So...uh...how does warpriest look in terms of being able to sword n' board?
Warpriest can do ANY combat style and do it fairly well. SnB it has sacred weapon to give better damage than normal, and it has the feats to support it. Divine Favor is a good accuracy and damage boost. And it can enhance two weapons at once with a feat.
Downsides.
Makes it more MAD to meet requirements.
No early access to feats.
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I definitely think the Alignment Blessings could/should be rated higher. A long duration swift action summon is pretty hard to turn down.The battle companion blessings?
I'd like them more if they were at the relevant level of summoning spells you should have at this point. My problem is the SM spells are IV, and SNA spells are V but SNA is worse than SM's list.
I mean it's swift if we're burning blessing, but at the level you get it, it's not technically long duration, it's standard duration for the spell's level and doesn't get any longer, making the duration even worse. I wish they were better, if the SM spell was V instead of IV, it would rate higher, but I can't validate pushing it higher just yet.
The only thing I can question is about the Battle Companions Blessings not working with Quicken blessing.
When you take this feat, choose one of your blessings that normally requires a standard action to use.
Battle Companion (major): At 10th level, you can summon a battle companion. This ability functions as summon monster IV with a duration of 1 minute, but for only a good outsider or an animal with the celestial creature simple template. This ability can summon only one creature, regardless of the list used. For every 2 levels beyond 10th, the level of the summon monster spell increases by 1 (to a maximum of summon monster IX at 20th level).
All summon monster spells have a Casting Time 1 round. Should the Feat not be allowed to work with those Abilities? The ability does not normally require a standard action but 1 Round.
I've always been confused on this since I've seen Quicken Blessing not to diminish that it is still a good feat even without being able to swift action spit out a battle buddy. Things like Luck blessing are great to have on swift ability.
If someone could clear this up for me. All my friends and I have been on both sides of the fence on this one.
EDIT:
Also I would like to mention a Halfling Warslinger Warpriest with Slipslinger style is actually pretty decent. Makes for a fun take on the Switch Hitter style role.
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So...uh...how does warpriest look in terms of being able to sword n' board?
It's better. Still not great, but better. Really, I think sword/sword or board/board is better than sword and board, but it's a personal call there.
@Fruian
Yeah, guess swift blessing wouldn't work with summon monster, although thankfully it's not mentioned anywhere in the guide, and the ratings stand for everything even with that. Still not a great use of action, but there's some nice summon monsters you can grab.
And yeah, I probably should have talked more about slinging, if there's any feats or such you think I should include, let me know.
Under Switch Hitter, notice "bonsu" instead of "bonus"
Also, what do you mean small size doesn't hurt weapon damage, under Gnome? Warpriest has a lower Sacred Weapon damage for small races.
And corrected. Remember people, I am literally one non professional person doing this, so there's going to be errors.
And that should have been 'as much' since even with the size reduction on sacred weapon, it's still scaling damage. I'll correct that.
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So...uh...how does warpriest look in terms of being able to sword n' board?It's better. Still not great, but better. Really, I think sword/sword or board/board is better than sword and board, but it's a personal call there.
@Fruian
Yeah, guess swift blessing wouldn't work with summon monster, although thankfully it's not mentioned anywhere in the guide, and the ratings stand for everything even with that. Still not a great use of action, but there's some nice summon monsters you can grab.
And yeah, I probably should have talked more about slinging, if there's any feats or such you think I should include, let me know.
I sure will. I only mentioned it because I feel many people think that it works for the Companion so they can Swift action drop a flank buddy and instant profit. I did think there was a war-priest guide that mentioned it worked together but can no longer find the guide that instructed so.
Good Luck in this Endeavor and I will keep ya posted if I see anything else.
So why does Summon Companion take longer than a standard action since blessings are standard actions unless otherwise noted and I'm not seeing anything noted to change the time.
Casting time isn't generally considered to be a "function" of a spell.
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Warpriest blessings are SU abilities. Because it says it functions as the spell, that could include it's cast time.
Supernatural Abilities (Su): Using a supernatural ability is usually a standard action (unless defined otherwise by the ability's description). Its use cannot be disrupted, does not require concentration, and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
The rules for spell like abilities explicitly say they use the spell's casting time. Supernatural abilities do not have the same text. I suppose it could use a FAQ, but I've only ever seen people play them as standard, unless explicitly specified otherwise.
