Inquisitive class/race synergy brainstorming

[Gabrael]

alright, the new inquisitive tree is live, and seem to be viable with a lot of builds styles, so lets take a knack at it.

of note:
-crossbow do not have an innate stat check for damage, so any class, race, enhancement that give this is a priority
-focusing on the fusillade/no hold barrel aspect mean you will have to either sacrifice all other tier V abilities, or spash 4 lvl arti and lose 30% ranged alacrity
-Diplomacy is a secondary, but not unimportant aspect of the inquisitive tree.

source of stat to attack and dmg:
- Falconry tree get you WIS for attack at tier II, WIS for damage at tier III
- Harper tree get you INT for attack at tier I, INT for damage at tier III
- Artificer lvl 2 spell (at lvl 3) get you INT for attack, and lvl 3 spell (at lvl 6) get you INT for damage, but can only apply 1 at a time
- Favored Soul level 2 feat let you use either CHA or WIS for attack and damage IF you also have the inquisitive favored weapon enhancement AND have more than half your heroic level as a FVS
- Rogue Mechanic 3rd core (lvl 6) get you INT for damage with crossbows
- Wizard eldritch knight tier III get you INT for attack, but not damage
- Sorcerer eldritch Knight tier III get you CHA for attack, but not damage.


Class breakdown:
- Artificer: great synergy, extra action boost, the ability to get either INT for attack or damage via spells mean you only need Harper tier I to complement the dmg spell, or splash rogue 6 to complement the attack spell, getting fusillade can be a way to skip tier V from the inquisitive tree, but you lose the 30% alacrity. and rune arms add imbue damage. Diplomacy is not a class skill.
- Barbarian: bad synergy, Occult slayer help with survivability, and the Frienzied extra action boost are the only redeeming grace, and requires you to get a stat to damage elsewhere. better used as a splash only
- Bard: good synergy, can make crossbow a swashbuckling weapon, and benefit from SOME abilites related to swashbuckling, CHA focus and has diplomacy as a class skill, but you need to focus on getting stat to dmg elsewhere.
- Cleric: good synergy, can use a domain to boost damage, has diplomacy as a class skills, can use cleric spells, and has diplomacy as a class skill, great paired with Falconry to get WIS for attack and damage
- Druid: good Synergy, Access to Druid spells, mostly limited to Season's Herald. beguile can quickly rack up and help weaken mobs, can be WIS focused with falconry and still retain great casting capacities, also having a pet on the side or summon help when diplomacy kick of, that is until it dies. Diplomacy is a class skill. need Falconry for WIS to attack and damage.
- Favored Soul: great synergy, with the ability to use favored soul spells, diplomacy as a class skill, AND use CHA for attack and damage with the inquisitive ability that make crossbow a favored weapon, but you do not get extra damage from feats related to favored weapons, to verify but you dont seem to be getting extra damage either from the enhancment tree related to favored weapons.
- Fighter: great synergy, extra damage from weapon focus, extra damage from specialization feats, extra action boosts is important, haste action boost as a backup to no hold barrels, but diplomacy is not a class skill, and you need to get stat to dmg elsewhere
- Monk: terrible synergy, do NOT use unless you want the monk past life and hate playing a monk. (at least diplomacy is a class skill)
- Paladin: bad synergy, no real way to boost weapon damage, sturdier than some classes, diplomacy is a class skill, but paladin got too little points, need to get stat to dmg elsewhere.
- Ranger: average synergy, can only use deepwood stalker, various additional attacks (sniper shot/aimed shot/merciful shot/leg shot), Killer to get +20% doubleshot if you can sustain it, favored enemies can make it easier to deal with certain mobs. higher range for point blank, Diplomacy is not a class skill and you need to get stat to damage elsewhere
- Rogue: great synergy, mechanic core get you the INT for damage, various boost to crossbow damage, sneak attack damage, fletching, two extra attacks (wracking shot/leg shot) and if you splash artificer4 you can use the arti fusillade instead and go tier 5 mech. Diplomacy is a class skill, and you only need to get INT for attack from harper tier I or arti spell, or have enough DEX to make it less important.
- Sorcerer: bad synergy, you have access to sorcerer spells, Eldritch Knight spellsword toggle add some damage. Diplomacy is not a class skill and you can only get CHA for attack, not damage. Not recommended unless the main class is favored soul and for some reason you want to splash into sorcerer.
- Warlock: bad synergy, stuck to aura lock, extra damage to those that get near, extra light dmg to attacks, and the aura can get you temp HP to help stay alive. Diplomacy is not a class skill, and need to get stat for damage elsewhere. only recommended as a splash4
- Wizard: good synergy, you have access to Wizard spells, Eldritch Knight spellsword toggle add some damage. Diplomacy is not a class skill and you can only get INT for attack, complement this with either harper tier III or arti6 splash for spell

