I'm trying to understand how Righteous Might works as written, and if the special attack granted by it is a Strike or not.
Righteous Might has the Polymorph trait which means that (unless GM thinks otherwise):
• You are only affected by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties
• You can not cast spells
• You can not speak
• You have hands and can use manipulate actions (since the spell explicitly calls this out)
• All your gear is absorbed into you
Then the MAP rules seems to make a difference between Strikes and special attacks:
The multiple attack penalty (detailed on page 446) applies to each attack after the first, whether those attacks are Strikes, special attacks like the Grapple action of the Athletics skill, or spell attack rolls.
The above, combined with the fact that the spell explicitly explicitly states that it gives you a special attack, makes me draw the conclusion that the special attack granted by Reighteous Might is not a Strike, but something called a special attack. I'm not sure this is the correct interpretation.
If the special attack is not a Strike:
• It still uses an attack roll since the spell states that it is an attack. Hence True Strike would work with it, but you can't cast it because of the Polymorph trait.
• It has the attack trait since the spell states that it is an attack. Bit unsure about this, the spell doesn't explicitly call it out, but the quoted MAP rules seem to imply that all special attacks have the attack trait. If it has the attack trait, it is affected by/affects the Multiple Attack Penalty.
• It can't be used with Power Attack since it is not a Strike.
• It can critically hit, since it has an attack roll, but it does not deal double damage since that only applies to Strikes.
Then, regardless of whether it is a Strike or not, there's the following. Let's consider only the melee version:
• The total attack modifier is (at least) +21. It is only affected by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. You do not add strength to it.
• The total damage is 3dX+8, where X depends on the diety's favored weapon. It is only affected by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. You do not add strength to it.
• The damage for a worshiper of Ragathiel would be 3d8+8. The fact that Bastard Swords have the trait Two-Hand 1d12 does not matter since it is not the normal damage dice.
• The caster can choose one of the four properties of the weapon as long as it matches his deity's alignment.
• However, if he chooses holy he can not activate the once per day reaction since the Polymorph trait states that "you can't activate any items".
• The special attack is not strength based. Similar spells, e.g. Animal Form, calls this out explicitly. Hence it is not affected by the enfeebled condition.
• Since it is not stated that the weapon is of the diety's favored weapon type, only that it borrow some specific aspects from it, the special attack does not have any Weapon Traits and/or Critical Specialization Effects. Bit unsure about this as well, reading again "A special attack with a righteous armament version of your favored weapon" could imply inheritance.
Is there anything wrong in my understanding of Righteous Might?
Most importantly, is the special attack a Strike or not?
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Everything derived from the polymorph tag and battle form rules is correct.
The "special attack" part is messy, as seems to be the theme with all battle form spells. My best answer is this: those are just good old Strikes. The idea was probably the same as the exclusive Strike options that some monk stances have, but the phrasing got messed up along the way. That is the solution that makes the most sense and the only solution which doesn't cause massive problems.
The rest also seems correct. The only part that I would argue is that the righteous armament version doesn't get the traits or crit spec. The heightened version specifically calls out that you get a further reach increase if the weapon already has reach. It also uses the same damage die size. I'm pretty sure that it is supposed to be the weapon in full, traits and all, including the two-handed trait.
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Yeah, I'd rule that the "righteous" version of your deities favored weapon functions exactly as the weapon, including traits like backswing, reach, etc...
As to the holy/unholy/axiomatic/anarchic properties you gain, I would say that you can activate them. It's a bit dodgy, but you aren't really wielding an "item" with the property, essentially YOU have said property. If the intent was to make it so you can't use the activated ability of the properties, then they could have just noted that you deal appropriate alignment damage, in the same way that a neutral deity just gets precision damage.
Also, ruling otherwise means that Holy and Unholy are strictly inferior to axiomatic/anarchic since those properties have on Crit effects that would trigger regardless.
Edit: I would also apply enfeebled to the attack and damage personally. While sure the battle form doesn't specifically call out your atk and dmg numbers as being strength based, they most likely are. That being said I totally get why you would argue that it wouldn't apply and could see a GM ruling that way as well. So up to GM interpretation.
I'm trying to understand how Righteous Might works as written, and if the special attack granted by it is a Strike or not.
Yes its a strike and it's a normal attack that applies all the normal attack rules. There is no such thing as a special attack. The word is just there to highlight some complications.
The total attack modifier is (at least) +21. It is only affected by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. You do not add strength to it.
Paizo have made a right mess of being clear with all these battleform spells.
Your total attack modifier is +21. Thats it. You aren't adding anything more to it except the normal situational tempory things like status and circumtance bonuses (your bard is encourgaing you, you have gotten Aid from an ally).
At this point you don't really know if you are using Strength or Dexterity to attack. It depends on what your deities weapon is, and it may be a choice (Finesse is optionally DEX). It normally doesn't matter as you arne't adding it as a modifier, so they don't mention. It only come in for things like being enfeebled. If it hapens then the GM decides. But if we are talking about a Bastard Sword its clearly Strength.
If, IF, you are using your own attack modifier then you add in everything. Your ability modifier (STR/DEX as appropriate), proficiency bonus (includes level), iten bonus with the deities weapon if you are wielding one (yes). You can also still later add in Status and Circumstance bonus as well.
the special attack does not have any Weapon Traits and/or Critical Specialization Effects
You are wielding a righteous armament version of your favored weapon So as far as I can tell it is actually a spell created weapon of that type. The traits are there, the critical specialization effects are avaialble. But nothing in the spell will activate them. The caster has to have the ability themselves to cause those abilities to work.