best weapons for a War Priest


Advice


what can you recommend? I thought of shurikens, but since you can only throw 1 per attack now, its not quite the combo I was originally envisioning, so I am left to wonder what can benefit from Sacred Weapon?


Unless it's changed, thrown weapons don't work with Sacred Weapon.

There's whips, daggers, unarmed strikes/(spiked)gauntlets, spears, any double weapon, high crit range weapons like Kukri or Rapiers...

Lantern Lodge

The neat thing is you can use almost any weapon, even those ordinarily considered poor choices.

If you want to maximize sacred weapon, I guess you'd be looking not at the weapon's damage, but solely at the weapons qualities: reach, one versus two handed, high crit range, trip, disarm, etc., depending on what you are going for.

For example, take the Falchion. PCs often use the weapon, but still wince a bit at it's 2d4 damage. Now, a War Priest can use a Falchion, still get 2-handed damage modifiers, still get the high crit range, and do 2d6 or more base damage.


I am sorry, I should restate the question: what are the best choices to use with Sacred Weapon?

@Azten: Whip sounds like a great idea, especially if sacred weapon means it is now real damage, even at level 1 that is fantastic. And you can carry a shield too. Also, I just checked sacred weapon and weapon focus, there is no reason I can find why thrown weapons would not work.

@captain Zoom: I agree, which do you believe are the best ones, I am open to suggestions, and I understand that my build might completely change based on this choice.


Near the end of Sacred Weapon: "These bonuses only apply while the warpriest is holding the weapon, and end immediately if the weapon is sheathed or leaves the warpriest’s possession."


I read that statement as only applying to the 4th level ability to imbue the sacred weapon with divine power.


I saw a post mentioning battle pois. It has spurred my interest.

Whip seems to be a really strong choice as it has reach.

It's really cool at making flavorful options viable. Otherwise it's going to make already popular weapons more popular (like Kukris or scimitars).

Lantern Lodge

Motionmatrix wrote:
@captain Zoom: I agree, which do you believe are the best ones, I am open to suggestions, and I understand that my build might completely change based on this choice.

Can't really say. It depends on what you're going for. The great thing about War Priest is you now have a wide range of options available that would be poor choices if not for War Priest.

Want a 2-handed non-reach melee weapon, Falchion or Katana are great for War Priest. Really, any high crit 2 handed melee weapon works.

Want to go two-weapon fighting, Kukri is great for it's high crit range.

You want a high crit range 2-handed reach weapon but don't want to take exotic weapon proficiency Fauchard, then... well, you're out of luck there as there are no simple or martial weapons that meet this criteria.

You want something funky and exotic, the aforementioned whip is great. BTW, I don't think Sacred Weapon changes the damage type, just the damage dealt. Also, instead of whip, which does non-lethal, take a Scorpion Whip - same rules and abilities as a whip (if you are proficient with whip) except it does real damage!

And so on...


I am not sure that the bab and damage change when you release the weapon, only the enhancement bonus and weapon abilities based on the way it is written.

Sovereign Court

Longbow. Check out the Air Blessing.

I have a Warpriest of Shelyn 1 Wizard 1 Eldritch Knight 1. At level 9, he will take the first of two levels of Arcane Archer before reverting to EK.

If he had started as a fighter, he would get to AA one level sooner but he would have missed out on a lot of fun stuff.


wow, I can't believe I missed that. Air blessing is beautiful. can you charge with a bow somehow? that would be fantastic.

Grand Lodge

Depending on how it is handled mechanically, a Net is a strong option.

At later levels, the Falcata is just plain superior though.


I am really liking the concept of the Falcata, its cool early levels, and later on when sacred weapon outpaces it, its fantastic. Maybe use a scorpion whip when I am second line behind the other melees.

Grand Lodge

My favorite, is the Club. I even run a Club focused PC in PFS.

Dark Archive

I'm looking forward to a Warpriest of Cayden Cailean using a Mug.

Lantern Lodge

twilsemail wrote:
I'm looking forward to a Warpriest of Cayden Cailean using a Mug.

