Since you are playing a worshiper of Ragathiel whose domain includes rage why not go with something that can actually rage. A Barbarian/Inquisitor would actually work well. The Armored Hulk archetype would give you heavy armor proficiency which would allow you to use mithral full plate when you can afford it.
Your alignment would have to be neutral good, but that would explain why you deserted.
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A lot of people overlook the barbarian because it's associated with a particular fluff. It actually is very good at modelling pretty much anyone whose fighting style is as much about their mental state as their formal training. I've seen the class used quite effectively for Samurai, and Mysterious Stranger is right that it's quite suitable for a worshipper of Ragathiel.
Barbarian//Inquisitor is indeed a highly effective combination. The barbarian is as good as it gets for two-handed damage with decent defense, and the inquisitor is a well-rounded class that can improve combat ability while also adding out of combat utility.
Fighter//Inquisitor though is no slouch. Inquisitor patches some key problems with the fighter - lack of out of combat utility, resistance to magic (will save), and ability to self-buff for hard fights. It's a good combination for feat-intensive combat styles like shield bashing or switch hitting.
Either way, you should easily be able to afford mithral full plate by the time you get Stalwart.
I'm a little leery of Slayer//Warpriest. The warpriest's swift actions may compete with establishing your studied target, and slayer talent DCs are intelligence-based, which is not ideal stat synergy. Still, I wouldn't say you should never pair the two. You've got full BAB, all saves, 6+Int skill points, and a good assortment of class features for TWF.
Inquisitor/Brawler FTW!
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I love both Inquisitor//Brawler and Inquisitor//Monk, but they're not so good with the image OP presented: medium or heavy armour and a sword.
Much as I love the Destined bloodline, I think having Inquisitor as the other class makes Barbarian a better choice, since you're either more MAD or short-changing the Bloodrager on spells.
Inquisitor/Brawler FTW!If your willing to go that route then why not inquisitor/monk.
Because Martial Flexibility is cool. And the Inquisitor side compensates for the Brawlers almost complete lack of out-combat usefulness. :)
Blood Casting only works on Bloodrager spells it does not allow you to cast spells from another class. Moment of Clarity will allow you to cast any spell while raging. The inquisitor side gives plenty of magic the bloodrager really does not add much from that perspective. The Barbarian gets more rage powers, so can easily get moment of clarity and still have 3 others by 8th level. The Bloodrager would only get one other rage power by 8th level.
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While you can handle the MAD, as someone playing a multiclass monk/bloodrager with very similar starting stats to yours - it still matters.
Mad Magic is nice, but I am not so sure that needing to cast Inquisitor spells while raging will come up all that often. In my experience, they are best used as an opening buff, opening debuff (blistering invective), or out of combat. If you were looking at warpriest it would be a much bigger deal since fervor allows you to cast spells in combat with improved action economy. Blooded Arcane Strike is a bigger deal, but costs 2 feats instead of one.
I think it largely comes down to personal taste. The biggest factor is probably whether you want the buy the extra feats the bloodrager qualifies for, or whether you want more rage powers. More detailed breakdown:
The advantages of barbarian are:
- Rage powers. Even with primalist, the bloodrager is at a disadvantage because it can't take Extra Rage power and because it has to wait until levels 4, 8, etc to get the powers that the barbarian would take at levels 2, 6, etc.
- Better DR. Even without considering access to Invulnerable Rager, the Armoured Hulk archetype keeps its basic DR, while the Steelblood doesn't.
- Ability to use a shield
- 1 extra HP per level on average, or 2 HP if you take max HP.
- 1 extra skill point per level (presuming the 13 goes in Int instead of Cha)
- Similarly, slightly better knowledge skills.
- No need for extra Cha at high levels (a stat boost or belt to get 14-15).
The advantages of (Destined Primalist) bloodrager are:
- Access to the Mad Magic and Arcane Strike/Blooded Arcane Strike Feats
- The level 4 destined bloodline power, which is worth keeping.
- A few arcane spells, limited by Cha
- A few mostly minor bonus feats, with Improved Initiative and Leadership being the most significant
- Slightly better social skills
Exotic Weapon Bastard Sword (To fit the pic) So human or half elf to got the proficiency at level 1. With out using up your first feet.
If one half is inquisitor (or warpriest) he gets free proficiency with his deity's favoured weapon, which, for Ragathiel, is the bastard sword.
