Stacking of Divine Might and Divine Shield?

[Citizen of 2 worlds]

I just noticed something when I made a paladin.. would like to know if this is legal.

Both of these feats are from Defenders of the Faith.. Divine Might gives Cha bonus to weapon damage, while Div Shield gives an enhancement bonus equal to the Cha bonus to both shield defense and damage.

Do these stack, as DM is an unnamed bonus and DS an enhancement one? I made the character as if it did, just out of curiosity..

Damage for a large bashing shield is 1d8, and on a shield bash, DM and DS can stack (assuming you have a large cha mod), giving you + cha bonus to attack (DS) and +2 times cha bonus to damage (DM+DS). With a high charisma pally wearing a +6 cloak of charisma, it became rather nasty.

One would need a lot of feats to make the most out of it, though. TWF + Ambi, Shield Expert (from S&F), and Shield Charge (DotF again).. Maybe this works best as a Pal/Ftr multiclass.

If it works like this, it's definitely a viable paladin strategy..

 

[Jeremy]

Divine Might gives an unnamed bonus to damage. Divine Shield gives an enhancement bonus to your shield for offense and defense. As these are different bonuses, they stack.

Though it is a rather feat intensive path for a paladin.

If you are going this way, I'd recommend leaving out the TWF/Ambi and using the shield as either your primary weapon, or not swinging your primary weapon and the shield in the same round.

That cuts the number of feats drastically.

And yes, it is a very viable strategy. Look at what a high charisma paladin can do with divine might and divine shield with a shield charge if he is smiting evil. Do some math and figure out the numbers on that. Now since this is the highest base attack charge and has a bonus to hit twice from charisma (smite and divine shield), you can also power attack (prereq for divine might). Now what does the number look like?

Also, there is another spell in Defenders of the Faith called spikes that gives an unnamed bonus to damage that also stacks with divine might, divine shield, power attack, and smite evil. Now what does the number look like?

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Looks like a challenge to the local nerf herder, is what it looks like.

 

[Berk]

Yeah yeah, divine might, shield, and spikes are all part of the ultimate smackdowns.

 

[Kraedin]

Yes, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the two rounds it takes to activate those feats.

 

[Berk]

Yes, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the two rounds it takes to activate those feats.

You can activate both of them in 1 round, and if hasted have all 3 in 1 round. Divine Might was changed to a free action.

 

[Kraedin]

The Sage is on crack.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

DotF is absolutely crystal clear on the matter: activating divine feat takes an action.]

When I see official errata on the matter I will reconsider. While I greatly respect the Sage, I think he is obviously in error in this case. (It happens to the best of us.)

 

[Berk]

It wasn't the sage that said it was a free action, and even if he did it is mentioned in the SRD or the FAQ, that is were it got pointed out to me when I questioned it. If the Skip did make a ruling on it I have no clue what it was.

 

[Citizen of 2 worlds]

Thanks all, for the input..

I think this is a strong combination, although as some pointed out, it needs a lot of feats, and it takes two actions to activate DM+DS.. that kind of balances it.

Jeremy - good points.. A better Paladin build might be to concentrate on the DivM + DivS + Shield Charge + Smite, and take Extra Smite and/or Extra Turning instead of the Ambi/TWF.

About the shield as a primary weapon.. If I get it right, it doesn't matter if it is on my off-hand if it is the only arm I attack with, thus giving me full attacks at no off-hand penalty? If so, its almost certainly better to attack with the shield under DM+DS+smite..

Too bad there aren't any official feat that makes it a free action to use divine feats.. although I think I've seen it as an unofficial feat somewhere.. might have been the NetBook of Feats - gotta check that.

Spikes.. nice spell, and it's already in DotF.. I overlooked that one, as I thought about quarterstaffs/clubs when reading it. Now.. a Large Wooden Shield of Bashing, anyone? Although, in my copy of DotF, the bonus from spikes is an +2 enhancement bonus, so it will only give a net +1 over a +1 LWSh of bashing. But the extended crit range is nice, and the spell has a long duration.

All in all, good points, folks! *looking forward to calculate the projected epic progression with feats as Great Smiting and Dire Charge.. *