Shillelagh is General. It says all attacks with the quarterstaff use 1d8 for weapon dmg. This would apply to Attack as part of action, opportunity attack as part of your reaction, and if you can get a BonusAction to "attack" you could use Shillelagh wespon damage there too.
But PolearmMaster doesnt say you get a BonusAction attack.
Polearm Master is much more specific than that. It says if you make an Attack with the Polearm during your Action, then you can use BonusAttack to PoleAttack and the weapon damage is 1d4 (and you can add abilitt modifier to damage).
So the specific 1d4 polearm weapon damage overrides the general 1d8 for all attacks ik Shillelagg.
It's a bit more involved than that. Shillelagh and Polearm Master are both specifics overriding the general rules of the Weapon damage. There is no clear hierarchy. Normally, I believe the active player decides the order of operations, which would allow for Shillelagh's damage to apply to the Polearm Master's attack. The Sage Advice ruling then says Polearm Master overrides Shillelagh.
However, the ruling then introduces other problems. If I use Polearm Master with +X Quarterstaff, do I get the +X to hit and damage? The Sage Advice sets the standard that "the other end" has different properties that are maintained independently (like 3.x's Double Weapons) and the +X would not apply to hit and damage rolls with the Polearm Master attack.
It's a bit more involved than that. Shillelagh and Polearm Master are both specifics overriding the general rules of the Weapon damage. There is no clear hierarchy. Normally, I believe the active player decides the order of operations, which would allow for Shillelagh's damage to apply to the Polearm Master's attack. The Sage Advice ruling then says Polearm Master overrides Shillelagh.
However, the ruling then introduces other problems. If I use Polearm Master with +X Quarterstaff, do I get the +X to hit and damage? The Sage Advice sets the standard that "the other end" has different properties that are maintained independently (like 3.x's Double Weapons) and the +X would not apply to hit and damage rolls with the Polearm Master attack.
In what universe does a determination of what effect sets the base weapon damage also determine whether or not a +X weapon's effects apply?
"Shillelagh and Polearm Master are both specifics overriding the general rules of the Weapon damage. There is no clear hierarchy."
Shillelagh says it affects "attacks" lower case. Thats a generic "all attacks" call out.
PAM says if you do your normal Action(Attack) this turn, you get a special BonusAction immediately after that attack that does 1d4 for weapon damage. Thats a very specific, in this one situation, you get a specific pole strike attack that does specific damage.
The wording for this could definitely benefit from clarification, (as is true of much of the phb) but it seems sufficient as it is to determine PAM is muxh more specific than shillelagh
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
It's a bit more involved than that. Shillelagh and Polearm Master are both specifics overriding the general rules of the Weapon damage. There is no clear hierarchy. Normally, I believe the active player decides the order of operations, which would allow for Shillelagh's damage to apply to the Polearm Master's attack. The Sage Advice ruling then says Polearm Master overrides Shillelagh.
However, the ruling then introduces other problems. If I use Polearm Master with +X Quarterstaff, do I get the +X to hit and damage? The Sage Advice sets the standard that "the other end" has different properties that are maintained independently (like 3.x's Double Weapons) and the +X would not apply to hit and damage rolls with the Polearm Master attack.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
In what universe does a determination of what effect sets the base weapon damage also determine whether or not a +X weapon's effects apply?
"Shillelagh and Polearm Master are both specifics overriding the general rules of the Weapon damage. There is no clear hierarchy."
Shillelagh says it affects "attacks" lower case. Thats a generic "all attacks" call out.
PAM says if you do your normal Action(Attack) this turn, you get a special BonusAction immediately after that attack that does 1d4 for weapon damage. Thats a very specific, in this one situation, you get a specific pole strike attack that does specific damage.
The wording for this could definitely benefit from clarification, (as is true of much of the phb) but it seems sufficient as it is to determine PAM is muxh more specific than shillelagh