Because Martial Flexibility is cool. And the Inquisitor side compensates for the Brawlers almost complete lack of out-combat usefulness. :)Inquisitor/Brawler FTW!If your willing to go that route then why not inquisitor/monk.This sounds very interesting. What about a brawler/warpriest? Maybe I'm just tired, but I can't find anything that says brawler's abilities don't work in medium or heavy armor.
Edit: other than the AC bonus.
I think the Inquisitor is a much more effective, versatile, fun and overall better designed class than the Warpriest... But a Warpriest could work too.
(And a Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor would be pretty awesome with Brawler's Flurry and Martial Flexibility).
When it comes to armor, unless you get Armor Training, most of the time the best armor available is a mithral breastplate anyway. It counts as light armor, is relatively cheap, has a great Dex-bonus-to-AC limit, doesn't slow you down and doesn't have the massive ACP that plagues heavy armor.
Here is a quick Brawler/Inquisitor gestalt build, just for fun! ;)
Gaston
Half-elf brawler /inquisitor (sanctified slayer) Gestalt 6
LN Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +13
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Defense
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AC 20, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+7 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 45 (6d10+12)
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +10; +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities dual minded; Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +13/+8 (1d8+7) or
. . unarmed strike flurry of blows +11/+11/+6 (1d8+7)
Special Attacks bane (6 rounds/day), brawler's flurry, brawler's strike (magic), close weapon mastery, knockout 1/day (DC 18), maneuver training (dirty trick +1), martial flexibility 6/day, sneak attack +1d6, studied target +2 (2nd, move action)
Inquisitor Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +10)
. . At will—detect alignment, discern lies (6 rounds/day)
Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer) Spells Known (CL 6th; concentration +10)
. . 2nd (4/day)—bloodhound[APG], invisibility, silence (DC 14), tongues
. . 1st (5/day)—divine favor, protection from evil, shield of faith, true strike
. . 0 (at will)—brand[APG] (DC 12), create water, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, read magic
. . Domain Conversion inquisition
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Statistics
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Str 21, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 7
Base Atk +6; CMB +11 (+14 dirty trick, +13 grapple); CMD 24 (27 vs. dirty trick)
Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Escape Route[UC], Improved Dirty Trick, Improved Unarmed Strike, Outflank[APG], Power Attack, Quick Dirty Trick[UC]
Traits focused mind, reactionary
Skills Acrobatics +10, Bluff +11, Diplomacy +11, Intimidate +14, Perception +13, Sense Motive +14, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +10, Survival +2 (+4 to avoid becoming lost); Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan
SQ brawler's cunning, elf blood, martial training, monster lore +2, solo tactics, stern gaze +3, track +3
Other Gear +1 brawling mithral breastplate, belt of giant strength +2, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, traveler's any-tool[UE], wayfinder[ISWG], 50 gp
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Special Abilities
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Bane (+2 / 2d6, 6 rounds/day) (Su) Make the weapon you are holding a bane weapon.
Brawler's Flurry +4/+4/-1 (Ex) Can make full attack & gain two-wep fighting, but only with unarmed strike, close, or monk wep.
Brawler's Strike (Ex) Unarmed strikes overcome DR as various things.
Close Weapon Mastery (Ex) Weapons of the close group deal dam as unarmed strike at -4 levels.
Combat Expertise +/-2 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Combat Reflexes (2 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Discern Lies (6 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
Focused Mind +2 to Concentration checks
Improved Dirty Trick You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when performing a dirty trick.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer) Domain (Conversion Inquisition)
Knockout (1/day, DC 18) (Ex) Declare before attack, if hit then foe is unconscious 1d6 rds (Fort neg), resave each rd.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Martial Flexibility (swift action, 6/day) (Ex) As a Swift action, gain a combat feat for 1 min. More gained for greater actions.
Monster Lore +2 (Ex) +2 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Quick Dirty Trick May perform a dirty trick in place of your first melee attack.
Sneak Attack +1d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Solo Tactics (Ex) Count Teamwork feats as if your allies had the same ones.
Studied Target +2 (move action, 2 at a time) (Ex) Study foe as a Move action, gain +2 to att/dam & some skills vs. them.
Track +3 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Traveler's any-tool Acts as masterwork tools for most Craft or Profession skills.
Wayfinder (empty) A small magical device patterned off ancient relics of the Azlanti, a wayfinder is typically made from silver and bears gold accents. With a command word, you can use a wayfinder to shine (as the light spell). The wayfinder also acts as a nonmagical (magnetic) compass, granting you a +2 circumstance bonus on Survival checks to avoid becoming lost. All wayfinders include a small indentation designed to hold a single ioun stone.