Don't have time to look it up, but can you take weapon focus (Improvised Weapon) and then use Improvised Weapons as your Sacred Weapon?

Mugs, chairs, sharp pointy sticks picked up off the ground, a banana, and from time to time the random arm ripped off a body!

Sounds like a lot of fun if it works!

Dark Archive

It would take me a while to find the direct quote, but developers have said that you can take Weapon Focus (Frying Pan) or Weapon Focus (Mug) if you either meet the pre-req of proficiency or find a way around that pre-req.

I'm planning on two levels of Ranger to get around the Proficiency pre-req.

If I wind up playing him in a home game, I'll try talking to my GM about Catch Off-Guard counting.

Grand Lodge

Well, you cannot actually take Weapon Focus(Improvised Weapon).

You must be proficient, or have a way to bypass the prerequisites.

Even then, it would be more like Weapon Focus(Mug), or Weapon Focus(Arrow), than all improvised weapons, I would think.

Dark Archive

I think it may have actually been one of BBTs threads where someone chimed in. Perhaps he has a link?

I'm looking around, just not having much luck.


Just a heads up - there were rumblings towards the end of the playtest discussion thread that sacred weapons scaling allowing cherry picking of crit range or other special properties might get 'looked into'

book is out in a couple months, not long to play with it as is if they change something now - that's why I am holding off on any ACG classes for the moment.

Grand Lodge

I would look at using the Meteor hammer. It can be a reach weapon that gives you a +1 bounce to ac which a cool trip ability or it can be a double weapon, and witching between these two modes is a free action decided at the start of your turn. At early levels this is devastating with Combat Reflexes. Play whack a Goblin as they try to base you then tear them to pieces with two weapon fighting for thow's lucky (or unlucky as the case may be) to get next to you.


Dagger Pistol. Piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning all in one package, with the WP having an easy escape from the tiny damage die. :)


Go half-orc and take a net as one of your weapons. Warpriest just got a whole lot more dangerous.

Shadow Lodge

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For the Improvised Weapon issue, there is the feat Equipment Trick in the Adventurer's Armory that lets you treat a certain item as a weapon.

For my favorite, the Battle Ladder. Its not particularly powerful, nor does it have a really cool ability, but I believe Battle Ladder says it all.

Grand Lodge

Bite.


I like unarmed strike and a shield but i was just watching the Avengers last nigth.


Catfolk claws ..so you can pounce!!


At the moment, high crit range sits near the top and I think just beyond that are weapons with weapon qualities you like. x2 weapons with no special qualities, are inversely, at the bottom of optimization. This puts things like Fauchard, Falcata, and Katana/Nodachi pretty high up there, and things like unarmed strike quiet a bit lower.

I think ideally your picking something you like and gives you weapon qualities you want. If your GM allows reflavoring/reskinning then you may just be in heaven with your options.


Take some kind of Reach Weapon, play your Warpriest as Reach Cleric.
Use Samsarans as your race, Taking this alternate racial trait:

Mystic Past Life (Su) You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.

Grab some Summoning spells off the Summoner spell list so you're not behind in summoning power due to your weakened spell levels known at your level compared to Wiz/Sorc/Cleric/Druid.

Get Sacred Summons Feat and any other feats to aid in Summoning. Traits to aid in Summoning or Metamagic casting. Some quickened buffs would be nice. Cast on your turn and attack on theirs.

Or combine Warpriest with 3 levels of Zen Archer Monk. Take the Weather & Good Blessings. Use Samsarans as your race and get Mystic Past Life to add Aspect of Falcon (+1 ranged attacks & 19-20 crit range) and Gravity Bow to your spell list. at 20th level with Gravity Bow & 3 levels of Zen Archer you'd be doing 3d6 arrow damage with 19-20 crit range. Summon some tanks and snipe away.


Rylar wrote:
I saw a post mentioning battle pois. It has spurred my interest.

