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So I'd like to make a warpriest work, playing a melee (or even an archer) oriented cleric sounds like a fun idea. But the Warpriest doctrine as depicted in the core rules seems sorely lacking. To compare what the 20th level benefits are of each doctrine:
Cloistered:
Legendary in Spellcasting
A free Focus Spell (1st lvl class feat)
Expert in Unarmored
Expert in Deity's Weapon
Expert in Fortitude
Warpriest:
Master in Spellcasting
Expert in Light and Medium Armor
Expert in Deity's Weapon
Trained in Martial Weapons
Master in Fortitude
The warpriest has to sacrifice legendary in spellcasting, which is huge- they're the only spellcaster that doesn't actually get legendary in spellcasting. This makes their offensive actions for spellcasting sorely lacking, as their spell attack and DCs are going to be behind the other classes. They don't even get better weapon attack to make up for it, since they reach the same proficiency as a cloistered cleric in their deity's favored weapon (and only trained in all martial weapons). Sure they get it earlier, but that doesn't mean much when you realize you've gotten all you're gonna get out of your proficiency at level 7 (and at the cost of expert spellcasting).
Now take this: the Sentinel Dedication feat. For a small 2nd level dip, you get light and medium armor proficiency, which increases at the same rate of warpriest's improvement. In that case, the cloistered cleric (with one feat) now equals or eclipses warpriest in all areas except in fortitude saves. However, there is no similar feat for Warpriest to shore up its weakness in spellcasting.
I remain optimistic that the Magus playtest releasing Monday will have a better presentation of what a mixed martial/caster can accomplish and how we could improve the warpriest to better scale along with the other classes. Hopefully, what we learn in the Magus playtest can help with an errata for the Warpriest as well!
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Except if you do take Sentinel you are not only burning feats to get what Warpriest gets for free, you're also cutting yourself off from other archetypes.
I have been running a Warpriest for a while (and eventually picked up Marshal), and honestly I don't regret it at all even in the mid levels. Being in the middle of the fight allows me to leverage a lot of self-only and touch-only spells with no effort, and I don't particularly care about the DC (the only offensive spells I use are wide areas anyways), the low-level feats are actually really useful, Battle Axe is the best cantrip in my list, and the shield makes me sturdier than the Fighter anyways.
As for high levels, the group I GM has a new arrival - lv14 Warpriest. I'll let you know how that plays out in a few sessions :)
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Warpriests do also get Master in Fortitude, which Sentinel will not grant. But let's examine this on a per level basis, shall we?
1st-2nd: Warpriest has better Proficiency in Armor and Fort Saves. Cloistered Cleric has one more Feat, and can give that up for Armor via Sentinel at 2nd.
3rd-6th: Cloistered Cleric catches up in Fortitude, but the Warpriest gets martial weapons, which is a small advantage, but a real one.
7th-10th: Warpriests go up to Expert in attacks, and Cloistered Clerics in spellcasting. That seems equitable (the Cloistered Sentinel and the Warpriest are about equal at this point aside from this).
11th-14th: Both are now Expert in both spells and their Favored Weapon. So that's actually entirely equal.
15th-18th: Warpriests gain Master in Fortitude Saves, while Cloistered get Master in spellcasting. Here we finally hit a real problem. That's not an equitable trade at all, and looks really bad for the Warpriest.
19th-20th: Both gain increased Spellcasting Proficiency, so the 15th-18th dynamic stays about the same.
So, looking at that, Warpriest is slightly better at 1st to 2nd level, and notably worse at 15th level onward (at least, unless you believe upgrading a Save is as good as upgrading spellcasting). But it actually looks fine to me from 1st through 14th, which is no small thing in thinking about how to fix it.
My first instinct for a fix would be giving Warpriests Expert in all martial weapons at 7th, and Master in Armor as well as their existing stuff at 15th. That makes them more defensive and with better weapon choices without overpowering them.
It does result in a really quick progression from Trained to Master in AC, though, so maybe I'd do something else. I'll have to think on it. Most of the fix should be specifically at 15th level, though, they're basically fine before that.
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The one thing I really don't like about the current WP doctrine is that they will automatically receive the Shield Block feat, no matter if you worship Erastil, Gorum or Shelyn and would rather use no shield at all.
