with warpriest use Greater Weapon of the Chosen feat. Vital strike is a bit better for the warpriest as he can gain it before he actually has a second attack. You'll want something that can make your weapon Actually bigger (like enlarge person) and something that makes it Effectively bigger(like lead blades or impact). Use either a greatsword or oversized bastard sword. Maybe look into one of the Titan classes (barb or fighter) as a dip to be able to use even bigger weapons.
I think you're better off with a cleric with the Growth sub-domain - they get Enlarge Person as a domain spell and can Enlarge yourself for a round Wis Modifier + 3 times / day as a swift action. Here's a list of
deities with the sub-domain
So, use a greatsword. Start with 2d6 damage. Enlarge as a swift action or use the spell to 3d6. Then, Vital Strike gets you to 6d6.
I don't have any relevant experience with the warpriest, but Vital Strike has been a good investment for one of the PCs in our Skull and Shackles campaign. He's playing a ranger with the freebooter archetype. That archetype trades in favored enemy and hunter's bond for the ability to use move actions to give bonuses to his allies - and when they could apply to substantial numbers of your own crew, that's worth it. Losing a lot of opportunities to make full attacks, he invested in Vital Strike to make up part of what he would otherwise be losing.
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It works great for my Urgathoan, impact scythe wielding warpriest. As chess pwn pointed out, it goes well with Greater Weapon of the Chosen. Pair that with potion glutton and a handy haversack. Assuming I already have my scythe in hand, I can now reach into my bag with my move action and grab a potion of enlarge person, drink as swift action, then 5' and vital strike anything within 20' of where I was originally standing.
It also works with accelerated drinker assuming you don't want a scythe/to worship Urgathoa, and carry around your weapon in one hand and a potion in the other. This will let you keep your swift action for a fervored-swiftened spell which will also be super beneficial.
@sunbeam I don't understand...the synergy starts working at lvl 6 as soon as you can get vital strike. And before then greater weapon of the chosen works for the single attack you already have.
The benefit for warpriests is that they can get Greater Vital Strike and no other 3/4 BAB class can and they gain access to the lower vital strikes much sooner than other classes. WP can get VS at lv6, cleric at lv9 with no retraining.
Greater Weapon of the Chosen, which is easy for a WP to get since you have extra feats, lets you roll twice and take the better result for your vital strike.
swift casting buff spells means that you're doing damage sooner.
You do ignore the WP sacred weapon dice for damage with vital striking builds.
yes, the WP sacred weapon damage doesn't work well with VS. It doesn't really work well with most builds. But there are a few off builds that can make use of it.
GWotC does need to be your deities FW. So the greatsword god or the bastard sword god are good choices.
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Improved Vital Strike and Furious Finish with a Double-Barrel Musket.
(Max 3d12)+(Max 3d12)= 36+36 = 72 Damage before modifiers.
If one barrel crits = 72+(Max Crit 3d12) = 72+36 = 108 Damage + 4x Damage Modifier.
If both barrels crit = 72+(Max Crit 6d12) = 72+72 = 144 Damage + 8x Damage Modifiers.
If you have a Cord of Stubborn Resolve, then you can do have no downtime between Furious Finishes.
The build I theorycrafted is 136 Damage per VS/FF. I single crit will do 200 damage, both crit does 400.
I've seen a druid use shelligah with a large greatclub in elemental form to get a lot of d8s.
I'm planning to use it with my Oracle of metal, which can get a move action blur-like effect from a revelation. Not great, but fun.
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yes, the WP sacred weapon damage doesn't work well with VS. It doesn't really work well with most builds. But there are a few off builds that can make use of it.
GWotC does need to be your deities FW. So the greatsword god or the bastard sword god are good choices.
Greataxe works well too. Dammerich and Angradd are good if you don't like Rovagug.
There is also a deity that grants the Tetsubo if you like a x4 mondifier and don't want Urgotha
Charging feats work well with Vital Strike. Lance + Spirited Charge + Vital strike can get you to 6d8 and 3xstr damage.
Charging feats work well with Vital Strike. Lance + Spirited Charge + Vital strike can get you to 6d8 and 3xstr damage.
You can't Vital Strike on a charge. A charge is a full-round action; Vital Strike requires making an attack as a standard action.
Felling Smash is a good combo with Vital Strike. It also requires a standard action attack, and if you hit (while using Power Attack), you get a swift action trip attempt. Pick up Greater Trip as well, and a successful trip gets you an AoO (and another if and when they get up).
I've seen a druid use shelligah with a large greatclub in elemental form to get a lot of d8s.
I'm planning to use it with my Oracle of metal, which can get a move action blur-like effect from a revelation. Not great, but fun.
Shillelagh only works on a club or a quarterstaff. A greatclub is not ok.
Pretty much what you want are size mods and virtual size mods. Anything which makes the base attack bigger is good for Vital Strike.
The standard is Enlarge + Lead Blades or Gravity Bow.
Giant Form II+ gets you even bigger.
Animal Growth + Improved Natural Attack or Strong Jaw will work much the same way, but the potential for a huge base dmg to start with tends to be higher.
And that's the big combo with Vital Strike. Everything else is just variations on it trying to get a higher base dmg to work with.
==Aelryinth
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8th level druid, 12th level unchained monk shape-shifted into Huge Elemental and using strong jaw.
Assume the person has the feats to boost monk damage and monk robe, as well as the feats to boost shape shifting level so he can go Huge Elemental.
2d10->4d8->8d6-> 12d6 -> 16d6 (size and strong jaw)
Greater vital strike x3 for 48d6.
The Faq cleared up that going Brotherhood of the Seal did not stack with strong jaw.
Replace 2 levels of monk with 2 of barbarian for furious finish and a 288 hp attack.
Then there is also cavern crystal craziness...
I'm not sure where you're numbers are coming from so this may be a moot point, but natural attack damage can't be based off of the monk damage chart anymore.
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I find Power Attack and Furious Focus work nicely for a war priest with Vital Strike and Greater Weapon of the Chosen.
I also like Grasping Strike at higher levels (though it does have a feat tax for warpriests, but the fact it's a Wisdom based Vital Strike feat makes it look custom-build for warpriests). Winter's Strike and Faerie's Strike aren;t as good in mtg experience, but they have the same feat tax as Grasping Strike, so they can be nice as extra options if you get Grasping Strike anyway.
Staggering Blow can also be worth it on the right build.
And while Cleave is often not worth it for this build, Cleaving Finish totally is by the time you've maximized your Vital Strike damage potential.
Pretty much what you want are size mods and virtual size mods. Anything which makes the base attack bigger is good for Vital Strike.
The standard is Enlarge + Lead Blades or Gravity Bow.
Giant Form II+ gets you even bigger.
Animal Growth + Improved Natural Attack or Strong Jaw will work much the same way, but the potential for a huge base dmg to start with tends to be higher.
And that's the big combo with Vital Strike. Everything else is just variations on it trying to get a higher base dmg to work with.
==Aelryinth
Pretty much this. You want any way you can find to get your base damage die as high as possible before you start multiplying them via Vital Strike.
I like it with Monk as they can get pretty high damage dice on their fists. It also allows you to to capitalize on your speed round one and get into interesting positions and still do some good damage before furry the next round.