Divine Favor Q...

[BluSponge]

My buddy and I were hashing this out on the flight back from DragonCon. I'm sure its long since been discussed and decided here, but I thought I'd throw it into the mix anyway.

A problem came up regarding Divine Favor. There was a fundamental disagreement as to how the bonus worked between my friend and an RPGA GM. After careful reading, it looks as though the GM was right (meaning my buddy had been playing it wrong for years now -- something he was not eager to accept).

The spell gives you a +1 bonus for every three caster levels possessed, with a minimum of +1. As a first level spell, this suggests it gives you a +1 bonus from lvl 1 to lvl 5, then increasing every three levels thereafter. Is that right?

(To point, my friend insisted the +2 kicked in at level 4, which is consistent with the way a lot of spells work in 3.5, but not with the wording of this spell.)

Tom

 

[GorTeX]

+1 from 1-5
+2 from 6-8
+3 from 9-11 etc

with out the minimum of +1, it would be
+0 from 1-2
+1 from 3-5
+2 from 6-8 etc

and thus useless as 1st level spell

Now if it said +1 with an additional +1/3levels, then your friend would have been correct (and some spells say things like this), but divine favor does not..just +1/3levels with a minimum of +1.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Yes, as the above poster indicates, that is correct. When a spell description like this, magic missle, magic vestment, etc gives an increase with respect to numbers of levels you full levels. In other words, for this particular spell ask yourself:

How many complete sets of 3 levels do I have?

As the above poster indicates, it goes like this:

1-2: 0 (complete sets) + change = 0 .... except the spell indicates a minimum of +1
2-5: 1 (complete set) + change = 1
6-8: 2 (complete sets) + change = 2
9-11: 3 (complete sets) + change = 3 ... and so on.

 

[zoroaster100]

Also note that the official errata for Divine Favor limited the bonus to a maximum of +3 no matter how high a level the caster is.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Now if it said +1 with an additional +1/3levels, then your friend would have been correct...

Almost. It would need to say "+1, with an additional +1 for every three levels above 1".

Otherwise it would jump to +2 at level 3.

-Hyp.

 

[BluSponge]

Why would you limit it to +3?! +6 looks to work fine and is quite intuitive (at least as far as the spell goes).

Tom

 

[starwed]

Why would you limit it to +3?!

Becuase a +6 luck bonus to attack and damage rolls is kind of obscene for a first level spell? Especially when a cleric isn't a terrible melee combatant to begin with.

It used to be that a properly buffed cleric was a far better melee combatant than the fighter. The errata was part of the attempt to balance this out.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

But the +6 wouldn't come at first level. You'd have to be at least level 18 to get that +6, right? I think it is a good way to make 1st level spells useful. Now, I understand that the rules are rules and all, I'm not arguing that. I just like 1st level spells to be useful, too.

On the flipside, I know Magic Missile is capped to effectiveness about the same time that this spell is, too. It just seems a bit of a shame. This is why I love psionics.

 

[Legildur]

I think that the cap on Divine Favor was put in place because as a 1st level spell, it was a prime candidate for the Quicken Spell feat. And as a quickened spell, it made it even easier for clerics to surpass fighters as melee combatants.

 

[Stalker0]

Even a +3 bonus that will most likely stack with your other bonuses is pretty darn good.