Hi everyone, quick question is the champion of the faith archetype any good for a warpriest caydan? i know a lot of people would suggest the Arsenal Chaplain, but i want scaling damage and different blessings. i heard most people frown upon this archetype because it use two fervor to smite so there's that... thoughts
technically i can't choose because
core war priest
pro: enchant weapon
con: short duration
champion of the faith
pro: smite evil (a lot of evil things in our campaign)
con: very limited times per day
Getting your level in bonus damage, plus auto-break-all-DR plus maybe a CHA bonus is an awesome ability. Whatever issues there are with Champion of the Faith doesn't change that. Whether it's 'worth it' depends on the build and other things, but it's not a bad Archetype.
You'd just play it more like a paladin and less like a Warpriest. Paladin's don't smite every fight, do they? That seems quite wasteful.
yeah i plan on role-playing it like a Chevalier of Cayden. the second smite at 8th lv kinda is annoying but only being able to normally enchant your weapon for a number of rounds per day equal to your lv is frustrating.
Warpriests are already loaded with buffs and magic, so smite is just a slay-the-boss-guy cherry on top.
If you want to be able to enchant your weapon and still keep the Champion of the Faith archetype, consider using the variant multiclass rules to pick up Magus. It will give you an Arcane Pool, scaling at your level -2, Magus Arcanas, and Spellstrike (though you will need to spend a Magus Arcana in order to use your Warpriest spells with it). Magus weapon enchant is marginally better because it lasts for a minute (10 rounds) ea time you use it. A single magic trait (Bladed Magic) makes a single arcane point last just as long as a level 20 warpriest.
Now, you will lose half your character feats doing so, but it might be worth it depending on your race. Play human for the bonus feat @ 1st level and the favored class bonus of +1/6 a new combat feat (or play half-elf or half-orc to get the same favored class bonus, but no 1st level bonus feat). Also, the Magus Arcana ability is not locked from the "Extra X" feats, so you can pick some of the nicer ones too.
Human:
Str=Wis=Con>Int>Dex>Cha (or right around there)
1) Feat (character), Bonus feat (human), Bonus Feat (Weapon Focus)
3) No feat (Arcane Pool instead)
5) Feat (character)
6) Bonus Feat (warpriest), Bonus Feat (Favored class)
7) No feat (Magus Arcana instead)
9) Feat (Character), Bonus feat (Warpriest)
11) No Feat (Spellstrike instead)
12) Bonus Feat (warpriest), Bonus Feat (Favored class)
13) Feat (Character)
15) No Feat (Magus Arcana instead), Bonus Feat (Warpriest)
17) Feat (character)
18) Bonus Feat (warpriest), Bonus Feat (Favored class)
19) No Feat (Magus Arcana instead)
Works out to: 6 feats for anything, 9 bonus combat feats (weapon focus chosen for you), and 3 magus arcanas.