paizo.com - Forums: Advice: Inquisitor (2024)

OK, I just got killed today (my character that is) so I need to make a new character.

We could use some healing umph in the party so I'm thinking of playing some sort of divine character. I've played lots of clerics before so I want to try something else.

I'm playing (and loving) an oracle in a different campaign, so i don't want to do another oracle.

I'm thinking an Inquisitor might be fun to play.

Anyone play an Inquisitor?

Was it fun to play? Not so much?

Any advice?

General thoughts?

Marc Radle wrote:

OK, I just got killed today (my character that is) so I need to make a new character.

We could use some healing umph in the party so I'm thinking of playing some sort of divine character. I've played lots of clerics before so I want to try something else.

I'm playing (and loving) an oracle in a different campaign, so i don't want to do another oracle.

I'm thinking an Inquisitor might be fun to play.

Anyone play an Inquisitor?

Was it fun to play? Not so much?

Any advice?

General thoughts?

If you really need the healing power inquisitor tend only to be support heals unless you pump your caster stat(not terribly useful imo), but a inquisitor can be a death dealing machine with the right setup. I have mine setup as a Half-orc with the travel domain, using a Falchion as my weapon. We just hit 10th and i am still the highest damage dealer in the group (Fighter, Rogue, Gunslinger, Alchemist, Oracle and myself)

If you really want a healer though with an interesting twist you could try a Necromancer with the life sub-school. It is support healing as well but with the wizard utility and damage to back it up.

I'm finding the 3/4 BAB kind of limiting (for melee), but they get plenty of fun goodies(I'm a big fan of bane even if it runs out fast).
Judgement (+AC) made me next to untouchable last fight (although the enemies weren't super threatening). The fast heal one can be nice too, provided it actually has opportunity to heal you up.
I also enjoy the identify monsters' weaknesses feature they get.

It's a lot of bookkeeping though to keep track of all the different stuff they have.
And yeah, try to pick a domain that grants an automatic bonus (such as Travel)

The Inquisitor is a fantastic class. Sort of a do everything pretty well class, but not stuck with all the penulties or expectations (healbot/LG/etc.) of the other divine classes. In a lot of ways they can be a better Cleric than the Cleric and a better Paladin than the Paladin.

The mechanics are far better, (opinion) than most of the base classes, and they utalize a lot of good options that work well with each other. It is open enough that you can do almost anything with the class, but also distinct enough that you can fill a lot of roles, and do so well. Unlike the Cleric, their buffs actually make themselves better, and able to act, too.

Inquisitors are only adequate/backup healers, but very, very, effective offensively. Especially with a round or two of prep time to buff themselves. As mentioned, they do require quite a bit of bookeeping, though.

Outside combat, they make really good skill monkey characters and even (with the Conversion Inquisition) pretty good party faces.

Speakingt of which, I agree that grabbing Domains with static bonuses is best, but going with an Inquisition instead is also an extremely viable option.

So, as a summary: Inquisitors are awesome, but not as a healer.

I don't think Inquisitor is a good idea if you need a healer. In fact, of all the divine casters, I'd say only rangers are worse at healing.

That said, does the party REALLY need a healer? Usually a wand of CLW and a few spells that do more can get you by.

Inquisitor as a healer?? no.
take adruid or a cleric for a healer.

inquisitors are like bards.... support healers.

that said...
inquisitors are very capable in what they do.

I've seen one in play around 6th-7th level. It was OK, but the player took a while to get used to the complexity. You have to do a lot of bookkeeping to keep track of the bane and judgements and spell buffs, etc. etc.

But it's really fun and flexible and versatile.

I absolutely love inquisitors. For reference I just finished a the Carrion Crown AP tonight which featured 4 inquisitors. What was great was how each inquisitor took on a different role. Tank, ranged damage, melee damage and support.

That's the best feature of the class. With the right choices you can make them do basically anything.