WPs should be given a selection of "free" 1st level general feats, much like CCs can chose their "free" domain spell, e.g. choose in between Canny Acumen, Toughness or Shield Block.
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Master in armour could be a bit much tho. Consider that Master in spell is likely going to be unused by a martial caster (as above, most used spells were not save spells anyways, and I doubt that would change with a higher DC), and Fortitude is a good defense to have. Lots of nasties, as well as a lot of combat-based manouvers key off Fortitude. A lot of touch spells, too. Basically everything Warpriest gets in the way of.
What I really don't like about the current WP doctrine is that they will automatically receive Shield Block, no matter if you worship Erastil, Gorum or Shelyn and would rather use no shield at all.
now THAT is a nail on the head. Shield is a keystone, and it shouldn't be - imagine a warpriest of Lamashtu feeling bad about using the falchion.
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Except if you do take Sentinel you are not only burning feats to get what Warpriest gets for free, you're also cutting yourself off from other archetypes.
I have been running a Warpriest for a while (and eventually picked up Marshal), and honestly I don't regret it at all even in the mid levels. Being in the middle of the fight allows me to leverage a lot of self-only and touch-only spells with no effort, and I don't particularly care about the DC (the only offensive spells I use are wide areas anyways), the low-level feats are actually really useful, Battle Axe is the best cantrip in my list, and the shield makes me sturdier than the Fighter anyways.
As for high levels, the group I GM has a new arrival - lv14 Warpriest. I'll let you know how that plays out in a few sessions :)
Sentinel has two skill feats in its archetype so you aren't cut off for that long. You can take another dedication when you get your next class feat.
I think WarPriest is worth it early if you like your deities weapon and plan to use it. But I'd almost always go for Cloistered Cleric. The better casting DC can be very important.
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Master in armour could be a bit much tho. Consider that Master in spell is likely going to be unused by a martial caster (as above, most used spells were not save spells anyways, and I doubt that would change with a higher DC), and Fortitude is a good defense to have. Lots of nasties, as well as a lot of combat-based manouvers key off Fortitude. A lot of touch spells, too. Basically everything Warpriest gets in the way of.
It is, but not as good as being one Proficiency level better in spells. That said, Master in armor may indeed be too much. Maybe Legendary in Will? That reinforces the 'defensive' side of things in a different way...
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I'd like WarPriest better if they could take 18 Str or 18 Dex to start with. Like you used to be able to in PF1.
The fact Fortitude save is what people have to target to break out of grapple makes it a little bit more of an offensive stat than people realize. Without good fortitude saves, you are not going to be able to lock people down with grappling, which is something warpriests can be almost as good at as a martial (usually just 1 to 2 points behind) and, with the ability to heal themselves, can be even ahead on. This is not a factor for every warpriest, but it is something that cloistered clerics will never catch up with and can be used offensively about as clerics can cast offensively.
Also the warpriest gets not only master proficiency in Fortitude save, it gets the ability to treat successes as critical successes, which cannot be replicated with the canny acumen feat, or by archetype. That additional ability is a strong one.
The trained in martial weapons feels like a trap feature when looked at by itself, but it really does open up the warpriest to a lot of good archetypes that they don't have to waste getting armor proficiencies, unlike every other gish caster so far. Master casting instead of Legendary is a big hit, but it is difficult to evaluate exclusively on its own because the cloistered cleric and the warpriest have grown in such opposite directions even by the time the first spell casting proficiency kicks in.
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The one thing I really don't like about the current WP doctrine is that they will automatically receive the Shield Block feat, no matter if you worship Erastil, Gorum or Shelyn and would rather use no shield at all.
WPs should be given a selection of "free" 1st level general feats, much like CCs can chose their "free" domain spell, e.g. choose in between Canny Acumen, Toughness or Shield Block.
It's not like warpriest is the only class who gets Shield Block and might have no use for it.
If you start with something like that, you'd need to do the same for fighters, champions and druids. And all future classes starting with shield block.
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The one thing I really don't like about the current WP doctrine is that they will automatically receive the Shield Block feat, no matter if you worship Erastil, Gorum or Shelyn and would rather use no shield at all.
