Advice on Inquisitor melee build

[cANe]

Anyone got some advice for a melee inquisitor build? I've never really played Pathfinder, only regular D&D and I can't remember Inquisitor when I played back in the day.
Also I noticed that if I look for a guide on the internet people mention a lot of feats/domains and sub classes that doesn't exist in this game thus making those guides pretty useless.

* Due to limited cleric levels I realized that a focus on buff would be the best route, especially with inflated enemy saving throws.

* Not sure about weapon path, I guess some 2H alternative would be best unless I would go for two weapon fighting which would also be an option I guess.

Not gonna play anymore until a few more patches so it's no rush but it's always interesting to check out potential builds

[Delta Centauri]

I prefer a Reach Inqusitor myself. They can stay behind the others while still doing the 1.5 str deal, cast support magic; I went Shelyn at the start to have a Glaive as a proficient weapon but the longspear is fine.

[cANe]

What domain did you go for? I like weapons with reach so it doesn't sound bad.

Also what race and attribute allocation and more importantly what starting feat?

[Delta Centauri]

I went for Protection, but Luck isn't bad either. Think Shelyn was the only Deity with a reach weapon.
For feats a two-handed character doesn't have to worry about much, but I went Human with Power Attack and Toughness. You could probably skip Toughness, though (and go another race for example.)
As for Stats, I went: 16 Str (+2 Human: 18,) 14 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 15 Wis, 8 Cha. You could easily dump 8 in Intelligence and 7 in Charisma.

Also, I didn't go base Inquisitor; I went for Sacred Huntmaster.

[VladK02]

melee inquisitor doesnt really work. Exibit A - your undead chick. You have to sink so many points into wisdom that you gimp your combat performance on the front line. OR you pump your strength to 16, con to 14-16, and what are you left with in terms of wisdom? 2-3 low-level spells that any kobold can roll DC check and resist? And to top it off, medium armor proficiency.

Inquisitor is a generalist character - jack of all trades, master of none, and sucks at most of them to be honest.

Pure priest gets plate mail and more, and better, casting. Front liners like fighters barbs rogues etc. do MUCH better and more consitent off-tanking or dps.

The only interesting inquisitor is the team leader one, and even then he sucks. To build inquisitor into something workable requires a lot of feats - and each feat is precious. To waste them on plugging holes is...stupid.

The saving grace of the inquisitor is that judgement ability - +bonus to whatever you need - passive regen, or to hit, or whatever - BUT thats only usable a few times per day. In other words, worthless. If you got 10-20-30 rounds-worth of use per day, like bard or barbarian with theri abilities, then we could talk. But per day? Meh.

dont get me wrong, you can finish the game with ANY toon, but he will not be performing optimally. A toon needs to pull its weight in the team, you know. otherise, you are clearing dungeons with basically a 5-man team and a brick in the back that requires babysitting.

[Delta Centauri]

Vlad, are you talking DnD (which I wasn't aware DnD has an Inquisitor?)
Inquisitors have plenty of non-DC spells to either buff himself or support his allies, Bane to output damage (although it looks like they don't get Greater Bane,) and get Solo Tactics so they can take feats like Outflank and Precise Strike to keep up in attack and damage.
A 'pure priest' does not get the ability to wear Plate Mail without a feat, which is why I ask if you're talking non-Pathfinder.

[cANe]

Originally posted by Delta Centauri:

I went for Protection, but Luck isn't bad either. Think Shelyn was the only Deity with a reach weapon.
For feats a two-handed character doesn't have to worry about much, but I went Human with Power Attack and Toughness. You could probably skip Toughness, though (and go another race for example.)
As for Stats, I went: 16 Str (+2 Human: 18,) 14 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 15 Wis, 8 Cha. You could easily dump 8 in Intelligence and 7 in Charisma.

Also, I didn't go base Inquisitor; I went for Sacred Huntmaster.

Gonna try that out and see how it looks. How come you went for 15 wis btw?
Also how did you allocate your skills?

I'm probably gonna go regular Inquisitor though since on paper it sounds like the animal companion is really weak or am I missing something?

[Delta Centauri]

Just so at level 4 I could bump the Wisdom to 16 and leave it like that, then at levels 8, 12, 16, and possibly 20 the extra ability points will go into Strength.
Animal companions are known to get weak in the later levels, but the game skews how Animal Companions work so I'm not sure yet if they become really strong the entire game. I wasn't too happy to find out Sacred Huntmaster gets Favoured Enemy instead of what the tabletop gives, but it's extra hit and damage and I'll admit I don't like the daily limits of Judgements myself.

As for Skills; Athletics, Mobility, Perception, and both Lores I'd put ranks into.

[VladK02]

Originally posted by Delta Centauri:

Vlad, are you talking DnD (which I wasn't aware DnD has an Inquisitor?)
Inquisitors have plenty of non-DC spells to either buff himself or support his allies, Bane to output damage (although it looks like they don't get Greater Bane,) and get Solo Tactics so they can take feats like Outflank and Precise Strike to keep up in attack and damage.
A 'pure priest' does not get the ability to wear Plate Mail without a feat, which is why I ask if you're talking non-Pathfinder.

Youre right, a prist does not get plate at level 1 without feat, my bad. All my other points stand tho. Inq. is just a underpowered class imho. Bane is nice, but you should have proper weapons going into the encounter anyways. So its redundant once you get some spare weapons going about in the mid-game and onwards. Whether pathfinder or DnD, its all pretty simular - generalist classes underperform. You cant have more then 2 primary stats - its either str/con, or wis/con. If you spread too thin, str/con/wis, you get nothing good. And inquisitor demands a spread into 3 stats. And, dont forget, you need some cha and dex too, since its your primary toon, you cant make a toon thats butt-ugly and retarded and cant talk to NPCs. In other words, you cant dump cha or int or dex too much either.

Dont get me wrong flavor-wise inquisitor is great. If they gave him the witchunter hat, would be even better, warhammer-syle. But in terms of combat? A buffer, an off-tank, and not very good one at that. Teamwork feats need a buff. Pure clerics will rape an inquisitor 1v1.

[Delta Centauri]

All of these things a Cleric needs... a Cleric requires at least 13 charisma for Selective Channeling, a Wisdom score to cast up to 9th level spells, and Con/Dex or Str depending on what spells you want to fling around.

This is a team game, the Bard you start off with will beat both Clerics and Inquisitors in terms of Persuasion and is used for those rolls, the Inquisitor might just pull ahead himself with Intimidation since they get bonuses as a class feature.

Speaking of Class Features; Inquisitors are definitely more exciting since Clerics get nearly jack all outside Domain Powers, channels, and spells. Inquisitors will get a feature nearly every level. They'll always have the better Perception and Initiative, more skill ranks, and high physical DPS than a Cleric.

If it's 1v1, the only chance a Cleric will always beat an Inqusitor is Summons; which then there's the Monster Tactician. Guess what, he'll get those summons out faster, and every spell the Cleric puts out with a Will or Fort save, the Inquisitor has a very high chance of negating as that's both their best saves and Stalwart allows them to stop secondary effects better than anyone.

That being said, you should still have a Cleric on your team since he'll get a lot of the healing/remove debuff spells faster :P