Hi All,

Apologies if this has been discussed before but I couldn't find it, at least not in an exhaustive form. 

Savage Attacker

You’ve trained to deal particularly damaging strikes. Once per turn when you hit a target with a weapon, you can roll the weapon’s damage dice twice and use either roll against the target.

Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit.

So Savage Attacker specifically says weapon’s damage dice and so wouldn't apply to things like Divine Smite, Hunter's Mark, Battlemaster superiority dice etc. What about extra weapon damage dice (Dragonlance +3d6 force damage vs dragons, Frostbrand +1d6 cold damage etc.) Or aren't these properly weapon damage dice? 

On the other hand GWF seems to apply to all dice, including the extra dice from special abilities. Is this correct? I know there was a SA on this but the wording of the feat has changed so I think it does not longer applies. 

Thanks, 

Alex

PS: I just realized that Savage Attacker doesn't say melee  weapon. "Take my savage crossbow bolt, goblin scum!"

Sage Advice says that both Savage Attacker and Great Weapon Fighting only apply to the weapon's damage dice. (While it's true that these Sage Advice pieces were written before the 2024 updates, I don't think either of these feats has changed in the 2024 update in a way that would affect this.)

So, the relevant question is really whether things like the extra cold damage from a Frost Brand counts as part of "the weapon's damage dice" or "the damage roll of the weapon". I'm inclined to think it does, since the weapon itself (rather than an external effect like Hunter's Mark) is the source of this extra damage. But the wording is a bit vague and some DMs might reasonably rule differently.

And yes, the new version of Savage Attacker works with both melee and ranged weapons; the 2014 version only worked with melee weapons.

I agree that Savage Attacker interacts only with the weapon’s damage dice, not to the total attack’s damage. So for example, extra damage from Hunter's Mark, Hex, Sneak Attack, Smite spells or True Strike (at higher levels) is not affected by Savage Attacker.

However, it's not clear to me GWF behaves the same way. For comparison the next wording is very similar, and you include the extra damage when landing a Critical Hit:

- Great Weapon Fighting: "When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon [...] "
- Critical Hits: "A Critical Hit lets you roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target [...]"

And as you can see in the threads below, some people agree that you should be able to reroll the extra damage from those kinds of spells or features mentioned earlier.

That said, the SAC is there in case of doubt to clarify the interaction.

• Can True Strike and Savage Attacker work together? (2024) 
• Great weapon fighting 
• Great Weapon Fighting style with bonus damage from weapons 
• Great Weapon FS and Divine Favor 
• New Great Weapon Fighting and additional damage dice 

Also, if it's interesting for the thread, while not official ruling, we have this conversation with the Dev (link to sageadvice.eu) mentioning Flame Tongue and Frost Brand:

@Il_Gama Great Weapon Fighting and Battlemaster' Sweeping Attack: may I reroll the 1 and 2 of the superiority die?
@JeremyECrawford Great Weapon Fighting works only with the damage dice of the qualifying weapon.
@<> What if you’ve got a weird situation like a greatsword flametongue or frostbrand? Still only the 2d6 from the greatsword?
@JeremyECrawford Those are weapons. Their dice are affected.
@<> Sorry, to clarify just in case. 2d6 slashing +2d6 fire (for example). The 2d6 fire damage dice are re-rollable as they are weapon dice?
@JeremyECrawford Yes. The description of the flame tongue (the weapon) even says the sword deals the extra damage.