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On request, I'm writing up my own perspectives on the use of Inquisitor Varril in PFSACG, including how he may interact with legal Class, Character and Add-On Decks, as well as how he may perform in each season of play. This is aimed at intermediate players, but I'm happy to respond to questions or contribute to other discussions in this thread as they come up.
Like with Ezren, I will be posting this review in 4 parts, as follows...
1. Introductory Post & Character/Role Overview
2. Class/Character Deck Comparison (Inquisitor vs Hell's Vengeance 2)
3. Ultimate Add-On Deck Comparison
4. Sample Builds
Unlike my last review thread, I'm going to make a conscious decision to keep this one somewhat more brief; but I'm happy to still make a more extensive inspection of the character if requested. In particular, I won't go into as much depth for boon-by-boon assessment, nor will I make as many example builds (I'm aiming to only make 2, not 4). In particular, I'll try not to repeat myself much - if I've said something before, I'll probably just link to the relevant post in the Ezren thread.
Let's cut to the chase. You can skip this first post if you just want to read about Class Deck/Add-On deck suggestions, since this is just describing the strengths and weaknesses of his core character and role cards, and where he normally performs well, agnostic of the specific boons he's using.
In function, they usually are kitted to hunt out monsters (and sometimes banes), with a letter emphasis on support than either Clerics or Paladins. In practice, they can be pretty diverse; and perhaps no Inquisitor demonstrates this better than the unusual Varril.
Varril has the following powers...
Hand Size 6 ☐ 7
Proficient With: Light Armors | ☐ Weapons
At the start of your explore step, you may recharge a card to allow another character at your location to recharge a random card (☐ or 2 random cards) from her discard pile.
When you attempt any check, you may discard (☐ or recharge) a card to use your Divine skill instead of any listed skill.
After you defeat a bane on your turn, you may discard a card to explore your location.
In many ways, Varril has many of the qualities of a Bard; an emphasis on Diplomacy, a wide array of supporting powers and a great flexibility in his own checks. In particular, his second power is his defining characteristic, which completely redefines how Varril is capable of approaching skill checks - ANY skill check. I'll analyse that power a bit further after I've covered the other aspects of his character, because it's a whole can of worms on its own.
Compared to other inquisitors, Varril has a larger hand size , a better Divine skill , benefits from taking down all banes (as opposed to just monsters) , the capacity to heal teammates over time and... Uh. No innate weapon proficiency, no Melee or Ranged skill, junk Strength/Dex scores and yet carries a duo of Weapon slots?
Ah. That's going to slow him down. But Varril has a lot going for him even at a cursory glance.
Both his first and third powers are decent, but conditional and don't scale too well into the late-game, generally. Why? Because they require an expenditure of cards for an effect that can be easily surpassed by actually using powers on a card. Varril could discard any card to explore when defeating a bane; or he could discard various blessings or allies to explore with benefits. He could recharge a card to heal his allies, but he could also carry some items, allies or spells that offer more consistent healing (like Surgeon, Staff of Minor Healing, Cure, etc).
However, because he has multiple options to expend cards to fuel all three of his powers, Varril can make use of any card that comes into his hand. He's a great character for players to hand cards off to, and he usually won't end up discarding 'junk' boons (like weak weapons or armor) at the end of his turn since he can usually turn them to heals, skill check replacements or explorations effectively. And he should be able to have a good chance to acquire ANY boon he comes across, should he choose to. So I suppose it's time to look at his 'key' skill (his second power) in more detail...
Varill can use his Divine skill for any check he makes at the cost of a card (changing the cost to a recharge should usually be where your first power feat goes); without other cards, that gives him an average result of 7.5 - 11.5 (based on skill feats) for ANY check he wants. When built around with Divine-buffing boons, this can start getting absurd. But there's a catch. There's been a long-running debate on whether he can reveal a weapon and THEN use his power to use his Divine skill with a weapon (very similar to how Inquisitor Zelhara performs), but the current official stance is "No", because you can only use one card or power to define what skill you're using on a check.
Despite this hampering his combat ability (especially when you see his very small quantity of spell slots), Varril remains a remarkably powerful and versatile character when you build him to exploit this "Divine your way through everything" power to the greatest possible extremes.
