So, i'll be playing The Witchwar Legacy(no spoilers) starting at Lvl 17 with some friends.
I chose to build an Archer Inquisitor, since I'm really liking Archery as of late.
Valliriam Guspark ,CG Aasimar(Garuda-Blooded) Ravener Hunter Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor of Desna (VMC) Fighter
STR: 12
DEX: 24 (2 racial, 4 levels)
CON: 12
INT: 8
WIS: 16 (2 racial)
CHA: 7
1: Point-Blank Shot, Battle Mystery [Weapon Mastery(Longbow)], -Weapon Focus: Longbow-
2:
3: -Bravery +1- -Demon Hunter-
4: -Sneak Attack 1d6-
5: Deadly Aim
6: Teamwork feat.
7: -Armor Training 1-
8: Battle Mystery (War Sight), Slayer Talent[Ranger Combat Style I(Archery)] Precise Shot -Improved Critical: Longbow-
9:Rapid Shot, Teamwork Feat.
10:
11: -Weapon Training 1 (Bows)-
12: Teamwork Feat, -Greater Weapon Focus: Longbow-
13: Manyshot
14:
15: -Armor Training 2-,Teamwork Feat
16: Slayer Talent: R. Combat Syle II - Point-Blank Master
17: Clustered Shots, Slayer Talent: R. Combat Style III - Improved Precise Shot
I'm having some doubts.
A) Does this look good enough vs pure Inquisitor? Anything to change up?
B) Trait choices. Should I still pick Reactionary? What else is good for Ranged?
C) What Teamwork feats to pick?
D) Where to spend money? WBL, so 410.000 GP. I'd rather avoid Ioun Stones.
Also, how would I play this out when starting an Encounter?
When I was building the same class, the teamwork feats Coordinated Shot and Friendly Fire Maneuvers were suggested to me.
Personally I wouldn't start with 20DEX; one extra modifier point there costs a fortune in point buy on a build that could use points in other stats.
Sanctified Slayer must Study every new target, which can get in the way of using Bane. Not a huge problem, but it's one issue you don't get from using Judgement.
Surprise Charge from Battle Mystery can be very useful for an archer, since you can reposition and still full attack. Nothing worse than losing full attacks because of obstructions or terrain.
One unique option for a ranged attack character at high level would be to use a Sharding weapon with Guided Hand (Life Mystery for Channel). An Inquisitor of Ra with Two-handed Thrower, Rapid Shot and Guided hand and a Sharding spear would get to make all attacks - ranged or melee - with the same weapon, using WIS on attack, and adding two-handed STR damage to all hits. They can focus on STR/WIS, which is very efficient for attack and damage. Sharding works on any melee weapon, so while spear has better ranged increments, you certainly could hurl anything from daggers to Greatsword with the same setup.
Guided Hand can also be useful for a longbow Inquisitor (Erastil or Cernunnos), since your ability scores can focus on WIS, take just enough DEX for Multishot, and put the rest into STR. This is way more efficient for items, and grants really high WIS for Inquisitor stuff. To modify your starting scores: 14STR(+6item), 15/17DEX, 12CON, 10INT, 16/18WIS(+6item), 7CHA.
When I was building the same class, the teamwork feats Coordinated Shot and Friendly Fire Maneuvers were suggested to me.
Yeah, I was thinking about Coordinated Shot, but Friendly Fire Maneuvers looks kinda bad since I have Imp.Precise Shot, and can't make AoOs with my bow.
Personally I wouldn't start with 20DEX; one extra modifier point there costs a fortune in point buy on a build that could use points in other stats.
Sanctified Slayer must Study every new target, which can get in the way of using Bane. Not a huge problem, but it's one issue you don't get from using Judgement.
Surprise Charge from Battle Mystery can be very useful for an archer, since you can reposition and still full attack. Nothing worse than losing full attacks because of obstructions or terrain.
One unique option for a ranged attack character at high level would be to use a Sharding weapon with Guided Hand (Life Mystery for Channel). An Inquisitor of Ra with Two-handed Thrower, Rapid Shot and Guided hand and a Sharding spear would get to make all attacks - ranged or melee - with the same weapon, using WIS on attack, and adding two-handed STR damage to all hits. They can focus on STR/WIS, which is very efficient for attack and damage. Sharding works on any melee weapon, so while spear has better ranged increments, you certainly could hurl anything from daggers to Greatsword with the same setup.
