D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Cleric - War Domain - Help

[LiL KiNG]

Hello all,

Let me start by saying I'm very tired at the moment and unable to comprehend what I'm reading so looking for clarificaiton;

Making an NPC BBG and trying to put his build together which included an exotic weapon proficiency and weapon focus.

Ran across the War Domain and thought "you know, cleric actually fits better than ranger on this guy" (I was going to use a 2-level dip on ranger to net TWF but still needed to burn feats for the EWP/Weapon Focus).

So if I use Cleric with War Domain (yes his deity has War as a domain) it says it grants Martial Weapon Proficiency Feat with the Deity's chosen weapon. What if the Deity's chosen weapon is an exotic weapon??
Does this make the exotic weapon count as a martial weapon instead but then I still have to find a way for the cleric to gain martial weapon proficiencies since clerics only get simple weapons? Or does this actually grant the use of his Deity's chosen exotic weapon as in the feat exotic weapon proficiency?

Clarification appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dandu]

Strictly no, but I've heard that most groups allow it. Kinda like how a cleric gets to use the War Domain's granted Weapon Focus... despite a cleric of first level not having the BAB prerequisite to actually make use of it.

 

[airwalkrr]

This actually seemed to come up a lot in the old Living Greyhawk campaign where there were clerics of both Mayaheine and Kelanen who wanted to use the War domain to get proficiency with the bastard sword. Some argued that they could use the bastard sword as a martial weapon (two-handed) while others argued that the "spirit" of the rule meant they could use it as a one-handed weapon. Eventually, and I forget if it was from general consensus or a ruling passed down from the Circle (the body than ran LG) it was accepted that the War domain granted proficiency, not just martial weapon proficiency, and that clerics of Mayaheine and Kelanen could use bastard swords in one hand. For relatively minor gods, you saw a LOT of clerics of Mayaheine and Kelanen in LG, but then that campaign attracted a lot of goobers. Still, it was an "official" WotC organized play campaign, and I know of a lot of players who treated LG rules as 3e or 3.5 rules. You could always look up the old FAQs and erratas as they are still available. But you might have to do some hunting to find exactly which document its in.

 

[LiL KiNG]

Thanks for the responses!

The BBG will have martial weapon proficiencies from his fighter levels so if the War Domain would treat his Deity's exotic weapon as martial (or just straight proficient) that would work fine.
I was mostly looking to see if he'd still have to grab the exotic weapon proficiency feat if the War Domain wouldn't work with exotic weapons.

I could see this being a problem in many campaign settings as lots of deities have exotic weapons as their favored weapons, especially once you get into lesser deities or racial deities. Though, War Domain is still pretty uncommon.

That is weird too how War Domain grants Weapon Focus when a 1st level cleric doesn't even have a +1 BAB. Though at level one that is nice to help offset the slower BAB progression of a cleric. Huh.

 

[Dandu]

Don't worry, most exotic weapons are rather lackluster.