Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Inquisitor, Heretic, Monster Tactician; Tengu

Self-Interested Preface: With the Monster Summoner's Handbook came a ton of archetypes that sacrificed class features for a version of the summoner's scaling Summon Monster special ability.  Monster Tactician's one of the more broken ones.  As a spell-like standard-action, a monster tactician inquisitor can summon monsters as a summoner (one minute per level) 3 + WIS times per day.  As a ridiculous, game-breaking bonus, the creatures summoned automatically gain a(n amount of) chosen teamwork feat(s) the inquisitor possesses without needing the prerequisites.  The gamebreaker is Share Spells, allowing the inquisitor to use (for example) all the self-only Invisibilities and even Antimagic Field.  The inquisitor qualifies with Bonded Mind and Wasp Familiar, a feat that gives a flying greensting scorpion (+4 Initiative!) in exchange for worshiping Calistria.  Additionally, the inquisitor gets to pick one creature per level of the highest summon monster level it can use from the Expanded Summon Monster list, which has some amazing creatures, and with the Gifted Linguist Tengu trait, this character should never have a problem commanding any intelligent summoned creature.  I've added personal recommendations for each level of additional Expanded Summon Monster, but I recommend looking over the list and tweaking it to the campaign you're in as well as the role you'd like your summons to play in your party.

Heretic is an archetype which adds WIS to Bluff and Stealth in addition to their normal modifiers (CHA and DEX, respectively).  The Reformation Inquisition changes the stat modifier for Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Perform (Oratory) from CHA to WIS.  This means that Bluff, Diplomacy, Heal, Intimidate, Perception, Perform (Oratory), Profession, Sense Motive, Stealth, and Survival are all boosted by WIS, with Stealth actually boosted by both DEX and WIS (though Bluff ends up with a detriment from CHA).  Reformation also lets this character roll-twice-and-use-the-best-of Diplomacy or Intimidate checks a number of times equal to WIS per day, making it an incredible party face.  Scroll down to below the build for a by-level skill chart- having a bunch of class skills all affected by the same important modifier makes this character amazing at ability score allocation.  Stealth and Sense Motive are especially ridiculous, hitting +21 without any items or modifications at level 8.

Aside from summoning, this character's meant to support with a decent series of buff spells and provide ridiculous ranged damage with a combination of Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Clustered Shots, and its Bane class feature (+2d6 damage per shot) at level 5 which improves to Greater Bane (+4d6 damage per shot) at level 12.  This character will always have some way to contribute to every situation.  Divine Interference, which should be every divine caster's 11th level feat, is meant to force a re-roll of critical hits.  Take The Hit and Shake It Off are meant for when you end up wanting to summon meat shields and bruisers instead of casters.  Signature Skill (Sense Motive) allows Sense Motive to add to Initiative if conversation breaks down into combat and can add a +2 insight bonus when attacked (see Sense Motive Unchained).

This character will likely always go first.  Its base Initiative, with no items or enhancements, is calculated as follows:
Level 1: +9 (combat trait + DEX + Improved Initiative)
Level 2: +13 (+Cunning Initiative)
Level 4: +14 (+DEX increase)
Level 5: +18 (+greensting scorpion familiar)
Level 12: +19 (+WIS increase)
Level 20: +20 (+WIS increase)
In addition to having amazing Stealth and Perception modifiers as the scout, this makes your character the tactician, setting the pace of every combat by summoning an appropriate creature or group of creatures to fuck up an enemy plan.

I could write a whole guide on summoned monsters and their fantastic spells, but other people already have, which I might link in the future.  Notable spellcasters (in my experience) include Bralani Azata for healing and lightning bolts, Axiomites for Haste and their empowered Order's Wrath (a lot of things are chaotic), and Movanic Devas for healing, antimagic field, cure spells and the amazing Holy Aura.  Something to note, however, is that summoned monsters cannot use teleportation or summon spells, which means you cannot use Share Spells and your summons for teleportation or Dimension Door, even though so many of them have those abilities.