Guided Hand can also be useful for a longbow Inquisitor (Erastil or Cernunnos), since your ability scores can focus on WIS, take just enough DEX for Multishot, and put the rest into STR. This is way more efficient for items, and grants really high WIS for Inquisitor stuff. To modify your starting scores: 14STR(+6item), 15/17DEX, 12CON, 10INT, 16/18WIS(+6item), 7CHA.
Yeah, but Dex is worth a lot more than anything that isn't Wisdom. I'm probably adding that Dex on AC for a Celestial Armor because of the Armor Training II, also adds a lot of skills and Ref/Init rolls. Also To Hit should be adding a lot more to damage until I can get past 34 To Hit consistently.
Sanctified Slayer was picked because of the Slayer Talents mostly, since the Fighter VMC takes 4 away, but allows me to pick Point-Blank Master, and fits just right the Feat number needed for Archery.
And, with the going first always, I probably can put those Sneak Attack Dice(5d6) to use, which allows me to skip Bane the first turn and probably keep the same damage going, sometimes.
Guided Hand takes -> Weapon Focus, Improved Critical, Greater Weapon Focus + 2 Feats(for Channel Smite and itself) and the ability to pretty much always go first (War Sight) looks like a big price to rearrange the point buy and to spend a bit less on items.
4 levels of zen archer if you can wait for your level 6 spells a bit. You only need WIS afterwards for to hit, your saves and AC (Touch too) will be huge, good movement if you want to.
And most feats you take with slayer Talents are yours after three levels.
Extended Bane!
Edit: forgot Ki Pool goodness.
My point more in general was that it seems like every last aspect of this build is simply set up to maximize attack bonus on archery full attacks. There's nothing wrong with that, though there's no bonus to beating enemy AC by more than enough. A level 16 character who has nothing else really going on other than hoping to keep machine-gunning with a bow can get boring - and can potentially get pretty 'disabled' by things that mess with archery. If I had an Inquisitor with VMC Fighter throwing even more combat bonus on the Inquisitor's pile of combat bonus, I'd consider it an excuse to pump up WIS and spellcasting a bit more - just to use a pre-buffed Persistent Instrument of Agony each fight if nothing else.
I certainly wasn't saying that Guided Hand is something an Inquisitor *should* do, just that it's an interesting option. A level 17 Inquisitor with stacked WIS and six levels of spells can do all sorts of things beyond just full attacking or being frustrated that they can't full attack effectively.
Yes, I understand.
But it's just that there are other,better, ways to get Wis to Ranged attack, like Darklone said.
The Guided Hand just feels like I'd be gimping myself every way possible, for a few spell slots that I'd end up using on self buffs to compensate the loss.
If I did my math right, with swift Study, Bracers of Archery and Gloves of Dueling I should be shooting at +32 (Manyshot)/+32/+27/+22 for 1d8+25+holy
If I can hit that without anything else I can just keep Divine Favor up when needed and use the other slots to help out the team. Studied Target should help my DC for spells and I just need a good selection I guess.
Shine with the bow when I can, and if it's not possible I can help out with the spells since I won't be using them all for myself.
The team is Me,Half-Elf Spell Warrior Skald,Half-Orc Barbarian and ???? Ranger?
13BAB +10DEX +4study +2training +2bracers +7weapon(Bane) +2gfocus = 40, before spell. With Divine Power and Fate's Favored +5, that would become 45. Without VMC Fighter you'd still be able to hit at least 43.
I don't know what kind of scenarios your group plays or what the expectations are, so I can't comment on how much combat buff you need to have. By comparison though, most Inquisitors don't run VMC Fighter and stack a 20 point start, and they still manage to be very deadly. Losing 4-5 feats for a +2 on a character who already has huge attack seems extreme to me, but again, I don't know the expectations.
Your group seems to lack a major controller, so an Inquisitor who could start Battle with a big control/debuff bomb could be worth a lot that way.
Zen Archer is the only other way to get WIS to attack, and it loses multiple Inquisitor levels to do it. Zen Archer's bow flurry doesn't permit Rapid Shot or Manyshot, so it's awful unless going mostly Zen Archer.
I was accounting for the Deadly Aim (-4), Rapid Shot(-2),and that I wouldn't have both study and Bane up on first turn, so both maths are right.
It's not only the VMC.VMC fighter gets me +5 will vs fear, +2 AC, +3 hit and damage.
I guess you meant the Battle Mystery, which gives Wpn Focus/Greater/IMP.Critical
I actually like the War Sight way better than that, since Dex+Wis(16) to initiative + rolling 3 times mean I pretty much always go first, besides always acting in the surprise round.