WPs should be given a selection of "free" 1st level general feats, much like CCs can chose their "free" domain spell, e.g. choose in between Canny Acumen, Toughness or Shield Block.
It's not like warpriest is the only class who gets Shield Block and might have no use for it.
If you start with something like that, you'd need to do the same for fighters, champions and druids. And all future classes starting with shield block.
They're the only class who might have to choose between using Shield Block and using the only weapon they're Expert in, though. It's not the same thing.
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I think it would be nice if they got master with their Deity weapon but otherwise I think they are good but it may be useful to compare them to a Battle Oracle and see who comes out on top.
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I'm on the side that Warpriest should have gotten Master Deity's Favored Weapon, and Expert in Simple and Martial weapons. Doesn't quite stack up completely even with Legendary Casting but would at least be in the same ballpark.
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I'm not sure what to do about it but it does strike me as weird that the ostensibly more martial cleric build is only actually better at fighting for four levels and is instead more about saving you feats on armor and bumping up your fort saves than anything else.
Also think it's a bit unfortunate that the Warpriest's (and to be fair, CC's too) only real features are proficiency bumps and bonus feats. It feels like there was a missed opportunity to give the doctrines some genuinely interesting unique abilities.
As it stands I think the Warpriest is reasonably effective mechanically but it sort of feels really bad to realize that your big defining feature is just better fort saves. Not bad, but not very inspiring.
Except if you do take Sentinel you are not only burning feats to get what Warpriest gets for free, you're also cutting yourself off from other archetypes.
You can complete the sentinel archetype through skill feats at lvl 6 and 8
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Master in armour could be a bit much tho. Consider that Master in spell is likely going to be unused by a martial caster (as above, most used spells were not save spells anyways, and I doubt that would change with a higher DC), and Fortitude is a good defense to have. Lots of nasties, as well as a lot of combat-based manouvers key off Fortitude. A lot of touch spells, too. Basically everything Warpriest gets in the way of.It is, but not as good as being one Proficiency level better in spells. That said, Master in armor may indeed be too much. Maybe Legendary in Will? That reinforces the 'defensive' side of things in a different way...
Armor specialisation, while not big, would also have tied in well with the WP focus on defensive.
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In regard of the WP being worse at casting I absolutely hate that all and everything has been packed into one single spellcasting proficiency.
For example I really don't mind having a worse DC on offensive spells, however I very much do mind the worse modifier every single time I have to attempt a counteract check, which is a big lot of the cleric's bread and butter spells.
I dont know that it's bad enough that it needs errata to fix it, but it certainly doesn't offer anything I'd personally want over cloistered cleric except at low levels.
That said, once you count in APG archetypes I think what it offers got a lot better. It plays into Bastion and Sentinel in ways that Cloistered simply can't, and those allow for you to play defensively with marked advantages.
The simple fact that Bastion gives you Reactive Shield and Quick Shield block allows for shield using Clerics to turn themselves into very poor targets at an extremely "affordable" action cost, versus needing an action to Raise your shield.
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Personally, I'd like to see some feats based on 1E Warpriest. In specific, Fervor:
Fervor - Feat 14
Prerequisite Warpriest Doctrine
You excel at using your spells to improve your martial capabilities. You gain fervor. Increase the number of Focus Points in your focus pool by 1.Fervor - Focus 7
Uncommon, Metamagic, Transmutation, Cleric
Cast - Free Action (Verbal)
Your spellcasting empowers you. If the next action you take is to Cast a Spell from your spell slots that only affects you, reduce the number of actions to cast it by 1. If this would reduce it to 0, may instead cast it as a free action with a verbal component.
Alternatively, "After you cast a spell that targets only yourself, you become Quickened for this round. The extra action may be used to Strike or Raise a shield."
Thematically, its similar but limits your extra action to Warpriesty things and doesn't allow for crazy levels of action economy.
I think you could allow it at a lower level at that point as well (same level as Haste) and possibly without the Focus cost.
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Personally, I'd like to see some feats based on 1E Warpriest. In specific, Fervor:
Fervor - Feat 14
Prerequisite Warpriest Doctrine
You excel at using your spells to improve your martial capabilities. You gain fervor. Increase the number of Focus Points in your focus pool by 1.Fervor - Focus 7
Uncommon, Metamagic, Transmutation, Cleric
Cast - Free Action (Verbal)
Your spellcasting empowers you. If the next action you take is to Cast a Spell from your spell slots that only affects you, reduce the number of actions to cast it by 1. If this would reduce it to 0, may instead cast it as a free action with a verbal component.