I'm playing this character in a campaign right now as a replacement for another character and I wish I'd started playing it from the beginning.  It has so many abilities that I'm often forgetting different ones, like Clustered Shots calculating all my damage before applying DR, or that standing next to any allies, including my familiar (which has Bodyguard/Combat Reflexes, by the way; I forget that too), boosts saving throws through Shake It Off.  This build has incredible versatility and, played cleverly, can honestly fill almost an entire party's worth of roles.  It's an amazing face, scout, tank-summoner, healing-summoner, ranged attacker, debilitator-summoner, and blast-summoner.  Through the Stalwart and Improved Stalwart class feature along with its ridiculous saving throws, it shrugs off a crazy amount of spells and effects (it's like Evasion for Fortitude and Will saves) which helps a lot since its main drawback is a lack of serious hit points.  This character has been extremely fun and effective.

This build created in December of 2015 and tweaked several times up until May of 2016.



Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician), Level 20

Race: Tengu, +2 DEX, +2 WIS, -2 CON (+1 Hit Point/+1 Skill Point)

Racial Traits
Sneaky (+2 to Perception and Stealth)
Gifted Linguist (+4 Linguistics, learn two languages per rank in Linguistics)
Claw Attack/Natural Weapons (1d3 bite attack, 1d3 claw attack, 1d3 claw attack; free Improved Unarmed Strike feat)
Low Light Vision

Character Traits/Drawbacks
Drawback: Meticulous (predisposed to planning; -2 to all untrained skill checks)
Combat: Reactionary (+2 to Initiative)
Magic: Third Eye [+2 to Sense Motive (+4 to determine if creature is under mind-affecting effect), -1 Bluff/Diplomacy]
Regional: Armor Master (reduce armor check penalty by 1)
  
Class Skills: Bluff, Climb, Craft (Any), Diplomacy, Disguise, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Planes), Knowledge (Religion), Perception, Perform (Oratory), Profession (Any), Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Stealth, Survival, and Swim.

Known Languages: Common, Tengu, Abyssal, Infernal

1: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 1 (d8 HD), +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +0
            Base Saves: +2/+3/+6
New Feats: Simple, Deity Favored Weapon (Whip), and Inquisitor Weapon Proficiencies, Light and Medium Armor Proficiencies, Shield Proficiency, Inquisitor Spellcasting, Hide Tracks, Lore Of Escape, Stern Gaze, Monster Tactician Summon Monster, Summon Monster I, Reformation Inquisition, [Inquisition] Inspired Rhetoric, Improved Unarmed Strike, [1st Level Feat] Point Blank Shot, [Anti-Hero] Improved Initiative
Skills(6): Climb, Diplomacy, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
New Spells:    0th Level – Brand, Detect Magic, Guidance, Sift
                        1st Level – Cure Light Wounds, Divine Favor
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 2 Lvl. 1

2: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 2, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +1
            Base Saves: +3/+3/+7
New Feats: Cunning Initiative, Detect Alignment, Track
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, Swim
Expanded Summon Monster: Kangaroo
New Spells:    0th Level – Create Water
                        1st Level – Protection From Evil
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 3 Lvl. 1

3: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 3, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +2
            Base Saves: +3/+4/+7
New Feats: Solo Tactics, Summon Monster II, [Teamwork 3rd] Bonded Mind, [3rd Level Feat] Precise Shot
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, Survival
Expanded Summon Monster: Dimorphodon
New Spells:    0th Level – Detect Poison
                        1st Level – Burst Bonds
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 4 Lvl. 1

4: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 4, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +3
            Ability Score Increase: DEX +1 (18)
            Base Saves: +4/+5/+8
New Feats: [Inquisition] Blessed Correction
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Heal, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Giant Weasel
New Spells:    2nd Level – See Invisibility, Silence
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 4 Lvl. 1, 2 Lvl. 2

5: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 5, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +3
            Base Saves: +4/+5/+8
New Feats: Bane, Summon Monster III, Summon Tactics 1, [5th Level Feat] Wasp Familiar
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Arbiter Inevitable
New Spells:    2nd Level – Blistering Invective
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 5 Lvl. 1, 3 Lvl. 2
Familiar: (Flying) Greensting Scorpion, Protector Archetype

6: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 6, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +4
            Base Saves: +5/+6/+9
New Feats: [Teamwork 6th] Share Spells
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Lyrakien Azata
New Spells:    2nd Level – Honeyed Tongue
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 5 Lvl. 1, 4 Lvl. 2

