[ACG] Rageshaper Natural Attack Damage Question

[Aziraya Zhwan]

Under the Rageshaper archetype for Bloodrager, there is an ability called Bestial Aspect.

Bestial Aspect:

Whenever a Rageshaper gains a natural attack from a polymorph spell, he can increase the damage done by that attack by one die... If the Rageshaper's bloodrage powers already grant natural attacks...then the bonuses granted by Bestial Aspect also apply to these bloodrage powers

My question is this: how is the damage increased? "One die" could mean a few things in this case and I'm not experienced enough to know any precedent supporting one or the other. Let's assume for simplicity that you only have the two claw natural attacks from either Draconic or Abyssal bloodlines. Here are the possibilities I see:

1. Both claws get increased by "one die" meaning each claw now does 2d6 damage. Seems plausible, but almost too good to be true. Maybe martials can get something nice? Damage becomes 2d6+str/2d6+str

2. One claw gets increased by "one die". This is taken from the singular "gains a natural attack" from the first sentence.

Anecdote:

This seems weird at first, but imagine if all natural attacks from a polymorph spell got increased. Imagine Form of the Dragon spells. All of those natural attacks would be increased, meaning way high damage.

Damage becomes 2d6+str/1d6+str.

3. "Increased by one die" means "increased by one step" like from Improved Natural Attack, and is applied to both claws. This seems the most likely to me, but if it meant "increased by one step" then shouldn't it have said that? Damage becomes 1d8+str/1d8+str.

4. It means one step up from before and only one claw. Damage becomes 1d8+str/1d6+str.

#1 is my hope and it seems plausible with the wording, but it almost seems too good to be true. Any light someone can shed would be wonderful.

[Calth]

Number 3 is how I took it.

[Avoron]

Okay, I know this is a minor necro, but I'm creating a Rageshaper build, and the wording of this ability is really, really awkward.
I'm just thinking about an actual transformation, so I know it would only apply to one attack.
It seems like it has to mean "increased by one step" for it to make sense, but the ability as written seems to say that "one die" is actually added to the damage.

Does anybody have any clue what "increase the damage done by that attack by one die" is supposed to mean?

[doc the grey]

It means one step as improved natural attack. As it stands I also believe it applies to all attacks of the same type, so if you choose a claw then all claw attacks gained increase by one step.

[Leniel]

Hello everyone,

I have a follow-up question and I'm very happy about any input or news concerning this topic, since I believe it is still not resolved.

Do both claws of the draconic / abyssal bloodline get the buff from rageshaper or only one of them?

Rageshaper says:

Quote:

Bestial Aspect (Su): At 4th level, whenever a rageshaper gains a natural attack through the use of a polymorph spell, he can increase the damage done by that attack by one die. If the spell grants multiple natural attacks, the rageshaper must choose one kind of natural attack for the ability to enhance. (...)

If the rageshaper's bloodrage powers already grant natural attacks or alternate modes of movement, then the bonuses granted by bestial aspect also apply to these bloodrage powers. (...)

So I guess (this is to my knowledge still not clear so far), people mostly agree that "one die" actually means "one die size", right?

Now, consider you are a draconic or abyssal bloodraging rageshaper:

It is still not clear to me, whether this increased die size acts on only one natural weapon/one attack or a group of attacks of the same type of natural weapon, such as two claws. "One kind" (see above) doesn't really define a lot...

As I understood it, you have two calws at lvl1, giving you two natural primary attacks with full BAB: one left hand claw, one right hand claw. As posted above, there are two (more likely) interpretations on how this works:

1.) Two attacks, both buffed: 1d8+StrMod / 1d8+StrMod:
Claws are of the same kind, so the buff applies to both claws although they are two independent weapons.

2.) Two attacks, only one buffed: 1d6+StrMod / 1d8+StrMod
The two claws grant multiple natural attacks (two in this case), of which you have to chose one kind of claw (eg the right one) to apply the buff to.

Does anyone have more insight on this by now?

[claudekennilol]

You get it for both claws. The language you're confused about is talking about if you polymorphed into something with, say, claw/claw/tentacle/gore/wing/wing (random natural attacks, not an actual example of something that you can poly into). You would then choose claw, tentacle, gore, or wing to increase the die by one size. If you chose claw or wing, it would apply to both instances of it.