Something I'm working on in my home campaign. What do you guys think? Sorta helps to address the question of, "But I use a big 2h weapon, why do I care about 1d6 worth of Sacred Weapon Damage?"
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Warpriest Sacred Weapon Damage is replaced with a + 1 hit and damage bonus when fighting Undead, evil outsiders, and evil dragons. This bonus increases by an additional + 1 every 5 levels to a max of + 5 at level 20. This bonus is considered to be holy damage and may not be resisted by normal DR effects. This additional damage is not multiplied on a critical hit.
NOTE: for evil warpriests the Sacred Weapon Damage becomes unholy and effects good aligned creatures.
As an alternative the type of creatures effected by the Sacred Weapon Damage could be swapped for something more campaign specific such as elementals, giants, orcs, worshipers of the Elder Gods, guys named Fred, or whatever.
Option 1: The additional damage is multiplied on a critical hit.
Option 2: The additional damage is multiplied on a critical hit, but requires a feat as a prerequisite (Holy Crit or something).
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The whole point of sacred weapon's damage adjustment is to make weak favored weapons stronger. Buffing the ability for already strong weapons just defeats the purpose of it. Besides, the class already gets Weapon Focus for free.
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My initial thoughts:
- It will really hurt the Warpriest when fighting non-evil opponents (I might be particularly sensitive to this since our WotR party just got it ass kicked recently by a giant ooze that wasn't evil: No Smite, no holy weapons, no evil outsider bane, no sneak attacks, and no way to get past its 30/- DR).
- It really encourages the Warpriest to use the biggest weapon possible. I always liked the fact that the Warpriest made a lot of otherwise sub-optimal weapons more viable.
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I have to agree. My Dagger Warpiest wouldnt have been as good or as fun with what is essentially a much worse version of Weapon Training.
Agreed with all of this to a point. Personally I hated the way the Sacred Weapon Damage (SWD) worked and basically only benefited a build which was in fact using a poor damage weapon to begin with (like a whip, dagger or shuriken). But for someone that is already using a decent weapon to start with, they basically get nothing for it until much later in their career when SWD finally outpaces their normal weapon (frequently around level 14 or later). So if we are assuming that most parties never get to that point, why not turn it into something usable at lower levels? Yes, my version of it was restricted to more iconic foes, but that is still a better alternative than have a class power which is doing nothing for the majority of the characters career.
NOTE: all I was suggesting replacing with this was the weapon base damage increase included with Sacred Weapon, and not other benefits associated with SWD.
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Just use the Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain archetype, which replaces the scaling to Sacred Weapon damage with Weapon Training -- as the Fighter class feature, but instead of working on a Weapon Group, it works on all weapons for which you have selected Weapon Focus or gotten free Weapon Focus (the archetype also makes some other swaps). (Caution: PFS-specific nerf: This doesn't qualify you for Advanced Weapon Training.)
Just use the Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain archetype, which replaces the scaling to Sacred Weapon damage with Weapon Training -- as the Fighter class feature, but instead of working on a Weapon Group, it works on all weapons for which you have selected Weapon Focus or gotten free Weapon Focus (the archetype also makes some other swaps). (Caution: PFS-specific nerf: This doesn't qualify you for Advanced Weapon Training.)
Not a bad thought, but this particular archetype also alters a lot of other features about the class. My suggested change however only alters one piece and is thus a lot more compatible.
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It does do something for the people using big weapons. If your diety's favored weapon is your backup weapon, guessing you'd use a great sword most of the time, then your backup isn't just terrible.
Extreme example: A pharasman is using a great sword, but that gets sundered. Oh no! Luckily daggers are cheap and light! Yes, doing less than 2d6 is terribly, but a 1d8 dagger is pretty beefy.
Long story short, big weapon users don't need any help.
It does do something for the people using big weapons. If your diety's favored weapon is your backup weapon, guessing you'd use a great sword most of the time, then your backup isn't just terrible.
Extreme example: A pharasman is using a great sword, but that gets sundered. Oh no! Luckily daggers are cheap and light! Yes, doing less than 2d6 is terribly, but a 1d8 dagger is pretty beefy.
Long story short, big weapon users don't need any help.
Since it works with ANY weapon you take focus with, any weapon can be your backup weapon. You pick the biggest possible weapon melee weapon, well now your backup ranged weapon, say a sling, gets the benefit. Your main weapon is a pole arm, now your backup armor spikes gets the benefit.
I'm of the opinion that the ability was never meant to buff big weapons but to make any favored weapon competitive: basically, it's so you don't feel like an idiot for taking your deities weapon. I would be against it if I was in a game that wanted to add it.
Long story short, big weapon users don't need any help.
This.
You still get Weapon Focus for free on a class you would otherwise be unable to get the feat at 1st level. It's not like you're getting nothing out of the deal.