races:
Aasimar: great with builds using WIS and falconry, good source of self heal.
Dragonborn: +3 action boost is very useful, memory of flight is always fun
Drow: great with any build using CHA or INT, venomed blade can add extra damage
Dwarf: extra HP, but a CHA penalty :/
Elf/Wood elf: extra range for point blank, could work paired with deepwood stalker and Falconry
gnome: great for INT builds, and can give extra damage to light crossbows
half-elf: great for anyone wanting to make the best use of diplomacy, half-elf give an extra 10 diplomacy when using inquisitive, the dilettante can help covoer holes like helping you use raise scrolls
half-orc: while the penalty to INT or CHA hurt certain builds, the +3 extra Action boost can greatly make up for it
halfling: extra sneak attack damage, best paired with rogue along deception items
tiefling: weapons deal extra fire damage, the obscuring darkness can help fighting standing still...
Warforged: construct natural resistance, +15 ranged power
Bladeforged: construct natural resistance, self heals spell (need mana), weapon attachment
Morninglord: extra INT, extend point blank range, emergency heal
Purple Dragon Knight: speed action boost, emergency self heal, greater heroism
Scoundrel: weapons extra sonic damage, extra damage to light crossbow, hellish rebuke and obscuring darkness can be interesting, best paired with a bard.
Scourge: great with builds using WIS and falconry, good source of self heal.
Shadar-Kai: great for INT builds and rogues, ghostly essence is good
Svirfneblin: great for INT builds, and can give extra damage to light crossbows

Inquisitive tree is great for many builds, and is good enough to carry even bad builds to 20, useful to farm racial or class PL without changing gear. it will certainly help streamline my TR train.

Inquisitive also benefit greatly from various splashes, for examply you can combo rune arm with bard swashbuckling.

[Arkat]

Endless Fusilade is a Tier IV enhancement so you can still take the Tier V enhancement from Inquisitive that gives you the +30% Alacrity bonus.

[Satyriasys]

Pure Rogue Gnome looks like the way to go.

[Jetrule]

Nice write up!! I will add Druid as a overlooked option. A funny mix and I see why you overlooked it but A ranged druid with falconry might be very interesting to play. It works as a healer and a cc or dps caster on things that are resisting crossbow damage. No great synergy but not as bad as monk LOL. Charm animal and the class ability that is like charm animal can be useful with a high diplo build,

I am thinking there may be some more synergy with pally running falconry and basically ignoring class trees. A secondary healer with great saves. Splash maybe 2 ranger and 3 rogue for the extra pb range rapid shot and evasion.

On any build trying to have decent diplo that inst a specific charming focused build I like the warlock past life feat. Having the feats for that is tough though. Infact the feats needed to optimize crossbow dps are pretty demanding. It ads more value for a inquisitive build to classes with bonus feats imo.

I keep thinking fighter is a strong option with the law damage scaling off of ranged power. 3 weapon focus ranged and 2 weapon specialization ranged feats. shoot on the run and thrown weapons focus and specialization add 17 static ranged power from heroic feats and +3 to hit +4 to damage with ranged weapons. It would be a clear strong choice if only there were a opportunity attack ranged version. As is It might be a good choice for 4 arti levels getting 27 points in battle engineer for +10 ranged power and +10 double shot to go with that 17 feat granted ranged power. Ending up fighter 16 arti 4-- Ap spend of 41 inquisitive 27 be and 12 harper.

[Gabrael]

Endless Fusilade is a Tier IV enhancement so you can still take the Tier V enhancement from Inquisitive that gives you the +30% Alacrity bonus.