This guys is a great unarmed combatant and has amazing social skills. He can easily adapt to a great number of different situations, both in and out of combat.
His AC is not the best, but he can improve it with a single 1st level spell. He also has pretty good saves.
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Umonk / inquisitor or warpriest would work quite well too. The inquisitor/warpriest's high Will save would cover one of the Umonk's weaknesses, and their spellcasting would cover a lot of what monks normally need ki for - covering their other weakness. Plus the self-buffing abilities combo well with full BAB & flurry from the monk. (while Umonks have better accuracy than most monks - they're still a bit behind most full BAB classes)
Also - you'd have much better AC than brawler/inquisitor so long as you go with a Dex build, as Dex monks have the best AC in the game.
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Or - if you want to break the game - go Umonk/Empyreal sorcerer and just self-buff yourself like crazy.
There are some fun spells which work well there which normally suck.
Blood Armor combos well with Mage Armor until you can afford Bracers +5. For a pure sorcerer it sucks because it relies upon getting hurt - but Umonks are front-liners with d10 HD.
The Monstrous Physique spells go from interesting to awesome.
Cast nasty touch spells before battles begin to go off on your first unarmed hit.
Regular old Shield spell can easily put a monk's AC from high to un-hittable, while it's barely worth casting for a normal wizard/sorcerer.
Etc.
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Well, it sounds like you've narrowed it down to UnMonk//Cleric or Inquisitor//Barbarian or Bloodrager. The former will be more mobile and have more casting. Note that there will be some competition between combat and casting roles as you invest in feats and gear and determine your actions in-combat. The latter will have better skills, will be tougher (including the ability to wear armour), and will probably have better offense, though I'm not entirely sure how that house rule about iterative attacks will affect things.
There are certainly other possible combinations but I don't think any of them will be any better given your apparent priorities, which are: (1) 6+ levels of divine casting (2) Fights primarily with bastard sword (3) 4+ skills.
Renegadesheperd, I must vehemently disagree with almost everything in your post. The only thing I agree on is that this particular character should probably not be part Warpriest.
I hate to say this about warpriest but they just plain stink for gestalt, as do ALL hybrid classes to varying degrees because it's like playing a full class plus two watered down classes instead of combing the maximum power of two strong classes that have synergy.
Hybrid classes are not "two watered down classes," and more than a magus is a watered-down fighter plus a watered down wizard. They take some stuff from their parent classes but also add their own mechanics and thematics in a way that can be just as useful.
Investigator for example combines the elements of alchemy, skills, and cunning fighting to make a class that has tons of utility and self-buffing ability, including its unique and significant studied combat bonus, which is more useful to most frontliners than anything unique to the alchemist or rogue. Fighter (Mutation Warrior)//Investigator is a particularly nice choice for both thematics and mechanics.
Brawler grants similar unarmed combat abilities to the monk but without the strings attached to armour use or the need for any particular mental stat. That means it pairs very well with partial or full casters that want armour and don't use Wisdom, such as Bards and Oracles. Martial Flexibility is also a great feature, especially if you want to use combat maneuvers.
Inspired Blade Swashbuckler is probably the best Full-BAB companion to the Magus.
I mean think about it a warpriest already has an archetype that closely mirrors brawlers and monks (sacred fist I think) so why combine it with a monk or some such. Not to long ago people thought that archetype would replace the monk.
You don't combine Warpriest with monk, since their features are either poorly synergistic or (with Sacred Fist) redundant. Plus you have even more of a problem with too many Swift actions than the Slayer//Wapriest. You'd want something more like Sacred Fist//Empyreal Sorcerer, which would give you key monk defenses and the ability to melee in a pinch, with a side order of divine magic. Or consider vanilla Warpriest//Gunslinger, which gives you better Will saves and spell support than a Fighter//Gunslinger and better action economy and more bonus feats than a Cleric//Gunslinger.
I mean a fighter and cleric gestalt is always better than a warpriest.
Of course Cleric//Fighter is stronger than warpriest. A gestalt that isn't more powerful than a standard class is a terrible gestalt.
Combine good stuff not crap when you get gestalt. I've seen people make sneak attack Ridiculously powerful with gestalt a and we know how bad that mechanic is. I've never sen the warpriest shine in such a case.
It hasn't been around long enough to shine in gestalt, especially when a lot of people dismiss it with the same logic you do. Some classes that do poorly on their own - like Monk! - do very well gestalted, so don't be so quick to assume the warpriest is crap.