The Inquisitor

A roguish archetype

A hooded halfling searches the offices of the local bishop in the dead of night. He has come to rob the bishop, not of gold or relics, but to carry away his secrets. As the goddess's teachings explained to her children to bring what was lost in the darkness into the light, he seeks proof of the corrupt cleric's ties to a demon cult. At long last, the incriminating letters are found and he makes his way out the window. Come morning, he'd be nailing the letters to the door of the temple and proclaiming the bishop's heresy for all the world to see.

In the depths of the city's crypts, a human goes from tomb to tomb, inspecting the contents of each before marking notes in a ledger and moving on. Once in a while, one of the corpses will show signs of burgeoning unlife and have to be put to rest more aggressively. Nothing that her god's magic couldn't help with. As she finishes her route she notices the lid on the tomb of the local lord's father has been looted, and the body is missing. "Grave robbers." The rogue remarks with disgust in her voice. No doubt, this would have to be reported to the high priest, and then she'd be sent on another goose chase through the city to find the wretches who had the audacity to rob from the church.

"And any who follow in her false footsteps shall suffer the same fate!" A tiefling garbed in formal religious robes concludes his speech to the mob of peasants. It had been difficult, speaking over the apostate's noise. First her proclamations of forgiveness, then her prayers to heaven, and finally her screams as the flames reached her. But without a doubt, His Father Below would be pleased with the latest offering, and any common man who had thought of straying from the church would now know what pain such a poor choice would bring them.

The inquisitor shares many of the same skills of the typical highwayman, street thug, cut purse, or scoundrel. But while most are content to seek lives of vice and illegality, or offer their skills to the highest bidder in the endless quest for material wealth. The Inquisitor serves a higher calling, using their skills in the service of a deity or her church. An inquisitor is gifted with a limited amount of divine magic in her endeavors, in exchange for their faithful service to the will of a higher power. The life of an inquisitor is often spent traveling through both sides of the law, working with unsavory allies for the sake of a higher purpose, and hunting down those who would do harm to the faithful, in mind, body, or soul. More than one inquisitor has fallen from grace from being unable to strike an acceptable balance between their choice of unsavory methods and the purity of their intent. Such souls often fall into the employ of dark cults, and may become the quarry of inquisitors of their own faiths. After all, few faiths take kindly to apostasy.

Cantrips

You learn three cantrips: Resistance and two other cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list. You learn another cleric cantrip of your choice at 10th level.

Spell Slots

The Inquisitor Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Bane and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast Bane using either slot.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know three 1st level cleric spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the abjuration, divination, and enchantment spells on the cleric spell list. You may not select any spell which causes a creature to regain hitpoints.

The Spells Known column of the Inquisitor Spellcasting table shows when you learn more cleric spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be an abjuration, divination, or enchantment spell of your choice, and must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 7th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.

The spells you learn at 8th, 14th, and 20th level can come from any school of magic. You may not learn any spell which causes a creature to regain hitpoints, or that returns a dead creature back to life.

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the cleric spells you know with another spell of your choice from the cleric spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots, and it must be an abjuration, divination, or spell, unless you're replacing the spell you gained at 3rd, 8th, 14th, or 20th level from any school of magic. The new spell cannot cause a creature to regain hitpoints, or that returns a dead creature back to life.

Spellcasting Ability

Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your cleric spells, since the power of your spells comes from your devotion to your deity. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a Wisdom spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus for your cleric spells.

Inquisitor Spellcasting

Bane of the Unholy

You've undertaken an extensive study on the nature, mannerisms, and natural vulnerabilities of a certain sort of creature that is traditionally opposed by your faith. Choose one of the following creature types: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.

You have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks to determine if creatures of this type are lying to you, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.

When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all.

Hexenhammer

You've studied many tomes explaining the nature of arcane magic. Inquisitors typically undergo this study to hunt down dangerous arcane spellcasters, but might also take it to understand the benefits (and dangers) of magical artifacts, or to be a more capable servant or guardian of mages who wield their power with the authority of the inquisitor's faith. You gain proficiency in Intelligence (Arcana) checks.

Credits

• Homebrew by Michael7123
• Input from Discord of Many Things
• Art by JenZee, "Holy Warrior", Deviantart Page Here