Keep in mind that, unlike Oracles, Inquisitors don't get the Cure/Inflict spells for free. So if you want to be able to cast them, you have to use one of your (precious few) spells known slots to do so. On the other hand, you can still use wands just fine.

I played an interesting and probably very non-conventional Inquisitor recently. We were playing in a very undead-heavy setting (Ravenloft, which has never been officially converted to Pathfinder; think Ustalov/Carrion Crown, if you're familiar with that) so I took 1 level of Cleric, to gain access to Channel Energy, then 7 levels of Inquisitor and the Channel Scourge feat, which allows me to combine my Cleric and Inquisitor levels for determining what level I could channel at (so I was channeling as an 8th level Cleric.) I also had the Sun and Glory domains, which allowed me to add my effective Cleric level to damage when channeling to harm undead, and undead didn't get their channel resistance bonus to their Will saves.

I was an undead destroying MACHINE. If I wasn't channeling, I was using judgements and banes (which are still effective, even against non-undead.) When everyone in the group needed a bit of healing, I would channel to heal. Yes, this same kind of build could easily be done with a straight Cleric, but I really liked the judgements and banes that the Inquisitor had to offer for a combat-oriented character. Plus, all those skill points sure didn't hurt anything.

Good class, decent back-up healers. They are greta as archers or reach weapon warriors.

The best warrior/healer is the paladin, esp the Hospitaler archetype. This may be your better choice.

The best healers in PF are as follows:

Cleric
Oracle
Paladin
Witch
Inquisitor or bard
Sorc (one bloodline).

I think your best bet for what you want is the Paladin.

"Devil's Advocate" wrote:

Actually, once you realize the the best healers almost never actually heal, they are pretty on par healers, too. They do things that prevent damage in the first place, like destroying the enemy or controlling the ground. Have the party start investing in wands for you to use on them, outside of combat obviously, and a few scrolls here and there of remove disease, and your a golden healer.

This is somewhat of a fallacy. Healers are best when they don't need to heal during combat, buffing is better than healing yes. But when they REALLY need to heal, then you better be good at it.

One of the best healing during combat techniques is Channel Divinity and Selective Channeling. This also works nice after combat too.

Wands of CLW are nice, mind you but they are a drain on party resources and it depends on how generous your DM is and how he interprets WBL.

DrDeth wrote:

Good class, decent back-up healers. They are greta as archers or reach weapon warriors.

The best warrior/healer is the paladin, esp the Hospitaler archetype. This may be your better choice.

The best healers in PF are as follows:

Cleric
Oracle
Paladin
Witch
Inquisitor or bard
Sorc (one bloodline).

I think your best bet for what you want is the Paladin.

Assuming you mean reasonably built for the job (but not so much that they can't do much else), I'd switch Oracle and Cleric, and even Cleric and Paladin at higher levels.

DrDeth wrote:

The best healers in PF are as follows:

Cleric
Oracle
Paladin
Witch
Inquisitor or bard
Sorc (one bloodline).

Your druids never heal but your sorcerers do? ^^

On a more serious note: Ignoring the absence of the druid, each of the top 4 classes on your list can be a very good healer. Depending on build-choices, the list can be completely shuffled. A healing which (hedge witch healing hex and patron) will easily surpass the more melee focused Clerics and Oracles.

As for the Inquisitor, pretty much everything's benn said. Awesome damage dealer or tank, not so good as healer, but still reasonable enough for a few emergency heals. As long as you are not in a group that takes massive damage due to poor tactics, you should be fine.

I'm playing an Inquisitor in a party with a Witch, a Paladin, and an Oracle.

The Oracle's player is moving out of state in August, as soon as his house sells, so we're gonna be short a major healer.

The best way to make an Inquisitor viable as a secondary healer is if you're human and take the additional known spell each level, while also using items. The ability to spontaneously cast works really well, since you only get the chance to really cast a couple spells before battle to buff yourself anyway, healing is after the fact anyway...