I made a test character in another thread based on battle pois. Sarenrae-worshipping Warpriest with high strength and low dexterity using Battle Pois to sidestep the penalties for Two-weapon fighting. It was an interesting build. The main advantage was being able to use TWF without qualifying so you can wear heavy armor and safely ditch dexterity, and that Sacred Weapon sidesteps the main drawback of the poi (low base damage). That said, I ran into a few problems:

* Low dexterity means you won't qualify for any other TWF feats, which is a mixed blessing. Truth be told, you can ignore most of them.
* The Battle Poi's could do with a little bit of clarification. Do you add your strength modifier to damage with it? If yes, is the extra damage from strength treated as fire damage as well? What is the action needed to ignite the battle poi?
* Fire Resistance is very common. Even more than normal you really, really need to carry a backup or three. Because of the way Sacred Weapon works, you're probably going to want to take Weapon Focus in at least one other weapon.
* You need to pay for enchants for two weapons. Considering the Warpriest wants most of the same equipment as other martials as well as caster gear, WBL gets pretty tight.

In the end I ran into enough questions that I decided not to put the character into play before I have the final version of the ACG. I love the visual though.


Eigengrau wrote:

Take some kind of Reach Weapon, play your Warpriest as Reach Cleric.

Use Samsarans as your race, Taking this alternate racial trait:

Mystic Past Life (Su) You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.

Grab some Summoning spells off the Summoner spell list so you're not behind in summoning power due to your weakened spell levels known at your level compared to Wiz/Sorc/Cleric/Druid.

Get Sacred Summons Feat and any other feats to aid in Summoning. Traits to aid in Summoning or Metamagic casting. Some quickened buffs would be nice. Cast on your turn and attack on theirs.

You can't borrow from the summoner list. Only the cleric, druid, inquisitor, ranger, paladin, and if it winds up with its own list the shaman.


Atarlost wrote:
Eigengrau wrote:

Take some kind of Reach Weapon, play your Warpriest as Reach Cleric.

Use Samsarans as your race, Taking this alternate racial trait:

Mystic Past Life (Su) You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.

Grab some Summoning spells off the Summoner spell list so you're not behind in summoning power due to your weakened spell levels known at your level compared to Wiz/Sorc/Cleric/Druid.

Get Sacred Summons Feat and any other feats to aid in Summoning. Traits to aid in Summoning or Metamagic casting. Some quickened buffs would be nice. Cast on your turn and attack on theirs.

You can't borrow from the summoner list. Only the cleric, druid, inquisitor, ranger, paladin, and if it winds up with its own list the shaman.

Oops missed that. Not sure what I was thinking there or Not Thinking is more like it lol. Still think I'd try my hand at a Warpriest/Zen Archer Monk with a Longbow and grab up some Ranger spells for Archery.


Thank you all for the help, this is taking me in different directions that I originally planned.

I should state: no summoning. We will be playing a Ravenloft campaign which means no summoning or magics that deal with planes or planar travel of any kind (no blink, no dimension door, etc).

So a Samsaran Warpriest with a longbow and with the air + _____________ blessings. Take the alternative Mystic Past Life, Add gravity bow and Aspect of the falcon. Carry Large arrows so with gravity bow we are shooting for 3d6 each arrow. Add a reach weapon or a Falkata at level 2 or 3 for melee purposes.


Motionmatrix wrote:

Thank you all for the help, this is taking me in different directions that I originally planned.

I should state: no summoning. We will be playing a Ravenloft campaign which means no summoning or magics that deal with planes or planar travel of any kind (no blink, no dimension door, etc).

So a Samsaran Warpriest with a longbow and with the air + _____________ blessings. Take the alternative Mystic Past Life, Add gravity bow and Aspect of the falcon. Carry Large arrows so with gravity bow we are shooting for 3d6 each arrow. Add a reach weapon or a Falkata at level 2 or 3 for melee purposes.

Don't forget your silvered arrows and a pair of Silver/Cold-Iron/Brass Knuckles and get some extra holy symbols too.


