Question about the spell Elation

[Max Caysey]

The spell says:

"Affected creatures gain a +2 morale bonus to effective Strength and Dexterity, and their speed increases by +5 feet. "

Would this be a +2 morale bonus to str and dex modifier or to the str and dex score?

The reason for me asking is the "effective" word. Why put that in, if it means nothing...

Thanks

[Douglas]

To the score. Nothing ever affects the modifier directly.

As for why "effective" is there, presumably it sounded good to the writer at the time, and he likely didn't think anything of it.

[JBarca]

To the Strength and Dexterity scores. I honestly cannot think of a time when bonuses are applied directly to an ability modifier.

The effective is saying, I guess, that it's not an actual change, but instead is a temporary increase. Your effective score is what the score is functioning as, regardless of your actual, permanent score.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Considering that it mirrors the reverse of the Fatigued (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#fatigued) condition, I'd say it affects their ability scores, not their ability bonuses.

Meaning, a character with Str 11 and Elation on him effectively has Str 13 when determining the effects of anything that adds his Str bonus to it, but he wouldn't qualify for Power Attack (such as if someone cast Heroics on him during the Elation) because it's only his effective Str, not his actual Str.