Marc Radle wrote:

OK, I just got killed today (my character that is) so I need to make a new character.

We could use some healing umph in the party so I'm thinking of playing some sort of divine character. I've played lots of clerics before so I want to try something else.

I'm playing (and loving) an oracle in a different campaign, so i don't want to do another oracle.

I'm thinking an Inquisitor might be fun to play.

Anyone play an Inquisitor?

Was it fun to play? Not so much?

Any advice?

General thoughts?

Inquisitors are okay.

They are pretty fun to play and have a lot of skills.
The big drawback of them is the 3/4 BAB which just kills a lot of fun.

If you need healing DO NOT take one.
Paladins are better healers (espeially on themselves) and they have a full bab. If you play mostly against evil enemies you will also be by far more powerful than a Inquisitor.
The drawback here is your codex of course.

I don't get this "you need a healer" malarkey. Just get CLW wands.

My players played through Legacy of Fire. Their only healer? A bard. That's right a bard. They did fine.

Inquisitors make decent healers. They have access to all the remove spells and get heal at higher levels. I would go so far as to postulate that they make better healers than druids because druids don't get remove paralysis, neutralise poison, restoration or remove curse.

As for paladins being a main healer. Well sure they can do that if you are only worried about hit point damage. But an inquisitor gets access to restoration at 10th level (3 levels ahead of the Paladin) which allows for the removal of permanent negative levels. Also an Inquisitor has access to far more spells so lesser restoration can be used more frequently.

All in all if you choose the right spells and get CLW wands they make perfectly decent healers.

Also the 3/4 BAB thing isn't an issue. Bane adds +2 to hit at 5th level as well as 2d6+2 to weapon damage. Furthermore if you kick off a justice judgement as well you can easily mitigate the difference in BAB with full BAB characters and even exceed it if you have both bane and judgement running. If you get the extra bane feat then you can be kicking that out all day. Plus with burst of speed and the outflank and precise strike teamwork feats you can effortlessly get to flanking positions for your melee colleagues whilst getting +4 to hit and +1d6 damage for yourself.

Alternatively you can act as a tank taking heavy armor proficiency and buffing yourself with the protection and healing judgements. Frankly inquisitors are the most versatile class in Pathfinder.

FallofCamelot wrote:

I don't get this "you need a healer" malarkey. Just get CLW wands.

My players played through Legacy of Fire. Their only healer? A bard. That's right a bard. They did fine.

Inquisitors make decent healers. They have access to all the remove spells and get heal at higher levels. I would go so far as to postulate that they make better healers than druids because druids don't get remove paralysis, neutralise poison, restoration or remove curse.

As for paladins being a main healer. Well sure they can do that if you are only worried about hit point damage. But an inquisitor gets access to restoration at 10th level (3 levels ahead of the Paladin) which allows for the removal of permanent negative levels. Also an Inquisitor has access to far more spells so lesser restoration can be used more frequently.

All in all if you choose the right spells and get CLW wands they make perfectly decent healers.

Also the 3/4 BAB thing isn't an issue. Bane adds +2 to hit at 5th level as well as 2d6+2 to weapon damage. Furthermore if you kick off a justice judgement as well you can easily mitigate the difference in BAB with full BAB characters and even exceed it if you have both bane and judgement running. If you get the extra bane feat then you can be kicking that out all day. Plus with burst of speed and the outflank and precise strike teamwork feats you can effortlessly get to flanking positions for your melee colleagues whilst getting +4 to hit and +1d6 damage for yourself.

Alternatively you can act as a tank taking heavy armor proficiency and buffing yourself with the protection and healing judgements. Frankly inquisitors are the most versatile class in Pathfinder.

1.