So...uh...how does warpriest look in terms of being able to sword n' board?It's better. Still not great, but better. Really, I think sword/sword or board/board is better than sword and board, but it's a personal call there.
One major advantage of sword/shield is that a high-crit weapon will really bang out the Bashing Finish bonus attacks, assuming you're high enough level.
{. . .}
Make a document of where all typos and grammatical errors are and send them to me once the guide is effectively finished.
{. . .}
Let me know where you want it (and when you're ready for it).
I am already a big fan of this guide over the previous one, which in my memory, spent 30% of its word count lamenting that the WP used to have full BAB in its first paytest iterations. You know, just in case you ever thought you might forget that. Ever.
Thank you, N. Jolly.
(Typo alert: in race selection, for half-orcs, you mention "racia feats".)
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The rules for spell like abilities explicitly say they use the spell's casting time. Supernatural abilities do not have the same text. I suppose it could use a FAQ, but I've only ever seen people play them as standard, unless explicitly specified otherwise.
All of what's being said, so I'm going to use this post to define a few things that this guide will work with the assumption of regarding content.
-This guide assumes the summon monster abilities are standard actions, and as such, will work with quicken blessing.
One major advantage of sword/shield is that a high-crit weapon will really bang out the Bashing Finish bonus attacks, assuming you're high enough level.
Fair point, although it's not particularly warpriest exclusive. I could say that the increased damage dice make it more effective though, but I think it's averaged out with the lower BAB myself.
Admittedly very minor, but I'd list the Mantis Zealot's weapon proficiency red.
The deity you're required to worship for the archetype already has Sawtooth Sabre as his favored weapon, so you're just trading medium and heavy armor and all shields away wholesale and I'm not sure how, as a class feature, that gets a Green rating.
I'm not saying the archetype itself is bad, sneak attack is really nice if you can get it consistently, but since you're rating features individually it's worth a mention.
Time for another precedent!
-This guide is setting agnostic, and will not assume Golarion or its deities unless required.
What this means is that while in Golarion, your deity does give you sawtooth prof for free, in neutral games it's still a net gain.
Let me know where you want it (and when you're ready for it).
I'd wait until the doc is finished (sections that need finished still are: spells, mundane and magical equipment, sample builds, FAQ and closing), but once those are finished I'm completely up for an edit doc. As for where to send it, all my guides include my email address, n.jolly@ymail.com, which is the best place to reach me.
I am already a big fan of this guide over the previous one, which in my memory, spent 30% of its word count lamenting that the WP used to have full BAB in its first paytest iterations. You know, just in case you ever thought you might forget that. Ever.
Thank you, N. Jolly.
(Typo alert: in race selection, for half-orcs, you mention "racia feats".)
Director's commentary here, the original document talked about it for 50%, including a song I wrote and composed about how much better the class is with 3/4ths BAB.
And typo's been corrected, I remember making that one during the edits, but seeing as I'm writing about 10 different things at once, errors like that slip through.
Another precedent:
-This guide will work under the assumption that you cannot add spells from worshiping deities.
Right now that's something that's currently unknown, and RAW, it looks very shaky, meaning it's not something I want to suggest for both the setting agnostic rule as well as simple confusion.
Goal for the next week (until I get fire emblem: fates and forget you all exist) is to get spells done, and then mundane, magic, and close this beast out.
BTWay, conquest > birthright.
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That's fair. Though the archetype does explicitly say it requires you to worship Achaekek, so I assumed that's the baseline we were referring to. I guess it can be adapted out of setting.
In a neutral setting it's slightly better, but still not sure if green given that you're losing medium armor, heavy armor and shields just to replace your favored weapon.
I generally go by SRD text, which for this is just an assassin god. In that respect, it's setting neutral. Dropped to orange though, the armor loss is still not great.
For the things that are disputed rules wise, you may want to mention the controversy in the guide. Let people know both sides, so players and their GM can talk it out and decide how they want to handle it before it becomes an unexpected issue.really no controversy
anyone that still has access to the ACG playtest pdf can confirm...all that happened is instead of the majority of all blessings saying 'as a standard action' (which includes the summon ones) it was moved to the main blessing section, saved a lot of word count
Seems that assumption is confirmed, aces.
Finished the first two spell levels, working on the third now, after this it's mundane/magical items, sample builds, and then we're done!