Thanks to this second power, Varril can almost always breeze through just about any check in the game but combat, at least with the right supporting boons. Boons, barriers, closing checks, BYAs, etc; they're all his domain, if he's willing to spend a card to throw his Divine skill around.
Varril isn't significantly better or worse in any particular Base Set (unlike Ezren, where I would recommend sticking to Mummy's Mask), but here's some considerations for each...
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Either way, Varril will often find his niche in a party at dealing with barrier-heavy locations. His incredible skill diversity leaves him perfectly suited to dealing with the unpredictable skills that barriers will often require of you, and in larger parties he'll happy take the advantage to burn cards for more explorations after fighting barriers. Additionally, more recent Seasons of PFSACG have gone out of their way to reward the use of certain niche skills with the henchmen and scenario powers they've introduced; and Varril is well suited to taking advantage of any of those. As a result, players may find him fun to try out in Seasons 3-5, which will give him ample opportunities to flex his flexibility.
As far as feats go, his Hand Size and "or recharge" power feats are usually pretty key one way or another, as they both enable him to push the limits of his defining characteristic - that is, to trade cards in hand for flexibility in all checks. How useful enhancing his healing element is is largely dependent on your party (and which role you're planning to take), and how useful giving him weapon proficiency is will largely depend on your Class/Character/Add-On Decks.
Dumping Skill Feats into Wisdom, then Charisma, is a no-brainer; he'll almost never be forced to use any of his other dice. Maxing his Spell Count to cover combat and leverage his Divine minmaxing also should be a given; anything beyond that is, once again, Class Deck dependent.
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Both of Varril's roles offer new utility options to push his relevance as a supportive Inquisitor - tending more towards the role of a Bard - as well as new ways to utilise Divine cards, new modifiers to improve his exploration power and some power to reference Blessings with the Shelyn trait. They have far more in common with each other, as a result, than MM Ezren's roles, for example.
A large part of the decision between his roles will be determined by who your party members are. How large is your party, what kinds of traits do they invoke, how often are they at your location and how much healing do they need? Let's further examine the strengths and weaknesses of each role.
Hand Size 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8
Proficient With: Light Armors | ☐ Weapons
At the start of your explore step, you may recharge a card to allow another character at your location to recharge a random card (□ or 2 random cards) from her discard pile. (□ Then you may draw a card.)
When you attempt any check, you may discard (□ or recharge) a card to use your Divine skill instead of any listed skill.
After you defeat a bane on your turn, you may discard a card to explore your location. (□ If the discarded card is a spell, you may recharge it instead.)
□ You may recharge a card that has the Divine trait to add 1d4 (□+1) to a non-combat check by another character at your location.
□ At the end of your (□ or any) turn, if you are the only character at your location, you may move.
□ If the top card of the blessings discard pile has the Shelyn trait, add 1 die to your check.
Knight of the Rose is the somewhat more support-aligned role available to Varril; it gives him a limited Bard-like power for his allies and expands his healing powers meaningfully, whilst giving him the movement power so that he can move himself into positions to support his allies more easily and frequently.
What's the best powers available here, besides the Hand Size (which is a powerful tool for the card-hungry Varril)?
The 'draw a card' modification to Power 1 I consider to be one of the biggest selling points of this role, and if you're planning on taking this role you should probably have used a power feat to increase his healing power's strength beforehand. Instead of costing a card from your hand to enable a heal, it instead leaves you with the same number of cards in hand whilst providing a heal; in fact, it's usually better than just leaving you with the same hand size, since "Recharge a card and draw a new one" lets you cycle out the least useful card in your hand for something that's probably better, whilst also working your recharged spells higher in your deck. A great way to use acquired junk cards!
The movement options of Power 5 vary in effectiveness based on the season and the party. As a scenario goes on, it's less and less likely you'll end up in a location on your own, but it's particularly nice in going to a location with a highly negative start-of-turn or end-of-turn power and being able to skip away from it safely every turn. The further modification going to be seriously dependant on there being the right locations, the right party and the right scenario for it to be of any use at all. I would generally rate it higher in Skull and Shackles and Wrath of the Righteous, due to their tendency towards nasty scenario start and end-of-turn effects.
