Thoughts on Holy Warriors

I'm supposed to be prepping for game at the moment. But a couple people mentioned Holy Warriors on our game email chain, and I had some thoughts having seen a few made - and made a few myself.

Here are the notes I wrote, plus some general tips.

- you can "specialize" in both Undead and Demons, but I'd pick one or the other and emphasize that. It's hard to be good at fighting both demons and undead. And if you're going to specialize, really go for it - you can get a +3 instead of a +1 to your "to hit," damage, parry, and resistance rolls against one of those classes of foe right away for a mere 15 total points - 5 of which are mandatory for your template anyway. My opinion is that it's no good to be slightly better vs. a foe instead of maximally better. A Holy Warrior with Broadsword-16, Shield-16, a Medium Shield, and Higher Purpose 3 has a Parry of 16 and Block 16 against your specific foe, and with base ST do 2d+3 cutting or 1d+5 impaling and swing at a 19, and with your skills aim for weak points other delvers just can't target. Be really good at fighting the one foe, so you can more than hold your own when they show up. You can't turn down a fight with that type, but were you? Seriously, delver up here. As my friend Ken would say, you'll need to put your big boy pants on and do what needs to be done.

All of that said, one good way to "do both" is to spend some of your Quirk points on Hidden Lore, Physiology, and Psychology for the other type. Then it's merely a matter of buying up Higher Purpose for the other type later on as you earn points. It takes 3 points to get a start on each of them, and then 5 points later to get your +1.

- Combat Reflexes isn't a required Holy Warrior trait but probably should be. Don't be a fighter type without it. You'll regret it.

- Will is a strong point for Holy Warriors. Don't sleep on that; you can resist a lot of evil effects and non-evil ones as well. Consider beefing it up.

- Consider Fearlessless or go all-out with Unfazeable (which provides out-and-out immunity in most cases.) My PCs have dealt with a lot of Fright Check-inducing foes recently. Fright Checks are capped at 13 (14+ fails) without the Brave perk, which raises the cap to 14 (15+ fails). Unfazeable just works. Given my choice, I'd plunk down the 15 points and give a two-fingered salute to demons, undead, and Elder Things with Terror auras. This is a power that can set you apart.

- When it comes to powers, it's worth considering what you'll be doing. Divine Favor is worth it - get a +1d to ST or DX, say, for 9 points, or 18 for +1d to both. Turning is 24 points, but it does involve you presenting a holy symbol, winning a Quick Contest, and then just standing there. Odds are, when you really want it to work, it's going to fail in the face of Low or No Sanctity* or special exemptions due to place or powers. If you take it, expect when it's time to fight undead you're going to be warding them off, not finishing them off. That's how one Holy Warrior went down in my game, too - trying to turn undead and failing, when the party really needed another sword. Sense powers are very good overall, though, and can help keep you on track.

- Avoid the temptation to out-Knight the Knight. In other words, load up on Combat Reflexes, High Pain Threshold, ST, DX, more HP, Enhanced Parry, etc. The idea is sound - most of your opponents are likely to be other than demons or undead, so be good at fighting them. But I think this is a trap. You won't be half as good at fighting normal human types as a Knight with Weapon Master or a Swashbuckler, for that matter. Your ST, DX, and weapon skills will lag. You will have less attacks doing less damage. Be better at doing what you do, don't try to do better at what they do. You'll never keep up against "normal" foes, so you need to make up for it in your specialty.

Anyone else experienced making 250-point DF / DFRPG Holy Warriors with an opinion here?


* In my games, anyway, Low Sanctity affects some Holy powers, and No Sanctity negates many of them entirely. That's not per the books, but it makes perfect sense for many of them - if your god has no power somewhere, and your power comes from your god, you have no power. If you take the approach that it's your faith in your god that brings the power, and faith alone, not your god's abilities to affect an area, that allows for those effects, then Sanctity in any direction shouldn't matter. Both are valid, but only the first one is correct in my current game.