7: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 7, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +5
            Base Saves: +5/+6/+9
New Feats: Summon Monster IV, [7th Level Feat] Rapid Shot
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Crysmal
New Spells:    1st Level – Shield Of Faith
                        3rd Level – Blessing Of The Mole, Raven’s Flight
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 5 Lvl. 1, 4 Lvl. 2, 2 Lvl. 3

8: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 8, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +6/+1
            Ability Score Increase: WIS +1 (19)
            Base Saves: +7/+6/+10
New Feats: [Inquisition] Awaken Discontent, Summon Tactics 2
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Giant Skunk
New Spells:    3rd Level – Dimensional Anchor
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 5 Lvl. 1, 5 Lvl. 2, 3 Lvl. 3

9: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 9, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +6/+1
            Base Saves: +6/+7/+10
New Feats: Summon Monster V, [Teamwork 9th] Shake It Off, [9th Level Feat] Manyshot
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Incubus Demon
New Spells:    3rd Level – Communal Align Weapon
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 5 Lvl. 2, 4 Lvl. 3

10: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 10, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +7/+2
            Base Saves: +7/+7/+11
New Feats: (none)
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Vulpinal Agathion
New Spells:    2nd Level – Soothing Word
                        4th Level – Greater Invisibility, Freedom Of Movement
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 5 Lvl. 2, 4 Lvl. 3, 2 Lvl. 4

11: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 11, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +8/+3
            Base Saves: +7/+7/+11
New Feats: Stalwart, Summon Monster VI, [11th Level Feat] Divine Interference
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Axiomite
New Spells:    1st Level – Expeditious Retreat
4th Level – Litany Of Escape
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 5 Lvl. 2, 5 Lvl. 3, 3 Lvl. 4

12: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 12, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +9/+4
            Ability Score Increase: WIS +1 (20)
            Base Saves: +8/+8/+13
New Feats: Greater Bane, [Teamwork] Take The Hit
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Animate Dream
New Spells:    4th Level – Battlemind Link
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 5 Lvl. 3, 4 Lvl. 4
 
13: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 13, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +9/+4
            Base Saves: +8/+8/+13
New Feats: Summon Monster VII, [13th Level Feat] Clustered Shots
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Movanic Deva
New Spells:    3rd Level – Heroism
                        5th Level – Litany Of Vengeance, True Seeing
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 5 Lvl. 3, 4 Lvl. 4, 1 Lvl. 5

14: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 14, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +10/+5
            Base Saves: +9/+8/+14
New Feats: Exploit Weakness
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Phistophilus Devil
New Spells:    2nd Level – Spiritual Weapon
                        5th Level – Break Enchantment
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 5 Lvl. 3, 5 Lvl. 4, 2 Lvl. 5

15: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 15, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +11/+6/+1
            Base Saves: +9/+9/+14
New Feats: Signature Skill Unlock (15th), Summon Monster VIII, [Teamwork 15th] Coordinated Charge, [15th Level Feat] Signature Skill (Sense Motive)
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Monadic Deva
New Spells:    5th Level – Flame Strike
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 6 Lvl. 3, 5 Lvl. 4, 3 Lvl. 5

16: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 16, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +12/+7/+2
            Ability Score Increase: WIS +1 (21)
            Base Saves: +10/+9/+15
New Feats: Summon Tactics 3
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Kolyarut Inevitable
New Spells:    4th Level – Communal Protection From Energy
                        6th Level – Blade Barrier, Heal
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 6 Lvl. 3, 5 Lvl. 4, 3 Lvl. 5, 1 Lvl. 6

17: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 17, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +12/+7/+2
            Base Saves: +10/+9/+15
New Feats: Summon Monster IX, [17th Level Feat] Improved Initiative
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Sepid Div
New Spells:    3rd Level – Burst Of Speed
                        6th Level – Overwhelming Presence
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 6 Lvl. 3, 5 Lvl. 4, 4 Lvl. 5, 2 Lvl. 6

18: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 18, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +13/+8/+3
            Base Saves: +11/+10/+16
New Feats: [Teamwork 18th] Target Of Opportunity
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Valkyrie
New Spells:    6th Level – Greater Dispel Magic
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 6 Lvl. 3, 6 Lvl. 4, 4 Lvl. 5, 3 Lvl. 6

