Warpriests Sacred Weapon, Paladin's Divine Bond, and Stacking Maximum.

[chbgraphicarts]

I've looked a bit before, and there was a thread back in 2011 that kinda-sorta brought this up (and ended up waxing philosophically - rather viscerally - between two sensibilities), but never really answered the question.

So, before we start, I want to make this clear: I and all my group are quite dead-set that magic weapons, including unarmed, can never ever go over a Modified +10 Enhancement Bonus, even at lv21+ and/or under the effects of spells and/or abilities. So, whatever your beliefs may be on the subject, assume that is the Word Of God, and is not up for debate. This isn't a question about whether a weapon can have a Modified +11+ Enhancement Bonus, even temporarily.

Now, first we need to go over some truths before we get into the Proof:

As per the Warpriest's Sacred Weapon feature:

Revised Advanced Class Guide Playtest wrote:

At 4th level, the warpriest gains the ability to imbue his sacred weapon with divine power as a swift action. This power grants the weapon a +1 enhancement bonus. For every four levels beyond 4th, this bonus increases by +1 to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

These bonuses stack with any existing bonuses the weapon might have, to a maximum of +5. The warpriest can imbue a weapon with any of the following weapon properties: brilliant energy, defending, disruption, f laming, frost, keen, and shock.

As per the Paladin's Divine Bond feature:

Paladin, Core Rulebook wrote:

Upon reaching 5th level, a paladin forms a divine bond with her god. ...

The first type of bond allows the paladin to enhance her weapon as a standard action by calling upon the aid of a celestial spirit for 1 minute per paladin level. When called, the spirit causes the weapon to shed light as a torch. At 5th level, this spirit grants the weapon a +1 enhancement bonus.

For every three levels beyond 5th, the weapon gains another +1 enhancement bonus, to a maximum of +6 at 20th level. These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon bonuses to a maximum of +5, or they can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: axiomatic, brilliant energy, defending, disruption, flaming, flaming burst, holy, keen, merciful, and speed.

What we know absolutely:

1) Weapons can receive up to a numerical +5 Enhancement Bonus, and up to a Modified +10 Enhancement Bonus, as per the basic rules for Weapon Enhancement Bonuses, wherein all Enhancement Bonuses made past +5 must be made in the form of Enhancement Abilities equal to the Bonus that would have been granted.

2) Both the Paladin's Divine Bond feature and Warpriest's Sacred Weapon feature grant Enhancement Bonuses.

3) Weapons can receive up to a numerical +5 Enhancement Bonus or at least a Modified +5 Enhancement Bonus from the Warpriest's Sacred Weapon feature.

4) The Warpriest's Sacred Weapon Feature stacks with all Masterwork and/or Enhancement Bonuses of a weapon up at least a Modified +5 Enhancement Bonus.

5) Weapons receive up to at least a Modified +6 Bonus, with up to a Numerical +5 Enhancement Bonus, from the Paladin's Divine Bond, and follows the rules of adding Enhancement Abilities beyond +5 as per the basic rules of Weapon Enhancement Bonuses.

6) The Paladin's Divine Bond Feature stacks with all Masterwork and/or Enhancement Bonuses of a weapon up to at least a Modified +6 Enhancement Bonus.

My questions therefore are:

1) Can a Warpriest's Sacred Weapon feature increase a weapon's Modified Enhancement Bonus to +6 or greater, or is a Modified +5 Enhancement Bonus the maximum?

2) Can a Paladin's Divine Bond feature increase a weapon's Modified Enhancement Bonus to +7 or greater, or is a Modified +6 Enhancement Bonus the maximum?

3) Assuming both 1) AND 2) are true, can they be stacked together, as they are separately-named abilities (up to a maximum Modified +10, per the basic rules), or are they transparent to one another?

4) Assuming either 1) OR 2) are true, can you use that "true" feature in conjunction with an Amulet of Mighty Fists to increase the Modified Enhancement Bonus of Natural and/or Unarmed Attacks to +6/+7 or greater, or do they not apply to the bonuses granted by an AMF?

Amulet of Mighty Fists, Core Rulebook wrote:

This amulet grants an enhancement bonus of +1 to +5 on attack and damage rolls with unarmed attacks and natural weapons.

Alternatively, this amulet can grant melee weapon special abilities, so long as they can be applied to unarmed attacks. See Table: Melee Weapon Special Abilities for a list of abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses. An amulet of mighty fists cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +5. An amulet of mighty fists does not need to have a +1 enhancement bonus to grant a melee weapon special ability.

Thanks in advance for the responses.

[Mojorat]

You made one mistake. It wouldn't stack with the bonus from mw weapon. When you add magic enhance ement bonuse to a me weapon it is always lost.

[chbgraphicarts]

Mojorat wrote:

You made one mistake. It wouldn't stack with the bonus from mw weapon. When you add magic enhance ement bonuse to a me weapon it is always lost.

Well, yeah, that's a given - I just meant that it "stacks" as per adding an Enhancement to a Masterwork Weapon normally, such as through Crafting; i.e. your first Enhancement Bonus needs to be a hard +1, no exceptions, but everything thereafter can be Abilities.

Thanks for help, though.

[PrimeMenace]

I know this is an older post, but it deserves attention.

This is an excellent question. I run games using the same assumption that weapons can never go above a "modified" +10 enhancement bonus, so it's nice that we don't need to debate that.

My answer to 1) 2) and 3) is yes. It would be incredibly odd to me if the Warpriest and Paladin abilities limited a weapon since the whole idea is that these classes have a powerful magic mastery over that particular weapon.

[dragonhunterq]

relevant FAQ.
+5 numerical bonus is pretty hard for a soft cap, you need a specific increase in limited circumstances (like bane) to exceed it. Both Paladin and Warpriest max at +5 numerical bonus. Neither stacks in such a way as to exceed that +5 enhancement bonus. Once you hit +5 numerical bonus you must start adding abilities.

+10 overall bonus is a hard cap.