| Saern |
Well, does it? The feat never says that they don't stack, and it seems odd to me that you suddenly gain what amounts to Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization with all weapons of a specific type, while not getting any better at all with your primary weapon. In fact, since Greater Weapon Focus isn't in the prerequisites, it seems that it would be possible to have a higher attack bonus with just some weapon from a group than with your selected weapon of choice! That strikes me as wrong.
However, like I said, the feat never says they don't stack, and it doesn't name the bonuses. Now, if that +2 to attack and damage went to your specialized weapon on top of all other bonuses, then the feat makes more sense (it's really freaking powerful, but makes sense).
Oh, and as an afterthought, I'm looking at the Blood-Spiked Charger feat a few pages later, but there's another ambiguous line. Twice, it details attack maneuvers that read like this: "An attack with either your spiked shield or your spiked armor deals extra damage equal to twice your Strength bonus." (emphasis mine) Does this mean that a fighter with 18 Strength would deal an extra +8 damage on top of everything else they normally did, or does this (2 x Str bonus) replace the normal Strength bonus to damage. The way I read it, it seems to be in addition to the normal damage.
I think this actually makes more sense, because the fighting style actually remains relatively inferior and the feat is much less attractive if this extra damage simply replaces the normal Strength bonus. Dealing the bonus in addition to normal weapon damage seems to be in keeping with the level of power creep found throughout the rest of the PHB2.
All right, discuss!
Keraptis
|
Yes it does. From the 3.5 FAQ:
Does the bonus from Melee Weapon Mastery (Player’s
Handbook II, 81) stack with bonuses from Weapon Focus
and Weapon Specialization?
Yes. A character with Weapon Focus (longsword), Weapon
Specialization (longsword), and Melee Weapon Mastery
(slashing) would have a +3 bonus on attack rolls and a +4
bonus on damage rolls with longswords, and a +2 bonus on
attack and damage rolls with all other slashing weapons.
| Delericho |
Well, does it?
As Keraptis said, yes.
Twice, it details attack maneuvers that read like this: "An attack with either your spiked shield or your spiked armor deals extra damage equal to twice your Strength bonus." (emphasis mine) Does this mean that a fighter with 18 Strength would deal an extra +8 damage on top of everything else they normally did, or does this (2 x Str bonus) replace the normal Strength bonus to damage. The way I read it, it seems to be in addition to the normal damage.
I agree with your reading of the rule - a character with 16 Str using a Spiked Heavy shield (normal damage 1d6+3) for this maneuver would do (1d6+3)+6 damage on a successful attack.