In a tough adventure you need a healer. CLW are nice for between encounter healing but once people start going down during encounters a CLW is as good as a DC15 Skillcheck. Very useful.
2.
You are arguing about a spell you will need not often...
Just buy a wand with 2 charges left for whatever you want. At least now you can use it in combat to help a person because it has no casting time of 1 Minute.
Lesser Restoration still has 3 rounds of casting time and most things you do with it can be easily done with a lay on hands with mercy while taking one standard action or a swift action
3.
BAB is ALWAYS an issue.
To hit may not.

BAB is a requirement for iterative attacks. Nothing beats more attacks. BAB is a requirement for feats. BAB can't be dispelled. BAB doesn't need an action to get buffed onto you.

Bane and Judgement for example can't be buffed in one round.
In the time you throw on your Bane he will start his Smite Evil. He will deal +10 damage and you +7. You get +2 to hit and he gets (most probably) +5-6 to hit. So in the first round you have +6 to +7 less to hit and deal 3 less damage per hit.
In the second round you throw in your double judgement for +3 to hit and +4 to damage. Even without the Paladin doing anything he WILL deal more damage right now. And he could just throw in his litany of brokenation for some serious double damage time.

This is against single foes of course. Against groups the Inquisitor is quite good. But not really a lot better than a Paladin.
Inquisitors are quite cool. But if you are looking for a secondary/primary healer he is not really any good.
Though in an easy mode campaign, which seems to be played often on these boards, he is viable as such.

The only requirement for a good healer is the ability to use CLW wands. Period.

If you need a great, stupendous, amazing healer, then you need access to the Heal spell. Heal is the only spell useful for combat healing with the possible exception of Channel Energy in a desperate pinch.

Every other healing spell simply can't keep up with the damage CR appropriate encounters can dish out. In tough encounters, combat healing is like the Dutch boy with his finger in the dam.

Now if you have access to swift healing, that's a different story. The problem is swift healing is hard to come by and a Quickened Cure Mod is a waste of a 6th level slot.

Alienfreak wrote:

Nothing beats more attacks.

Fighter: Here that Wizard, Nothing beats more attacks! Hurr, hurr!

Wizard: *snigg*r*

Quantum Steve wrote:

The only requirement for a good healer is the ability to use CLW wands. Period.

If you need a great, stupendous, amazing healer, then you need access to the Heal spell. Heal is the only spell useful for combat healing with the possible exception of Channel Energy in a desperate pinch.

Every other healing spell simply can't keep up with the damage CR appropriate encounters can dish out. In tough encounters, combat healing is like the Dutch boy with his finger in the dam.

Now if you have access to swift healing, that's a different story. The problem is swift healing is hard to come by and a Quickened Cure Mod is a waste of a 6th level slot.

Alienfreak wrote:

Nothing beats more attacks.

Fighter: Here that Wizard, Nothing beats more attacks! Hurr, hurr!

Wizard: *snigg*r*

Heal heals 110HPs for a standard action at level 11.

Now this looks like quite an awesome encounter outdamaging it.

None the less if one of your group drops and you hit him with your highest level curing spell it will make him get up again. And if you are in a group of 4 people we are talking about 25% fighting power either out of the encounter or in. Not to mention Breath of Life.
I fail to see how this is "of no advantage" here.

I think you guys read a bit too much about CLW AMSUMENESS in the "optimization boards" lately.
CLW trumps everything between encounters and healing magic should not be used unless someone is really low or dropped already. But in that situation nothing is better than healing magic.

OK, first - thanks for all the great thoughts, ideas and opinions on the inquisitor!

But, please ... let's not get into an argument about if a healer is needed or not, or if in-combat healing is a waste etc, OK? Thanks!

For the record, I tend to agree that all our party really needs is someone who has spells like cure, restoration etc on his list and can efficiently use wands containing those kinds of spells. I'm not looking for a full time HEALER ... I'm looking for a good class that can be a healer when needed.

It sounds like the inquisitor might be the class I'm looking for.

Any other interesting thoughts, insights or ideas are still certainly welcomed!

Alienfreak wrote:

Heal heals 110HPs for a standard action at level 11.
Now this looks like quite an awesome encounter outdamaging it.