Doing another pass to see what you've added:
You have Source Severance as a 4th level spell, but it is actually 6th level (checked on both Archives of Nethys and www.d20pfsrd.com). Also, from my understanding, it interferes with your own divine spell casting even if you choose for it to block arcane magic. And the area it protects is REALLY SMALL, so it is hard to use it to protect your allies (and if you do, it effectively becomes a big target that says "Hit me with some AoE effect that uses a different school of magic or even no magic at all(*)". To really cover yourself against a PC-classed boss (won't work against most monsters), you will need multiple castings, which will probably mean using several Scrolls, unless you are really high level. The ability to protect yourself (not so much your allies) against spells and class spell-like abilities and class supernatural abilities of the chosen school of magic of higher level (like that brokenly overpowered Antimagic Shell from which it is derived) keeps this from being Red, but I wouldn't put it above Orange.
(*)Great Cleave, Whirlwind Attack, splash weapons, etc.
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Doing another pass to see what you've added:
You have Source Severance as a 4th level spell, but it is actually 6th level (checked on both Archives of Nethys and www.d20pfsrd.com). Also, from my understanding, it interferes with your own divine spell casting even if you choose for it to block arcane magic. And the area it protects is REALLY SMALL, so it is hard to use it to protect your allies (and if you do, it effectively becomes a big target that says "Hit me with some AoE effect that uses a different school of magic or even no magic at all(*)". To really cover yourself against a PC-classed boss (won't work against most monsters), you will need multiple castings, which will probably mean using several Scrolls, unless you are really high level. The ability to protect yourself (not so much your allies) against spells and class spell-like abilities and class supernatural abilities of the chosen school of magic of higher level (like that brokenly overpowered Antimagic Shell from which it is derived) keeps this from being Red, but I wouldn't put it above Orange.
(*)Great Cleave, Whirlwind Attack, splash weapons, etc.
Ugh, the cleric list on the PFSRD list it at 4th in the cleric's list, I'll change it when I get back to the guide.
As for the spell itself, yeah it cancels your spellcasting if you're divine, so I'd rarely use it against divine spellcasting. To me, it's antimagic for arcane. I also don't see it as party protection at this point, it's simply making you immune to arcane spells, which is amazing. Really, if you set up your buff of choice before this, you're arcane proof. That alone makes it green to me. It's also solid against dragons which get 'faux' sorcerer levels as well as any other creature like that, giving it a bit more utility.
Immunity from magic is powerful, even if it's just arcane (which is generally the more dangerous school), so I think once I move it, it'll be green. Besides, as you said once the shell is up, you can just go mix things up in melee with impunity.
^What I mean is that -- at least if I understand the spell description properly -- selecting arcane or divine magic to suppress determines which incoming magic it suppresses (along with the school selection), but it impairs your own spellcasting no matter what you select, even if your own spellcasting totally doesn't match what you selected.
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A combo I've really wanted to try out for some time involves maximizing Intimidate. For this, I wanted to look at a lot of options you either rated pretty low or didn't mention, but the intent was obviously to utilize the other common/must have Warpriest tricks, too. So, Fortune's Favored/Bull Str/Divine Favor/Power Attack are highly encouraged, just not discussed much here.
Early on, take Bludgeoner (UC), on the surface not a terribly great Feat choice, but it leads into other things. The key point here is we are going to always be using a Bludgeoning weapon, and counting on Warpriest abilities to maximize it.
Next, we want to take a look at the Feats Dazzling Display (CRB) and Enforcer (APG).
Since Warpriest Skills suck, we are going to focus on 1 rank/level in Intimidate, and any other skill points going wherever you might like. Weapon-wise, there are three weapons, well 4 really, that jump out as the way to go. First, Unarmed Strike. Not the best, but it can lead to some interesting RP ideas. Second, Warhammer. It's ok. Not the best, but not terrible. Earthbreaker is another option, and generally what I'd normally go with first, except that if your a Dwarf and go with Warhammer & Torag, we can add in another little trick. The last would be to use a Large Sized Throwing Hammer. Now, with Sacred Weapon, you may notice that the extra damage is based on the size of the Warpriest, not the weapon. So making it large sized isn't too terribly great most of the time, and the -2 penalty can hurt. However, it does make it a One-Handed Melee and Ranged weapon that can benefit from Power Attack (either one or two handed), and while not a fantastic weapon, can be interesting for switch-hitters.
