Archer said:Remember that paladins don't get a lot of 1st level spells. At 14th level they get TWO 1st level spells. Saying it is just a first level spell isn't a good argument for paladin-only spells being the weaker of two possible interpretations. A +1 enchancement on a weapon is totally redundant at 14th level, or even at 4-6th level when they first get spells but I think I've already said this before.
I agree. In fact, without bonus spells, a 14th level Paladin only gets 4 spells total which is fewer than a 3rd level Cleric with no bonus spells.
I decided to do the actual math for the auto-crit feature for needing a 2 to hit where the spell doesn’t really help at all, through needing a 20 to hit where it almost doubles the damage for a typical 19-20 x2 or x3 weapon. It results in an average increase of damage of 17.2%.
In other words, if you normally average 6 points of damage on a successful hit, it will increase it to 7. If you normally average 12 points of damage, it will increase it to 14. The weapons for most characters probably fall within this average damage range. In other words, Bless Weapon does +1 to +2 extra points of damage on average using it across the boards against a wide variety of situations, but only against evil creatures.
Divine Favor does +1 damage (and to hit) at Paladin level 4, +2 at Paladin level 12 and +3 at Paladin level 18. And, it basically affects all creatures.
Just looking at the level 4 Paladin +1 to hit and +1 damage for a typical 19-20 x2 or x3 weapon, Divine Favor averages a 9.9% increase in average damage on a successful hit due to the +1 to hit plus it is +1 damage for the +1 damage. So, if you average 6 points of damage, you will do 7.6 average points (versus the 7 of Bless Weapon). If you average 12 points of damage, you will do 14.2 average points (versus the 14 of Bless Weapon).
At 4th level, this is not that much more powerful than the auto-crit feature of Bless Weapon, but it is slightly more powerful. However, it gets even more powerful at 12th and 18th level and it is not limited to evil creatures.
Bless does +1 to hit for multiple characters. So, it is more powerful than the weaker interpretation (since most characters already have magical weapons at class level 4+) once it is cast on two characters (5% increase for two characters vs. 9% increase for one). It becomes much more powerful when cast on more characters (all allies in a 50 foot radius is huge), plus it adds to save bonuses, plus it basically affects all creatures.
Giving Bless Weapon the ability to negate DR against all evil creatures just brings the spell up on par with these other first level Paladin spells. Otherwise, it is considerably weaker. I do not think that all spells of the same level must be equal, but negating the higher DRs is not that overwhelming due to the infrequency at which:
1) The Paladin has the spell memorized (he gets so few spells).
2) His opponent is evil.
3) His opponent has DR 1 or higher (or is incorporeal)
4) The Paladin does not have a magical weapon already which handles that DR.
In the vast majority of situations, one or more of these criteria will not exist. So, this is not that big of a deal with respect to how much power is acquired with the first interpretation.