19: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 19, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +14/+9/+4
            Base Saves: +11/+10/+16
New Feats: [19th Level Feat] (Teamwork) Tribe Mentality
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Expanded Summon Monster: Great White Whale
New Spells:    5th Level – Disrupting Weapon
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 6 Lvl. 1, 6 Lvl. 2, 6 Lvl. 3, 6 Lvl. 4, 5 Lvl. 5, 4 Lvl. 6

20: Inquisitor (Heretic, Monster Tactician) 20, +1 Hit Point
            BAB: +15/+10/+5
            Ability Score Increase: WIS +1 (22)
            Base Saves: +12/+10/+19
New Feats: Signature Skill Unlock (20th), Summon Tactics (All)
Skills(6): Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, +1 other
Expanded Summon Monster: Diplodocus (Summon Monster VIII)
New Spells:    4th Level – Death Ward
                        6th Level – Litany Of Madness
Base Spells Per Day: ∞ Lvl. 0, 7 Lvl. 1, 7 Lvl. 2, 6 Lvl. 3, 6 Lvl. 4, 6 Lvl. 5, 6 Lvl. 6


 Linguistics Languages

There are 34 languages listed in Pathfinder, two of which are secret (Drow sign language and Druidic) and one of which is Vegepygmy, which is probably useless.  Two of these languages (Common and Tengu) are automatically leaned by this character, leaving only fifteen points necessary for this two-languages-per-hard-Linguistics-point character to understand and speak every available Pathfinder language, a feat not at all necessary, but interesting.  It may also be a good idea to allocate one language to being able to read lips as suggested in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play FAQ.  The languages by level I chose for my campaign are:



13 comments:

  1. Hi,
    How do select two archetypes (monster tactician and heretic) at the same time, I thought you were limited to one archetype at the same time.

    Also I think you may "unlock" incubus demon with expanded summons but that doesnt necessarily mean that you can cast it? As a divine caster you still cannot cast spells of opposite alignments and if you can choose movanic deva how can you summon a devil ?

    Thanks for helping a noob

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    1. hey! sorry I didn't see this!

      you can have more than one archetype if they don't affect the same class abilities.

      these don't conflict! and good call on the no-spells-of-opposite-alignment. this character's chaotic neutral, so to my knowledge the only creature I got on here that this character shouldn't be able to summon is the Axiomite (which is too bad because that thing kicks ass with its empowered Order's Wrath). everything else should be okay because it doesn't oppose this character's alignment.

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  2. What other races/alignments are optimal for this class?

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  3. I feel like Tengu's best, but I think there's a variant Aasimar that gets +2 DEX and +2 WIS. Grippli gets those, but it's a small creature so its weapons'd hit with a lower die, which I think'd be a d6 longbow rather than a d8. Be better for stealth, though, and they get some neat abilities like a climb speed. This build really just wants good DEX and great WIS especially because those two ability modifiers affect everything it does (that isn't hit points or Fort saves).

    Alignment has to be Chaotic Neutral and it has to worship, uh, Calistra I think? I'm on a phone, sorry, a lil tough to look stuff up, but it's the goddess of wasps and fucking and revenge. It's the easiest way to get a familiar to qualify for the Share Spells teamwork feat exploit, but if you went Human you'd have the racial bonus feat to get Iron Will and the regular familiar feat.

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  4. Hey Travis, does Share Spells actually allow the summons to cast spells on your character? Most of the creatures you mention (like Movanic Deva) don't have spells-- just spell-like abilities.

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    Replies
    1. As far as I can tell, unless there's errata I don't know about! Spell-like abilities are described as follows:

      "Spell-like abilities function just like spells, but are granted through a special racial ability or by a specific class ability (as opposed to spells, which are gained by spellcasting classes as a character gains levels)."

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  5. Casting antimagic field on your summoned creature causes them to wink out. Also invisibility is already a touch spell. Not sure if there are any great personal spells for your creatures.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Hello. Sorry for a little thread (or post) necromancy, but what armor would you recommend for this build?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. I'm having a difficult time finding where the Improved Initiative comes from. The build says Anti-Hero, but where do I pick that?

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    Replies
    1. Anti-hero means that if you choose not to use the hero point rules, you can pick a bonus feat

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  9. I've wanted to try a Monster Tactician for a while. If I get the green light, I'll probably follow your tengu model. Good build.

    ReplyDelete