Enhancement Bonuses to Combat Maneuvers.


Rules Questions


Running a campaign with a Brawler focused on combat maneuvers. His plan is to get Greater Magic Fang made permanent on himself to up his DPS, but he wants to know if that enhancement bonus would apply to combat maneuvers, especially grapple.

On the one hand, we have the Sundering weapon enhancement, which allows you to add the weapon's enhancement bonus to sunder attempts, suggesting that this is not normally the case. On the other hand, we have this passage from the combat maneuvers section of the PFSRD:

"When you attempt a combat maneuver, make an attack roll and add your CMB in place of your normal attack bonus. Add any bonuses you currently have on attack rolls due to spells, feats, and other effects. These bonuses must be applicable to the weapon or attack used to make the maneuver."

This seems to suggest that enhancement bonuses to weapons are added to the CMB, so long as the weapon is part of the combat maneuver (so a +3 sword would lend a +3 bonus to Disarm but not to Steal).

What is the correct interpretation here? Do enhancement bonuses automatically apply or not?

Liberty's Edge

Paizo Blog - Combat Maneuvers and Weapon Special Features

Quote:
Disarm, sunder, and trip are normally the only kinds of combat maneuvers in which you’re actually using a weapon (natural weapons and unarmed strikes are considered weapons for this purpose) to perform the maneuver, and therefore the weapon’s bonuses (enhancement bonuses, feats such as Weapon Focus, fighter weapon training, and so on) apply to the roll.

AoM gives an enhancement to natural weapons, grapple isn't one of the maneuvers where you use a natural weapon to attack, so it will not be added.

If you have the grab monster ability probably it would apply, as grab use the limb or appendage you used to attack. In practice, that attack has a special feature that allows it to be used for grapple attacks, so you get to use the enhancement.


Diego Rossi wrote:

Paizo Blog - Combat Maneuvers and Weapon Special Features

Quote:
Disarm, sunder, and trip are normally the only kinds of combat maneuvers in which you’re actually using a weapon (natural weapons and unarmed strikes are considered weapons for this purpose) to perform the maneuver, and therefore the weapon’s bonuses (enhancement bonuses, feats such as Weapon Focus, fighter weapon training, and so on) apply to the roll.

AoM gives an enhancement to natural weapons, grapple isn't one of the maneuvers where you use a natural weapon to attack, so it will not be added.

If you have the grab monster ability probably it would apply, as grab use the limb or appendage you used to attack. In practice, that attack has a special feature that allows it to be used for grapple attacks, so you get to use the enhancement.

AoM = Amulet of Mighty Fists?

So does that mean the text in the sundering weapon enhancement that states that the enhancement bonus is added to the roll is then superfluous?


It is, yes. If you try to sunder using a +3 sword, you'll get that +3 to the attack and damage.

Edit: also that's a 3rd party magic property. 'Path of Iron, © 2015, Ascension Games, LLC; Author Christopher Moore' - it should not be taken as a rule outside use of that 3rd party material.


It says it stacks with the bonus the weapon normally provides, so not superfluous.

Liberty's Edge

Torivor wrote:


AoM = Amulet of Mighty Fists?

Yes.

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