Church Inquisitor without being a pain in the ass?

[silverwolfer]

So I will toss this up, are Inquisitors stuck in the gotta act stupid righteous, or do they have room to breath on not pissing off the party.

[The Redwolf]

Inquisitors are actually a lot more subtle than Paladins, especially with certain archetypes. Their purpose is to get information and punish heretics usually, but they do that smartly rather than just smiting stuff. I'm assuming you're talking about Pathfinder here, if not then I apologize.

[PaperMustache]

Well I've never met an inquisitor who wasn't a self righteous jerk. Doesn't mean it can't be done. Probably if you served a neutral deity with a really specific domain you could ignore the other party members actions that didn't have anything to do with your god as "not your department". Like if you were an inquisitor of Pharasma you would have a problem with necromancy, but not necessarily with the rogue's stereotypical kleptomania.

[Jeff the Green]

I'm guessing he means the PrC in Complete Divine, but I have mostly the same advice. Church inquisitors can go all smitey like paladins, but they tend not to. They're good at sussing out what's really happening in a situation (they can, for instance, distinguish shapechanging demons from brainwashed cultists), helping victims of possession, and protecting people from corruption. You could even play one with Vow of Nonviolence or Vow of Peace (though those both can put restrictions on your party, the former to a much lesser degree).

Remember as well that church inquisitors don't have a code of conduct; they must be LG or LN, but they don't lose their powers if they commit an evil act in furtherance of the greater good. If you have to kill the innocent kid before he turns into a demon when he hits puberty, or someone is turning into a wolf at night and killing people without his knowledge, you have the ability to act they way you think is best, and not the way WotC's metaphysical Good dictates.

[Laserlight]

So I will toss this up, are Inquisitors stuck in the gotta act stupid righteous, or do they have room to breath on not pissing off the party.

Same as police or other people with similar authority. Some are jerks, some aren't.

[Jeff the Green]

Same as police or other people with similar authority. Some are jerks, some aren't.

They may tend toward jerkdom (since the career is attractive to people who like authority and those people tend to like it for the wrong reasons) or the job may turn them into jerks (because that's what happens when you give someone a job with a lot of authority but not much power, which describes most police work perfectly), but you certainly have room to be one of the non-jerks.

[navar100]

So I will toss this up, are Inquisitors stuck in the gotta act stupid righteous, or do they have room to breath on not pissing off the party.

If you play a jerk, that's you the player being a jerk. You control your character. Your character does not control you. If you don't want to play a jerk, then just don't be one.

[navar100]

Same as police or other people with similar authority. Some are jerks, some aren't.

That is uncalled for. No need to have gone there.

[BowStreetRunner]

Same as police or other people with similar authority. Some are jerks, some aren't.

I have to agree wholeheartedly, and this is coming from an absolutely huge amount of experience.

Treat the Church Inquisitor as you would the Internal Affairs investigator on a police show if that helps. They are mostly good cops who are realistic enough to know that even other cops can be criminals, and so take their role seriously with the 'who will watch the watchers' sort of mentality. Meanwhile other cops tend not to trust them and ironically give them the same reputation that ordinary cops have with a large portion of the populace.

So your Church Inquisitor isn't out looking for the everyday pagan or 'sinner', but rather is looking for the corrupt and wicked hiding inside the church itself out of a genuine desire to protect the people from abuses of 'false doctrine' and heresy. They are of course faced with the normal distrust of authority usual to the common folk, plus they are distrusted by their own peers due to the power they hold, but that doesn't mean the attitudes have to be well deserved.

[The Redwolf]

That is uncalled for. No need to have gone there.

It isn't uncalled for at all, I know a lot of police and there are a lot that are good people and a lot that are jerks who only have the job because they get off on having power over others. It isn't unreasonable, it's honest.

[Tokuhara]

Here's my take:

Think of Paladins and Inquisitors (both 3.5's Church Inquisitor and PF's Inquisitor Base Class) as police to their respective faiths. Paladins are the "by the books" cop, very much staying within the confines of the law (in this case, church edicts and honor) to get their job done. Not glamorous, but decidedly safe.

Inquisitors however are like FBI/CIA/NSA/etc., who are often in deep cover, trying to solve their crimes. Now, to do so, they might have to break the law (church edict) in order to not get their cover blown, but they follow the rule "Ends Justify the Means," no matter how hard a pill that is to swallow.

So allow me to give an example:

Two identical demon cults who stand against the Lawful Good church. One sends a paladin and the other an Inquisitor.

Mr. Paladin will probably kick the door in, say something righteous, and kill them all, since they committed a crime against the LG deity and their punishment is death.

Ms. Inquisitor however infiltrates the cult, learns its inner workings, sows seeds of distrust, sabotages their plans, and then when the cult is the cohesive equivalent of a powderkeg with a leak, she hands them a match and watches them destroy themselves.

