Nontheist Clerics and Favored Weapons?

[GnomeGninjas]

I'm building a cleric right now and I have become confused about something: how do you determine the favored weapon for a Cleric of a Cause? Does the player choose it? Is it based off alignment? Do they not get a favored weapon?

Any rule/rulings would be appreciated, thank you.

[Yuki Akuma]

Favoured weapons only really matter for the War domain and the Spiritual Weapon spell. Said spell says:


The weapon that you get is often a force replica of your deity’s own personal weapon. A cleric without a deity gets a weapon based on his alignment. A neutral cleric without a deity can create a spiritual weapon of any alignment, provided he is acting at least generally in accord with that alignment at the time. The weapons associated with each alignment are as follows.

Chaos
Battleaxe

Evil
Flail

Good
Warhammer

Law
Longsword

So there you go.

[KillianHawkeye]

Favored weapons are a feature of deities. If you do not worship one, then there is nothing to favor anything.

[GnomeGninjas]

Favoured weapons only really matter for the War domain and the Spiritual Weapon spell. Said spell says:



So there you go.
My cleric isn't taking the war domain so I guess Spiritual Weapon is all I need to know, thank you.

Favored weapons are a feature of deities. If you do not worship one, then there is nothing to favor anything.

That makes sense. Is this just because their are no rules for Nonthiest favored weapons or does it specifically state it somewhere?

[Curmudgeon]

Favoured weapons only really matter for the War domain and the Spiritual Weapon spell.
There are a few more places where favored weapons factor in. There are spells Weapon of the Deity (Spell Compendium) and Manifestation of the Deity (Complete Scoundrel), plus Bloodspear (Champions of Ruin; Gruumsh Clerics only). Weapon Bound (Dragon # 326) is a flaw that's only allowed if you have a patron deity. Bronze Solaris Member (Dragon # 334) is a feat which gives weapon benefits if you have an ancestor deity.

[Yuki Akuma]

There are a few more places where favored weapons factor in. There are spells Weapon of the Deity (Spell Compendium) and Manifestation of the Deity (Complete Scoundrel), plus Bloodspear (Champions of Ruin; Gruumsh Clerics only). Weapon Bound (Dragon # 326) is a flaw that's only allowed if you have a patron deity. Bronze Solaris Member (Dragon # 334) is a feat which gives weapon benefits if you have an ancestor deity.

Good catch, but I'm fairly sure those spells also use the same list (I'm AFB right now) - it's the same list as Incarnum Weapon uses, too.

The flaw and feat don't matter in this case.

[KillianHawkeye]

That makes sense. Is this just because their are no rules for Nonthiest favored weapons or does it specifically state it somewhere?

It's just a literal reading. It's called "the deity's favored weapon" after all. It's a weapon that the deity in question likes to use, nothing more.

[Curmudgeon]

Good catch, but I'm fairly sure those spells also use the same list (I'm AFB right now) - it's the same list as Incarnum Weapon uses, too.
Weapon of the Deity matches reasonably, but the other spells have no alignment-based weapons.

[TuggyNE]

Good catch, but I'm fairly sure those spells also use the same list (I'm AFB right now) - it's the same list as Incarnum Weapon uses, too.

Technically, I doubt they're exactly the same list, even though they almost certainly should be. To use a bit of programmer-speak, WotC isn't super-great at refactoring, DRY, and global constants.

[SowZ]

Favoured weapons only really matter for the War domain and the Spiritual Weapon spell. Said spell says:



So there you go.

That's probably the most arbitrary thing I've read about D&D. And D&D has a lot of arbitrary rules.

[Hytheter]

That's probably the most arbitrary thing I've read about D&D. And D&D has a lot of arbitrary rules.

This is why I just create my own religion for my clerics with the domains and weapon I want. :P