Did you read my post?

Quote:

None the less if one of your group drops and you hit him with your highest level curing spell it will make him get up again. And if you are in a group of 4 people we are talking about 25% fighting power either out of the encounter or in. Not to mention Breath of Life.
I fail to see how this is "of no advantage" here.

Yeah, he's back up, in single digits (maybe the teens).

Then he's back down and the monster still has a full attack -1 swing. So some one else (maybe you) gets smacked. Cure your buddy again, and than he's down again and another full attack from the baddie.

Now, not only is the party down a Fighter, who can't stay vertical long enough to get off a full-attack, they're down a Cleric, who's busy applying Band-Aids to axe wounds rather than fighting.

If the you had attacked, or used a spell to neutralize the baddie, you could have prevented one or more whole full attacks, or about 2-3x the hp you cured.

The only viable in combat cure is Heal. Clerics don't get that 'till level 11. Most campaigns don't go much past that. PFS stops at 12, most Pathfinder APs stop at 16. For 65-85% of the campaign combat healing doesn't work.

Marc Radle wrote:

OK, first - thanks for all the great thoughts, ideas and opinions on the inquisitor!

But, please ... let's not get into an argument about if a healer is needed or not, or if in-combat healing is a waste etc, OK? Thanks!

For the record, I tend to agree that all our party really needs is someone who has spells like cure, restoration etc on his list and can efficiently use wands containing those kinds of spells. I'm not looking for a full time HEALER ... I'm looking for a good class that can be a healer when needed.

It sounds like the inquisitor might be the class I'm looking for.

Any other interesting thoughts, insights or ideas are still certainly welcomed!

Yeah, sorry about that.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of the Inquisitor.

The last one I played took the Travel Domain, and dipped a level of Barb. Rage and run circles around the party Monk!

Bane deals great damage to everything not just evil creatures, you can pick the type as needed instead of when you level up like a Ranger, and it works on any weapon you hold unlike Weap Spec, so Inquisitors make decent switch hitters.
(Archery is still feat intensive, so forget Rapid Shot and just take Deadly Aim to deal with anything you can't melee)

Justice is prob your best all purpose Judgment until you get a 2nd at level 8.

You have so many good buffs it's hard to pick, Wrath, Flames of the Faithful, and Divine Power are some of the best. Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestment are amazing. Litany of Vengeance is stupid good.

I don't want to discuss which whatever is better than whatever-the-whe-else....but I do want to relate my experience playing an inquis.
I can heal pretty well and between me and my Paladin bro we handle healing quite nicely. My Inq is a crossbow mastery dude with a holy crossbow and for melee I attach a bayonet of shock. I do a crapload of damage and really enjoy being able to heal in a pinch, especially when it comes to ability damage/drain and negative levels. I can't keep up with the HP healing unless I have wands (which I do, I carry at least 2-3 for HPs) or scrolls (restorations, lesser res, removes, etc)
I do love the class.
Having said that, I can see the paladin is slightly more effective in combat and slightly better at healing. My inq has a decent amount of spell options and is much more robust in the skills area, which never gets enough respect.

If you decide on Inquisitor you will be happy. It is a fun, varied class to hop in the playground with.

Blave wrote:

DrDeth wrote:

The best healers in PF are as follows:

Cleric
Oracle
Paladin
Witch
Inquisitor or bard
Sorc (one bloodline).

Your druids never heal but your sorcerers do? ^^

On a more serious note: Ignoring the absence of the druid, each of the top 4 classes on your list can be a very good healer. Depending on build-choices, the list can be completely shuffled. A healing which (hedge witch healing hex and patron) will easily surpass the more melee focused Clerics and Oracles.

As for the Inquisitor, pretty much everything's benn said. Awesome damage dealer or tank, not so good as healer, but still reasonable enough for a few emergency heals. As long as you are not in a group that takes massive damage due to poor tactics, you should be fine.