Other than those, the remaining power feats are all of questionable worth. Power 4 is an acceptable Bard-light power in principle, but it's limited in who it can target, limited in what checks it can support and it's limited in what card you have to recharge to use it in the first place. Worst of all, almost all Divine cards are Spells and Blessings - Blessings can provide way bigger bonuses just by using their own powers, and Spells are invaluable in Varril's hands, in part given his reliance on them for combat. The importance of Spells for Varril is also why the added power feat on Power 3 is bad for the same reason; you shouldn't be dumping Spells to that power.
Finally, his Power 6 is completely worthless in almost all circumstances. Unless you're playing a Season 1 or Season 2 Varril with Zova as a party member (who can selectively search out blessings in the discard pile to put on top post-role), there's virtually no chance you'll ever see a Blessing with the Shelyn trait on the top of the blessings discard pile on Varril's turn specifically. In any other season, there's not even blessings WITH the Shelyn trait to be there in the first place!
This means there's at least 4 power feats which are usually not worth taking, and 2 more power feats (enabling movement) which are really conditional on the season and party (or a given scenario). Not a glowing review, and I will generally advise against this role.
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Hand Size 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8
Proficient With: Light Armors | ☐ Weapons
At the start of your explore step, you may recharge a card to allow another character at your location to recharge a random card (□ or 2 random cards) from her discard pile.
When you attempt any check, you may discard (□ or recharge) a card to use your Divine skill instead of any listed skill.
After you defeat a bane on your turn, you may discard a card to explore your location. (□ If the discarded card is a blessing, you may recharge it instead).
□ You may recharge a card that has the Divine trait to add 1d4 (□+1) to your non-combat check.
□ Add 2 (□ 4) to a check by another character at your location (□ or your check) that invokes the Divine trait.
□ Your blessing that has the Shelyn trait adds d12 instead of the normal die.
Incorruptible is my preferred role for Varril, for most purposes. Whilst he lacks the excellent addition to his healing power and generally features somewhat less methods of supporting his allies, it provides him a series of power feats to significantly enhance his role as a Jack-of-all-trades.
The series of power feats for Power 5 are all invaluable - though whether you dig into these before or after you take your post-role Hand Size increase may vary based on your playstyle and party composition. Initially, it primarily helps other party members at your location cast, recharge and acquire spells as well as help them acquire Blessings. Once you apply it to Varril, it can potentially help all of his checks, since using his Divine skill thanks to Power 2 will cause him to invoke the Divine trait all the time!
When a full 3 power feats are fed into Power 5, Varril's average Divine skill (a key measure of his performance due to his ability to almost always substitute it in for his checks) can raise from an average of 11.5 (with 4 Wisdom Skill Feats) to an average of 15.5 (with a minimum of 12) - enough to trounce a colossal variety of closing checks, checks to acquire and checks to defeat barriers in almost any set even before he starts playing boons to assist him! Atop of that, his solid +4 massively improves his companions' capabilities with spells, including acquiring them (and blessings). This power will only become better after Core hits, because players can automatically move when their location is closed, enabling him to always stand with the party and fuel their spellcasting and blessing acquiring whilst also maximising his core character power's effectiveness.
In all honesty, his remaining powers are merely 'okay', but that's fine - since between a Hand Size increase and the 3 power feats mentioned before, that should cover all of your power feats for a general season with significant, meaningful improvements seen to Varril's gameplay as a result.
But for the sake of argument... the Power 3 modification is acceptable - if you were going to discard a blessing for an exploration anyway, it will often allow you to recharge one for the same overall outcome. Power 4 is pretty weak for the same reason as his other role's "recharge a divine card" power is weak, but it's conditionally okay. And finally, his Power 6 is far better than his other role's Shelyn-themed power, greatly enhancing how much brunt his blessings can offer if he carries some acceptable Shelyn-traited blessings.
All in all, I feel like playing a straight up "Max Divine" Incorruptible Varril is the most widely effective and useful post-role expenditure of power feats for the character, in almost any season and with almost any class/ultimate deck. Of course, as a result of that, I really don't feel like Varril has much variety in potential builds or choices to make if you're trying to play to the character's strengths, and I'd be happier if more of his power feats were balanced differently to justify more build diversity. Alas.
