Please rate the Church Inquisitor
- Thread starter smetzger
- Start date
Elder-Basilisk
First Post
I rated it a 10. It's a class that both PCs and NPCs would want to take--but only if they want to be a church inquisitor type character. It's not much more powerful than the cleric (unless undead never show up in your games). It has nifty abilities to ferret out evil. It's what a prestige class should be.
1) How well it stacks up with other classes.
Very well. This PrC has full spellcasting progression and the only thing you lose is turning/rebuking undead. This is a very small price to pay for the powerful abilities gained.
2) How often a PC will go with this class.
This PrC does have an interesting pre-requisite in that the potential Inquisitor must ferret out corruption in the church. However, this is not terribly hard to do if you have an understanding DM so I think this class is very appealing to PCs.
3) How often an NPC will go with this class.
Not too often, IMO. Generally, people run campagins with mostly good and neutral PCs. They would have no reason to run across an Inquisitor most of the time and LE clerics can't become Inquisitors.
4) How 'fun' it is to play this class.
The initial pre-req makes it fun to qualify for, but after that it falls kind of flat. There is nothing really more you have to do -- it is completely up to DM rulings. For instance, does the PC have to actively root out corruption in the Church? Or does he simply have to meet the pre-reqs and that's that? Or maybe the PrC offers new and interesting role-playing opportunities?
5) How much this class adds to the game.
This strikes me as a "classic" PrC that would fit into almost any campaign.
I gave it a 10 b/c of the power of the class. Like a sorcerer, a cleric really has no reason not to multiclass -- especially if the rewards are high as a Chruch Inquisitor. Consider by level 10, the PC will be immune to all spells of the Enchantment school as well as possession. Plus the Inquisition domain's +4 on dispel checks is pretty nifty.
Very well. This PrC has full spellcasting progression and the only thing you lose is turning/rebuking undead. This is a very small price to pay for the powerful abilities gained.
2) How often a PC will go with this class.
This PrC does have an interesting pre-requisite in that the potential Inquisitor must ferret out corruption in the church. However, this is not terribly hard to do if you have an understanding DM so I think this class is very appealing to PCs.
3) How often an NPC will go with this class.
Not too often, IMO. Generally, people run campagins with mostly good and neutral PCs. They would have no reason to run across an Inquisitor most of the time and LE clerics can't become Inquisitors.
4) How 'fun' it is to play this class.
The initial pre-req makes it fun to qualify for, but after that it falls kind of flat. There is nothing really more you have to do -- it is completely up to DM rulings. For instance, does the PC have to actively root out corruption in the Church? Or does he simply have to meet the pre-reqs and that's that? Or maybe the PrC offers new and interesting role-playing opportunities?
5) How much this class adds to the game.
This strikes me as a "classic" PrC that would fit into almost any campaign.
I gave it a 10 b/c of the power of the class. Like a sorcerer, a cleric really has no reason not to multiclass -- especially if the rewards are high as a Chruch Inquisitor. Consider by level 10, the PC will be immune to all spells of the Enchantment school as well as possession. Plus the Inquisition domain's +4 on dispel checks is pretty nifty.
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Ravellion
serves Gnome Master
I gave it a three for exactly the same reason - the concept doesn't need a prestige class, there is no roleplaying requirement after you have achieved the class, and if teh DM wants to enforce that, he has to focus part of his campaign on a very narrow (IMO) subject. Above and Beyond all that it is also very powerful while giving up absolutely nothing. (if you do the numbers, turn undead starts to lose it's oomph after a few levels - same CR creatures will hardly ever be turned except by a min-maxed PC to do so.)
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Elder-Basilisk
First Post
You're the second person to state that you give up nothing for this prestige class which is absolutely not true.
Clerics give up turning progression (which is actually nothing to sneeze at unless you're in one of those campaigns where undead never show their faces (I hear such campaigns do exist although I've never run or played in one)).
Depending upon the cleric's domains, they may give up a bit more--the magic, animal, plant, and elemental domains all have granted powers which will cease advancing with Church Inquisitor levels and the Sun domain's power becomes a good deal less useful without turning advancement.
It's not a lot to give up but the Church Inquisitor isn't that much more powerful than the standard cleric either. So it's really a question of: Is the cleric going to be good at opposing illusions and shapeshifters or is the cleric going to be good at opposing undead?
Clerics give up turning progression (which is actually nothing to sneeze at unless you're in one of those campaigns where undead never show their faces (I hear such campaigns do exist although I've never run or played in one)).