But, going back to the Intimidate build, and I'm going to focus on the Dwarven Warhammer of Torag idea here. With maxed Intimidate, another option we can look at is Intimidating Prowess (CRB) an option that, for one thing is a Combat Feat, so the Warpriest could use their Bonus Feats on it if they wanted, and 2 allows the Warpriest to add their Str mod to Intimidate checks in addition to their crappy Cha. While not required, it's probably going to be a lot more beneficial that something like Skill-Focus Intimidate throughout the entire game, especially as the character is probably going to be much more focused on also bumping Str as much as possible.
Backing up a bit, lets assume a pretty generic Dwarven Warpriest 5 right now, with 16 Str, 8 Cha, and 5 Ranks in Intimidate. We should be looking at a +10 Intimidate right off the bat. Because we are using a bludgeoning weapon, every single attack we make grants us a free Demoralize Attempt as long as we (with no penalty) attack for Nonlethal damage, that, if successful, will last for as many rounds as the damage each target took. Basically the entire fight in most cases. A -2 to basically all d20 rolls is nothing to scoff at.
With Dazzling Display, we can also do this trick against every enemy within 30ft. It's a Full Round Action, sure, but, that's the great thing about the Warpriest. They can take a 5ft step if needed, then spend a Full Round Action to utilize Dazzling Display, preferably in the first round, and also still use that first round to Swift Action Fervor self-buff, (or heal).
One of the big reasons I went with Dwarf here, is that another trick you can toss in there is the Blessed Hammer (ISG) Feat, which requires both Torag and Warhammer (not just hammers), and sadly also requires 3rd level Divine Spells. That means that for Warpriests, we need to be at least 7th level to get it, but it allows for a little bit of a Divine Magus-style dip. However, something to be very weary about is that unlike the Magus or even Battle Cleric, Warpriests are a lot more restricted on their Spells Per Day, so "nuking" is going to be rather short lived, even at 7th level+. Secondarily, there are not going to be nearly as many amazing Spellstrikeish options to go with, but adding a bunch of riders onto a single weapon strike can be very nasty if it all works, (and a Demoralized target is going to have a -2 on Saves right off the bat).
Another interesting Feat option to look at is going to be Shatter Defenses (CRB), which means with Bludgeoner & Enforcer earlier being always up, every single target you hit and Demoralize (Shaken) is now also considered Flat-Footed against you until their next turn. This one is a bit iffy, as it only makes them Flat-Footed against you, not your whole party and specifically the Rogue, but it is still a non-action free rider. And we absolutely want to look at Power Attack long before this, and probably also Cleave. As man opponents we can get free Intimidate checks against, the better.
The Propitiation Trait (ISG) can basically net us a free +2 Trait Bonus to Intimidate, while the Orison Enhanced Diplomacy Spell (Taldor EoG) grants another +2 Competence Bonus, if circumstantially. At the right Time, Fervored Enhanced Diplomacy Intimidate could be worth it in the right circumstances, if rare. (It lasts for up to 1 minute, but only applies to 1 check). Going for a +1 Cruel (UE) weapon can amplify that Shaken condition yet again, and being that you are already doing Nonlethal damage 95% of the time (not vs Undead for example who are immune), the Merciful Property (CRB) isn't a terrible option either for basically a free untyped +1d6 damage. Make sure to go Adamantine and you should okay, if not great against Constructs if you can turn the Nonlethal off, and you have other tricks, if not great, you can use against Undead.
Another potential avenue to go with this, perhaps along the Divine Commander build would be with Weapon Versatility Feat (Undead Slayer), say with a Lance. Weapon Versatility actually changes the type of damage to the weapon does, so it counts perfectly for Bludgeoner, which means it works fine for Enforcer, and as a mounted combatant, could make for some great, if risky leader tactics. However, not that Weapon Versatility, until BaB (not level) of +5 or better, (so, that is 7th level, because they only count BaB as their level for qualifying, not USING Feats), is going to be contesting with your Swift Actions. As soon as you hit level 7 though, it becomes a Free action, and you are golden.
Something to keep in mind with this build is that it's intended to be played more like a "Bad Touch" Cleric as well as a bit similar to a Reach Cleric. That is to say, they do not focus as much on direct melee battle themselves as debuffing enemies, but generally doing so in addition to their other actions. The goal isn't to be a damage dealer/tank, but right up front with the other tank making enemies cry. Also keep in mind that Fear effects are cumulative. While you can not "double Demoralize" an enemy (it doesn't upgrade in this case), other forms of Fear effects may. But a free Demoralize followed by a Cause Fear means that regardless of their Save they are automatically now Frightened, meaning you can line up enemies to run the AoO gauntlet if you work together with the party well.
