Yet another question about the paladin: sacred shield: bastion of good ability

[Balgin]

Hello everyone. I have a question about the wording ot Bastion of Good and I haven't found an eratta, FAQ or post on the message boards that seems to answer it yet so here goes.

"This ability functions as smite evil, except that the paladin gains no benef it on attack or damage rolls against her target. Instead....."

Does the sacred shield still gain the Damage Reduction bypass that normal smite gains? The way it reads seems to imply that you get all the other parts of smite that aren't the bonus to hit and damage.

Further on the text states that "Attacks against the paladin deal full damage, but the paladin gains a def lection bonus to her AC equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) against attacks made by the target of the smite. "

This is the same as the normal smite bonuses. That gives the impression that maybe this completely replaces the full smite ability. The word "but" might be a reminder that you still get the defensive bonus.

Does anyone know if the ability to ignore damage reduction is included or not? Technicaly it's not a bonus to hit or damage but it could easily be considered part of the attack & damage portion of smiting.

Thanks in advance guys,
Balgin

[Weirdo]

I get the impression that Bastion of Good is supposed to completely replace Smite and not bypass DR, but I'm not sure and would like to see this clarified.

[Balgin]

That's the impression I'm getting too but when I went back and double checked the wording I needed a second opinion.

[Balgin]

Still no official answer then :(.

[anon fem]

bumping this because I want to know what more people think.

[DesolateHarmony]

Here's the PRD link

PRD wrote:

Bastion of Good (Su): At 1st level, a sacred shield can call upon the powers of good to defend her and her allies against evil. This ability functions as smite evil, except that the paladin gains no benefit on attack or damage rolls against her target. Instead, any attacks the target makes against allies within 10 feet of the paladin deal half damage. Attacks against the paladin deal full damage, but the paladin gains a deflection bonus to her AC equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) against attacks made by the target of the smite. This bonus increases by +1 for every four paladin levels (to a maximum of +6 at 20th level). As with smite evil, if the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, her bastion of good ability is wasted with no effect. Feats, abilities, and the like that increase a paladin's number of uses of smite evil per day increase a sacred shield's uses of bastion of good per day. This ability replaces smite evil.

Seems to me that ignoring DR would be a "benefit on a damage roll."

[Pupsocket]

DesolateHarmony wrote:

Here's the PRD link

Seems to me that ignoring DR would be a "benefit on a damage roll."

+1

[yeti1069]

DesolateHarmony wrote:

Here's the PRD link

PRD wrote:

Bastion of Good (Su): At 1st level, a sacred shield can call upon the powers of good to defend her and her allies against evil. This ability functions as smite evil, except that the paladin gains no benefit on attack or damage rolls against her target. Instead, any attacks the target makes against allies within 10 feet of the paladin deal half damage. Attacks against the paladin deal full damage, but the paladin gains a deflection bonus to her AC equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) against attacks made by the target of the smite. This bonus increases by +1 for every four paladin levels (to a maximum of +6 at 20th level). As with smite evil, if the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, her bastion of good ability is wasted with no effect. Feats, abilities, and the like that increase a paladin's number of uses of smite evil per day increase a sacred shield's uses of bastion of good per day. This ability replaces smite evil.

Seems to me that ignoring DR would be a "benefit on a damage roll."

I'd say that it's still overly vague. After all, Smite Evil has a lot of parts to it: Cha bonus to attack, paladin level to damage, ability to bypass DR, and Cha to AC. The benefit to attack is singular, but the benefit to damage is plural, yet the text doesn't directly address this. Could definitely use some clarifying. Hitting the FAQ button.

[David Post Møller]

bump

[Joshua9093]

Has there been any conclusive answer/clarification on this?