Here's what Deadly Simplicity says:
"Your deity’s weapon is especially powerful in your hands. When you are wielding your deity’s favored weapon, increase the damage die size of that weapon by one step. If your deity’s favored weapon is an unarmed attack (such as a fist, if you worship Irori) and its damage die is smaller than d6, instead increase its damage die size to d6."
If I use a staff in one hand it deals 1d4, which Deadly Simplicity increases to 1d6.
Does the staff's "Two-Hand d8" trait go up to d10 or remain unaffected?
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It would be unaffected, there is no situation in which a weapon can have its default damage dice increased more than a single time no matter the source so there really isn't much benefit other than the rule-of-cool that lets you wield it as powerfully with one hand as you or anyone else would with two hands.
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I was originally going to say that it looks like a no-go, but Two-Hand doesn’t increase the die size, it changes the value altogether. It looks like it’d work.
I was originally going to say that it looks like a no-go, but Two-Hand doesn’t increase the die size, it changes the value altogether. It looks like it’d work.
I'd say so, too. It's another damage die not an increase.
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Changing the weapons damage dice to a larger one is still a net increase in the end.
I can see where you're coming from in that they use different wording but the EFFECT itself here is pretty clear IMO. That said I'm only seeing one weapon so far that actually would be impacted by this (so far) and that's the Staff for Nethys bringing it up to a d10 so... all things considered, it doesn't feel too broken...
Like I said, when I originally looked at the question, I thought the same thing, and I’m honestly not 100% convinced I’m right. But, the exact wording, used either strictly or casually, is really different than increasing the damage die by a step, so I’m leaning more towards it being intended than not.
Two-handed it is a d8, a d8 is bigger than a d6, it is not increased.
Just FWIW, the text of the two-handed trait:
This weapon can be wielded with two hands. Doing so changes its weapon damage die to the indicated value. This change applies to all the weapon’s damage dice, such as those from striking runes.
The increase to a d6 is specifically in case you’re a follower of Irori, and your Unarmed Strike is, y’know, not a Monk or something.
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"Changes its damage die" to me seems distinct from a die size increase.
I also think it's important to look at consequences: ruling they don't stack would essentially be adding a downside to two-handed weapons, one I'm not convinced at all is necessary. Weapons with the two-handed property are already worse than normal two-handers when wielded in two hands, making them also not benefit from die size increases feels gratuitous.
On top of that, the Staff is already one of the worst weapons in the game in terms of its trait budget.
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Yeah, the wording is definitely different so, strictly speaking, I think it very well might apply according to the RAW, although I wonder how this might have cascading effects might happen because of this since the Two-Hand trait is something that's likely to see further usage and whenever that might pair with a deity's favored weapon that's a bit of a hidden bonus that might want to be considered when balancing weapon traits for favored weapons.
Ambiguous wording I suppose, I'd FAQ it if I could, very interesting discovery.
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Also Bastard Sword goes from d8 to d12. Which wouldn't be allowed with normal size increase rules (would be 2 steps). So it IS a distinct mechanic - a replacement of the damage die.