That seem super crazy good compared to Quickened Casting...
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I feel like people tend to overrate legendary spellcaster for warpriests; it has no effect other than offensive spellcasting, which you generally shouldnt be doing. You are as good at healing and buffing etc as cloistered. Problems are (1) you dont really get anything for it (mostly you trade casty feats for weapony feats) and (2) warpriest stops getting better at what it does want to do at like level 7, which is pretty depressing.
Counteract checks are the big issue, and a legit one.
I dont know that it's bad enough that it needs errata to fix it, but it certainly doesn't offer anything I'd personally want over cloistered cleric except at low levels.
That said, once you count in APG archetypes I think what it offers got a lot better. It plays into Bastion and Sentinel in ways that Cloistered simply can't, and those allow for you to play defensively with marked advantages.
The simple fact that Bastion gives you Reactive Shield and Quick Shield block allows for shield using Clerics to turn themselves into very poor targets at an extremely "affordable" action cost, versus needing an action to Raise your shield.
Warpriest is also one of the best ways to make a full caster Eldritch Archer, since you Expert proficiency in weapons at level 7 rather than level 11.
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I feel like people tend to overrate legendary spellcaster for warpriests; it has no effect other than offensive spellcasting, which you generally shouldnt be doing. You are as good at healing and buffing etc as cloistered. Problems are (1) you dont really get anything for it (mostly you trade casty feats for weapony feats) and (2) warpriest stops getting better at what it does want to do at like level 7, which is pretty depressing.Counteract checks are the big issue, and a legit one.
Plus there are some very good offensive divine magic all the way through. Fear and Calm Emotions at low level, moving on through Sunburst, Spirt Blast. Even moreif you aren't adverse to a little necromancy.
For sure a Divine caster can just heal and buff. That is very effective but its a choice. Its not required by the spell list. A high spell DC can be very important.
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My big problem with the warpriest is they don't get expert in all martial weapons. Clerics are the only class that doesn't get expert in all the weapons they start trained in and that is weird for cloistered too, but it feels especially off for the Warpriest.
I'm pretty sure it's athletics DC, not fort DC for escaping grapple.
I always thought war priests should get mastery in weapons. They lose legendary spell casting. Bump them up to master weapons? Maybe too good.
If I played a war cleric, I think cloistered + champion is the way to go. You'll have the strength (if you use a str weapon from your god), and you'll have the cha, since you need it for font. You get all the armors, and expert with level 14 feat. Also, that champion reaction is great for a front-line cleric.
War priests need something to make up for lower spellcasting prof, and fort save isn't enough, imo.
Good catch, I always get that one confused and have to look it up in play.
The "juggernaut" ability (it is not called it for the war priest) is still better than just master fortitude proficiency.
A war priest doctrine feat that kicked in at level 6, giving you a +2 to counter act checks with spells from the necromancy school (and maybe the enchantment as well) might be a pretty reasonable addition, that will even give the war priest an edge at certain levels. Alternatively, it could allow spells used to counteract an effect to an ally to count as 1 level higher.
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I've been toying with the idea of houserules to Warpriest here and there, because it consistently bothers me that talking about Cleric with new players would always come with the caveat of "if you want some more martial staying power, you get more at later levels from sticking with Cloistered and picking defensive archetypes".
A few things:
★The "doctrine" structure is set at weird levels that clearly favor caster progression and kinda just slot in whatever for Warpriests at the closest convenience. Example: Warpriests have the worst spellcasting proficiency in the game, behind Monks, Champions, and even multiclass archetypes (in regards to master spellcasting specifically), because they get their catch-up proficiency upgrades 2 levels later than them so that Cloistered folks can get their spellcasting at the same time as all of the other cool kids. (Did you know that the Cleric class doesn't give anything at Lv 17? They're not alone in this, but it's a little weird.)