Yes, in fact it is explicitly said in the tree if you get both no hold barrel and endless fusillade you get an extra +10 ranged power, the opening was meant to explain a way around getting the tier V in inquisitive and still retain the fusillade aspect, via multiclassing artificer. and this is a way to allow you to get other tier V abilities from other classes you don't want to give up.
But the 30% alacrity requires either tier 5 Inquisitive or Rogue mechanic, if you want other tier 5, then splash arti4.

Nice write up!! I will add Druid as a overlooked option.

woops, how did I miss listing druid, gonna fix that

[donblas]

Pure Rogue Gnome looks like the way to go.

I'm trying rogue gnome with two levels of artificer for runearm use and rapid reload. The runearm gives extra damage to the crossbows, and when the bugged animation is fixed, I'll also power up the runearms for blasting.

[droid327]

While its seemingly very broadly useful (tack on a full-fledged self-contained ranged combat package to any build on any class!), it appears to be very limited in actual practice because of how demanding it is on opportunity costs, and a few important things it critically lacks...

- Feats: you'll need to support it with a full set of ranged feats to really make an inqui-focused build. That takes up most of your feat choices, and leaves you little flexibility to put anything into a secondary skillset like casting or defense. This makes feat-starved classes hard to work with Inqui, i.e. FvS
- AP: Inqui takes 41 to get the full package, but then requires another investment to get critical stat-to-dmg through Falcon or Harper. That doesnt leave much to customize it to your class build, making all Inquis even more homogenized
- Stats: You need high Dex to make the feat reqs for IPS and Combat Arch. Then you need INT or WIS for stat-to-dmg (or CHA if you're FvS, but they cant use Divine Presence with xbows), there's no way to get DEX-to-dmg on xbows. Add in CON, and you're looking at the same problem that TWF EKs have - you're really dependent on big tomes to help you make your stat reqs.

This setup favors building Inquis in a class that offers a lot outside its enhancement trees...so Rogue for sneak die and Evasion, divine classes for healing spells and buffs, or pure martial ranged builds. Offensive casters, though, I think would suffer from a lack of metas and SF feats. Ranger, Fighter, and Arti provide free feat slots (or autogrant the feats you need) that opens up more feat flexibility. Rogue Mechanic and Inqui are kinda redundant, though, since both are heavily loaded in their T5s.

I think the builds that capitalize on the most synergy would be some variation on these general ideas:

- Ranger 11/Fighter 4/Arti 5 - Maximum feat flexibility, Runearms for a stat stick (so you're not wasting your offhand slot), DWS is a nice tree to spend your spare AP after Inqui and Harper (Sniper Shot). Evasion, and you can dump Dex. Some self heals for Heroic, trapping, UMD.

- Rogue Pure or 18/2 - basically just maximizing sneak die, plays like a Mech right now. Dont need Arti for Fusillade like GXB Mechs though, which lets you go to Core5 in Rogue, which precludes the need for Kensei.

- Pure Arti - DXB is basically making RXB obsolete, especially at the top end. DXB does way better damage with similar ROF once you get your Doubleshot up high enough. So it basically plays like an existing RXB BE, sub Inqui for BE, with Arti providing buffs, heals, and some CC (and auotgrants and bonus feats to help keep your DC up etc.). This might be even better in the future when Pets get their overhaul, with all the Diplo in Inqui to help shed aggro.

- Gnome/DG seems like the best race for Inqui since Color Spray is a useful complement to ranged combat. Human for the feat, otherwise. Maybe more options if you have enough Racial AP to get use out of them - Aasi Rogue or something for LoH.

Things that sound good but turn out to have some negative synergy, IMO:

EK: High ranged ROF + Spellsword imbues sound great. I dont think there's enough AP to go around though. 27 points in EK means you're only getting Core4 damage die. Also there's not a lot of support in EK itself for ranged combat, so you're wasting a lot of AP on filler just to make the mins for the cores.

