Playing a Paladin and about to hit level 5 and and going to be taking Divine Weapon Bond so I was wondering 2 things:
1) Is there any way to make the Weapon Divine Bond something faster/better than the standard action it starts out at?
2) Are there other ways (items, Feats, etc) to improve the Paladin divine bond?
No third party products please but nearly anything that Paizo itself publishes is ok with my GM.
The character is an Angel Kin Aasimar, vanilla paladin.
The divine bond is (Sp), a spell-like ability, so if your GM is OK with monster feats Quicken Spell-like Ability might be an option. There's no obvious spell level associated with it however so you'd have to agree something with the GM there. If you assume that getting the ability at 5th level makes it equivalent to a 2nd level spell (the sorcerer progression seems to be the default) then you could take Quicken SLA at 12th paladin level or above.
You could go VARIANT MULTICLASS Magus (I dunno how to link exactly to the magus there, it's about 3/4 down the page). It'll give you an ARCANE POOL which acts pretty much like a divine weapon bond, but it's a swift action to activate. At level 7 that'll be worth a +2 enhancement (and at this level it lets you swap out enhancement bonuses for special abilities like the level 5 Magus). Also at level 7 you get an ARCANA. The ENDURING BLADE arcana gives your bond minutes per level per use (well level-2). At level 15 you get another arcana & can add DEVOTED BLADE for that real Paladin-ey feel. You also get another Arcana at 19th level, but those first 2 are probably the most "Divne Bond" arcana.
Actually I just read the VMC text again, and you can totally select BROAD STUDY at level 7 and be a Paladin with SPELL COMBAT and SPELLSTRIKE!
Hmmmm....
deuxhero - Thanks for the tips. Don't think my GM is currently allowing the Weapon Master's Handbook since none of us own it but I will check.
avr - I had seen that and will try to float it by my GM. I have taken a trait which boosts my caster level in Paladin so should be able to qualify to try and take it at level 10 or 11 I think.
MrCharisma - Too late to Variant multiclass at this point since I am already level 4.
Actually I just read the VMC text again, and you can totally select BROAD STUDY at level 7 and be a Paladin with SPELL COMBAT and SPELLSTRIKE!
Hmmmm....
MrCharisma - Too late to Variant multiclass at this point since I am already level 4.
So I thought I'd stumbled onto the best thing ever there and made my own thread asking people ... and it turned out I'd totally misread it. You don't actually get Spell Combat. Paladins really don't need the magus VMC abilities because they get their own version.
Back to your original question, I recommend making liberal use of BLESS WEAPON (you can even get it fairly cheaply as a wand) and taking IMPROVED CRITICAL at level 9. Between these, your Divine Bond, your Weapon and your Full BAB you should be dealing pretty serious damage all the time (and ridiculous damage when you smite).
As for the Standard Action activation time, it's not as bad as it sounds. At level 5 you can only use it once per day for 5 minutes, which should last you 1 or 2 fights. At level 9 you can use it twice per day for 9 minutes (for a total of 18 minutes per day) which should last you almost every fight of the day. At level 13 you can use it 3 times per day for 13 minutes (for a total of 39 minutes per day) which should be way more than you need. At level 17 you can use it 4 times per day for 17 minutes (for a total of 67 minutes per day) ... I'd have trouble finding a way you'd run out at this point.
Long story short, once you reach level 9 it should be lasting you almost every fight. If you think you're about to get into a difficult fight, activate it before the fight begins. Even at level 5 it's a long enough buff that you can activate it before the fight and it's very unlikely you'll regret it.