OOps, sorry. But our current campaign has never seen a Druid, whereas I ran a sorc with the Celestial bloodline, and his little bit of healing was kinda handy. I'd say a druid rates with Inquisitor, bard.

I also forgot alchemist which ranks below bard- unless of course you build a focused healing alchemist.

Certainly it all depends on the build.

Quantum Steve wrote:

Alienfreak wrote:

Heal heals 110HPs for a standard action at level 11.
Now this looks like quite an awesome encounter outdamaging it.

Did you read my post?

Quote:

None the less if one of your group drops and you hit him with your highest level curing spell it will make him get up again. And if you are in a group of 4 people we are talking about 25% fighting power either out of the encounter or in. Not to mention Breath of Life.
I fail to see how this is "of no advantage" here.

Yeah, he's back up, in single digits (maybe the teens).

Then he's back down and the monster still has a full attack -1 swing. So some one else (maybe you) gets smacked. Cure your buddy again, and than he's down again and another full attack from the baddie.

Now, not only is the party down a Fighter, who can't stay vertical long enough to get off a full-attack, they're down a Cleric, who's busy applying Band-Aids to axe wounds rather than fighting.

If the you had attacked, or used a spell to neutralize the baddie, you could have prevented one or more whole full attacks, or about 2-3x the hp you cured.

The only viable in combat cure is Heal. Clerics don't get that 'till level 11. Most campaigns don't go much past that. PFS stops at 12, most Pathfinder APs stop at 16. For 65-85% of the campaign combat healing doesn't work.

He gets healed from 1HP to maybe 34 HPs (4d8+10). In average a non Fighter (bard for example) will have 78.5 HPs (10d8+20+10). So with one spell from almost down (or dead) to 43% HPs. Not too shabby. Now if he doesn't outright enter melee again but maybe 5ft steps, draws an healing potion and uses it he will heal another 16.5 (3d8+5) leaving him with 56.5HPs. Thats 71,9% of his HP total. Good as new!

And if you now tell me that 43% of his HPs is not a lot I doubt your group will survive that encounter at all. Sorry

Okay your theory is all cool in the optimization board because, unlike healing, you can make THE BIG NUMBERS SHOW!!! YEAH!

As a cleric at that level with Divine Power on and Haste you will deal an average of 49.31 against AC26 (which is appropriate for that level... if not a bit low).
Now lets say that fight continues that round and two more. Your buddy will drop next round. He will about deal the damage of you. Now you can either have 3*49.31 or heal 34 HPs once (which doesn't look too shabby compared to 49.31) and have 4*49.31.
Hmmm... where is the bigger number?

.
.

Oh and a thing you missed: If he is on the ground or nearly so and you will not heal it. What keeps the enemy of using his lowest to hit iterative attack on the dude (it will hit against an object) and this little adventure now costs him at least 7000gp. Not to speak of resting at least a day. Of course I know that 15 minute work days are standard in your campaigns so that doesn't matter a lot...

.
.

Oh and I reread your posts and you had Heal in it. Sorry.
But still its questionable how you can advertise something as an "appropriate healer" if he gets Restoration at level 10 (which seems to be something GOOD and SUFFICENT in most groups it seems) and the other one gets Heal in level 11. The spell removing almost any debuff, healing you to almost 100% instantly...

Inquisitors built as Healers can do really well if they take the healing domain.

As a first level inquisitor you can take Stalwart Resolve (spell from PFS Field Guide). This allows a character to ignore ability damage for the length of the spell. Everyone else who qualifies for it does not get it until 3rd level minimum.

Also look into the Preacher archetype from Ultimate Magic. You loose solo tactics and your teamwork feats but gain the ability to , AS A FREE ACTION, once a day+ 1x per feat given up, either re-roll an attack roll before knowing the results, or gain an immediate +4 to AC vs a hit, or Make an attacker re-roll an attack against a non-helpless ally that can hear you.

