getting there.