Pathfinder Inquisitor query

[Randomthom]

I'm playing an inquisitor in Pathfinder and I just put together a combo that seems to be rather too powerful, just wanted to get some insight & see if I'm accidentally doing something I shouldn't be?

So, lvl 10 inquisitor using the very-much non-optimised hand-crossbow and 20 dex puts me at a +12/+7 attack.
Throw in greater magic weapon (+2 enhancement), judgement (destruction +4 damage & justice +3 attack, sacred), bane (+2 atk & +2d6 damage, untyped), and pre-buffed Divine Power (+3 attack & damage, luck).

Suddenly I'm attacking at +22/+22/+17 for 1d4+2d6+9 damage. I can keep this up for 10 rounds.

One caveat, Activating Judgement & Bane requires two rounds as they are both swift actions.

Perhaps my idea of overpowered is just a little on the tame side though. I guess a dual-wielding rogue could be dishing out 20d6 sneak attack with 4 attacks by this level...

[Chronikoce]

Those attacks average a measly 18.5 damage per round and take two rounds to set up. Your fine, not broken at all by traditional standards. However, every group is different. If your group has very unoptimized players I suppose it's possible this is strong by comparison. I bet you're fine though.

[Vhaidara]

Yeah, for perspective, the party fighter (using a bad class and low op) has the following all day
+1 Greatsword (2d6+1)
22 Str (16 base, +2 racial, +4 Item) (+9 damage)

Already he's doing 2d6+10 with a +17 to hit. And that's just BAB, Str, and a +1 sword. Weapon Training brings him up to 2d6+12 and +19 to hit. Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, and Weapon Specialization makes it +21 to hit for 2d6+14. And he still has 8 feats to spend, assuming he's not human.

[Barstro]

So, lvl 10 inquisitor using the very-much non-optimised hand-crossbow and 20 dex puts me at a +12/+7 attack.
Throw in greater magic weapon (+2 enhancement), judgement (destruction +4 damage & justice +3 attack, sacred), bane (+2 atk & +2d6 damage, untyped), and pre-buffed Divine Power (+3 attack & damage, luck).

Suddenly I'm attacking at +22/+22/+17 for 1d4+2d6+9 damage. I can keep this up for 10 rounds.


Bane increases weapon enhancement, so it adds a total of [+2 +2d6] to damage (that extra +2 is multiplied on critical). Give yourself some extra damage.

Pretty sure you are shortchanging yourself other ways too. As mentioned, this takes at least two rounds to set up. Seems overpowered compared to some, but I think you are still behind where my ranged Inquisitor was at 10.

[Barstro]

Suddenly I'm attacking at +22/+22/+17 for 1d4+2d6+9 damage. I can keep this up for 10 rounds.

One caveat, Activating Judgement & Bane requires two rounds as they are both swift actions.

As mentioned, this takes time to activate. Most fights don't last 10 rounds, so you have to start from scratch at the next battle. Also, you only get Judgement so many times per day. Throw in an extra BBEG fight at the end of the day and you are almost worthless. I think that's a fair trade off.

You cannot switch Bane in the middle of a round. Get some elves, humans, dwarves together and you can Bane only one type.

Your DM should be nerfing you with DR anyway (or trying to; there are a lot of different cheap arrows and salts to use:smallwink:) (My DM was pretty mad when his ghost was taking full damage due to some ghost-salt arrows).

[Pex]

That sounds right, powerwise. The Inquisitor is a warrior disguised as a spellcaster. It takes prep to get going, but when you can do it you pack a wallop. It's par for the course with my group's Inquisitor. He is one of our front line warriors.

[Randomthom]

Thanks all, pretty-much as I expected, not OP, just looks that way in an unoptimised group.

Regarding this...

You cannot switch Bane in the middle of a round. Get some elves, humans, dwarves together and you can Bane only one type.

How could I attack more than 1 in a single round? Doesn't a full-attack have to have the same target for all attacks? I guess there's AoO (though I'm ranged & without the feats to make AoOs with ranged weapons).

So, about to level up to 11, clustered shots or deadly aim? Thus far not encountering much DR that I don't have the tools to overcome

[Vhaidara]

Full attacks do not require the same target. Never have, hopefully never will.

Deadly Aim is generally the stronger option, especially since you only have 3 attacks.

[Barstro]

So, about to level up to 11, clustered shots or deadly aim? Thus far not encountering much DR that I don't have the tools to overcome

What do you have so far?

I'd hold off on Clustered Shot. Dealing with DR makes you look less OP. Besides, different arrows can take care of it.

[Randomthom]

Full attacks do not require the same target. Never have, hopefully never will.

Deadly Aim is generally the stronger option, especially since you only have 3 attacks.

Maybe that's some legacy error we're making from 3.5 (and by saying this, I'm assuming we were getting this right in 3.5, maybe we were just wrong all these years!)

Feats so far: Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Reload, Quick Draw & Two-weapon fighting (going for dual-wielding wrist-mounted hand-crossbows). I might just abandon the TWF element of this though. I'm aware that it is potentially questionable since you need a free-hand to reload a crossbow (hence the wrist-mounted).

[Barstro]

Normal (ignore STR)
+12/+7 1d4

Point-Blank Shot
+13/+8 1d4+1 within 30 feet

Rapid Shot
+11/+11/+6 1d4+1 within 30 feet

Precise Shot
Same, but no (-4) for shooting into melee

Rapid Reload
Changes nothing, but is required for hand crossbow

Quick Draw
Just for flavor

Two-weapon fighting
I do not know how this actually comes into play, since you have Rapid Shot.

JUDGEMENTS
Destruction
+11/+11/+6 1d4+1+4

Justice
+14/+14/+9 1d4+1+4

Bane (only on that type)
+16/+16/+11 1d4+1+4+2+2d6

Divine Power
+19/+19/+19/+14 1d4+1+4+2+2d6+3

Keep in mind, shooting into melee normally has two effects;
1) The known –4 to attack rolls when shooting into melee
2) If the enemy is behind your ally (as is normal), he has cover and gets +4 to AC (or +2 if it is partial cover) on ranged attacks.

I assume you are using Friendly Fire Maneuvers (remove that soft cover) and Coordinated Shot (+1 to all attacks into melee).
+20/+20/+15…

Generally, you do not know a fight is happening in time to drop a round/level spell. So, your combat is;

1) Move, Cast Divine Power, Activate Judgements
No Damage

2) Activate Bane, full attack
Fine, but you are a round behind the other melee/ranged

3) Same

4) Fight is over, you used up one of your limited Judgements, and attacked 2/3 as much as others

If you think that is OP, then try look at regular bow.
You can get rid of some of your feats to take Weapon Focus and Deadly Aim. That's a net of –1 to attack, but +4 to damage on each arrow. I think you are also in position to take Manyshot to make the first arrow do twice as much damage.

If you still feel Overpowered (like I did) you can go for the Snap Shot chain.