★Warpriests flail in the general direction of being martial without really having anything that lets them do this better than Cloistered Clerics — only earlier, which certainly isn't nothing, but also isn't satisfying over time. (In fact, Cloistered Clerics make their critical specializations stick much more easily because it's based on spell DC rather than class DC, the exact opposite of Druid's situation.) You can buy greater survivability, but never offensive proficiency beyond your means, and they can't even buff themselves without catching flak from the "why not just buff the 'real' martials" crowd.
★As noted above, Warpriests are also much worse at counteracting given their counteract-focused base class (the focus of which is why this could be a problem compared to Champions with Mercy or Alchemists), have a weird semi-dead level at 3, and get Juggernaut as their late-game advantage, which doesn't quite stack up to Master casting, weapons, or armor, especially since you can get the base Master Fortitude proficiency several levels earlier via archetypes or later via a general feat. Training in martial weapons at least qualifies them for certain other archetypes, but getting it without scaling (when they already have a more thematically appropriate weapon that does) is just forcing them to take a general feat they may or may not want. Kind of like Shield Block, actually.
All of this said, it's worth being careful. For all of their shortcomings, Warpriests still have 10 levels of casting and Divine Font eating up class power budget — thinking too heavily about their shortcomings compared to martials risks giving them too much despite their caster chassis. So, a few suggestions and ideas.
★Lv 1: Warpriests can pick Strength or Dexterity for their Key Ability. A no-brainer in my book, they don't even have Class DC for such a change to affect.
★Lv 1: Warpriests (and Druids) have the option of Toughness, Fleet, or Diehard in place of Shield Block. I'm not sure if this same benefit should be extended to martials who get the feat, they get plenty as it is. These two are just in the most awkward place with it.
★Lv 3: I'm unsure of what to do with training in martial weapons, whether it's better upgraded or replaced. Offering scaling proficiency in heavy armor could be nice, but I don't know if that would be best served as part of the base chassis, as an option in place of Shield Block or the other feats above, or as an alternative to the proficiency in martial weapons. What I do know is that this would be the perfect level for a light Martial Class Feature™: Fervor, as noted elsewhere.
I'm not jazzed by the idea of putting their former Big Unique Thing behind a feat, I think they could stand to have other unique options or the ability to use the martial-adjacent feats more easily via quick self-buffs, and with the early level in mind I'd limit it a little further to the extra stride or strike action suggested by Krispy, only when using a 2- or 3-action spell with a target/area of self. Otherwise, about what you'd expect, costing a focus point and/or having a long Frequency. Fervor could be a good place to include an alternate use or lategame upgrade that grants +2 to certain counteract checks with a cost, or that may be better as a Warpriest-specific feat.
★Lv 7: Leaving it as-is. With easier use of buffs, Warpriests could potentially crit more often to make up for the lower DC on certain effects compared to Cloistered Clerics, and with other buffs they're more likely to be tanky support Clerics. More importantly,
★Lv 11 and Lv 19: Warpriests receive these doctrines, and thus their spellcasting upgrades, two levels earlier at Lv 9 and Lv 17 to keep up with Monk and Champion (and I guess also Alchemist?). The base Lightning Reflexes and Miraculous Spell features stay where they are, of course, so they continue to actually get things at those levels.
★Lv 15: Warpriests decide between Master in armor and the existing Juggernaut benefit. Master in armor is generally more valuable, but it's valid for a support-heavy Warpriest who isn't actually trying to take hits as well (or who has subpar CON) to exist. Giving both seems dicey to me too. (Also, note that Lv 15 for Master armor is between Champions and Fighters, which seems fine to me.)
So, understanding that lots of this is in rough draft form and others may have other ideas of what's balanced and fun, I'd overall say that Warpriests in my campaigns would have STR/DEX as key ability options, their choice of a defensive general feat or heavy armor proficiency in place of Shield Block, Fervor at Lv 3, Monk/Champion-level spellcasting proficiency, their choice of Master armor or Juggernaut, and a feat of indeterminate level to put their condition/curse counteract checks on par with a Cloistered Cleric's via restrictions, plus having non-favored weapons catch up in proficiency a few levels later for both doctrines. Hopefully that would all even out. ~w~
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★Lv 15: Warpriests decide between Master in armor and the existing Juggernaut benefit. Master in armor is generally more valuable, but it's valid for a support-heavy Warpriest who isn't actually trying to take hits as well (or who has subpar CON) to exist. Giving both seems dicey to me too. (Also, note that Lv 15 for Master armor is between Champions and Fighters, which seems fine to me.)If you want to put them on par with Alchemist, since you made the DCs on par with them and the weapon prof on par with them, then Master in Armor needs to be a level 19 feature, not level 15.
