Divine Might/Divine Shield

[Brekki]

Divine Might and Divine Shield allowed a paladin to become a fighter based on Cha.

Especially when you had cha 24 or something, with a free action (according to the sage), you could make your small shield a small shield +7 !!!

That means +7 on attack and +7 on damage ... combined with divine might that gives a +7 on attack and a +14 on damage ... with 2 free actions. That was clearly to much.

With standard action I think divine might was ok, divine shield was to much, for it provided an epic weapon enhancement.

 

[Iku Rex]

a free action, which it only was before by arbitrary decision of the Sage (Skip Williams).

There's no such ruling.

 

[Shin Okada]

Perhaps not fair but the Paladin of my player has a charisma of 18 and taken into account that we normally don´t have more than one or two battles an evening this feat would give him too much of an advantage compared to the rest of the group.

Easy. Then let them face 4 or more smaller encounters before they rest, instead of 2 big encounters. IHMO, meeting 4 or so of encounters before resting is the default of this game. And if you decrease the number of encounters, it favors characters with "x times per day" type abilities.

You can also include some not so strong but annoying undeads. Especially incorporeal one. No one want to be touched by them and will use turn ability. That will reduce the number of those divine feat also.

Interrupting an encounter is another good idea. Opponent don't always fight to death. They may flee and come back few minites later with enforcement. They may stop fighting and beg for life after fighting a round or two. They may happen to find that PCs are not the bandit they are looking for. This kind of "feint" may let a PC use his "X times per day" ability in vain, without actually fighting long battles 6 times per session.

 

[Taren Seeker]

Yeah the Sage's "ruling" only applied to Divine Might, not Shield.

Odd that the flavor text for Divine Shield still states that it aids in offence but the rules text doesn't support that at all.

 

[kreynolds]

There's no such ruling.

True. The exact ruling was that using the feat wasn't an action at all.

 

[Artoomis]

There's no such ruling.

There most certainly is. For Divine Might, as I stated above.

From the FAQ:

The Divine Might feat from Defenders of the Faith lets
you use a turn/rebuke attempt to get a combat bonus.
Does that mean that you mark off a turn/rebuke attempt
for the day? Or does it mean you spend a standard action
to activate the effect, just like a turn/rebuke attempt? Or
is it a free action?
Using Divine Might does not require an action at all. You
can use the feat any time you attack, and you simply
announce that you're using it and mark off a turn/rebuke use
for the day.

But kreyonlds is right - it's not a "free action," technically, but "not an action." Even better.

I think it's a "free action," now, as opposed to "not an action." The distinction is not that great, but can make a difference sometimes.

 

[kreynolds]

Yeah, by defining it as a free action, that helps prevent silly situations where someone can pull of 50 "non-action actions" in a single round. Okay, granted, I've never seen that, but hey, you never know.

Personally, I really would rather have it be a standard action to use and last longer than a free action to use and last only one round. I really don't think I can complain enough about that.

 

[Artoomis]

...Personally, I really would rather have it be a standard action to use and last longer than a free action to use and last only one round. I really don't think I can complain enough about that.

I like it the way it is now. But, then, my paladin character has 14 turn attempts a day!

I wish Divine Shield was a free action, too. It's very difficult to get all the combat boosting spells and effects up at once when each one takes a standard action.

Now, with Divine Shield going, he can wade into combat and deliver 4 really devasting blows a day (Smite Evil + Divine Might for + 29 dam, usually x 3 for charging). His armor class has always been a bit on the low side, picking up the Divine Shield feat is going to make a big difference - +11 to AC (yes, his Charisma is extremely high - 18th level stats are 15/13/12/12/18/33 for those who care).

He can just about keep up with the fighter in the group. Not bad for a halfling!

 

[molonel]

I just don't like anything that makes me feel like there should be a green energy bar hovering above my character. It also seems that a lot of what my character does, or can do, at higher levels should have a set of SAT/ACT bubbles next the abilities so that I can fill in the bubbles with my #2 pencil to keep track of things:

Okay, so I kicked my boot heels on my Boots of Speed this round: check! 8 more times to go

I also activate Divine Might: check! 6 more times to go.

I used my Metamagic Rod of Quicken (Lessen) to cast a Quickened Divine Favor: check! 2 more times to go.

... and then flipped it back into my Glove of Storing as a free action: check!

... and then Quick Draw my weapon as a free action: check!

For anyone who is interested, there is an Epic version of Divine Might here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20031115a

It was obviously written before the Complete Warrior came out.

I'm curious. Does "stack" mean you add your charisma bonus to damage, plus twice your charisma bonus? That seems a little unclear.

In other words, if you have a charisma of 22, do you add your charisma bonus (+6) plus twice your charisma bonus (+12) for a total of +18, or do you add simply +12 total?

 

[James McMurray]

That's how I read it. Whoever wrote tht was smoking some serious crack, or has never actually considered the sheer enormity of the feat. A +20 charisma mod would give +20 damage for 400 rounds per day. Easily +60 per round, even assuming you don't hit with your last attacks.