Divines: FvS can get CHA to dmg/hit with xbows, but only after they've taken a T4 enhancement in Inqui, so that leaves a gap. Also that enhancement means you lose 5% doubleshot, and doesnt give you access to a Trance. Also feat starved, hurts their DC casting. Also DEX starved. Cleric might work a little better since they get Domains, but again feats and DCs are a bottleneck, so your useful domain options are limited mainly to defensive domains like Luck. Falconry takes more AP to get full WIS in combat than Harper, so that's putting even more of a squeeze on WIS based Inquis. I think divine Inquis would just end up being a very perfunctory DXB with some self-heals and buffs.

Bard: Inqui suggests it should work with Swash...but no CHA to hit, and not a whole lot that Swash offers for non-Swash weapons.

[unbongwah]

-focusing on the fusillade/no hold barrel aspect mean you will have to either sacrifice all other tier V abilities, or spash 4 lvl arti and lose 30% ranged alacrity

41 Inquisitive for tier-5s + capstone
12 Harper for Strategic Combat (INT to dmg)
27 Battle Engineer for Endless Fusilade (+10 Ranged Power) and Agility Engine (+10% Doubleshot)
80 APs total

The downside is there's literally nothing left over unless you have that +1 Universal AP tome (or any extra racial APs), so any added benefit to your build has to come from inherent class abilities / spells, not Enhancements.

I will add Druid as a overlooked option. A funny mix and I see why you overlooked it but A ranged druid with falconry might be very interesting to play.

41 Inquisitive + 27 Falconry leave 12 or 13 APs for other trees. That's just (barely) enough to take a tier-3 ability from one druid tree if I could figure out what's most useful.

[FuryFlash]

- Ranger: average synergy, can only use deepwood stalker, various additional attacks (sniper shot/aimed shot/merciful shot/leg shot), Killer to get +20% doubleshot if you can sustain it, favored enemies can make it easier to deal with certain mobs. higher range for point blank, Diplomacy is not a class skill and you need to get stat to damage elsewhere

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how you're listing Ranger as merely average synergy (worse than how you rated Bard, Cleric and Druid). It has one of three crossbow-type class trees in the game. My preferred split that I've come up with so far uses 6 ranger levels:

12 Rogue/6 Ranger/2 Artificer

41 Inquisitive (Capstone, Tier 5's)
23 Mechanic (Int to dmg, +3 SA die, +15 SA Range, Fletching)
11 Deepwood Stalker (3 SA die, +15 SA Range, Sniper Shot)
6 (7 with tome) Harper (Int to hit, Know the Angles)

[Pilgrim1]

As one who has built and played a lot with the standard endless fusilade build my biggest concern is the lack of additional action boosts. The arti variant gives you 3 but your still down to 17 max. It might be worth it to go fighter/barb/arti/dragonborn and end with 26 action boosts. Anytime your using ranged power action boost instead of fusilade is a huge loss in dmg. On longer raids and higher difficulty raids i run out of action boosts.

So think what you want to do with your toon. If its mostly questing and low difficulty raids then 17 is likely enough AB.

Another issue that 13rogue/arti splits have is issues with SA range. Having only 15 meters of SA range is a real issue when it comes to damage. I would seriously think about dropping all SA from the build if you chose not to grab 13 rogue.

I think there is a viable DC caster option to inquisitor builds. With 41 AP you can get 4 to chr/int/wis. Druids, sorcers, clerics, wizards all have there standard trees only getting 4 stat points. You will typically lose 1-2 DC from thoes tree’s to specific schools.

So think about this build:
18 wizard/2 fighter

41 inquisitor
24 harper
6 EK (6d6 imbue dmg)
9 kensi extra action boost.

Run in shadow dancer for int and ranged power. Run in LD for raids. You get 8 int from enhancements. A typical PM gets 7 from enhancements 4 from litch. Then 3 necro dc from enhancements and litch.

This puts you 4.5 dc behind on necro and 1.5 dc on the rest of the schools. Twists are extra action boost, dc boost, dc boost.
For feets you have 13 heroic options.

Precise shot
Improved precise shot
Point blank shot
Precision
Improved critical
Rapid reload
Rapid shot

Quicken
Highten
Enlarge
SF enchantment
SF evocation
Wiz PL

Go gnome/deep gnome if you have racial ap. Run drow if you dont have good dex tomes. Run warforge if you want strong self healing.

Forget the damage aspects of wizard and the spell ressistance.

