Litany of Right-ouch-ness


Rules Questions


Does this spell in fact allow my paladin to deal -double damage- for the round, or simple x2 the weapon dice like on a critical hit?

What exactly does "double damage" mean and what is or isn't doubled when calculating the damage?


From the section on Multiplying Damage in the Combat chapter, you roll the weapon's damage dice plus all modifiers twice (except bonus damage dice such as from the Flaming weapon enhancement or sneak attack, for example, which only get rolled once), and total it up.

Note that this is how critical hits work too, the weapon dice and normal modifiers (Strength, Power Attack, magic weapon bonuses, etc.) are doubled.

Interestingly, certain forms of bonus damage that would not be multiplied on a critical hit but are not represented by bonus dice, like the Swashbuckler's Precise Strike, do get multiplied when using Litany of Righteousness.


It's also important to note that the spell requires you to have an aura of good, which is actually pretty limited. Off hand I think only clerics, wapriests and paladins get auras (and it's based off your deity's alignment, not yours).

But yes, you would double all damage like on critical hit. But it's also important to note that you seem to have an incorrect idea about critical hits because they double all damage except for bonus damage dice (generally speaking). That generically means all static damage modifiers are double as are weapon damage dice, but any other dice you might roll with your attack (elemental damage, bane damage dice, etc) aren't doubled.

Grand Lodge

Yep, this spell is insanely good for paladins. Swift action to cast, and it doubles all your damage, including bonus damage from Smite and your Divine Bond weapon.

Add in a bit of crit-fishing (Keen/Improved Critical + Fauchard) for some extra fun.


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This spell sucks for paladins now that the target can make a save.


Very nice on a Samsaran Cleric that summons monsters with auras.

Hint: with VMC cleric everyone can have an aura.


EvilTwinSkippy wrote:

Yep, this spell is insanely good for paladins. Swift action to cast, and it doubles all your damage, including bonus damage from Smite and your Divine Bond weapon.

Add in a bit of crit-fishing (Keen/Improved Critical + Fauchard) for some extra fun.

Too bad Smite itself is also a swift action (and Lay on Hands on yourself, too).


Khudzlin wrote:
EvilTwinSkippy wrote:

Yep, this spell is insanely good for paladins. Swift action to cast, and it doubles all your damage, including bonus damage from Smite and your Divine Bond weapon.

Add in a bit of crit-fishing (Keen/Improved Critical + Fauchard) for some extra fun.

Too bad Smite itself is also a swift action (and Lay on Hands on yourself, too).

It takes a swift action to start a smite evil, once started it continues until the target is dead. This does prevent using it on the first round, but not on the second or subsequent rounds. There is also nothing in the rules that prevents a paladin from declaring a smite evil before combat starts. The only thing would be that if he declares it and combat does not start he has used up one of his smite.


The target of the smite might be in pretty bad shape after the first round (especially for an archer, who doesn't need to move before attacking), maybe enough to make the Litany overkill. Smite requires line of sight, so once you can declare, you're pretty much committed to combat Also, it lasts for the rest of the day, so you can run after your target if it runs away.

Silver Crusade

Khudzlin wrote:
The target of the smite might be in pretty bad shape after the first round (especially for an archer, who doesn't need to move before attacking), maybe enough to make the Litany overkill. Smite requires line of sight, so once you can declare, you're pretty much committed to combat Also, it lasts for the rest of the day, so you can run after your target if it runs away.
Smite Evil wrote:
The smite evil effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability.

You can run after your target till it dies from exhaustion :3


The Paladin dying of exhaustion is also an option if they don't rest.

Silver Crusade

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Khudzlin wrote:
The Paladin dying of exhaustion is also an option if they don't rest.

Remove Fatigue Mercy says hello ^w^

Sovereign Court

I'm curious as to why this is an Inquisitor spell when that class doesn't have an aura and can't make use of it themselves.

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Um, because you might be playing with other people?


Rysky wrote:
Khudzlin wrote:
The Paladin dying of exhaustion is also an option if they don't rest.
Remove Fatigue Mercy says hello ^w^

You only get a limited number of uses of Lay on Hands without resting, though ^v^

Sovereign Court

Rysky wrote:
Um, because you might be playing with other people?

Sry, I'm used to playing PFS where there's no telling what the party make up is.

Silver Crusade

crashcanuck wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Um, because you might be playing with other people?
Sry, I'm used to playing PFS where there's no telling what the party make up is.

Fair point.

Though unless I had a regular group I probably wouldn't take such a situinal spell then.

Silver Crusade

Khudzlin wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Khudzlin wrote:
The Paladin dying of exhaustion is also an option if they don't rest.
Remove Fatigue Mercy says hello ^w^
You only get a limited number of uses of Lay on Hands without resting, though ^v^

Extra Lay on Hands.

(Okay, I'll stop)


Gauss wrote:
This spell sucks for paladins now that the target can make a save.

I didn't even notice the spell had been changed to allow a save. That makes it worthless for paladins. It's maybe okay for warpriest and cleric. A big maybe for either since a cleric with a high enough save probably doesn't deal much melee damage, and a warpriest probably doesn't have a much stronger save than the paladin.

crashcanuck wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Um, because you might be playing with other people?
Sry, I'm used to playing PFS where there's no telling what the party make up is.

So don't take the spell. It's an option because it's sometimes useful for the Inquisitor in the right party. If you don't know if you'll have someone who can make use of it, it doesn't hurt to have a scroll and a *insert the name of the item that lets spontaneous casters cast from a scroll once per day without using up the scroll, that i can't remember the name of*.

edit: mnemonic vestments.

Sovereign Court

Khudzlin wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Khudzlin wrote:
The Paladin dying of exhaustion is also an option if they don't rest.
Remove Fatigue Mercy says hello ^w^
You only get a limited number of uses of Lay on Hands without resting, though ^v^

Ki channel and Tea of tranferance anyone?

It is amusing to think of an order of Irorian paladins hopped up on tea.

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