Stacking Natural armour and armour enhancement bonus, and Stacking Bleed


Rules Questions


Looking for clarification, searched "stacking bonuses" and got lots of info but still confused by one bit.

If I have an Amulet of +4 Natural armour, and am wearing +2 Leather armour what stacks? Natural armour stacks with armour, but the +4 and the +2 are enhancement bonuses so is it +4 only? Or is it '+4 enhancement to natural armour' different source to '+2 enhancement to armour'?

While I'm here I might as well ask this one too -
I assume as they are from different sources the Rogue ability Bleed, a weapon that causes bleed damage and the bleeding critical all stack?

Cheers,
Steve


The amulet is indeed an enhancement to natural armor and the leather armor has it's own armor being enhanced. Look at it this way, the Amulet is making you skin tougher, thicker, more hide-like, but without causing it to feel or restrict like hide does. While the +2 is doing a similar bonus to the leather armor.

As for the bleed, I am unsure. I've read somewhere that bleed damage from different sources stack, then I've read that bleed only stacks if it's a different type (like bleed to hp, vs bleed to con), and then you find abilities that stack will all other bleed types but itself etc. etc.

Some examples are as follows:

Wounding wrote:
A wounding weapon deals 1 point of bleed damage when it hits a creature. Multiple hits from a wounding weapon increase the bleed damage. Bleeding creatures take the bleed damage at the start of their turns. Bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or through the application of any spell that cures hit point damage. A critical hit does not multiply the bleed damage dealt by this weapon. Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to the damage.
Bleeding Arrow wrote:
A bleeding arrow deals normal damage when it hits a creature. Each round thereafter, the creature bleeds for 1 point of damage until the bleeding is stopped by a DC 10 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic. A critical hit does not multiply the bleed damage. Creatures immune to critical hits (such as plants and constructs) are immune to the bleed damage dealt by this weapon.
Bleeding Critical wrote:
Whenever you score a critical hit with a slashing or piercing weapon, your opponent takes 2d6 points of bleed damage each round on his turn, in addition to the damage dealt by the critical hit. Bleed damage can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal skill check or through any magical healing. The effects of this feat stack.
Bleeding Attack wrote:

A rogue with this ability can cause living opponents to bleed by hitting them with a sneak attack. This attack causes the target to take 1 additional point of damage each round for each die of the rogue's sneak attack (e.g., 4d6 equals 4 points of bleed). Bleeding creatures take that amount of damage every round at the start of each of their turns. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or the application of any effect that heals hit point damage.

Special: Bleeding damage from this ability does not stack with itself. Bleeding damage bypasses any damage reduction the creature might possess.

And the official description of Bleed is:

Bleed wrote:
A creature that is taking bleed damage takes the listed amount of damage at the beginning of its turn. Bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or through the application of any spell that cures hit point damage (even if the bleed is ability damage). Some bleed effects cause ability damage or even ability drain. Bleed effects do not stack with each other unless they deal different kinds of damage. When two or more bleed effects deal the same kind of damage, take the worse effect. In this case, ability drain is worse than ability damage.

It seems odd that even though the description for Bleed says that multiple bleed effects do not stack unless they do different kinds of damage, we do have effects that stack. We have a weapon property that stacks with itself, and a feat the simply stacks. We have arrows that say nothing about stacking, and a Rogue talent that says it doesn't stack with itself, which is odd because if one were to follow the normal rules, this wouldn't be needed in the description of the ability.

I mean, if a Rogue with a 4d6 Sneak Attack, were to have the Bleeding Critical ability, the Bleeding Attack Talent, and the Wounding property, he could, conceivably, deal 2d6 plus/or 4 - 5 points of bleed damage on a critical sneak attack. The 4 - 5 represents the unknown if the Bleeding Attack and the Wounding property bleed effects all stack or not. If they do, then it deals an additional 5 points of bleed, if not, then only 4.

Part of me says, they do stack and ignore the ruling, but at the same time, the thought or a Rogue doing so much bleed damage is a scary thought. For balances sake, I would say none of the abilities stack as the damage can get pretty high. I could probably be talked into allowing the Feat to stack as it only occurs on a critical, but that's as far as I'm willing to allow it methinks.

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