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As a brief summary of this entire post:
1. Varril is somewhere between an Inquisitor and a Bard; offering support to his allies whilst providing almost unparalleled flexibility in his skill checks - at the cost of having below-average combat checks.
2. Due to the nature of skill check flexibility in PACG; Varril functions excellently in barrier-heavy locations, and can also effectively leverage all sorts of location or scenario powers to his advantage.
3. Varril wants to stack any boons that help him maximise his Divine checks and keep his hand stocked with cards, as well as carry around sufficient boons to make up for his only weakness - combat. He'll usually be maxing out his Spell slots and Wisdom skill feats before anything else.
4. Varril works well in any Season, more or less; though he'll do particularly well in Skull and Shackles whilst he'll have a more difficult time in Wrath of the Righteous.
5. His Knight of the Rose role provides a bit more support utility - in particular solidifying a potential role as a healer.
6. His Incorruptible role provides an incredibly valuable bonus to checks invoking Divine at his location, maximising his critical skill whilst also hugely supporting allied spellcasters (almost 4 skill feats worth of support!), and is my general recommendation for almost any build of Varril.
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Thanks! Another great insightful post. Looking forward to the rest
I had avoided him as I couldn't work out what to do re combat however focussing on Barrier heavy locations makes a lot of sense
Ugh. I think I may have been misunderstanding a recent FAQ. Note that I think I might be wrong and Varril can use his Divine skill with weapons. I'll have to determine whether he can or not for certain before continuing with this assessment.
See this thread for the full discussion on the matter.
In short; if he CAN use weapons, he's basically the best Inquisitor in the game by far, in my opinion. He has to expend cards to consistently pass combat as his downside, but in return he...
That said, it doesn't change much of my pre-existing assessment. If he can use Divine with weapons for combat checks, that only adds even more justification to have all of your boons and powers emphasize his Divine skill and power even further.
I feel you should link the actual post by Vic
and
And point out that he said they would probably not address Varril. To my knowledge that was never official ruled on. Also, it would break several other characters mentioned in that thread. Currently with no official ruling, Varril can use a weapon and his skill.
This is assuming I didnt miss the ruling.
Also, props! Great right up.
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Thanks! Now, regarding Varril and weapons...
Before I delve into this... I want to say that I feel like the thread discussing this is maddeningly unclear. There's a lot of different opinions being bandied about, precious little designer input, and a FAQ answer that is still unclear even to veteran players and the rules changes of the FAQ doesn't even match the FAQ description. As a result, all of the below is my attempt to objectively dissect what has and hasn't been officially said, and may or may not be accurate.
I really want some more veteran players than I to clarify things for me, because the whole mess is confusing me greatly.
I feel you should link the actual post by Vic
and
Your second link is actually the exact post I linked in my previous message. But yes, the first post you linked is very relevant, and ties into my original interpretation of Varril.
And point out that he said they would probably not address Varril. [...]
I don't recall it being said that they would probably not address Varril (though it is a long thread to dig through). I do remember Vic clarifying the rules intent, and indicating that they would need to errata Zelhara so that it works (see your first link), however.
To my knowledge that was never official ruled on. Also, it would break several other characters mentioned in that thread. Currently with no official ruling, Varril can use a weapon and his skill.
I would argue it has been ruled on twice, but the two rulings are contradictory.
The first clear ruling by Vic (which you linked) stated that "You may play only 1 such card or use only 1 such power to determine which skill you’re using" prevents Varril from using his power with a weapon (or an Arcane attack spell, etc). Vic also acknowledged that this breaks other characters, but that they may need to consider errata to solve that, as opposed to changing the rule.
Then Vic said that this was 'solved' by a new FAQ, which is still debatable (see the posts made in that thread trying to dissect that FAQ). The key paragraph of the FAQ for Varril's power is as follows...
