Animal Form and constant abilities of held and wielded items

[The Raven Black]

If you hold a Retribution Axe in 2 hands and then use Animal Form, do you still benefit from the circumstance bonus to damage ?

What about a Staff of Air you wield, then using Animal Form : are you still able to Step into difficult terrain once per round ?

[Trip.H]

I'd say no for both of those.
But this whole topic is very GM dependent. Those item powers are things that involve wielding the item.

And yes, I'm aware the Ax fails to state as such explicitly, and a jerk player could pretend the ax on their back still boosts the dmg of another weapon attack. No, I'd not let that claim stand in actual play.

[YuriP]

I also say no because you are no more holding the items. They are absorbed by your battle form and once you aren't holding you aren't qualified to get its passive benefits (for the same reason that you don't get the benefits when you are worn/stowing them).

[The Raven Black]

Thank you for your answers. It will make less items to consider for my Monk MC Untamed Druid.

[The Contrarian]

I would say Yes for the axe since it does not say you must be wielding it to benefit from it. It doesn't even say you need to attack with it to get the damage bonus.

Sadly, the same does not appear to be true of the staff, which clearly states you must be wielding it, which you cannot do while it is absorbed into your form.

[YuriP]

For those who are considering that, you can get the passive benefits only because it only worns the axe. The Usage rules already states that an item with held in their usage entry can only be used when the usage entry requirements are met.

[The Raven Black]

True, but if we consider that worn items still provide their constant abilities, even though they are absorbed into you (ie, not worn anymore), then the same should be true of held or wielded items.

After all, the only prohibition stated in the Polymorph description is that you cannot Activate items.