So, I guess I'm misreading this, or maybe it's a RAW vs RAI thing, but I'm puzzled a bit by the following.
If I make an attack roll using e.g. a shortsword (1d6) the damage is the weapon's damage plus the ability modifier I used. So, assuming I use Dex and have a +4 Dex modifier, the damage is 1d6 + 4.
The description of the psychic blades says: "Damage on a Hit: 1d6 Psychic plus the ability modifier used for the attack roll"
So does this mean when I made the attack using the psychic blade the damage is again the weapon's damage plus the ability modifier, i.e. 1d6 + 4 (the weapon's damage) +4 from my dex, for a total of 1d6 +8 ?
No, it means it's 1d6 plus the modifier used for the attack roll. In your example it would be 1d6+4. There's nothing there saying the ability modifier gets added twice.
Well my point is that a) The ability modifier doesn't get added twice; in my example it gets added once just as it does with a shortsword. The only difference being that the base damage of the psychic blade happens to be 1d6+ the ability modifier, whereas the shortsword's base damage is just 1d6. And b) Then why doesn't the description of the Shortsword says the damage is 1d6 plus the ability modifier?
It doesn't explicitly say the ability modifier gets added twice because that's not what's happening. It's still "weapon damage plus ability modifier" as it is with the shortsword. The psychic blade just defines "weapon damage" as being "1d6 + ability modifier". So, as per the rules for any other weapon, the damage is weapon damage plus ability modifier which then becomes "1d6 + ability modifier" (the damage the description of the psychic blade says it does) plus ability modifier (as per the usual rule for all weapons).
It doesn't explicitly say the ability modifier gets added twice because that's not what's happening. It's still "weapon damage plus ability modifier" as it is with the shortsword. The psychic blade just defines "weapon damage" as being "1d6 + ability modifier". So, as per the rules for any other weapon, the damage is weapon damage plus ability modifier which then becomes "1d6 + ability modifier" (the damage the description of the psychic blade says it does) plus ability modifier (as per the usual rule for all weapons).
The general rule for rolling damage on weapon attacks is:
When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll—to the damage roll.
Which is exactly what the Soulknife description says. If the intent were that the ability modifier got added again, it would say that somewhere, which it doesn't.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
pronouns: he/she/they
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So, I guess I'm misreading this, or maybe it's a RAW vs RAI thing, but I'm puzzled a bit by the following.
If I make an attack roll using e.g. a shortsword (1d6) the damage is the weapon's damage plus the ability modifier I used. So, assuming I use Dex and have a +4 Dex modifier, the damage is 1d6 + 4.
The description of the psychic blades says: "Damage on a Hit: 1d6 Psychic plus the ability modifier used for the attack roll"
So does this mean when I made the attack using the psychic blade the damage is again the weapon's damage plus the ability modifier, i.e. 1d6 + 4 (the weapon's damage) +4 from my dex, for a total of 1d6 +8 ?
No, it means it's 1d6 plus the modifier used for the attack roll. In your example it would be 1d6+4. There's nothing there saying the ability modifier gets added twice.
pronouns: he/she/they
Well my point is that a) The ability modifier doesn't get added twice; in my example it gets added once just as it does with a shortsword. The only difference being that the base damage of the psychic blade happens to be 1d6+ the ability modifier, whereas the shortsword's base damage is just 1d6. And b) Then why doesn't the description of the Shortsword says the damage is 1d6 plus the ability modifier?
It doesn't explicitly say the ability modifier gets added twice because that's not what's happening. It's still "weapon damage plus ability modifier" as it is with the shortsword. The psychic blade just defines "weapon damage" as being "1d6 + ability modifier". So, as per the rules for any other weapon, the damage is weapon damage plus ability modifier which then becomes "1d6 + ability modifier" (the damage the description of the psychic blade says it does) plus ability modifier (as per the usual rule for all weapons).
The general rule for rolling damage on weapon attacks is:
Which is exactly what the Soulknife description says. If the intent were that the ability modifier got added again, it would say that somewhere, which it doesn't.
pronouns: he/she/they