Can +CHR stack Twice?

[Edgerunner]

I was asking for advice on which Oath I should take for my Pali/Hexblade and a poster told me that the +CHR to hit would stack with Oath of Devotion's +CHR to hit from their Channel Divinity.

I just don't see how that can be legal but I may be incorrect. Am I?

[Yakk]

There are no rules that make "adding the same attribute twice" not work in 5e, so long as the adding comes from different features.

[Dualight]

Oathbreaker gets you +Charisma to melee weapon attack damage, and going far enough into warlock(12th level) nets you the Lifedrinker Invocation for another +Charisma to damage.
The general rule is that effects stack, unless they have the same name or otherwise exclude each other explicitly

[Greywander]

If you have two features with different names that both add the same ability score modifier to the same type of roll, e.g. both adding CHA to your attack rolls, then they stack. You would add your CHA mod twice.

If you have two features with the same name that each add a different ability score modifier to the same type of roll, e.g. one that adds your CHA to attack rolls and one that adds your WIS mod to attack rolls, they don't stack.

What makes the difference is if the features have the same name, not if they use the same ability score.

Theoretically, at some point in the future you might see the same name get used for an unrelated feature, and if so I'd say check the descriptions of those features. Features that are the "same" will both have the same name and similar descriptions (they might function slightly differently e.g. using a different ability score, or applying to weapon attacks vs. spell attacks, but should use similar wording to describe how they work). Features that only coincidentally share the same name will have vastly different descriptions and probably not do the same thing at all. For reference, compare the barbarian's and monk's Unarmored Defense. These features wouldn't work together anyway, since they don't add to your AC, but replace your AC calculation entirely, but if we pretend that they could work together, you can see how they have the same name and only slightly different wording, indicating that they're not supposed to stack.

There's actually some debate about whether the Bladesinger's Extra Attack can stack with the fighter's Extra Attack, allowing a Bladesinger 6 / fighter 11 to attack three times, and replace one attack with a cantrip. RAW is that they probably don't stack; you either make three attacks or you make one attack and cast one cantrip. Rule of Cool is to go ahead and let them stack. (Note, the additional attacks never stack, which is why you only get three attacks and not four. The only thing up for debate is whether replacing an attack with a cantrip can be used with the fighter's three attacks instead of the bladesinger's two.)

[RSP]

In addition to what’s already stated by other posters, Hexblade Pact of Blades already can have +Cha twice to weapon attacks, even without the multiclass (which actually allows it three times), as they can use Cha as their weapon attack stat. So you can have a greatsword attack damage roll that goes like this:

2d6+Cha mod (weapon attack rules) +Cha mod (Lifedrinker) +Cha mod (Oathbreaker)

[Contrast]

Snip

Sacred Weapon lets you add Cha to your attack rolls but not damage and Lifedrinker adds your Cha to damage but not attack rolls, they'll never both be added to the same roll.

Combining Sacred Weapon and Lifedrinker would mean you were adding 2*Cha to both the attack roll and damage overall though.

Edit - Huh, I swear it said the Oath of Devotion CD. Ignore me!

[Greywander]

In addition to what’s already stated by other posters, Hexblade Pact of Blades already can have +Cha twice to weapon attacks, even without the multiclass (which actually allows it three times), as they can use Cha as their weapon attack stat. So you can have a greatsword attack damage roll that goes like this:

2d6+Cha mod (weapon attack rules) +Cha mod (Lifedrinker) +Cha mod (Oathbreaker)
Do note this applies to the damage rolls, not the attack rolls. Devotion's Sacred Weapon, on the other hand, only applies to attack rolls, and not damage rolls. This can be easy to miss, since a lot of other bonuses apply to both attack and damage rolls.

[RSP]

Edit - Huh, I swear it said the Oath of Devotion CD. Ignore me!

It did. I realized I had the Devotion in there and swapped it out via edit.


Do note this applies to the damage rolls, not the attack rolls. Devotion's Sacred Weapon, on the other hand, only applies to attack rolls, and not damage rolls. This can be easy to miss, since a lot of other bonuses apply to both attack and damage rolls.

Indeed, didn’t mean to confuse anyone. Was just showing that +mod can occur in different ways (regardless of roll).

[JackPhoenix]

Theoretically, at some point in the future you might see the same name get used for an unrelated feature, and if so I'd say check the descriptions of those features.

Why wait for the future? Check protector Aasimar and celestial pact warlock.

[CMCC]

Is CHR supposed to be CHA?

[Vorpalchicken]

Borg only have 6 in CHR. But Borg have 17 in STR! !

[Edgerunner]

Is CHR supposed to be CHA?

Sorry. That's a quirk from my old AD&D days that I still use and I've been called out on it before.

[Willie the Duck]

I was asking for advice on which Oath I should take for my Pali/Hexblade and a poster told me that the +CHR to hit would stack with Oath of Devotion's +CHR to hit from their Channel Divinity.

I just don't see how that can be legal but I may be incorrect. Am I?

What reasoning do you have to think it would not be legal? Are you thinking of something like how in D&D 3e to bonuses of the same type did not stack? 5e has mostly done away with that setup, choosing instead to just drastically limit the number of bonuses one can have*.
*or have continuously without limited-resource expenditure, and if you and the entire party want to use their concentration and blow all their slots and bardic inspirations and such giving the party Eldritch Knight a 200 AC for a round, more power to you.

What does still seem to come up frequently are:

As others have mentioned, someone getting two sources of Extra Attack. These fall under the 'two features with the same name' clause, as discussed.
Two differently named abilities with similar but not-overlapping effects. These tend to be worded as 'replace' or 'becomes' features, probably specifically to head off this kind of thing. Dragon Sorcerers, Monks and Barbarians give you alternative Armor classes that use different attributes in the mix, but each of them are coded as your base AC becomes them, so you can't stack them to get a class with 13+dex+con+wis as their base AC. Same with A druid/hexblade getting both wisdom and charisma as their to-hit and damage with a staff or club.

[Chronos]

Even simpler example: Any paladin (of at least 6th level) adds their Cha modifier twice to any charisma saving throw they roll.

What you may be remembering is that there's a rule that you never add your proficiency bonus more than once to anything (you sometimes double it or halve it before you add it, but you never add it and then add it again). But that rule is only for proficiency, not for other sorts of bonuses.