Depending upon the cleric's domains, they may give up a bit more--the magic, animal, plant, and elemental domains all have granted powers which will cease advancing with Church Inquisitor levels and the Sun domain's power becomes a good deal less useful without turning advancement.
It's not a lot to give up but the Church Inquisitor isn't that much more powerful than the standard cleric either. So it's really a question of: Is the cleric going to be good at opposing illusions and shapeshifters or is the cleric going to be good at opposing undead?
Ravellion said:
Kae'Yoss
First Post
7 (though the related "above average and cool" is not what I think about the class. More 7 out of 10)
1) How well it stacks up with other classes.
It's OK as it is: you continue your spellcasting power (essential for a cleric of any type), and give up your undead turning powers in benefit of new powers that help you in your new role. It has the same BAB and BSB's as the cleric class, so there are no big changes there.
2) How often a PC will go with this class.
and
3) How often an NPC will go with this class.
It's not for everyone, but I think that's OK. NPC's will use it more often.
4) How 'fun' it is to play this class.
It's not the kind of PrC that gives you "cool" powers, but it fits its role, and therefore can be rewarding, and "fun" to play.
5) How much this class adds to the game.
That's the big advantage for the class! Rather than a must-have, it's something to fit the intended role very good! That's one of the original purposes of PrC's.
It's more useful for NPC's, because of the narrow purpose it has, and because many adventurers have to be built around the character's church in order to fulfill that purpose for a PC. But even then, its powers can be useful for an adventurer.
I didn't give it a higher score because the DM has to build the campaign around that character if the PrC is to be used by a PC, and used right, and because It could be made more general so that it could be used by churches of all alignments (after all, no church is totally safe of corruption and infiltration).
1) How well it stacks up with other classes.
It's OK as it is: you continue your spellcasting power (essential for a cleric of any type), and give up your undead turning powers in benefit of new powers that help you in your new role. It has the same BAB and BSB's as the cleric class, so there are no big changes there.
2) How often a PC will go with this class.
and
3) How often an NPC will go with this class.
It's not for everyone, but I think that's OK. NPC's will use it more often.
4) How 'fun' it is to play this class.
It's not the kind of PrC that gives you "cool" powers, but it fits its role, and therefore can be rewarding, and "fun" to play.
5) How much this class adds to the game.
That's the big advantage for the class! Rather than a must-have, it's something to fit the intended role very good! That's one of the original purposes of PrC's.
It's more useful for NPC's, because of the narrow purpose it has, and because many adventurers have to be built around the character's church in order to fulfill that purpose for a PC. But even then, its powers can be useful for an adventurer.
I didn't give it a higher score because the DM has to build the campaign around that character if the PrC is to be used by a PC, and used right, and because It could be made more general so that it could be used by churches of all alignments (after all, no church is totally safe of corruption and infiltration).
The Church inquisitor seems to be the axiomatic PrC (or at least really close).
A PrC serves to specialize a character into a specific niche at the cost of general abilities. This PrC does exactly that. You lose undead turning and gain inquisitor abilities (I think of the Children of the Light from Jordan's books).
This PrC perfectly defines the role of the character taking the class and even has a roleplaying element built into the prereqs. About the only thing that is a problem is that a character could take the class and then not actually fulfill the role. After the initial prereq there is no element to encourage the PC [emphasis added] to continue as the inquisitor type. As a result, I would generally see this PrC for NPCs. That is the only reason I did not give the class a 10. It's not for everybody.
A PrC serves to specialize a character into a specific niche at the cost of general abilities. This PrC does exactly that. You lose undead turning and gain inquisitor abilities (I think of the Children of the Light from Jordan's books).
This PrC perfectly defines the role of the character taking the class and even has a roleplaying element built into the prereqs. About the only thing that is a problem is that a character could take the class and then not actually fulfill the role. After the initial prereq there is no element to encourage the PC [emphasis added] to continue as the inquisitor type. As a result, I would generally see this PrC for NPCs. That is the only reason I did not give the class a 10. It's not for everybody.
Gumby
First Post
What's really nice about the class is the Inquisition domain. There's nothing like getting an automatic +4 to your Dispel Magic checks. We did rule that the +4 was on top of the usual 10th level cap, though, as we had previously ruled the Healing Domain gave an extra +1 on all cure spells, regardless of caster level. Not sure of the official ruling on that. If my group's ruling on that is verboten, then there's not much power to the class, but it's still a neat flavor class, if narrowly focused.
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