Do the rage damage bonus and strength modifier apply to the "extra attack" class feature in melee? My DM says no, but I am wondering how others handle this...
The issue: Play is getting boring as the rest of the party levels up and can do more damage, whereas my barbarian feels stuck in place. (Half-Orc Level 11 Barbarian: Str 18, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 8, Wisdom 14, Charisma 13). I'd like to be able to dispatch the enemy with less "hacking away".
Typical attack damage with a war hammer and +1 AC breastplate + shield. (AC 17)
Attack: 1d8 + 4 (STR) + 3 Rage
Extra Attack: 1d8
Max (non-crit) = 2d8 + 4 + 3 = max damage 23
Typical two-handed attack no shield (AC 15 - more reluctant to use Reckless Attack)
By RAW and RAI your DM is wrong. Any STR attacks you make will add your STR modifier to damage. Rage bonus damage applies to all melee attacks made with STR.
This also applies to Attacks of Opportunities.
What I would advice is to politely ask your DM to recheck the rules and if they are still adamant about their ruling being correct you have little choice but to go with it or find another group.
The only time you don't add your strength modifier to damage when making a strength based attack is when you are Two-Weapon Fighting. All your attacks that are part of your Attack action (including attacks granted by Extra Attack) still work as normal adding Strength to damage. Two-Weapon Fighting then let's you use your bonus action to make one weapon attack with the melee weapon wielded in your off hand. This bonus action attack granted by Two-Weapon Fighting does not get your ability modifier added to its damage.
Off the top of my head this is the only exception to the general rule of adding your ability score modifier to weapon attacks and unarmed strikes. The rules for this are scattered in the PHB with the bulk of it in Chapter 7 under Strength and Dexterity in the Using Each Ability section. Unarmed Strikes and Two-Weapon Fighting are described in Chapter 9 in the Melee Attacks.
Note all of this has been about adding your ability modifier to damage rolls. The bonus damage granted from rage is much more cut and dry. "When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll . . . ". That's it. Your bonus damage from rage is added to ALL your melee weapon attacks, regardless of their source.
As others have said, your DM is wrong and is robbing you of a good portion of damage. The only time you should not be adding your str mod is if you are using dual wield, and do not have the two weapon fighting style.
For the character you described above, you should be adding both rage damage /and/ str mod to every attack. If you were to switch to two weapons, say handaxes you would add str mod to the primary weapon attacks, and /not/ the bonus action offhand attack. The RAGE damage bonus would apply to /all/ attacks (even the bonus action offhand attack)
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
That is a completely unnecessary nerf to the barbarian. Absolutely they get their rage and strength bonus on every hit unless the feature explicitly says you don’t. That ruling just makes barbs much less fun and significantly less viable. I would absolutely bring it up with them and see if they can at least explain where the rule comes from.
barbs aren’t strong enough to warrant unique house rules to nerf them
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Do the rage damage bonus and strength modifier apply to the "extra attack" class feature in melee? My DM says no, but I am wondering how others handle this...
The issue: Play is getting boring as the rest of the party levels up and can do more damage, whereas my barbarian feels stuck in place. (Half-Orc Level 11 Barbarian: Str 18, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 8, Wisdom 14, Charisma 13). I'd like to be able to dispatch the enemy with less "hacking away".
Typical attack damage with a war hammer and +1 AC breastplate + shield. (AC 17)
Typical two-handed attack no shield (AC 15 - more reluctant to use Reckless Attack)
Is this correct?
By RAW and RAI your DM is wrong. Any STR attacks you make will add your STR modifier to damage. Rage bonus damage applies to all melee attacks made with STR.
This also applies to Attacks of Opportunities.
What I would advice is to politely ask your DM to recheck the rules and if they are still adamant about their ruling being correct you have little choice but to go with it or find another group.
Thank you!
The only time you don't add your strength modifier to damage when making a strength based attack is when you are Two-Weapon Fighting. All your attacks that are part of your Attack action (including attacks granted by Extra Attack) still work as normal adding Strength to damage. Two-Weapon Fighting then let's you use your bonus action to make one weapon attack with the melee weapon wielded in your off hand. This bonus action attack granted by Two-Weapon Fighting does not get your ability modifier added to its damage.
Off the top of my head this is the only exception to the general rule of adding your ability score modifier to weapon attacks and unarmed strikes. The rules for this are scattered in the PHB with the bulk of it in Chapter 7 under Strength and Dexterity in the Using Each Ability section. Unarmed Strikes and Two-Weapon Fighting are described in Chapter 9 in the Melee Attacks.
Note all of this has been about adding your ability modifier to damage rolls. The bonus damage granted from rage is much more cut and dry. "When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll . . . ". That's it. Your bonus damage from rage is added to ALL your melee weapon attacks, regardless of their source.
As others have said, your DM is wrong and is robbing you of a good portion of damage. The only time you should not be adding your str mod is if you are using dual wield, and do not have the two weapon fighting style.
For the character you described above, you should be adding both rage damage /and/ str mod to every attack. If you were to switch to two weapons, say handaxes you would add str mod to the primary weapon attacks, and /not/ the bonus action offhand attack. The RAGE damage bonus would apply to /all/ attacks (even the bonus action offhand attack)
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
That is a completely unnecessary nerf to the barbarian. Absolutely they get their rage and strength bonus on every hit unless the feature explicitly says you don’t. That ruling just makes barbs much less fun and significantly less viable. I would absolutely bring it up with them and see if they can at least explain where the rule comes from.
barbs aren’t strong enough to warrant unique house rules to nerf them