Howdy All,
Intuitively, from my 3.5 experience, the answer is "obviously yes" but I keep seeing places on message boards where people say you can only ever have a single condition at a given time. Can I get a rules clarification/reference page number?
I realize that conditions don't 'stack' - as in, if you are frightened 1 and then another effect makes you frightened 1 you just stay at frightened 1, (rather than going to frightened 2).
However, it IS possible to be flat-footed and frightened, is it not?
What others may have been referring to were conditions that override others. For example, Stunned overrides Slowed and Blinded overrides Dazzled.
When a condition overrides the other, you are only effected by the overriding condition until it ends. Then you are subject to the overridden condition if it still has duration left.
There are some more detailed examples of condition stacking and not stacking here in a previous thread.
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As I explained over at ENWorld,
This bit here is unnecessary. As a reader of this forum and not that one, it doesn't matter what you said over there. What matters is what is said here, now, on this board.
Also this advertisement makes me less likely to check out ENWorld
And they decided to discuss here so there has no bearing.
I'm more curious why anyone would have thought that you can't have multiple conditions.
But it may be as others have suggested and what they meant is that often conditions will impose penalties to the same stat, and so they overlap. Both conditions apply, and usually the more severe condition will end and have duration remain on the lesser condition, but while both are present the numerically more severe penalty is the only one that applies (as penalties of the same type (status, item, etc) to the same stat don't stack).
And they decided to discuss here so there has no bearing.Now I *WAS* talking to you. :)
The "bearing" is that you complained, I explained.
That's it.
And this makes no sense
I'm more curious why anyone would have thought that you can't have multiple conditions.It's actually easier thank you think to have a brain fart where you become convinced of something for pretty much no reason. All of "it sounds right", "it must be so", and so on isn't really a reason even though it feels that way. You could have preconceived notions from another game. You could have misunderstood another rule, leading you to draw false conclusions here. And so.
This has happened to myself, so I'm not trying to slag on people.
The important part is when you get blowback, when people start arguing the other way, when you are told you are wrong.
In this scenario it is incredibly easy to demand to see the page reference in the rules. It feels sound and logical and quite reasonable.
Yet in many cases it is not so.
Again, you absolutely must must must understand and acknowledge the basic philosophy behind writing down a set of rules:
Assume any omissions are intentional, not accidental.
In other words, the rules reference you're looking for isn't there and doesn't need to be there, because it would fill the rulebook with truisms. In this case, we can't have the rules spell out you can stack conditions, because that opens a Pandora's box to a 10,000 page document.
Instead what confirms the fact that you can stack conditions is that the rulebook does not tell you you can't.
It's the only way to break out of the "brain lock" and see the truth in the arguments against your position.
Cheers
But the rules have this section (quoted from AoN):
There are three other types of bonus that frequently appear: circumstance bonuses, item bonuses, and status bonuses. If you have different types of bonus that would apply to the same roll, you’ll add them all. But if you have multiple bonuses of the same type, you can use only the highest bonus on a given roll—in other words, they don’t “stack.” For instance, if you have both a proficiency bonus and an item bonus, you add both to your d20 result, but if you have two item bonuses that could apply to the same check, you add only the higher of the two.
Circumstance bonuses typically involve the situation you find yourself in when attempting a check. For instance, using Raise a Shield with a buckler grants you a +1 circumstance bonus to AC. Being behind cover grants you a +2 circumstance bonus to AC. If you are both behind cover and Raising a Shield, you gain only the +2 circumstance bonus for cover, since they’re the same type and the bonus from cover is higher.
Item bonuses are granted by some item that you are wearing or using, either mundane or magical. For example, armor gives you an item bonus to AC, while expanded alchemist’s tools grant you an item bonus to Crafting checks when making alchemical items.
Status bonuses typically come from spells, other magical effects, or something applying a helpful, often temporary, condition to you. For instance, the 3rd-level heroism spell grants a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, Perception checks, saving throws, and skill checks. If you were under the effect of heroism and someone cast the bless spell, which also grants a +1 status bonus on attacks, your attack rolls would gain only a +1 status bonus, since both spells grant a +1 status bonus to those rolls, and you only take the highest status bonus.
Penalties work very much like bonuses. You can have circumstance penalties, status penalties, and sometimes even item penalties. Like bonuses of the same type, you take only the worst all of various penalties of a given type. However, you can apply both a bonus and a penalty of the same type on a single roll. For example, if you had a +1 status bonus from a heroism spell but a –2 status penalty from the sickened condition, you’d apply them both to your roll—so heroism still helps even though you’re feeling unwell.
Unlike bonuses, penalties can also be untyped, in which case they won’t be classified as “circumstance,” “item,” or “status.” Unlike other penalties, you always add all your untyped penalties together rather than simply taking the worst one. For instance, when you use attack actions, you incur a multiple attack penalty on each attack you make on your turn after the first attack, and when you attack a target that’s beyond your weapon’s normal range increment, you incur a range penalty on the attack. Because these are both untyped penalties, if you make multiple attacks at a faraway target, you’d apply both the multiple attack penalty and the range penalty to your roll.
Once you’ve identified all your various modifiers, bonuses, and penalties, you move on to the next step.