Last night our party had the misfortune of meeting what I've concluded were probably Advanced Movanic Deva Nightmare Lords. It was a misfortune not so much because of the difficulty of the encounter, which almost killed at least 2 of the PCs, but because of the difficulty of figuring out how stuff interacted with the antimagic fields which 2 of the 3 tainted angels created.
Stuff like magic weapons and my Viking's +4 Str belt not working in the AMF was easy enough to figure out and agree on if not so easy to remember. As my PC moved in and out of AMF he also had Haste, Inspire Courage, and Bless flickering off and back on. Everybody agreed that if the Inquisitor shot her +1 bane arrows into the AMF they wouldn't be +1 or bane by the time they hit the enemy, but I thought that maybe certain other bonuses on ranged attacks should still help. For example...
- Inspire Courage: You can't get the bonuses from Inspire Courage when you're in an AMF, but would the bonus to attack rolls and damage (or at least attack rolls) still apply when you're outside the AMF but making ranged attacks into it?
- Diviner's Fortune: Basically the same question as Inspire Courage except this is an insight bonus to attacks rolls instead of competence (which probably doesn't matter except that they stack)
I'm assuming that a magic belt of +4 Dex would still add to your ranged attack bonuses from outside the AMF since the Dex bonus is part of your PC, not part of the weapon you're attacking with. Similarly, I'm guessing I'd still get +2 damage from a belt of +4 Str when I'm throwing a weapon from outside the AMF since the bonus damage comes from the PC rather than being a magical effect on the weapon. Does that all make sense, or am I missing something?
I feel less sure about the bonus damage from Inspire Courage. I mean, is it a bonus to the weapon's damage, or would it be a bonus to the attacker's damage like having a higher Str? Is it magical damage of some sort, or does it just magically allow you to do more damage? As far as the bonus to the attack roll goes, I can understand people deciding that wouldn't count anymore once the thrown weapon flies into the AMF, but to me it seems like you aren't aiming the weapon anymore after you throw it, so the chance to hit shouldn't change after the weapon enters the AMF unless there's some magical bonus to hit on the weapon itself.
If the character is using Inspire Courage and is outside the field then it works. If the character is inside the field then it is suppressed.
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I'd always look at it in terms of "where is the event happening?"
You'd still apply your weapon's enhancement bonus to your attack rolls because the attack (the event) takes place outside of the AMF. You wouldn't apply the weapon's enhancement bonus to damage because the damage (the event) takes place inside the AMF.
So I'd expect most things would work as long as you're shooting from outside. Those "things" won't necessarily survive to be delivered, but anything improving your accuracy should be fine.
Yeah, the sensible way is ranged attacks into an antimagic which originate outside should benefit from the bonus to the attack roll from magical sources, but anything occurring within the antimagic would not. This includes damage from those same ranged attacks.
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I'm not sure if ALL damage form spells should be prevented. Static numbers should stay, but additional dice should go is my quick and dirty rule.
For instance, inspire courage adds to damage. We don't know how, do your weapons become sharper, your muscles stronger, your aim focused on more vulnerable parts? We don't know, so why do we assume that the extra damage is automatically attached to the weapon instead of the person, like attack?
Don't forget that your weapon is still masterwork even if it is no longer magical so you still get the +1 to attack while inside the AMF.
I think the inside vs outside arguments seem pretty sensible and might provide a good rule of thumb. Sometimes it is tough to figure out "where" a bonus applies though.
For instance, I think a sensible argument could be made that the magical enhancement bonus on a weapon helps it penetrate armor and such and therefore gets applied when the weapon actually strikes and therefore would be lost when the weapon enters the AMF. As Hzardus pointed out, you'd still get the +1 from masterwork.
I'm somewhat more interested in attack bonuses than damage bonuses here, but do folks agree that the +4 Str bonus from a magic belt would still apply to a hammer thrown from outside AMF into it since the Str is part of the PC doing the throwing and once he imparts the force the weapon has it? As for the damage bonus from Inspire Courage, does it let the PC swing/throw/shoot a little harder, or is the effect on the weapon?
I think that so far folks mostly (perhaps all) seem to agree that the attack bonuses from Inspire Courage and Diviner's Fortune would work for attacks made from outside the AMF at targets in it. If so that would be great news for my PC the next time we come up against an AMF since that could easily boost his attack roll by as much as +10 (inspire courage +3, diviner's fortune +4, good hope +2, haste +1)