A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Advanced Options: Inquisitors’ Judgements

Advanced Options: Inquisitors’ Judgements by Owen K. C. Stephens is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games, although it was originally published by Super Genius Games. This is a supplement for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game providing additional options for the Inquisitor class from the Advanced Player’s Guide. As such, the supplement is covered by the Open Game License and some of it is therefore considered to be Open Game Content.

This is an eight page PDF which lacks bookmarks. It is available from RPGNow at the regular price of $3.99 but was purchased as part of a special bundle at the reduced price of $0.20. Two thirds of a page are the front cover and one page is the credits and Open Game License.

Although the PDF is entitled Inquisitors’ Judgements, there are more than just judgements in it. Slightly over one and third pages discuss the Inquisitor class, its strengths and weaknesses, and judgements in general. As all Inquisitors, in the base class, have all the judgements, this section covers adding these new judgements to the game, and methods of doing so, whether this be by picking and choosing from old and new to maintain the total of nine, having access to all of them (noted as being possibly too powerful), having to earn them some way and restricting them by domains and deities, the last making a lot of sense.

Next are New Judgements. There are fifteen new judgements to go along with the nine from the base class. These are all of a similar power level and add new options and abilities. This is followed by Greater Judgements. These are more powerful than the standard judgements, and require the Inquisitor be a certain level before attaining them. There are seven new judgements in this section, which concludes the new judgements for the game.

Next is the Justicar. This is an alternate class for the Inquisitor, detailed to 20 levels, which is intended to be more capable of front line combat than the base class.

Finally are Judgement Feats, seven new feats focussed on enhancing and learning judgements.

Advanced Options: Inquisitors’ Judgements in Review

The supplement lacks bookmarks, which are not essential in one of this length, but which would have been nice. The PDF has an unusual landscape format which is apparently intended to make it easier to read on a tablet. The text maintains a three column format and no errors were noticed. There are several stock black and white illustrations as well as the rendered image on the front cover. These are okay, neither good nor bad.

If you were expecting the PDF to be simply a collection of judgements, you might be disappointed as a lot of it isn’t on them. However, there are twenty-two new judgements in total and a host of options for the class, which adds value. Perhaps the supplement could have been given a more accurate title.

The new judgements and abilities are themselves interesting, covering a wide range. Some of the new abilities are fairly powerful, but these are usually well balanced. Having greater judgements is an interesting idea, making the class more comparable to the Witch, and her hexes, specifically the major and greater hexes, also from the Advanced Players Guide. The Justicar provides a new, more combat heavy, option, and some of the new judgements and abilities enhance this. It’s possible that a couple of elements may be a bit overpowered, but which to add to a game is always up to a GameMaster, and the introduction does usefully cover some elements of this.

Advanced Options: Inquisitors’ Judgements is a useful collection of additional features for a base class that can make it more stand out and it can be found by clicking here.