There's a reason I was questioning Alchemist DC being relevant -- I wasn't aiming to balance against what's generally the least satisfying class in the game, especially given it isn't quite a martial or a caster (in a different way to Warpriest). I'm also loathe to give more than one extra feature outright or add it on to Juggernaut, and though it's true that Divine Defense is at Lv 13 (overlooked that), it seems pretty unnecessary to make them wait quite that long given their aesthetic of being well-armored. Maybe Warpriests could reach Expert in armor a little more quickly, not just in weapons, or maybe it would be more appropriate to delay their armor mastery to Fighter or Rogue/Alchemist levels...hm, that's admittedly a bit tricky.
Okay, I suppose 15 wouldn't be an appropriate level for that, actually. Multiple other martials get Master armor at 19, so either there or at 17 alongside Master spellcasting could be a good place for that (ignoring for a moment the whole Doctrine structure). That leaves a bit of a hole at 15 that could be where Juggernaut stays if that's picked, or could be filled by an improvement to Fervor or something. Just spitballing there. :o
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At the moment, I think I'm gonna go with this for my House Rules:
1st: Can pick Str or Dex as Key Ability, don't get Shield Block, but do get proficiency in all martial weapons. Still get Deadly Simplicity and up through medium armor.
3rd: Get their choice of Shield Block or Toughness.
7th: Get Expert in all simple and martial weapons, and critical specialization in one of their choice as well as their deity's favored weapon.
11th: No change.
15th: Get Master in Fort as normal, also get +2 to counteract checks and Critical Specialization DCs, and Expert in Heavy Armor.
19th: No change.
Myself, I think I'd like a Warpriest to have weapon proficiency go to master like martial, remove normal spells and instead gain the Spellcasting Archetype way of casting at the same rates, including Breadth: In essence a martial that gets free Multiclass cleric feats instead of martial class features. Throw in some nifty weapon based focus spells and a mix of caster-martial class feats and it'd be good.
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Perhaps a way to balance the Warpriest will become more obvious when we get to see the Pathfinder 2e version of the Magus.
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Myself, I think I'd like a Warpriest to have weapon proficiency go to master like martial, remove normal spells and instead gain the Spellcasting Archetype way of casting at the same rates, including Breadth: In essence a martial that gets free Multiclass cleric feats instead of martial class features. Throw in some nifty weapon based focus spells and a mix of caster-martial class feats and it'd be good.
I dont know that this setup would offer anything over a Fighter with Cleric Dedication and a healing archetype, like Blessed One.
...and that Fighter has Legendary proficiency in Weapons.
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I just find it strange that the cleric never gets expert in simple weapons and unarmed strikes, regardless of doctrine. Every other class that starts with simple weapon proficiency eventually gets expert, but in the shift to doctrines, it seems like that was overlooked.
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I'm pretty much with Ubertron here... First the weapon proficiencies seem clearly messed up despite attempts to rationalize them, solid Expert progression across everything they get should be baseline, and given the amount of mistakes in that realm (across classes) I don't think it's a stretch to say that's just Errata. Something else like Armor Spec does seem appropriate too, or possibly 10HP/lvl.
The awkardness of forced Shield Block feels crappy for anybody who doesn't use Shield, and I think an actual Class Feat is appropriate, not just a General Feat that's not even relevant to every Warpriest. (Cloistered's own free Class Feat: Domain Initiate is something many Warpriests may want to pick up anyways, e.g. Cry of Destruction 15' cone d12/level is solid even with weaker DC). I think replacing free Shield Block with free Emblazon Armament is particularly appropriate: broadly useful for both Shield and 2H users, and key feat if you want to mix spells & weapons/shield especially with mainstay Heal/Harm. Even Warpriests who use a Shield would prefer this, since they can pick up Shield Block with General Feat while benefitting from Emblazon to their Shield + faciliating their casting while their hands are full. Right now Emblazon feels like a Feat Tax for subclass who should be all about that, and getting it for free would let Warpriests choose to use 2nd level feat for martial Archetype Feat while not missing out on Emblazon. That would distinguish them that much further from Cloistered who might use Archetypes to surpass Warpriest abilities.
