I was reviewing the Rage powers for a recent character build and had a question about the Energy Resistance line that I was not able to satisfy with a general search.
The primary ability states:
Energy Resistance (Ex)
Benefit: While raging, the barbarian gains resistance to one energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) equal to 1/2 her barbarian level (minimum 1). The energy type is chosen when this rage power is selected and it cannot be changed.
Special: This rage power can be selected more than once. Its effects do not stack. Each time is applies to a different energy type.
This leads to:
Energy Resistance, Greater (Ex)
Prerequisite: Barbarian 8, energy resistance rage power
Benefit: Once per rage, a barbarian can reduce damage by half from a single attack against which she has energy resistance (halve the damage, then apply resistance).
My question starts here: Based on the wording of the Greater level of the power, is a Barbarian able to say, take all five types of Energy Resistance and then apply a single rage power slot of Greater Energy Resistance to all damage types?
The Greater power states that it "can reduce damage by half from a single attack against which she has energy resistance" which by the way it is written would seem to indicate that you can use it against any of the energy types you have on hand, although only once total per rage.
Depending on how this comes out it also raises questions about the two higher level abilities, but I am most interested in this for the moment.
Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
Thanks!
Energy Resistance (Ex)Benefit: While raging, the barbarian gains resistance to one energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) equal to 1/2 her barbarian level (minimum 1). The energy type is chosen when this rage power is selected and it cannot be changed.
Special: This rage power can be selected more than once. Its effects do not stack. Each time is applies to a different energy type.
Bolding my own. Effects do not stack. You choose the energy type when you select the rage power. So you can select the rage power for all 5 types, but you can't use them all at once to have resistance to all 5 types in 1 round.
So when you choose Greater, it would be the active energy resistance, which can only be one of the energy types at a time.
But you can't activate all those Energy Resistances during a rage. After the first time you activate it, its effects would not stack on the subsequent activations.
And to get the benefit of Greater Energy Resistance, she needs to have an energy resistance, meaning it has to be active. Which means that it would only be for the energy type you've chosen on your Energy Resistance activation.
I was under the impression that the wording on "Its effects do not stack" was that you can't select one type like fire 5 times to get crazy fire resistance. This interpretation of the wording falls in line with the wording of feats such as weapon focus. You won't get a higher bonus from weapon focus for taking it again, but you will get a bonus in another weapon, which would certainly apply to both weapons if you were dual wielding say a dagger and a short sword and had weapon focus in each.
You can take it multiple times but each time has to be for a different energy types. Then, when activating, you have to choose which energy type to resist. If you activated next round it would be for a different energy type, not both, as the first would end.
I say this because the general assumption is to take the less powerful interpretation.
I disagree with that assessment because you do not have to activate it. It activates automatically when raging. You do not choose to activate it, and if you don't say anything about it when you go into your rage you still have the resistance.