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Transmuter of Korada (Champs of Purity) is another very good Trait to take a look at. It's a Magic Trait, so there isn't too many other Traits to really compete with it in that category, and while it's weak early on, when it kicks in it is great. Bull's Strength or Bear's Endurance are the two you want to consider, but as the Trait itself grants you a +1 CL to ALL Transmutation spells, that's an extra hour for Magic Vestment and Greater Magic Weapon, and an extra Minute for a fair number of your bread and butter self-buffs like Bull's Strength. Finally, 1/Day a free Extended Bull's Strength (or Bear's Endurence) is great.
It's a slow starter, but overall is likely to be a lot more useful than Magical Lineage, jut because you are probably not going to be doing too many Extended spells all in all, and Lineage requires you to have the Metamagic Feat as well.
For Dex/Light Armor characters, the Rice Runner Regional Trait (Dragon Empires Primer) nets you Acrobatics as a Class Skill, which can be invaluable.
(until I get fire emblem: fates and forget you all exist)
Damn you did it again
Anyway I wanted to point out this feat from Inner Sea Gods that might be really useful for the Sacred Fist, given the large number of Ki Points that can be recovered at higher levels.
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(until I get fire emblem: fates and forget you all exist)Damn you did it again
Anyway I wanted to point out this feat from Inner Sea Gods that might be really useful for the Sacred Fist, given the large number of Ki Points that can be recovered at higher levels.
Two uses of fervor to channel make it less than stellar, and you are locked in to Irori, who has poor blessing choices.
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I'll make a second attempt at it here, I already know it's controversial so you only have to disagree and not scream BADWRONGFUN:
Maybe using Fervor to heal isn't bad at all? I know that it's common to state that "you don't heal in combat", but hear me out. I'm not saying that you should refrain from casting swift buffs. I'm pondering if it's worth concentraiting on Wisdom more than Constitution, just to gaining extra Fervor instead of more health.
Your total hp will go down, which is a problem when fighting against heavy hitters. But your daily access to hp is actually bigger. Only at level 1 and 4 does the +1 Con modifier net you more hp (1 and then 0.5). At 7th level they're equal (at 7 each) but every other level and inbetween, it's more hp from one use of Fervor (sometimes only by 0.5 hp, though).
It also adds more versetility to the character, as you probably won't have to spend that one extra Fervor to heal yourself every day.Now, this guide already does favour Wisdom over Constitution. But I still think it's a fair point to bring up (or if it's still stupid, put that in this guide as well so I'll stop think it's a good idea).
You can make it it somewhat viable if you build for it, in the same way you would build a paladin for maximizing lay on hands. Fey foundling will make the heal more valuable, and you can self heal a respectable amount of damage if you build for that and ignore the swift casting.
However, you don't have a Paladins mercies to remove rider effects of damage, you don't have the Paladins d10 hit die, and you don't have a Paladins full bab.
This combines to make a self heal build less effective than a self heal paladin, and less powerful offensively and defensively than a war priest that uses fervor to swift cast buffs to compensate for the lack of full bab or to prevent the damage from happening in the first place.
A war priest using fervor for spells becomes stronger every round of combat. A war priest using fervor for healing at best stays the same on every round of combat, but in most cases the self healing is too small to keep up with incoming damage.
The self heal is a good option to have for emergencies, but it's an inefficient use of fervor that is sacrificing the greatest strength of the class.
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Agreed with Imbicatus. It's possible to build around swift healing, to try and imitate the paladin's "tank with lots of HP and swift Lay on Hands" routine. But you're just not going to be as effective as a paladin at killing things while tanking that way, due to your lower BAB and HP, or as effective as a swift buffing warpriest at killing things, due to not getting your buff spells up quickly.
But as with most things, the suboptimal choice is probably still playable. It just isn't as optimized. Nothing wrong with that, depending on what you want from a PC.
In fact, I was joking around last night with my friends about the possibility of a "paladin" of Pharasma. Basically, it's an undead hunting Pharasma worshiper who thinks he's a paladin, either out of stupidity or insanity. If you really wanted to build this character as a divine caster who can impersonate a paladin, warpriest using Fervor only for "Lay on Hands" would be the way to go.
Knowledge blessing is red/orange in the guide.
I would rate that as green at least.
Monster Lore works with Lore Keeper, a touch attack which is 15+level+ WIS mod, what should almost always succeed. In one round you can identify a foe and gain +2 on attack, AC and saves that stacks with most other available buffs and lasts the whole fight.
