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A holy weapon is imbued with holy power. This power makes the weapon good-aligned and thus bypasses the corresponding damage reduction. It deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against all of evil alignment.

This the relevant text in the entry on holy weapons in the SRD. Holy weapons could plausibly deal:

  • Holy damage
  • The same type of damage as the weapon
  • Divine damage*
  • Untyped damage

* Consecrate spell (BoED/CD) gives spells the good descriptor and makes half the damage divine. A spell in the SRD that deals divine damage is flame strike.

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The “extra damage” is the same type as the weapon’s original damage. This is the same kind of mechanic as, say, sneak attack, just a bonus to the weapon damage you were already rolling.

Holy also, separately from the extra damage, makes the weapon itself good-aligned. This means that its damage, all of it not just the extra damage, is good-aligned and bypasses DR \$x\$/good, as found, for example, on many fiends.

None of the damage is “divine,” “holy,” or “sacred” damage, nor is any of it untyped. Those damage types are quite rare—as far as I know, the only example in core for them is flamestrike.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ There are places where a weapon described as 'holy' in the respective fluff text, but instead it is meant to be "Lawful", "Chaotic" or "Evil" because the god that is meant in the context is of that alignment. These weapons have different weapon traits then. \$\endgroup\$
    – Trish
    Jul 29, 2016 at 18:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ I forgot to add the RAW tag. Could you please elaborate on the exact relation to the text. (I can see it, but... ) \$\endgroup\$
    – sisima70
    Aug 15, 2016 at 14:54

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