Pathfinder - Inquisitor

[Man With Dog]

Hi All,

Me and my rp mates have recently started to give Pathfinder a decent run - we have the 'Players Handbook', 'Advanced Guide', all bestiaries and that may be about it.
I've tried a few characters over the two campaigns we ran too - i tried Alchemist and he died with out cleric taking on a situation we were supposed to run from (3xCR7 giants and we were both level 3) but we put up a good fight til they hit us.
Currently have a Ranger who is amazing and a Paladin who can do no wrong (touch wood)

The only down side is i wanted to (and still do) want to play an Inquisitor but having read through the book, read again, looked at all i have access to i cant actually see where an Inquisitors place in the party is?
What their main attribute is?
What they give that no one else gives?

Any help and advice on where to place best stats or why to place stats in certain places would be much appreciated and hopefully i will get chance to look at running one real soon.

Especially if more giants turn up...

[NamelessNPC]

He's a better rogue than the rogue if you have high intelligence (because of spells, 2 good saves, better weapon proficiency including deity weapon, medium armor and shield proficiency, track, detect alignment).

He can also be a better tracker than the ranger, with track (and much more incentive to pump wisdom), spells that let you follow auras, ignore fatigue from running, give you scent, Locate Object, Find The Path.

Arguably, he's a better fighter than the cleric (and the fighter, obv) because of judgements, teamwork feats, bane, stalwart, exploit weakness. That is, unlike the cleric, it has class features.

Hecan be a great face party, with bonus to intimidate, detect alignment and discern lies, spells like Confess, Zone of Truth and Honeyed Tongue.

You probably can't combine all of these roles because inquisitor's spells known are few, but it has a great versatility. What do you want to do?

[Man With Dog]

He's a better rogue than the rogue if you have high intelligence (because of spells, 2 good saves, better weapon proficiency including deity weapon, medium armor and shield proficiency, track, detect alignment).

He can also be a better tracker than the ranger, with track (and much more incentive to pump wisdom), spells that let you follow auras, ignore fatigue from running, give you scent, Locate Object, Find The Path.

Arguably, he's a better fighter than the cleric (and the fighter, obv) because of judgements, teamwork feats, bane, stalwart, exploit weakness. That is, unlike the cleric, it has class features.

Hecan be a great face party, with bonus to intimidate, detect alignment and discern lies, spells like Confess, Zone of Truth and Honeyed Tongue.

You probably can't combine all of these roles because inquisitor's spells known are few, but it has a great versatility. What do you want to do?


I guess really he is whatever you want him to be - provided you got a couple of high stats to make it work?
Face party - Bit of Cha.
Fighter - Bit of Str.
Ranger - Bit of Wis (for track as you were saying)
and pretty much everything else you said - all with Dex as a secondary skill it seems - although maybe primary for Ranger and Rogue style plays.

[Man With Dog]

Is a Ranger Inquisitor feasible?

I mean main stats i guess would have to go in Dex and then dependant on where else you wanted to specialise. Or is it just a better idea to go with a character designed for that role?

As said earlier, he can do a rogues job with certain spells, he can do rangers tracking if he puts stats in here etc etc but it sound slike he can fill any role as he is made but wouldnt outdo a straight class. By which i mean he cant outfight a fighter, out shoot a ranger etc if the stats are all about even.

[PinkysBrain]

What their main attribute is?
Strength then wisdom.

What they give that no one else gives?
Awesome swift action buffs. The swift action is really important.

Generally you will want divine favor, judgement and bane active ... that is one standard action (cast before you move into melee range) and two swift action buffs (cast on successive rounds, without messing up full attacks).

[NamelessNPC]

Well, the thing is he gets magic that is not totally crappy (as the ranger).

I'd say he totally outfighters the fighter: Magic Weapon+Divine Favor+judgements+self healing+bane weapons+better initiative is not something the fighter can compete with. And can fight better than the ranger too. Take into account his spells are better and gets more of them.

By the time the ranger gets its first spell (assuming 12 wisdom or more) which is 4th level, the inquisitor has all of what I mentioned previously (minus bane) and also could have debuff, hold person, invisibility, wrath, darkness, silence or spiritual weapon. The most the ranger would get from his 4 levels is an animal with 1 hit die, 1 spell per day and +2 attack and damage against its favored enemy.

Of course, those would be spells for a combat inquisitor. A rogue, tracker or diplomat inquisitor would be worse at fighting, though still comparable.

[Man With Dog]

Strength then wisdom.

Awesome swift action buffs. The swift action is really important.

Generally you will want divine favor, judgement and bane active ... that is one standard action (cast before you move into melee range) and two swift action buffs (cast on successive rounds, without messing up full attacks).


So this is what you would do with a melee fighter inquisitor?
Use strength for obvious reasons and wisdom for bonus' to spells?