When a foe/monster was already identyfied before, this should also only require the swift action to activate.
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Looks like I have a lot to respond to here, so let's get on it!
^What I mean is that -- at least if I understand the spell description properly -- selecting arcane or divine magic to suppress determines which incoming magic it suppresses (along with the school selection), but it impairs your own spellcasting no matter what you select, even if your own spellcasting totally doesn't match what you selected.
It gives a 20+twice spell level concentration check at 17th level. At 17th level, you concentration check is most likely 17+5/6 wis, so 22/23. You can't really fail that, so I don't consider it hindering the warpriest at all. Using it for divine will shut you off, I'm pretty sure. But aside from that, you're really damn protected.
@DM Beckett (not quoting that massive text)
I will admit a few of the things you've brought up I've missed in the guide, and have been included, but if we're going the intimidation route, I'd rather go cornugon smash/hurtful, although really all the dazzling display options you mentioned (as well as more) are listed in the guide. Most intimidation doesn't break higher than green due to the multitude of enemies who are immune to such tactics.
I don't consider Shatter Defenses viable in regards to this build unless you're going for a sneak attack utilizing build, as the full round action isn't really worth it otherwise in that regard. It's nice as a group debuff, but it's basically a 1/day SLA that requires a (fairly easy) roll due to people being unable to be demoralized over and over again.
Transmuter of Korada is defintely worth considering, I hadn't seen that trait before, and you're right, it is really solid. With how many traits and such I had to pour over, it's no surprise people are still finding things I haven't gotten the chance to look at, so thanks for keeping me in the know about this one.
I'll make a second attempt at it here, I already know it's controversial so you only have to disagree and not scream BADWRONGFUN:
Maybe using Fervor to heal isn't bad at all? I know that it's common to state that "you don't heal in combat", but hear me out. I'm not saying that you should refrain from casting swift buffs. I'm pondering if it's worth concentraiting on Wisdom more than Constitution, just to gaining extra Fervor instead of more health.
...I don't really scream anything, as most people have seen, I'm pretty mellow.
I don't even dislike using fervor for this, but has been talked about in the guide and this thread, it's a secondary use most of the time. First turn will generally be dedicated to putting up your divine favor/might, although after that swiftcasting becomes less vital and more of a case by case basis of what you need at the moment. For an idea like this, going VMC paladin isn't a bad call (VMC is always a good call), but as mentioned before, you have a very tight action economy. I will admit I consider being on your feet to be pretty vital to the job of defeating enemies, so I don't mind wis over con for more fevor in the respect of using it to self heal.
(until I get fire emblem: fates and forget you all exist)Damn you did it again
Anyway I wanted to point out this feat from Inner Sea Gods that might be really useful for the Sacred Fist, given the large number of Ki Points that can be recovered at higher levels.
As stated above, it's not the most viable idea due to the BRUTAL inefficiency of using fervor to channel. What IS viable though is going cleric VMC to snag channels (weaker, but still channels) with this, as well as giving you a domain to make a very nice bad touch warpriest with domain strike who can now also replenish your Ki with Ki Leech and hte above mentioned feat. I don't think Ki Channel is worth mentioning specifically, but this combination could help stretch your ki budget a lot further while making a very nice debuffing build.
Knowledge blessing is red/orange in the guide.
I would rate that as green at least.
Monster Lore works with Lore Keeper, a touch attack which is 15+level+ WIS mod, what should almost always succeed. In one round you can identify a foe and gain +2 on attack, AC and saves that stacks with most other available buffs and lasts the whole fight.
When a foe/monster was already identyfied before, this should also only require the swift action to activate.
It's lower due to the swift action as well as the fact that I just find it inefficient use of actions. With your self buff spells, you can gain similar bonuses off of a swift action (albeit using a limited resource), but at the same time you don't NEED a huge amount of buffs in that respect, so using a standard action (or even a swift with how valuable they are to you) isn't the best use of actions to me. I could move both up to orange, but I can't see them as any higher than that with the actions that they require to use.
I might work on the guide later tonight, possibly tomorrow as well, but I'll probably be getting Fates on Mon/Tues, so work's going to slow by then. In the meantime, I'm pretty happy with how things have progressed, we're getting close to finishing up spells and the next sections are among my least favorite to do (due to the MASSIVE volume of material I need to look through) so hopefully they'll continue after I get over my initial FE burst.