I played a half-orc inq for two sessions. He was melee focused and used Cornugan Smash to intimidate everyone he power attacked. He was fun to play and I had no trouble hitting things. Now I was only level 7 and I can see the Inquisitor having trouble keeping up with the full BAB classes at high levels, in the mid levels he performed quite well.

Fun character to roleplay as well.

Icyshadow wrote:

I wonder why the Inquisitor just hasn't ever gotten my interest as a class which I could make a proper character to. Then again, after seeing this thread, I am thinking of changing my Cleric of Norgorber into an Inquisitor of Norgorber. But it's only a maybe.

If you use him more as a melee cleric be sure to do it.

Clerics got really weak in PF.

Inquisitors have more Skillpoints (always cool), have most of their buffs as swift actions and are really versatile.
And you still have some buffs like Divine Favor lying around just in case you have a Lesser Rod of Quicken Spell or some time before combat.

This would be my totem-pole for Healing Viability.

Rank 1:

• Good Clerics (Bonus Points if you have the Healing Domain)
  
• Mystery of Life Oracle (Bonus Points if you are Good Aligned)
  
• Paladins with the Hospitaleer Archetype
  

This rank is the beastly-strong healers. They're the best at healing for the reasons listed below.

In this ranking, each of the three classes does something that makes it very viable. In all cases, you can tell that Good characters own the healing charts; Clerics can substitute spells for healing and Oracles gain bonus healing spells known. When placed against each other, the Oracle and the Cleric both shine for different races. The Cleric has the advantage of basically knowing every spell on their Spell List for free. Since you can drop spells whenever you want for healing magic (if you're good), then you can prepare tons of support and controlling spells, dropping the ones you don't want for healing magic. In contrast, between the Mystery of Life and being a Good character, an Oracle gets virtually every healing spell in the game as a bonus spell. An oracle's spell progression is delayed and their spells known are much more limited then a Cleric, but there is no guesswork with an Oracle's magic and their healing-based revelations are powerful. Between the two, pick Oracle if you want a strong healer, pick Cleric if you want to be more versatile.

Paladin is a beast in and of itself. The Paladin heals using their Lay on Hands and Channel Energy ability. Because they are so focused on Charisma, a Paladin can use Channel Energy many times per day, and there are tons of Paladin spells and feats that can further enhance these potent class features. Paladins are also very powerful front-line fighters and their saves are sky-high, making it very difficult to take a Paladin healer down. Their biggest downside is that they simply do not have the mass number of spells that the Cleric or Oracle can have and they're very much a one-trick pony, relying on Lay on Hands for healing, removing conditions, and even reviving people from the dead (see the Ultimate Mercy feat).

Rank 2:

• Evil Clerics
  
• Good Oracles (No Mystery of Life)
  
• Evil Oracles (Mystery of Life)
  
• Druids
  
• Witches

This is the tier where they're not really effective healers on their own for some reason or another; they rely either on crafting wands / scrolls to keep themselves in the game or they're the backup healer to someone else.

Evil Clerics lost the ability to spontaneously cast healing magic and Channel Positive Energy; they simply cannot compete with a Cleric or Oracle that is designed to heal. An Evil Oracle with the Mystery of Life is arguably better than the Evil Cleric, but having to learn your healing spells instead of getting them all for free hurts the build. Oracles without the Mystery of Life, even if they're good, have a bunch of the raw numbers spells but none of the powerful support of the Mystery of Life and have to sacrifice spells known for some of the more 'obscure' spells.

Druids ad Witches make for decent healers, but a chunk of their healing magic is gained a level later than the Cleric / Oracle gets it; i.e. Cure Moderate Wounds as a 3rd level spell instead of a 2nd level spell. It doesn't make it impossible to play, and a Hedge Witch healer can be strong, but they simply can't complete with the other healing options that are available.