Sure, the former approach is much faster in comparison to the latter, but the slow, methodical process is less messy, easier to cover up, and generally deters other boy's clubs from going public. And plus, according to the Playground, which is more fun?

[Jeff the Green]

Ms. Inquisitor however infiltrates the cult, learns its inner workings, sows seeds of distrust, sabotages their plans, and then when the cult is the cohesive equivalent of a powderkeg with a leak, she hands them a match and watches them destroy themselves.

Eh, in 3.5 I see that modeled by a LG beguiler better; a church inquisitor doesn't have the skills for that beyond Bluff. A church inquisitor is more likely to use divinations to find the key figures then expose them/help the paladin do his door kicking.

[silverwolfer]

Yeah, if the beguiler is to hide stuff, the inquistior is his divine counter part, being sherlock holmes.

[Tokuhara]

Eh, in 3.5 I see that modeled by a LG beguiler better; a church inquisitor doesn't have the skills for that beyond Bluff. A church inquisitor is more likely to use divinations to find the key figures then expose them/help the paladin do his door kicking.

I'm going more by the title than the class. So sue me that I played a Cleric 5/Rogue 1/Church Inquisitor 10/Cleric 4 and was very much what eventually became PF's Inquisitor

[Jeff the Green]

I'm going more by the title than the class. So sue me that I played a Cleric 5/Rogue 1/Church Inquisitor 10/Cleric 4 and was very much what eventually became PF's Inquisitor

Oh, sure, you can definitely play it that way, but it doesn't do it all that well out of the box. You have to do something like take the trickery domain (do any LG gods offer it?) or multiclass to get the appropriate skills.

[silverwolfer]

3.5 Version has three standing points


Discern lies and such

Immunity to charms, and various other status and spells that make you do things you do not want to do.

Any illusion that you see, you get an automatic roll against to dispel

Force ShapeChangers into original form

All this at the cost of losing your turn undead progression.

[BowStreetRunner]

Another way to play the Church Inquisitor is Mulder or Scully from the X Files. You are really just trying to get at the truth.

[Telonius]

Going a bit into the psychology of it ... an Inquisitor has investigated people who are supposed to be the paragons of his own church, and seen the dark side of it. He knows, from personal experience, that absolutely anybody is capable of evil actions.

I'd see that as one of the central facts or revelations of his life. Pivoting from that, he could actually end up being a lot more humble than you might think; he knows that anyone can fall, but that means we're really all in the same boat. The cultist is just as fallible as the High Priest, and it's just as possible for both to reform. Or he could end up bitter, with his ideals shattered, Rorschach-style. The people he trusted all have dirt on them, every Paladin he's ever seen has some dark secret, or will eventually. Or, he could turn out paranoid. He's mired so deep in conspiracies and church politics that he can't completely trust anyone.

[Tokuhara]

Going a bit into the psychology of it ... an Inquisitor has investigated people who are supposed to be the paragons of his own church, and seen the dark side of it. He knows, from personal experience, that absolutely anybody is capable of evil actions.

I'd see that as one of the central facts or revelations of his life. Pivoting from that, he could actually end up being a lot more humble than you might think; he knows that anyone can fall, but that means we're really all in the same boat. The cultist is just as fallible as the High Priest, and it's just as possible for both to reform. Or he could end up bitter, with his ideals shattered, Rorschach-style. The people he trusted all have dirt on them, every Paladin he's ever seen has some dark secret, or will eventually. Or, he could turn out paranoid. He's mired so deep in conspiracies and church politics that he can't completely trust anyone.

All I must say is, "Le gâteau est un mensonge" to the bolded text

[Novawurmson]

Oh, sure, you can definitely play it that way, but it doesn't do it all that well out of the box. You have to do something like take the trickery domain (do any LG gods offer it?) or multiclass to get the appropriate skills.

Garl Glittergold? LG god of gnomes and trickery?

[silverwolfer]

so if your a serious person you are a heretic?


What is the most common build into this, without the initate to mystra

[Bladesinger]

Mr. Paladin will probably kick the door in, say something righteous, and kill them all, since they committed a crime against the LG deity and their punishment is death.

Am I the only one who immediately thought of this (http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/298/e/f/demacia_by_enciferart-d31hw80.jpg) when I read this description?

Also, I think that Garl Glittergold was LG in 3.0, but was described as NG in later 3.5 material, including the PHB.

[silverwolfer]

Am I the only one who immediately thought of this (http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/298/e/f/demacia_by_enciferart-d31hw80.jpg) when I read this description?

Also, I think that Garl Glittergold was LG in 3.0, but was described as NG in later 3.5 material, including the PHB.

No

:: and still can take it