I would really suggest at least mentioning that the Sacred Fist can very easily pick up and flurry their deity's weapon via Crusader's Flurry, which I would argue makes the Sacred Fist blue with a good favored weapon that can be two-handed.
Where a Warpriest going TWF is quite powerful, picture essentially the same thing but with one two-hander making all the strikes. Flurry with something like a greatsword makes even Dragon Style unarmed strikes look weak, and it costs one feat plus Weapon Focus. Numbers-wise, before the nerf to Sacred Fist flurry, a two-hander flurry with full BAB and Divine Favor was a wee bit OP.
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@DM Beckett (not quoting that massive text)
I will admit a few of the things you've brought up I've missed in the guide, and have been included, but if we're going the intimidation route, I'd rather go cornugon smash/hurtful, although really all the dazzling display options you mentioned (as well as more) are listed in the guide. Most intimidation doesn't break higher than green due to the multitude of enemies who are immune to such tactics.
I don't consider Shatter Defenses viable in regards to this build unless you're going for a sneak attack utilizing build, as the full round action isn't really worth it otherwise in that regard. It's nice as a group debuff, but it's basically a 1/day SLA that requires a (fairly easy) roll due to people being unable to be demoralized over and over again.
Transmuter of Korada is defintely worth considering, I hadn't seen that trait before, and you're right, it is really solid. With how many traits and such I had to pour over, it's no surprise people are still finding things I haven't gotten the chance to look at, so thanks for keeping me in the know about this one.
No worries. I was trying think a little outside the box.
I'm a little confused what you mean by Shatter Defenses. It's an auto-benefit, not a 1/Day ability. Every time you hit an enemy that is Frightened/Shaken/Panicked they are considered Flat-Footed against you for 1 round, essentially making any follow-up hits easier to land. While not a fantastic option, it is an option worth considering simply due to qualifications, and mostly is intended for mid to higher level play when extra attacks and haste come in to play.
While there are a lot of enemies immune to Intimidate, I wouldn't say it's that many, and one of the larger portions of them, Undead, you are already otherwise pretty strong against. But, the trick is that the Intimidate trick is done for free with basically every single attack you land, and even if it fails, you are still attacking normally.
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I would really suggest at least mentioning that the Sacred Fist can very easily pick up and flurry their deity's weapon via Crusader's Flurry, which I would argue makes the Sacred Fist blue with a good favored weapon that can be two-handed.
Where a Warpriest going TWF is quite powerful, picture essentially the same thing but with one two-hander making all the strikes. Flurry with something like a greatsword makes even Dragon Style unarmed strikes look weak, and it costs one feat plus Weapon Focus. Numbers-wise, before the nerf to Sacred Fist flurry, a two-hander flurry with full BAB and Divine Favor was a wee bit OP.
Where do you think this should be mentioned more specifically, as it's a green feat already from what I recall. I can only imagine mentioning it again in sacred fist.
So, a bit of an odd question: how would one make a good ff-style dragoon (spear, jumping, dragon-thematics)as a warpriest and do it well?
Personally, to get the 'one hard hit' style, I'd go with vital strike, which seems to be the best route to me here. The idea of combining it with impaling critical seems quite thematic too, although most spears don't have a high enough crit range to pull this off.
Jumping is the real problem here, as while warpriest do have some spells that get them into the air, nothing really works for that which I can think of off the top of my head. Might be something I need to write up for my own projects, although I'm up for suggestions if anyone has a decent way of doing this, as Death From Above is a good way to do it with a flying race (although no vital strike at the end of that unless it's a greatsword and you're going with a certain divine fighting technique.)
It was actually aimed towards some others who did scream BADWRONGFUN the last time I brought up using Fervor to heal.
I see the problem about action economy, since Warpriests uses a lot of swift actions. But I think the healing would probably come in play "late" in an encounter or even inbetween and not when you want to buff. Though it may still conflict with your blessings.
I agree that it's probably a round 3+ tactic, it's viable, but really more so once you're certain that you won't be needing more swiftcast at the end of the day, since losing out on that divine favor is brutal in combat.
No worries. I was trying think a little outside the box.
I'm a little confused what you mean by Shatter Defenses. It's an auto-benefit, not a 1/Day ability. Every time you hit an enemy that is Frightened/Shaken/Panicked they are considered Flat-Footed against you for 1 round, essentially making any follow-up hits easier to land. While not a fantastic option, it is an option worth considering simply due to qualifications, and mostly is intended for mid to higher level play when extra attacks and haste come in to play.
