Deific weapon, as written, does not give the paladin any benefit if their deity is LG or NG, since all those deities' favored weapons are martial. Some of the LN or N deities' favored weapons are simple. But that means this rule is only beneficial to paladins of a select few deities.
I would change the wording to the Deific Weapon rule to say the paladin is always trained in his deity's favored weapon, and upon reaching 2nd level treats the damage of his deity's favored weapon as 1 die size higher. If the paladin must perform an atonement he loses the higher damage ability until he gains another level after completing the atonement requirements.
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The reason Deific Weapon exists is that you're not just worse if you're using your deity's favored weapon and it happens to be simple. It'd actually defeat the purpose of the ability if it did anything for martial weapons.
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The reason Deific Weapon exists is that you're not just worse if you're using your deity's favored weapon and it happens to be simple. It'd actually defeat the purpose of the ability if it did anything for martial weapons.
Indeed. On top of that, there will be more deities down the line and more chance for this ability to shine.
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I see it as largely futureproofing, so that they don't end up printing some deity with a weak weapon as favored leaving people to say "well, clerics/paladins of deity x are bad because [foo] is a terrible weapon" nor do people feel like they are being forced to use a weapon other than the favored one purely for mechanical reasons.
I guess, though, Paladins might already use non-favored weapons just because they are a Paladin of Torag who wants a reach weapon (bring back the Dorn-Dergar) or whatever.
I feel like the big issue with deific weapons is that people dislike having "dead" class features.
Now if only the fast Crossbow reload was a General feat, Abadar Paladins would be packing serious heat with those d12! Then again, this makes Retribute Strike totally useless! Can't wait for that ability to be optional and get something more general-purpose instead.