| 9 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the errata. 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Powerful Justice RAW:
Powerful Justice (Su)
At 11th level, an oathbound paladin may spends one use of her smite evil ability to grant her allies within 10 feet the ability to smite evil, except they only gain the paladin’s bonus to damage, not her smite’s attack bonus or ability to bypass DR.
When it says that you 'only gain the Paladin's bonus to damage' it seems to suggest that you do not gain the AC bonus... but then it goes on to specifically outline what you do not get, making it sound like the only offensive bonus you get is to damage, but the defensive bonus remains intact.
I think it should be FAQ'd since they forget to mention the AC bonus.
I think it should be FAQ'd since they forget to mention the AC bonus.
Once something is FAQ'd, where exactly do we go to get these answers and how do we know they've been answered?
Every once in a while an FAQ blog will be made, but there is no time table on it.
These FAQ blogs come out on Tuesdays, but they don't come out every Tuesday. It is pretty random.
This is referencing the Oath of Vengeance, right?
The AC bonus might not be a factor, seeing as this Oath is more inclined to hurt someone. But still, it helps to be concrete about these things.
Heck, I almost forgot Paladins could grant their smiting powers to their friends. Pathfinder never fails to amaze me.
Personally I would say that this bit:
...except they only gain the paladin’s bonus to damage...
(emphasis mine) answers the question quite handily.
No need of a FAQ, the defensive ability comes not from the smite evil but it's in addition to the smite
"In addition, while smite evil is in effect, the paladin gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite."
link PRDEDIT: so Smite Evil is "just" a bonus to hit, a bonus to damage and ability to bypass DR
the bonus to AC is ANOTHER power which functions only when the smite is active.
So a if normal paladin shares his smite the party does not get the AC bonus?
I believe that if they had intended to make smite evil's AC bonus a separate ability, they would've done so.
To me, since it says only, it means just that.
It is not a seperate affect. It comes with the smite. They just decided to make the first paragraph discuss the offense. The 2nd was about the AC bonus. The last was about how long it last.
"In addition" does not mean "is not a part of".
You are trying to say that for smite only the 1st and 3rd paragraphs apply, but the rules are never written like that. Anything under an ability counts for that ability. If it were not a part of smite it, but still depended on smite it would have its own entry.
As an example
Channel Positive Energy (Su): When a paladin reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to channel positive energy like a cleric. Using this ability consumes two uses of her lay on hands ability. A paladin uses her level as her effective cleric level when channeling positive energy. This is a Charisma-based ability.
As you can see it refers you back to the other ability that it works off of.
I have no idea what that is, but I am sure it does not have two different abilities under one heading. If anything I am sure it might give you options to choose or word it in such a way as to say _____ is not always active.
We are not fighting. We are having a discussion.
All Holy Champion, which is its own ability, does is change how smite works, and change how channel energy works. I don't see the issue. It still references both abilities so my point stands. You still don't have two specific abilities under one heading, in the same manner that you are saying the AC bonus is not part of smite.
In short the smite evil ability included everything in its description, and so does the Holy Champion description.
I understand the logic. I am just saying that by the rules a class ability includes whatever is in the description.
Got to agree with Wraithstrike, here. Let's look at the contention against the Paladin's allies gaining all benefits of Smite Evil:
Smite Evil (Su) : Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
In addition, while smite evil is in effect, the paladin gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, the smite is wasted with no effect.
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. At 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: Paladin, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level.
Plus:
Aura of Justice (Su) : At 11th level, a paladin can expend two uses of her smite evil ability to grant the ability to smite evil to all allies within 10 feet, using her bonuses. Allies must use this smite evil ability by the start of the paladin's next turn and the bonuses last for 1 minute. Using this ability is a free action. Evil creatures gain no benefit from this ability.
Aura of Justice grants all allies in range a one-shot use of the Smite Evil ability, using the paladin's bonuses. It does not specify which bonuses they gain, just that they use the Paladin's bonuses. As such, they gain all of the bonuses that are contingent upon Smite Evil, which includes the AC bonus, since the paladin gets that bonus when Smite Evil is in effect.
Wraith is also right that there are no abilities listed in the game where a secondary effect is listed as part of the ability and is considered separate from that ability. It's a whole package. If it were to be a separate class ability, it would have an entry to itself, perhaps called something like "Divine Protection" and would say "While the paladin's smite evil ability is active, he gains..." If that were the case, I would agree wholeheartedly that it is not shared under Aura of Justice, since it would not actually be part of Smite Evil itself.