Resolution: On page 11 of the rulebook, under Determine Which Skill You're Using, change:
Some cards allow you to use a particular skill for a specific type of check, or to use one skill instead of another. (These cards generally say things like “For your combat check, use your Strength or Melee skill,” or “Use your Strength skill instead of your Diplomacy skill.”) You may play only 1 such card or use only 1 such power to determine which skill you’re using.
to:
Some powers allow you to use a particular skill for a specific type of check. These powers say things like “For your combat check, use Dexterity or Ranged.” You may use only one such power to determine which skill you’re using. Other powers allow you to use one skill instead of another. These powers say things like “when you attempt a Perception check, you may use Knowledge” or “use Strength instead of Diplomacy.”
A couple key points from this part of the FAQ...
However, even those two assumptions seem unclear to me. In the linked thread, Irgy brought up the subtle differences in the template of Varril's power compared to - for example - Zelhara. Plus, I still find it bizarre that the FAQ is labelled and described to handle things like gaining skills and skills being equal to another, but the rulebook changes the FAQ makes don't really refer to that at all.
Also note that such interpretations of that FAQ directly contradicts Vic's previous answer, suggesting that designer intent has changed on the matter(?)
Plus, I have my own concerns in terms of the balance implications of such a change. But then, maybe I shouldn't be too bothered about the threat of some strong Inquisitors or Occultists when I'm also happy to prove that Reepazo can solo most scenarios in turn-1, so there's clearly bigger fish to try as far as balance goes.
So now you need to link your latest post in "Skill Replacement Powers and Check" thread because I believe it is correct.
I have not read or had anyone with Authority post and say that Varril cannot use his power but the other (Mother Mertle, Valeros,Zelhara and anyone else I missed) can. Their powers are written too closely alike for it not to need a specific character ruling.
To my knowledge that was never official ruled on. Also, it would break several other characters mentioned in that thread. Currently with no official ruling, Varril can use a weapon and his skill.I would argue it has been ruled on twice, but the two rulings are contradictory.
I would call it making a ruling but side stepping the corner cases. They never addressed those characters. Instead of invalidating them all just to re-balance Varril.
For the record, as someone that played him through a season, I dont believe he is overpowered even being able to use weapons. This was pre-Ultimate decks. The hand tax he had when healing and recharging to turn everything divine didnt allow him to power explore and steal the show. There are much more powerful characters out there that can be tuned down.
That being said, I dont think its a major issue if he couldnt use weapons
Thanks! I'm glad to promote the conversation. I've posted the key points I made above on the other forum thread already, and I encourage anyone reading this and invested in the outcome to make their own posts there. The more attention that thread gets the more likelihood there will be a conclusive, inarguable answer.
In the meantime, I think I'll have to stick with the new assumption that Varril can use weapons with his power - the most important chance for this for my original assessment is that spending a power feat to increase his healing power is probably (in my opinion) his weakest pre-Core power feat (unless he is going to take his Knight of the Rose role), since Weapon Proficiency is much more important depending on the resolution of this ruling.
For the record, as someone that played him through a season, I dont believe he is overpowered even being able to use weapons. This was pre-Ultimate decks. The hand tax he had when healing and recharging to turn everything divine didnt allow him to power explore and steal the show. There are much more powerful characters out there that can be tuned down.
I absolutely agree that no matter the resolution to this issue that there are more powerful characters than Varril. I can point to at least two characters who can pretty consistently beat scenarios in one turn on their own, and I think I could probably tune certain other characters to also accomplish that (the Magus Class Deck Zvarbel and the Mummy's Mask Damiel... and maybe maybe the Promo Goblin Ekkie).
However, I am of the opinion that (with access to Ultimate Add-On Decks), Varril is the most powerful of the 5 Inquisitors in PACG even without the ability to use his Divine skill with weapons. If it's just the Inquisitor Class Deck alone, then he's reasonably well-balanced due to his poor combat options.
With the ability to use weapons with Divine, I think he even more clearly surpasses Salim, both Imrijka's, and Zelhara. His overall impact is always limited by his hand - he simply cannot achieve unusually large numbers of explorations when so many checks are taking a card out of his hand - but the ability to pass literally any check puts him at a level of consistency, safety, versatility and impact that other Inquisitors simply cannot match.
In short, he may not steal the show from a table (like Reepazo absolutely can from as early as her first power feat), but I think he steals the show from the other Inquisitors, which I personally find unfortunate. Oh well.