I just find it strange that the cleric never gets expert in simple weapons and unarmed strikes, regardless of doctrine. Every other class that starts with simple weapon proficiency eventually gets expert, but in the shift to doctrines, it seems like that was overlooked.I think that "deity's favored weapon" counts as "specific group of weapons" for improving Unarmed attacks, is it not?
That's a good question. I'm inclined to say yes, but I don't think the unarmed errata was particularly clear for this specific case.
Though that doesn't address the absence of simple weapon scaling.
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Since many of you are talking about house rules to boost the Warpriest's power, here are the rules from mine:
Your rank in Simple Weapons and Unarmed attacks (and Martial Weapons for Warpriests) increases when your Deity's favored weapon does.
Cloistered Cleric First Doctrine (pg 119): In addition, you also receive the Advanced Doctrine feat for the same domain when you reach 8th level.
Cloistered Cleric Second Doctrine (pg 119): In addition to Expert Fortitude saves, you get your choice of the Healing Hands or Harming Hands feat for free.
Warpriest Second Doctrine (pg 120): In addition to Training in martial weapons, you also receive the Emblazon Armament feat for free.
Warpriest Fifth Doctrine (pg 120): In addition, your skill with your weapons increases to Master rank.
Each time his "Deity's Weapon" rank improves, so too does the rank of his other Class weapons, including unarmed, simple, and a Warpriest's martial weapons (and the Warpriest is now better at using weapons, going to Master rank at 15th level, to help balance the Cloistered Cleric's Legendary casting).
I also gave the Warpriest the Emblazon Armaments feat for free, and to balance that, I gave the Cloistered Cleric the Healing or Harming Hands feat for free. Overall, the effect I want to achieve is that Cloistereds are the caster specialists, while Warpriests are the more martial oriented version.
I left Clerics at merely Expert rank in armor to help differentiate them from Champions.
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The problem with Cleric doctrines is really that the two of them are so similar that you essentially run into a case of one being strictly better than the other for all levels except 7-10.
From 1-6 and 11-14, Warpriest is strictly better than cloistered. The only difference in features is that the Warpriest gets Deadly Simplicity and the cloistered gets Domain initiate. But the Warpriest also gets armor, shield block and trained martial weapons (which might be relevant for archetyping purposes). From 15+, I’d say the Warpriest is almost certainly worse. At that point, the armour prof from Warpriest is meaningless because cloistered has 20dex and because the Cleric starts picking up some AoE blast options starting at spell level 6, and the increased spell prof makes those much better. So you’re comparing master fort (and fort evasion) + shield block to increased spell prof. Master fort is nice, but it’s not something you’ll be rolling every round. It can be impactful, but it’ll probably be less impactful than increased spell prof. You can choose not to cast offensive spells, but that does mean the Warpriest has heavily limited spell options.
That’s all without mentioning how archetypes and General feats let the cloistered Cleric fulfill some of warpriest’s niche (sometimes better, see champion MC).
I would solve this issue by differentiating the two doctrines more, not buffing warpriest’s 15th and 19th features. Because most games don’t make it to 15+ and I don’t want Warpriest to just be the strictly best option.
Myself, I think I'd like a Warpriest to have weapon proficiency go to master like martial, remove normal spells and instead gain the Spellcasting Archetype way of casting at the same rates, including Breadth: In essence a martial that gets free Multiclass cleric feats instead of martial class features. Throw in some nifty weapon based focus spells and a mix of caster-martial class feats and it'd be good.I dont know that this setup would offer anything over a Fighter with Cleric Dedication and a healing archetype, like Blessed One.
...and that Fighter has Legendary proficiency in Weapons.
Well, it wouldn't be multiclass feats, just the Spellcasting Archetype spell progression, so they could take multiclass [fill in he blank] at the same time so as to gain 2x the slots that fighter could or get the slots a fighter could while also getting class feats.
So they'd start with spells like a multiclass cleric and could stack on it Sorcerer and/or witch [divine] Dedication and a healing archetype, like Blessed One.