Battle form polymorph spells often set your damage bonus to a flat value, which cannot be adjusted except for status and circumstance bonuses. But what part of your damage falls under "damage bonus"?
In the rules for calculating damage it says "Melee damage roll = damage die of weapon or unarmed attack + Strength modifier + bonuses + penalties", so do Druids add their strength modifier to their attacks while Wild Shaped? In other areas of the rules there is also a clear distinction between bonuses, modifiers, and penalties. It also says that bonuses cannot be untyped, so I don't think the "damage bonus" wording refers to this.
Is Weapon Specialization increasing your damage, or does it increase your damage bonus?
Do Flaming Handwraps of Mighty Strikes give an extra 1d6 damage, or is this an adjustment to your "damage bonus"?
Do crits adjust your "damage bonus"? (This is a definite no, as crits are certainly meant to work with Polymorphs, but why?)
Does anyone have any insight on this?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You have 2 types of damage (outside dice): bonus and extra/additional damage.
Status/circumstance/item bonuses are bonus, same for Strength. Otherwise they are extra/additional damage and combine with Battle Forms. So, Rage, Sneak Attack, Elemental Runes and Weapon Specialization (oddly) are all added to your damage when polymorphed.
Mark Seifter made a quick post to speak about that in the forum.
You have 2 types of damage (outside dice): bonus and extra/additional damage.
Status/circumstance/item bonuses are bonus, same for Strength. Otherwise they are extra/additional damage and combine with Battle Forms. So, Rage, Sneak Attack, Elemental Runes and Weapon Specialization (oddly) are all added to your damage when polymorphed.Mark Seifter made a quick post to speak about that in the forum.
Well that at least partially confirms Weapon Specialization works. I found the post you mentioned.
The wording could still use further clarifying though, as Strength is referred to as an ability modifier rather than a bonus. For now I'll assume all static increases don't apply unless they're status/circumstance/additional damage. I'm worried it's possible that the wording is intended to include all additional damage and used "damage bonus" as a synonym for "everything added to your dice", so hopefully there is some form of clarification in future.
The wording seems pretty challenging to make both specific and concise in this case, but it's rather niche so maybe an FAQ specifically excepting additional damage from the polymorph clause is all that is required.