So... in my in-person PACG Tapestry's Tides campaign, one of the guys at my table plays Varril. Do we have official word as to whether Varril can use his skill for weapons?
My teammate has always played that Varril can't, and will continue to do so until he hears official word otherwise.
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Don't look at me. I read the official FAQ that Vic himself said "solved" the issue as saying he can use it with his weapon. I cannot give an answer myself, though. ^^'
(My personal opinion is that he is not fairly balanced with the other two Inquisitor Class Deck characters unless he cannot use his power with weapons, but that doesn't seem to be what the rules say.)
The lack of clarity is the main reason why I haven't continued with this review. It's just frustrating to even think about.
I am of the opinion that (with access to Ultimate Add-On Decks), Varril is the most powerful of the 5 Inquisitors in PACG even without the ability to use his Divine skill with weapons. If it's just the Inquisitor Class Deck alone, then he's reasonably well-balanced due to his poor combat options.
With the ability to use weapons with Divine, I think he even more clearly surpasses Salim, both Imrijka's, and Zelhara.
So playing devils advocate here, I believe a case can be made for both WotR Imrijka and Zelhara for being on par with him. They fill different rolls but both can be great at digging monsters out of decks.
@wkover - I feel with the way the newest ruling is worded he could use weapons. But if this is over-shining your other players feel free to take them away.
Oof. Well that was a large tangent. It's not looking like I can expect further official clarification, but I'm confident that RAW Varril can now use his power with weapons. Making him even better.
The biggest two things this changes about my previous assessment above are as follows...
1. Weapon Proficiency is a more valuable power feat.
2. He's now excellent with the Wrath of the Righteous box, rather than slightly hindered by it, since his combat skill is now on-par with most characters. Taking the Mythic Heirophant Mythic Path allows him to further enhance his Wisdom and Charisma skills, and even roll 1d20s with them if needed... which is incredible when he can happily turn all of his checks into Wisdom/Divine checks!
But on with the next part of the actual review.
1. Introductory Post & Character/Role Overview
2. Class/Character Deck Comparison (Inquisitor vs Hell's Vengeance 2)
3. Ultimate Add-On Deck Comparison
4. Sample Builds
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So, as it turns out, I forgot a critical rule about defining what are and are not legal character/class decks. I was so busy thinking about MM Ezren that I forgot that having a class featured in a character deck only allows base set characters of that class use it. Contrary to what I listed above, Varril cannot use the Hell's Vengeance 2 Character Deck.
So instead, this will simply be a short rundown of interesting boons available from the Inquisitor Class Deck.
Unlike the previously-mentioned Wizard Class Deck, it's boon design is reasonably modern and it remains wholly functional. However, you may find its blessings and items leave a lot to be desired, and its spells don't feature any methods of using your Divine skill in combat (until AD6), so get used to using Varril's power to use weapons with his Divine skill unless you're using an Add-On deck for that purpose.
You can largely skip this post if you don't care about an Inquisitor Class Deck boon analysis.
However, because the card tax is his biggest limitation; this means that Varril performs wildly differently in small or large parties. On one extreme, he's an excellent solo character (even though 2 of his powers become virtually worthless); solo characters can take a single exploration every turn and still easily complete every scenario with time to spare, and he can do so whilst rolling well for any skill that's presented to him for any purpose, without any real concern of running out of cards in hand when he never needs to explore more than once.
In a very large party, his turns will be consistent and effective; but pushing more than 3 explorations out of him (at least in a bane-heavy location) is going to be tricky or risky. To mitigate this in large parties, any method of allowing him to draw more cards is great; albeit, such effects are rare.
To offset the card tax of all of his abilities, be on the lookout for boons that let you draw more cards, or boons with reveal powers - having something sit in hand and offer a small benefit until you naturally decide to discard/recharge it to Varril's own powers is often going to be far better than a card that must be discarded or recharged, even if it would be for a bigger benefit. Varril's own powers allow him to cover almost every conceivable check on his own, truly!