The biggest issue with this build is you need 2 gear sets. One for DC casting and a second for damage. I expect that you could build the gear set to only need 4-6 gear swaps.

The general play stile is you DC cast to red names, then switch to xbow for real boss damage. Your gonna end up 6ish short of max dc and probably at 80% max dps.

[Gabrael]

The downside is there's literally nothing left over unless you have that +1 Universal AP tome (or any extra racial APs), so any added benefit to your build has to come from inherent class abilities / spells, not Enhancements.

if you got 41 pts in inquisitive, splashing 4 lvl in arti for endless fusillade only get you +10 MP and doubleshot, since both endless fusillade and no hold barrel share cooldown and charge, that also mean you can use those 27 pts for other tree/classes and in either harper of Falconry you really only need 12 pts at bare minimum, so thats 27 pts to play with.

Inquisitive 41 + harper or falconry 12 pts = 27 leftover pts
Inquisitive 41 + 6 lvl rogue or arti to get INT for damage + harper 3 pts = 36 lefover points
Inquisitive 41 + Favored soul 11 = 39 leftover points

if you are willing to sacrifice the stacking 30% alacrity, law is on your side damage, and the inquisitive improved crit profile. Splashing 4 lvl arti to get fusillade. will let you play like an inquisitive and still retain enough points in another class in some builds:
artificer 4, Battle Engineer 22 + inquisitive 3 + harper or falconry 12 pts = 43 to spend elsewhere (40 if you take 10 doubleshot)
artificer 4/rogue 6, Battle Engineer 22 + Mechanic 11 + harper 3 = 44 to spend elsewhere (41 if you take 10 doubleshot)
artificer 6, Battle Engineer 22 + inquisitive 3 + INT to dmg spell and harper 3 pts = 55pts to spend elsewhere (52 if you take 10 doubleshot)

now going this route mean mixing both pseudo-inquisitive halved DPS with something else but those 40+ pts mean you can be a decent healbot, buff bard, or else for example. could go plaladin 14, cleric 14, Fighter 12 and get those improved crit profile back, get a decent amount of spellsword added damage, and other permutations.

[Gabrael]

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how you're listing Ranger as merely average synergy (worse than how you rated Bard, Cleric and Druid). It has one of three crossbow-type class trees in the game. My preferred split that I've come up with so far uses 6 ranger levels:

12 Rogue/6 Ranger/2 Artificer

41 Inquisitive (Capstone, Tier 5's)
23 Mechanic (Int to dmg, +3 SA die, +15 SA Range, Fletching)
11 Deepwood Stalker (3 SA die, +15 SA Range, Sniper Shot)
6 (7 with tome) Harper (Int to hit, Know the Angles)

of sure, a ranger splash can definitively work, the reason i listed it as average is mostly because it would be average using ranger as the main class, most benefit come early on and additional ranger levels don't bring much more, in your example, you are more of a rogue than a ranger.
If you were to be 12+ ranger vs 12+ cleric or Druid i feel the added benefit of cleric/druid spell, along their WIS focus can really make those classes better as the main one serving as both healer and DPS at the same time
of course, this is mostly my personal take on it.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Cleric has great synergy with getting your cleric lives done without having to play a melee cleric.

[donblas]

I wasn't thinking too deeply when I made my current inquisitive.

I just took what at first sight looked good and did that. A second version later will in corporate lessons learnt.

So I'm going 18/2 Rogue/Arty Gnome

Obviously 41AP in Inquisitive - because that tree is what I'm exploring
26 Rogue mechanic (crossbow damage, sneak dice, int to damage, some range power, returning bolts, trap stuff, etc.)
3 Harper (Int to hit)
10 Gnome (crossbow damage, blur, color spray, etc)
1 AP left

Feats
Runearm use and Rapid reload free from Artificer
Rogue give 9? more sneak dice, evasion, uncanny dodge, opportunist, slippery mind, improved evasion,
Precision
Point blank shot
Precise shot
Improved precise shot
Improved critical
Rapid shot
1 other feat

Not perfect, but adequate to test it.

[Fedora1]

I wasn't thinking too deeply when I made my current inquisitive.

