Q: Stacking Saving Throw Bonuses

[Joe Schmoe 785]

I have a fighter L13 with a +2 cloak of resistance

If I take Advanced Weapon Training: Item Mastery: Resistance Mastery, this would give me a +2 bonus on all saving throws.

If I also take the Advanced Weapon Training Feat Armed Bravery, this would give me +3 on Will saves.

Would these bonuses all stack?

Thanks!

[Jeraa]

You have to look at bonus types.

A cloak of resistance adds a resistance bonus.
Resistance Mastery also gives a resistance bonus. Bonuses of the same type don't stack, so it would be useless since the cloak gives a bigger bonus.
Armed Bravery (And regular bravery) are untyped, so would stack with anything.

Bonuses of the same type don't stack (with few exceptions). Bonuses of different types (or untyped bonuses) do stack.

[Saldiven]

For the first one, no. The bonus from Resistance Mastery is defined as a Resistance Bonus, which is the same type that is on the cloak. With only a few exceptions, bonuses of the same type do not stack.

For the second, it appears the bonus to Will saves from Armed Bravery is untyped, so it should stack with any other bonuses.

[HoloGnome]

Also, if your fighter is L13, you should consider upgrading that cloak. Your will save is not so great. ;-)

[Joe Schmoe 785]

Jeraa wrote:

You have to look at bonus types.

A cloak of resistance adds a resistance bonus.
Resistance Mastery also gives a resistance bonus. Bonuses of the same type don't stack, so it would be useless since the cloak gives a bigger bonus.
Armed Bravery (And regular bravery) are untyped, so would stack with anything.

Bonuses of the same type don't stack (with few exceptions). Bonuses of different types (or untyped bonuses) do stack.

Thanks! That's what I thought but I wasn't sure how you figure out what "type of bonus" something is...

Reading the Resistance Mastery feat and also the Cloak of Resistance descriptions, I see where they both say "resistance bonus of all saving throws". The Armed Bravery description, however, only says "applies his bonus from bravery to Will saving throws" - since there's no type references, it's considered "untyped" and thus stacks.

[Joe Schmoe 785]

HoloGnome wrote:

Also, if your fighter is L13, you should consider upgrading that cloak. Your will save is not so great. ;-)

We haven't had much gold or loot or a chance to buy stuff (small villages, etc.) - which is why I was hoping someone would tell me that they did stack (but I didn't think that they did) :P

[Saldiven]

That's how I interpret it.

[HoloGnome]

Joe Schmoe wrote:

We haven't had much gold or loot...

I realize you aren't playing PFS, but, for comparison, by the start of 12th level, a typical PFS character has earned around 100K-125K gold (depending). If you are L13 and you aren't finding much gold or loot, you may want to discuss Tables 12-4 & 12-5 on p. 399 of the CRB with your GM to see where things stand relative to your campaign. If you are not receiving commensurate rewards for encounters & PC level, at some point, it is going to be difficult to keep up with the power curve of high CR encounters (if they occur). Otherwise, you're going to be fighting a lot of low CR creatures to gain enough XP to keep leveling.

Maybe there's something unique about your campaign where gold & loot are less important and the balance is more task-based with lesser emphasis on monster CRs. But if not, better hope for a gold bonanza and a trip to the shopping mall sometime soon. ;-)