While there are a lot of enemies immune to Intimidate, I wouldn't say it's that many, and one of the larger portions of them, Undead, you are already otherwise pretty strong against. But, the trick is that the Intimidate trick is done for free with basically every single attack you land, and even if it fails, you are still attacking normally.
Sorry, I meant Dazzling Display, not Shatter Defenses. And that's mostly because of the DC increase on re-timidating opponents. I mean with the hobgoblin racial feat to also give allies a buff with DD, it's not bad, although I still stand by cornugon smash + power attack unless you're dual wielding, in which case the attack reduction is bad enough where I agree that going bludgeoner + enforcer + blade of mercy is probably the way to go. Mantis Zealot or Cult Leader can even go the sap master route for even more fun with this style.
And now there's at least one obvious Simpsons and Futurama reference in the guide, just as intended. Let's see if I can squeeze in anymore dumb crap.
I am looking at the Arsenal Chaplain path.
If you did take the Fighter VMC, and take the Focused Weapon advanced weapon training, would you then just get your Sacred Weapon damage back and negate one of the main penalties of the archetype?
Focused Weapon (Ex): The fighter selects one weapon for which he has Weapon Focus and that belongs to the associated fighter weapon group. The fighter can deal damage with this weapon based on the damage of the
warpriest’s sacred weapon ACG class feature, treating his fighter level as his warpriest level.
I don't know if that changes much, or if I am missing something, but figured I would check.
Thanks for all your work.
I am looking at the Arsenal Chaplain path.
If you did take the Fighter VMC, and take the Focused Weapon advanced weapon training, would you then just get your Sacred Weapon damage back and negate one of the main penalties of the archetype?
Focused Weapon (Ex): The fighter selects one weapon for which he has Weapon Focus and that belongs to the associated fighter weapon group. The fighter can deal damage with this weapon based on the damage of the
warpriest’s sacred weapon ACG class feature, treating his fighter level as his warpriest level.I don't know if that changes much, or if I am missing something, but figured I would check.
Thanks for all your work.
Pretty much, yes. The question is is it worth spending a limited feat on? (Answer: Depends on weapon and level.)
Where do you think this should be mentioned more specifically, as it's a green feat already from what I recall. I can only imagine mentioning it again in sacred fist.I would really suggest at least mentioning that the Sacred Fist can very easily pick up and flurry their deity's weapon via Crusader's Flurry, which I would argue makes the Sacred Fist blue with a good favored weapon that can be two-handed.
Where a Warpriest going TWF is quite powerful, picture essentially the same thing but with one two-hander making all the strikes. Flurry with something like a greatsword makes even Dragon Style unarmed strikes look weak, and it costs one feat plus Weapon Focus. Numbers-wise, before the nerf to Sacred Fist flurry, a two-hander flurry with full BAB and Divine Favor was a wee bit OP.
That's true you mention it with Crusader's Flurry - I had read that earlier and didn't have it in mind. Anyhow it's not a big deal, I was more reacting to the text you've got for Sacred Fist that seems to imply it's strictly an unarmed combatant. I've just noticed that people often seem to completely miss the armed option (even just better Monk weapons for a level 1 feat) on the Sacred Fist, since they see scaling unarmed damage and assume the class is hard-wired to it.
I dont know if it was answered already, but what feat enables a earpriest to use it's sacred weapon ability for 2 different weapons?
Weapon Focus.
Has there been any mention of the potential Shamwar build? Since the life link ability shaman's get has been fixed you can make a Oradin warpriest build using fervor to heal yourself after picking up the appropriate number of shaman levels based on your party.
Fervor is pretty weak healing, so it's not that good. But I expect there to some day be a healing archetype for the warpriest and maybe it will be worth looking at for this.
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I dont know if it was answered already, but what feat enables a earpriest to use it's sacred weapon ability for 2 different weapons?Weapon Focus.
If you want to enchant 2 weapons at once with it, you can use Dual Enhancement.
And earpriest sounds like a Ferrengi occupation.
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If he has the lobes for it.
I'd like to make a case for Artifice Blessing Transfer Magic which you rate as only one star. A single arrow with Bane (whatever) is only 160gp. Carry a quiver of 10 singles with the most common foes in your area to switch onto you main weapon isn't bad for a discount Inquisitor. I personally get a hole drilled into a few sling bullets, enchant them up, string them together as a necklace or bracelet just so they are always on hand.