Barbarian Archetype Weapon Specialization

[Mondoglimmer]

Barbarian instincts gain bonuses when you have weapon specialization. Many classes have weapon specialization and can get Barbarian instincts through multiclass archetypes. Do Barbarian instincts specifically require Barbarian weapon specialization, or just weapon specialization in general?

[thenobledrake]

If you don't have the Weapon Specialization from the barbarian class it does not have the "You gain your instinct's specialization ability" text in it.

[Mondoglimmer]

thenobledrake wrote:

If you don't have the Weapon Specialization from the barbarian class it does not have the "You gain your instinct's specialization ability" text in it.

That's true, and really the only reason I've had to ask the question. Pathfinder 2 uses plenty of reminder text, which is very useful. A player casually developing their character as they go would certainly benefit from being reminded that they gain an additional benefit listed elsewhere.

But the Instinct abilities don't specify Barbarian Weapon Specialization, they only say Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization. Taken on its own, as I think things in the book are meant to be taken, you don't need the Barbarian version.

But it's entirely clearly laid out, so I was wondering if there was anything official about that anywhere.

[Claxon]

I'm pretty positive you need the Barbarian's version to gain the instinct bonuses, but I could see where it might be a bit unclear.

Just remember, one of the rules in the book is (paraphrased): If it seems too good to be true, you're probably wrong.

[citricking]

It looked like that at first, but the damage increase is a different ability: "specialization ability". The feat just grants the "instinct ability".

So they're two separate class features.

[thenobledrake]

Mondoglimmer wrote:

But the Instinct abilities don't specify Barbarian Weapon Specialization, they only say Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization. Taken on its own, as I think things in the book are meant to be taken, you don't need the Barbarian version.

The entire rule-set, other than specifically the multi-class archetypes and their related rules, is written as if a character will only ever have a single class.

That, and that it saves greatly on word count, is why you don't see constant explicit specification of things like that despite having the same name the effects of Weapon Specialization are sometimes different when coming from different classes.