So I did a search for this weapon.. but for some reason they did not turn up anything (despite the Weapon List thread listing them). So I'm not sure if these were brought up elsewhere already. (I have a vague memory of, but I also can't tell if I did)
copied from AoNethys (including its typo)
Now biohacker's explicitly give damage to injection weapons via 2.5 abilities
Weapon Specialization + arms expert (to full lv damage). and Painful Injections.
The original Spec feat tells you to add to damage.
biohacker's version also tells you to add to damage.
Painful does not tell you to add damage. It tells you that the target takes extra damage upon hit
So what, if any, damage is added to the Wraith Sting snipers? Additionally does this automatically invalidate Subtle?
There is an argument that Weapon Spec will not occur, because there is no damage to add to. However, Painful says the target takes damage if hit, does not add to damage, the target simply takes the damage. which adds the question(in the case of normal damage dealing weapons) of if they go against DR together or separate
(I do wish there was a injection line of snipers. Even if the damage dice were always small. If it had a magazine of a few)
As a general extra note concerning snipers. is it intentional that the injection load action can not be combined with the Sniper Aim action? (This is bypassed by quick load however)
various quotes and such on wording:
Weapon specialization wording
Benefit: Choose one weapon type (small arms, longarms, heavy weapons, etc.). You gain specialization in that weapon type, which means you add your character level to damage with the selected weapon type, or half your character level for small arms or operative melee weapons. You can never have specialization in grenades.
biohacker's weapon specilization
"For weapons with which you have gained proficiency through the injection expert class feature (with the exception of basic melee weapons), you instead add half your character level to damage you deal with those weapons"
Painful Injection should add damage regardless of dice or no dice.
"When you hit an enemy with a weapon with the injection weapon special property, you can cause pain in that creature’s muscles (or their equivalent). The target takes an amount of additional damage equal to half your key ability score modifier (minimum 1). If you hit an enemy multiple times with a weapon with the injection special property, this damage does not stack, although a creature could be affected by multiple biohackers’ painful injections"
Subtle
A subtle weapon fires either very small ordnance or otherwise
generates a nearly imperceptible discharge that even the
target may not be aware of. A target hit by a subtle weapon
must succeed at a Perception check with a DC equal to 15
+ 1-1/2 the weapon’s item level or it doesn’t realize it has
been struck. The target notices other effects conveyed by a
subtle weapon, such as an injected substance, as normal. For
example, you might use a subtle weapon to inject a target with
a poison with an onset delay; the target may not realize it has
been hit by the dart, but it would notice the effects of the
poison once it took effect.
"Subtle" doesn't actually say it doesn't cause damage (it's just attached only to weapons that don't), so you could make a case for giving the sniper rifle a bit of a bite.
But I'm sure the COM will come with plenty of new injection weapons to supply all biohacker needs.
You don't add any damage to your Wraith-Sting Rifle. Wording is pretty clear in all 3 abilities, they "add your character level to damage with the selected weapon type". Because you don't do damage, you don't add anything to this damage.
If you find a way to inflict damage with your Wraith Sting Rifle, even a single point, you suddenly add all this damage.
Oh neat. you're right about subtle.. though that is a bit awkward there.
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I basically agree the Wraith Sting won't/shouldn't do any damage. but I think the wording does need to be different (cause it is too similar to past issues-see mesmer below)
"the target takes an amount of additional damage equal to half your key ability score modifier (minimum 1)."
Add and Additional have different nuances and uses. Weapon Spec must add to the damage. if there is none (not 0), then it can not add. Additional means "in addition to" meaning it is not being added to the damage, it is in addition to. Which relegates back to "additional to nothing" being valid or not. (Which, as far as I know hasn't been touched in Starfinder. I think it has in Pathfinder. but I don't have a citation for that off hand, and wouldn't help much for starfinder)
the additional term also opens a DR/resistance question as it is "in addition to" not "added" meaning it may count as a separate damage effect.
I doubt it'll come up often. But. it has come up in at least two situations I know of.This also came up for Pathfinder's Mesmer's Painful Stare. Which came up a few times and have seen different PFS rulings. (locally i mean. which ya'kno local so corner case and not representative of at large likelihoods)
It is stupid parsing though. but this is a playtest. So might as well try to nip the wording of Painful Injections in the proverbial bud while we can rather than end up with sporadic questions on what(and how) it applies to like Painful Stare. I'm sure they will end up with more non damage items.
"add an additional amount of damage to the target equal to..." would basically rectify it.