I just took what at first sight looked good and did that. A second version later will in corporate lessons learnt.

So I'm going 18/2 Rogue/Arty Gnome

Obviously 41AP in Inquisitive - because that tree is what I'm exploring
26 Rogue mechanic (crossbow damage, sneak dice, int to damage, some range power, returning bolts, trap stuff, etc.)
3 Harper (Int to hit)
10 Gnome (crossbow damage, blur, color spray, etc)
1 AP left

Feats
Runearm use and Rapid reload free from Artificer
Rogue give 9? more sneak dice, evasion, uncanny dodge, opportunist, slippery mind, improved evasion,
Precision
Point blank shot
Precise shot
Improved precise shot
Improved critical
Rapid shot
1 other feat

Not perfect, but adequate to test it.

Maybe not perfect, but very simple and looks like one of the better ways to go. I like it, let me know how it works out.

[Jetrule]

41 Inquisitive + 27 Falconry leave 12 or 13 APs for other trees. That's just (barely) enough to take a tier-3 ability from one druid tree if I could figure out what's most useful.

I think I might splash a fighter level get a bonus feat extra action boosts from kensai and a rogue level or two for evasion and 5m pbs range maybe a crossbow damage bonus.

I wouldnt want to give up snow slide for utility if not cc.

[Xgya]

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how you're listing Ranger as merely average synergy (worse than how you rated Bard, Cleric and Druid). It has one of three crossbow-type class trees in the game. My preferred split that I've come up with so far uses 6 ranger levels:

12 Rogue/6 Ranger/2 Artificer

41 Inquisitive (Capstone, Tier 5's)
23 Mechanic (Int to dmg, +3 SA die, +15 SA Range, Fletching)
11 Deepwood Stalker (3 SA die, +15 SA Range, Sniper Shot)
6 (7 with tome) Harper (Int to hit, Know the Angles)

If you don't mind me asking, what would your leveling order be in this case?
Normally, people would suggest going Arti 1 first, because that's a lot of free feats at once, but the rest puzzles me.

[Bolo_Grubb]

I wasn't thinking too deeply when I made my current inquisitive.

I just took what at first sight looked good and did that. A second version later will in corporate lessons learnt.

So I'm going 18/2 Rogue/Arty Gnome

Obviously 41AP in Inquisitive - because that tree is what I'm exploring
26 Rogue mechanic (crossbow damage, sneak dice, int to damage, some range power, returning bolts, trap stuff, etc.)
3 Harper (Int to hit)
10 Gnome (crossbow damage, blur, color spray, etc)
1 AP left

Feats
Runearm use and Rapid reload free from Artificer
Rogue give 9? more sneak dice, evasion, uncanny dodge, opportunist, slippery mind, improved evasion,
Precision
Point blank shot
Precise shot
Improved precise shot
Improved critical
Rapid shot
1 other feat

Not perfect, but adequate to test it.

This is what I am doing to get my tiefling racial past lives, on my third one now and really enjoying it.

[donblas]

Maybe not perfect, but very simple and looks like one of the better ways to go. I like it, let me know how it works out.

OOps I suspect that spare feat I mentioned should be insightful reflexes.

[FuryFlash]

If you don't mind me asking, what would your leveling order be in this case?
Normally, people would suggest going Arti 1 first, because that's a lot of free feats at once, but the rest puzzles me.

It's pretty much up to you, because different ways can give different benefits. For example, starting with rogue lets you get the most out of your skill points, whereas starting with artificer gives you free rapid reload right away. A big part of why this split is nice is because of the number of free feats you get. 2 levels of ranger gives free rapid shot, and 4 levels gives you precise shot.

For me, I'd probably start with a rogue level, then 2 levels of arti to get rune arms and repeaters for low levels. Then I'd probably grab a couple ranger levels for rapid shot. After that, you can pretty much mix rogue and ranger however you want.

For the early levels, I imagine Harper would be the best investment for extra damage per bolt with int-to-dmg and KtA. Eventually you'll get int-to-dmg from Mechanic, but I'd probably stick with Harper for a while until you have plenty of AP to throw around. When you have enough AP to get both Harper and some Inquisitive, I'd probably switch to dual crossbows with the extra Law damage.

Hope that helps.