Morale, what it does and how it is used in barbarian rage?

[dosamwolfso]

Hello new player here and am reading the ability rage for barbarians and how it gives +4 morale bonus to strength and constitution and +2 to will saves. What exactly is the +4 giving me and +2 giving me does anyone know what page the core rulebook talks about morale i cant find one.I checked other posts regarding this topic and I cant really get a good grasp of what morale bonuses do. Thanks if you answer.

[Jiggy]

dosamwolfso wrote:

Hello new player here and am reading the ability rage for barbarians and how it gives +4 morale bonus to strength and constitution and +2 to will saves. What exactly is the +4 giving me and +2 giving me does anyone know what page the core rulebook talks about morale i cant find one.I checked other posts regarding this topic and I cant really get a good grasp of what morale bonuses do. Thanks if you answer.

When it says you get a +4 morale bonus to Strength, it means that it increases your Strength by +4. So if you have 18 STR, and you rage, you now have 22 STR (until your rage ends).

As for the word "morale", that's just a label for the "type" of bonus that your STR is getting. This is only relevant if another rules element references it (for instance, undead can't gain morale bonuses to anything) or for purposes of determining "stacking".

If two bonuses to the same thing (STR in this case) have the same type (morale in this case), then they don't "stack"; you just take the higher of the two.

So if you were raging (+4 morale bonus to STR) and someone cast a spell on you or something to give you a +2 morale bonus to STR, you'd still only be at +4 STR instead of stacking up to +6 STR. However, if you also gained a +4 enhancement bonus to STR, that would get added on top of your rage's +4 morale bonus, so you'd have a total of +8 added to your STR. So if your character has 18 STR to start, and you rage for a +4 morale bonus to STR and someone casts the bull's strength spell to give you a +4 enhancement bonus to STR, then you effectively have 26 STR.

Follow all that?

[seebs]

You're thinking about it backwards.

What you are getting is a bonus to strength, con, and will saves. "Morale" doesn't do anything here, and you're not gettong a "bonus to morale".

Bonuses in pathfinder are often "typed", so instead of "a +4 bonus", you get "a +4 [type] bonus". What that means is that, in general, if you have two bonuses of the same type, you only use the largest one.

So if you have a strength of 16, and you go into rage, your strength goes to 20. If someone casts bull's strength on you, it gives a +4 enhancement bonus, so then your total is 24. But if you are wearing a belt of strength, that gives a +4 enhancement bonus, your strength doesn't go up to 28. The bonus from bull's strength, and the bonus from the belt, are both "enhancement" bonuses.

There are a few things which may have special effects on "morale bonuses" or whatever, but mostly the relevance of the type is that morale bonuses are relatively rare, so barbarian rage stacks with most other bonuses.