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Can a inquisitor in the fluff take on a daemon prince or Greater daemon of chaos by themselves?

Anybody can. The power of a daemon in the real realm can fluctuate from nigh on godly to weaker than a grot. The gods of chaos of opposing ones might suddenly smite them with great zest. Along with that, it depends. Much of the fluff is written from a human manner and you will have humans ripping apart things that they really probably shouldn't be capable of curb stomping (DP, GD, Hive Tyrants, Avatar). Other times they don't stand a chance.

Inquisitors can wield sacred weapons built to weaken daemons and to help banish them to the warp (no matter how long or short that might be) especially Ordo Malleus. They'll go in knowing their name, wielding weapons built to specifically kill daemons, grenades to ruin them, etc. That being said, it is still rarely an easy fight and is very risky (and usually the daemon will have been weakened before combat).

One good example is in Eisenhorn: a very high ranking inquisitor goes toe-to-toe in a psychic battle with a daemonhost and gets killed pretty easily.

Basically, as StarTrotter said, things can fluctuate very easily.

In normal circumstances an Inquisitor probably couldn't win. The vast majority of Inquisitors are not built for combat. Those are just the ones we see in the tabletop game. However, if an Inquisitor learns a daemon's true name, wields a weapon made to kill that specific daemon, etc., the Inquisitor will have an almost "unfair" advantage.

... it should be noted that EIsenhorn went in to fight that Daemon-Thing (what kind of Daemon Prophantii and Cherubael are is never revealed, other than "very powerful") having specifically armed himself to do so. It was still not an easy fight. One must also consider that Cherubael may have aided him on the sly.

In other words, an Inquisitor beating a daemon prince/etc. solo usually involves a lot of specialized equipment and even then winning 1v1 is a rare sight of amazing potential/luck

 Psienesis wrote:
... it should be noted that EIsenhorn went in to fight that Daemon-Thing (what kind of Daemon Prophantii and Cherubael are is never revealed, other than "very powerful") having specifically armed himself to do so. It was still not an easy fight. One must also consider that Cherubael may have aided him on the sly.

Cherubael is actually confirmed to be a Daemon Prince, IIRC.

Though, to be fair, he is also a bound, Daemonhosted Daemon Prince.

When Cherubael's full power is manifested in the materium, Eisenhorn can only just barely hold his own against him. And that was after Cherubael spent most of his power destroying a Warlord Titan.

 MRPYM wrote:
Can a inquisitor in the fluff take on a daemon prince or Greater daemon of chaos by themselves?

Inquisitor Lord Hector Rex, specifically during the Vraks Campaign. The guy is a daemon-slaying machine, he makes Grey Knights look relatively rubbish when fighting (greater) daemons.

Hector Rex is slightly a special case though. He's genetically modified so he's stronger than a normal human (but still not Space Marine. And him beating Angrath still seems like a huge stretch to most people, although I forget if there were other extenuating circumstances involved)

 Psienesis wrote:
... it should be noted that EIsenhorn went in to fight that Daemon-Thing (what kind of Daemon Prophantii and Cherubael are is never revealed, other than "very powerful") having specifically armed himself to do so. It was still not an easy fight. One must also consider that Cherubael may have aided him on the sly.

I actually meant that other Inquisitor, Volk I think his name was, who got mind-fried. I should have been more clear.


As far as the Hector Rex example... I think that it is beyond ridiculous....

Well the story maybe ridiculous to some but the example isn't. I'm just delivering what the OP asked for. MRPYM didn't specify that the Inquisitor couldn't be post-human or the that the story was not allowed to stretch some reader's beliefs.

If the Inquisitor is smart enough (and forwarned) to bring a Blank that will make a big difference.

Otherwise depends on his or her "plot shields".

Hector Rex just has immense plot shields....

Without plot shields, no an inquisitor is not going to take on a daemon prince and live through it.

Inquisitor Rex is:

A. A genetically modified freak, basically a Space Marine.
B. A very powerful psyker
C. Armed with powerful equipment specialized for Daemon slaying, such as a book of true names (He knew An'ggrath's), and a force sword blessed by the Emperor himself.

Despite this, Rex only barely defeated the Daemon Lord, exploiting an opening when the Bloodthirster roared for his god, Khorne.

Oh, that's right. Yea, Inquisitor Rex also allegedly met face to face with the Emperor himself. It's also possible, in addition to his blessed weapon, that the guy has some serious god-infusions going on in him. (depending on if he really did meet the Emperor, if the Emperor is a god, blah blah blah)