Inquisitor - Your Experiences

[StreamOfTheSky]

Inquisitors can't do ranged, as you've seen. The lack of feats and BAB, no access to Point Blank Master, and drastically delayed access to numerous feats (due to BAB) make it just...painful.

I would do Half-Orc or Tengu (or Half-Elf; an APG variant trades Skill Focus for free proficiecny with ANY one weapon!) as dingo mentioned above, though not necessarily his builds. For one, you can't use or even select Power Attack at level one (again, due to your BAB; medium BAB is a pain in the ass, isn't it?), so that's out. Two, I have no idea how his half-orc is using a greatsword, Half-Orcs get Great Axe and Falchion (of the two, I'd aim for Falchion, it's awesome). Half-Orc can swap those proficiencies for Heavy Flail and Spiked Chain per APG racial options, also. Finally...do NOT do two-weapon fighting! You do not have the feats for it!


Here's what I would do with an Inquisitor starting out:

Half-Orc
Falchion (start w/ Greataxe if you can't afford)
Feat: Enforcer (APG; free demoralize on every non-lethal attack)
Traits: Blade of Mercy (do non-lethal w/o penalty w/ any slashing weapon and do +1 damage); any trait to give a new class skill or increase Intimidate (Half-Orc gets a racial trait for +2 Intimidate)

You would pick up Power Attack at level 3, and then whatever you like. If traits aren't allowed, instead of Enforcer, you can get Cornugon Smash feat at level 7 if that book's allowed. Free demoralize on every power attack. You can either go for Weapon Focus + Dazzling Display or Furious Focus + Dreadful Carnage. I prefer the latter, but it requires BAB +11 and...medium BAB strikes again.

Teamwork feats to get would be Lookout, Precise Strike, and Outflank.
Domain would be any of the ones I listed above, depending on what you want.

Since you can't even get Power Attack till level 3, the character would be very "transitional." You may very well want to start out sword and board, switch to falchion when you get power attack, etc... And even though you're not ranged focus, no reason not to carry a bow when you can afford it and contribute from range.

If all this seems like too much work, there's one dirty little secret to making Inquisitors work better, too:
[sblock]Start at level 1 in a full BAB class then go into Inquisitor! [/sblock]

 

[tylermalan]

Alright, so, thanks a TON for the help! I guess I should say that I'm kind-of going for a certain theme. I mentioned in the OP that this is for the Carrion Crown AP, so I'm wanting for this guy to be really anti-undead and on a real crusade against them. To help with this, I intended (before this thread) to worship Pharasma and take either the Death domain or the Repose domain.

Other than this, not much else is set in stone. The half-orc, thematically, doesn't really appeal to me to be honest, but I'm not totally against playing one. I was previously considering either a human or a half-elf, and I also noticed the option for half-elves to get a weapon proficiency. Thematically, I wanted to play a half-elf over a human, but the human gets that oh-so-sweet extra feat.

So, which feat at first level, considering the things I said above? I can see Power Attack at level 3 being good.

It's so odd that they aren't supposed to be ranged, what with their very specific weapon proficiencies.

And, what, medium armor, points into strength and wisdom, a little into constitution?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I think they were intended to be ranged. The designers just completely borked the execution in making the class.

You can choose a domain unrelated to undeath and still flavor your character towards fighting them. But Repose Domain is actually pretty nice, and I always liked that one myself, since 3E.

If you're doing melee, you want a good str and con, equal or slightly higher wisdom, and a positive dex mod if possible. Try to keep cha and int from going below 8.

Seriously though, consider starting as a Fighter 1 or something, that BAB +0 at level 1 is hella annoying.

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

If you still want to go Pharasma (I'm playing a Pharasman Inquisitor in Carrion Crown and loving it so far) the half-orc gets Falchion proficiency due to race.

My inquisitor is a Tengu, heading for dual-wielding Saw-Tooth Sabres. Once he gets the Precise Strike feat and the Bane judgement he should be hell-on-wheels. It is kind of a long build, but should be worth it. In the meantime, I'm having tons of fun with the RP in CC.

My Pathfinder Society Inquisitor (first level) will eventually be better at melee, but he's focused on ranged stuff and using his spells for party healing right now. I'm having fun with him too!

 

[tylermalan]

Alright, well, two good reviews and lots of good advice, I'm gonna try to throw this guy together. I'm gonna go melee, half-elf, and see how it turns out. Once I've got him made, I'll post here with what I came up with.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Alright, well, two good reviews and lots of good advice, I'm gonna try to throw this guy together. I'm gonna go melee, half-elf, and see how it turns out. Once I've got him made, I'll post here with what I came up with.

No advice here, but I really wanted to play a Chelxian Inquisitor of Shelyn that's a tripping beast with his Glaive and gets teary-eyed at the sound of Chelxian opera (the Shelyn side coming out).

 

[Hammerhead]

In my game we have a ranged Inquisitor of Calistria. She seems okay (not exactly a combat monster, but good, reliable damage combined with skills and spells). Judgment + Greater Bane + Rapid Shot + Manyshot equals some very nice damage.

She also took the Heretic Alternate Class Feature (in UM), swapping out a less useful monster lore (assuming you have a wizard for that stuff) for a more useful bonus to skills. The biggest weakness, it seems, is that your teamwork feats have less utility when you stand in the back with a bow; the best teamwork feats all help with flanking.

 

[Jadeite]

Here's a class guide I wrote:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19N7y6cKFLAr2KMMiKc8A1XG6R4iOmwaNFS7iAs17zyU/edit?hl=en_US

 

[tylermalan]

Thanks for the help guys, and thanks for that link to your guide, Jadeite. The character is finished...

I went Half-Elf and put my ability score bonus into strength. His stats from 15 point buy:

Str - 16
Dex - 14
Con - 12
Int - 10
Wis - 14
Cha - 8

He's wearing studded leather and using a Falcata in two hands. I replaced the Half-Elf's adaptability with Exotic Weapon Training. I also picked up a light crossbow for flavor. I'm using the Repose domain and am worshiping Pharasma. I avoided the Charisma skills and took Toughness as my first feat. I took Shield of Faith and Expeditious Retreat as my two level-1 spells. My traits give me +2 initiative and better armor check penalty.

I think that's it!

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

If you wanted some help picking traits, this thread lists some good ones. If you're happy with yours, then good. I will say from what I can see, most of the real good traits are in the faith or religion categories for some reason, even when the fluff AND mechnaical benefit has a tenuous connection at best to a specific faith. Which irks me for some reason.