All Varril players will love boons that specifically bolster Divine or Wisdom checks (for obvious reasons)...but less obvious, perhaps, is that Varril can make use of virtually any boon that greatly enhances specific skills. Take, for example, Masterwork Tools, which can reveal to add 2 dice to a Disable check. Useless for Varril who lacks Disable, right? Not so! If Varril ever has an option to make a Disable check, and he uses his second power to use his Divine skill, it becomes a Disable/Wisdom/Divine check, and he's absolutely allowed to also reveal Masterwork Tools even after using his power to switch his skill use - ending up rolling 3d8+(Divine modifier) easily! Corner-case cards that can allow you to enhance your Stealth, Perception, Fortitude or all kinds of checks can potentially work well in Varril's hands; as long as it's not their only purpose!
If you're playing Varril in Seasons 3 or 4, Varril makes excellent use of Traders to expand his spell count; though his flexibility with boon types allows him to use a bit of everything quite well.
As far as Loot options go, Varril can take all kinds of cards... but boons that bolster his Wisdom/Divine stats (such as Besmara's Tricorne, Black Robe, Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh and Neferekhu) are all invaluable to him, and most seasons will feature at least one such loot. Seasons 3/4 offer the aforementioned Neferekhu, which holds top billing as one of the most impactful and powerful boons Varril can ever get his hands on. Neferekhu supercharges all of his noncombat checks (when he's using his power, at least), and Varril is uniquely well-suited to covering its downside, as a Diplomacy-heavy character.
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Let's look at what boons it offers to Varril, in order of card type. I will not be linking to each, but you can find them via the Inquisitor Class Deck page on the wiki.
Weapons: The Inquisitor class deck provides a great array of weapons - they are a defining trait of Inquisitors, after all - and so there's a lot to get through even if I try to be brief. I will, however, break the weapon boons of note down into two categories here. First; a list of weapons which are of particular note to a Varril player who does NOT have the Weapon Proficiency Feat, and Second; a list of weapons of particular note if Varril DOES have Weapon Proficiency.
Spells: Whilst Varril is brilliant at using spells... it must be said that the Inquisitor Class Deck spells are limited in what roles they serve, and a lot of their spells aren't all too good. Let's see what the best they have to offer are...
Armors: To be blunt; Inquisitor Class Deck armors suck. I've little else to say.
Items: To be blunt; Inquisitor Class Deck items are underwhelming. There's okay filler, but very little that would ever 'wow' me.
Allies: Thankfully, the Inquisitor Class Deck has a good selection of allies, to make up for the mediocre boons in armors and items (plus the limited number of top quality spells).
Blessings: So the Inquisitor Class Deck is a deck featuring Divine casters and even characters with blessing-focused powers. And yet, the blessings are all mediocre. They're not 'bad', they just lack any unique or special qualities consistent enough to be worth raising here, with one possible exception...
SUMMARY:
The Inquisitor Class Deck offers enough to suit a Varril, but it has precious little uniquely powerful or build-around capable boons. It's strongest suit is likely the weapon variety, though Varril is not really the "best" Inquisitor to use with any of them (except maybe the Javelin of Lightning).
Key Varril-relevant boons provided by this class deck (and generally not by any other) include the Javelin of Lightning, Divine Fortune, Echo of Lost Divinity and Blessing of the Lady of Graves.
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As a brief summary of this entire post:
1. Ignore what I said earlier - Varril can probably use weapons with his Divine skill, and he cannot use Hell's Vengeance 2 in OP.
2. Varril loves any boon that enhances his Divine checks, but he's also good with boons referencing corner-case skills, and any boons that emphasize 'reveal' powers.
3. The Inquisitor Class Deck is largely underwhelming to my tastes, besides a very strong Weapon base. It does, however, have a small number of particularly impressive Spells, Allies and Blessings.
4. Consider whether your Varril will look to take Weapon Proficiency - and if so, when he'll take it. It's not a requirement - Varril can kick ass at all kinds of checks without ever taking it - but it will give him some more freedom with what weapons he takes from his Class Deck, use as Loot, or just find mid-scenario.
Hope you found something interesting - this post was in draft for a while, put to the side as the Varril rules discussion and my own life sidetracked me. I'm not sure I'll be finishing this review (Add-Ons, sample builds) given Core being imminently upon us, as I may sideline this in favor of looking at the post-Core characters and how they can be used in OP.
Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions?
Thanks! Good food for thought as always