I'm building a dwarven warpriest, and am hoping to sell my GM on the weapon idea of a "Dwarven Debating Tankard" -- yes, Cayden Cailean will be my muse as I sling a massive iron tankard on a chain across the battlefield. (H/T to Twilsemail for the inspiration)

Based on the BoostPoints v2 model (http://www.rpgbooster.com/download/BoostPointsCWC2.pdf) I'm proposing a one-handed martial weapon (4p) as follows:

Damage: 1d3
Critical: 19-20x2
Special: reach; trip

The power of my deity is what makes this weapon hit hard enough to make it handy for melee (sacred weapon, yes). Thoughts?


Bow.
Lance.
Fists.
In that order.


Tomte73 wrote:

I'm building a dwarven warpriest, and am hoping to sell my GM on the weapon idea of a "Dwarven Debating Tankard" -- yes, Cayden Cailean will be my muse as I sling a massive iron tankard on a chain across the battlefield. (H/T to Twilsemail for the inspiration)

Based on the BoostPoints v2 model (http://www.rpgbooster.com/download/BoostPointsCWC2.pdf) I'm proposing a one-handed martial weapon (4p) as follows:

Damage: 1d3
Critical: 19-20x2
Special: reach; trip

The power of my deity is what makes this weapon hit hard enough to make it handy for melee (sacred weapon, yes). Thoughts?

The only one-handed reach weapon I know (whip) of comes with a huge load of drawbacks to balance this out. Yours doesn't. I would not allow it.

But you could refluff a whip and use whip stats.


Umbranus wrote:
Tomte73 wrote:

I'm building a dwarven warpriest, and am hoping to sell my GM on the weapon idea of a "Dwarven Debating Tankard" -- yes, Cayden Cailean will be my muse as I sling a massive iron tankard on a chain across the battlefield. (H/T to Twilsemail for the inspiration)

Based on the BoostPoints v2 model (http://www.rpgbooster.com/download/BoostPointsCWC2.pdf) I'm proposing a one-handed martial weapon (4p) as follows:

Damage: 1d3
Critical: 19-20x2
Special: reach; trip

The power of my deity is what makes this weapon hit hard enough to make it handy for melee (sacred weapon, yes). Thoughts?

The only one-handed reach weapon I know (whip) of comes with a huge load of drawbacks to balance this out. Yours doesn't. I would not allow it.

But you could refluff a whip and use whip stats.

I second that.

Use bladed whip stats/mechanics to deal bludgeoning damage and it should be fine on my table.


Claw claw bite seems awfully nice for Warpriests at low to medium levels...

The only real drawback is the poor threat range.


In theory, couldn't you easily build a DEX-based warpriest? With scimitar and Dervish Dance, you don't have the limits of a 1d6 damage weapon. Or you could just go with two Agile, Keen daggers and TWF.


aceDiamond wrote:
In theory, couldn't you easily build a DEX-based warpriest? With scimitar and Dervish Dance, you don't have the limits of a 1d6 damage weapon. Or you could just go with two Agile, Keen daggers and TWF.

in theory yes.

i've toyed with a few of them, but you lose the bonus of having heavy armor and shield proficiencies.

you also have 3/4bab and no static +x attack bonus (outside of divine favor) so they take a hit on the +attack department.

you also have to spend your bonus feats on the twf line because of the 3/4bab, meaning that pretty much lvl6 bonus feat and lvl12 bonus feat is set in stone.

it CAN be done, but it will either have a slight hit on attack/damage and a moderate on HP, OR you need GM ruling on specific feats to just take a slight hit on the attakc department. Or you can take a large hit on your AC

Scarab Sages

Pharasma is a good option for using TWF with a warpriest, as the +2 to hit from Deific Obedience cancels the TWF penalty, and the static damage from River Rat is a godsend.

But still, outside of a very specific build plan it's a generally sub-optimal option.


My vote is for the mancatcher. It has a DMG value in case the net/lasso don't work but it is still a touch attack 2h weapon so power attack and 1.5 x str are go. Also a ghost touch mancatcher is just awesome.

Runner up is the poison sand tube, if sacred weapon works it's a no save aoe dmg weapon with auto hit, plus poison or irritant.

Just plain cool is the iron brush, oh yes I will beat you down with my happy little brush.

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