RichardAK
2012-10-19, 01:48 AM
In Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, there is an Abyssal heritor feat called Claws of the Beast. Its description reads:
Your hands are twisted like claws. This deformity allows you to deal more damage than usual with your unarmed strikes and sneak attacks.
Benefit: Your natural weapons or unarmed strikes gain a +1 profane bonus on damage rolls. This bonus increases by 1 for every two Abyssal heritor feats you possess.
Special: Your talons make subtle manipulation of objects more difficult, imposing a -2 penalty on Sleight of Hand checks.
So here's my question: does this damage bonus apply only to the base damage roll, or to your sneak attack dice as well? Normally, this would not even occur to me, since, for example, a +2 enhancement bonus from a magical weapon would give +2 to the base damage, but not +2 per die of sneak attack (I am right about that, right? I can't find the rule that says that, but I've always just assumed that that's true). In this case, however, the feat's description specifically mentions that it improves the damage from sneak attacks, albeit only in the general description, not in the actual description of the benefit. So let's suppose that a ninth-level medium-sized rogue with the normal five sneak attack dice makes an unarmed sneak attack. Normally, that would do 1d3 points of base damage plus 5d6 points of sneak attack damage. Suppose, however, that this rogue has Claws of the Beast (but no other Abyssal heritor feats). Does that mean he does 1d3+1 + 5d6+5 points of damage, or just 1d3+1 + 5d6 points?
If only the latter, why does the feat description mention sneak attacks at all? Moreover, if the latter only, this feat seems much, much weaker than feats like Craven, Indigo Strike, Sacred Strike, or even Deadly Precision. On the other hand, if the former, wouldn't that imply that any bonus to damage rolls, such as from a magical weapon, would also apply to sneak attack damage, unless it is explicitly specified that it does not? Also, if the former, why is there no mention of sneak attacks in the benefit description?
Your hands are twisted like claws. This deformity allows you to deal more damage than usual with your unarmed strikes and sneak attacks.
Benefit: Your natural weapons or unarmed strikes gain a +1 profane bonus on damage rolls. This bonus increases by 1 for every two Abyssal heritor feats you possess.
Special: Your talons make subtle manipulation of objects more difficult, imposing a -2 penalty on Sleight of Hand checks.
So here's my question: does this damage bonus apply only to the base damage roll, or to your sneak attack dice as well? Normally, this would not even occur to me, since, for example, a +2 enhancement bonus from a magical weapon would give +2 to the base damage, but not +2 per die of sneak attack (I am right about that, right? I can't find the rule that says that, but I've always just assumed that that's true). In this case, however, the feat's description specifically mentions that it improves the damage from sneak attacks, albeit only in the general description, not in the actual description of the benefit. So let's suppose that a ninth-level medium-sized rogue with the normal five sneak attack dice makes an unarmed sneak attack. Normally, that would do 1d3 points of base damage plus 5d6 points of sneak attack damage. Suppose, however, that this rogue has Claws of the Beast (but no other Abyssal heritor feats). Does that mean he does 1d3+1 + 5d6+5 points of damage, or just 1d3+1 + 5d6 points?
If only the latter, why does the feat description mention sneak attacks at all? Moreover, if the latter only, this feat seems much, much weaker than feats like Craven, Indigo Strike, Sacred Strike, or even Deadly Precision. On the other hand, if the former, wouldn't that imply that any bonus to damage rolls, such as from a magical weapon, would also apply to sneak attack damage, unless it is explicitly specified that it does not? Also, if the former, why is there no mention of sneak attacks in the benefit description?