Rank 3:
Evil Oracles (No Mystery of Life)
Alchemists
Bards
Inquisitors
Paladins (No Hospitoleer Archetype_

Evil Oracles are probably the worst class on this tier, hands-down. They know zero healing spells on their own and would have to sacrifice valuable spells known in order to learn them. They're not particularly strong in the role.

Bards can be effective off-healers, especially after learning Soothing Performance. I even believe there's an archetype that helps them heal even more. The problem is that they're missing a lot of the powerful healing spells of the Cleric and their spell progression is on the 6-level scale, meaning that their healing magic is light years behind a full progression class.

Alchemists are in a similar boat as bards, but they get bonus points for being able to make potions like candy, even at low levels. Alchemists make excellent off healers in the sense that the party's actual healer can focus on keeping everyone alive while they're in combat and the Alchemist can top everyone off with a store of potions, given that he or she has the time to brew them before a big dungeon.

Inquisitors are probably the weakest of the three 6th-Level Progression classes because they don't have the bonus powers of the Bard or the consumables of the Alchemist. They have only their spells known, such as Cure Wounds and the like. As a class, they're much more offensively focused but they can be cinch healers in a desperate time. Sin Eater can be particularly helpful if you have a wizard that is willing to set some Contingencies on you.

Paladins who don't focus on healing fall here simply because they are good at healing, but they need to spend more Lay on Hands to Channel Energy, their energy isn't as potent, and their healing spells are extremely weakened. If you want to be a dedicated healer, yes, that archetype REALLY is that good.

Rank 4:

Don't be a healer if you're any other class. Rangers can off-healer, but they don't have any cool tricks like the Paladin to help them be competent at it. Besides this, other class's healing abilities tend to be gimmicky and limited, nothing that can really make you a designated healing character.

Golden-Esque wrote:

An Evil Oracle with the Mystery of Life is arguably better than the Evil Cleric, but having to learn your healing spells instead of getting them all for free hurts the build.

Go re-read the Oracle class. An Oracle must pick whether to get all the Cure spells or all the Inflict spells for free, but unlike a Cleric, this choice has nothing to do with Alignment. An Evil Oracle can freely pick the Cure Spells, and a Good Oracle the Inflict Spells, if they so desire.

Alienfreak wrote:

Icyshadow wrote:

I wonder why the Inquisitor just hasn't ever gotten my interest as a class which I could make a proper character to. Then again, after seeing this thread, I am thinking of changing my Cleric of Norgorber into an Inquisitor of Norgorber. But it's only a maybe.

If you use him more as a melee cleric be sure to do it.

Clerics got really weak in PF.

Inquisitors have more Skillpoints (always cool), have most of their buffs as swift actions and are really versatile.
And you still have some buffs like Divine Favor lying around just in case you have a Lesser Rod of Quicken Spell or some time before combat.

Well, that does sound like the type of sneaky unholy warrior that he'd kinda be. Especially if I take the Deception sub-domain.

Deadmanwalking wrote:

Golden-Esque wrote:

An Evil Oracle with the Mystery of Life is arguably better than the Evil Cleric, but having to learn your healing spells instead of getting them all for free hurts the build.

Go re-read the Oracle class. An Oracle must pick whether to get all the Cure spells or all the Inflict spells for free, but unlike a Cleric, this choice has nothing to do with Alignment. An Evil Oracle can freely pick the Cure Spells, and a Good Oracle the Inflict Spells, if they so desire.

I actually find a lot of Golden's list to be wrong, particularly in regards to the inq. I doubt this list was made with much actually experience in trying to use said classes as healers.

Ranking a druid (no restoration) higher than a class with access to restoration as a spell just doesn't make sense to me...

Ok, so I think I'm leaning toward giving the inquisitor a shot - dwarf inquisitor to be precise.

He will be starting at 3rd level.

Ay spells and/or feats that are a must have?

who's he worship??

the inquisitor gets the webshelter sepll. I'd kind of say that I'd reccomend it. Free shelter and all, but its going to be near worthless until you can use it for most of the night