Arguments in Favor of Divine Favor (Priest of Tyr)

Cirein

So, I rather like the idea of a priest of Tyr in the context of the 'canon' party. It just seems highly appropriate to me that Minsc can be calmed by a priest of the god of Righteous buttkicking justice.

Exaltation is great. Fantastic ability. Well balanced and does a cool thing that nothing else does.

It's Divine Favor I'm having trouble talking myself into. It's not the bonuses, they seem reasonable and well balanced. It's the duration. If you are careful, you get two attacks with +1 to hit and damage +1 every third level. If you accidentally use the ability after your attack for the round (very easy to do with its low cast time) you get one attack with those bonuses. Once per day. Up to 3 in ToB.

I get the idea, It creates an image of a careful warrior aiming his slow and methodical blows to best effect. Cool stuff, it creates a cool dichotomy in the obvious comparison with the Boon of Lathanderp, which grants an extra attack, which is oddly suitable for the frenetic meddling deity responsible for the Dawn Cataclysm and various other shenanigans.

It's just very difficult to square the efficacy of Divine Favor with the known quantity of asskickery gained by the Priest of Lathanderp. We all know and love what the Boon brings to the table. When you crunch the numbers, it's not just better (which would be fine) it's miles and miles ahead, providing saving throws and a useful immunity in addition to damage, thaco, and that coveted extra attack. In theory, the powers should be broadly equivalent in power since they fill the same "slot" of a 1/day per 10 levels power. They aren't.

Off the top of my head, Divine Favor has decent synergy with shapeshifting forms that grant extra attacks (Relair's Mistake, Cloak of the Sewers, Slayer Form) and with Energy blades. The extra damage really shows its stuff when you can crank up the APR. The problem is that a reasonable cleric will only ever have 1 barring exceptional circumstances. I reckon it also makes it easier to land touch spells, though I am leery of how impactful this would be.

I really wish it lasted a full turn, as the 3e version does. Not complaining, per se, just looking for applications of divine favor that make the most of its serious shortcomings. I want to feel like a crusader for Tyr's buttkicking justice, not just Minsc's halfling therapist.

Humanoid_Taifun

I have not played a Priest of Tyr yet, but from what I can tell, the ability might be useful for backstabs. Dualclassing to thief might be highly lucrative. Another advantage would be that you could use weapons with extra attacks to further increase the benefits of the Divine Favor.

But even without a dualclass, I feel that you are making a mistake if your cleric is not dualwielding. The ability lasts for 2 rounds. Dualwielding and Improved Haste means that you get up to 8 attacks out of it, not 2. Your THAC0 should be able to handle it, what with a cleric's standard buffs and the bonus from Divine Favor.

I also keep thinking of Harm. It is a spell I almost never use, always thinking: "but what if I miss?"
So I generally only even memorize it with characters that can use either Time Stop (Time Trap) or Critical Strike. Truth be told, I do not think that any THAC0 bonus would change my attitude. But a saner person than me might think differently. I have no experience with sanity, so I do not know.

sarevok57

the only time i can see this spell being useful is in the thick of combat, luckily it has a casting time of 1, so the chances of it failing is low

so if you find your cleric in the thick of combat you can pop this ability out for a little stat boost during combat

this ability is similar to say defensive harmony in that the duration is too short to use as a pre buff spell, but once you are in combat you bust it out

although to be honest i think the duration could be extended, perhaps starts off at 1 round and increases 1 round per 3 levels, because as you mentioned in my opinion the boon of lathander is waaaaay better than this ability

semiticgoddess

It's useful for landing Harm spells, but otherwise is only modestly useful for normal weapons. If you dual-class to mage, you can combine it with the Wand of Lightning trick to sextuple the effect.