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View Full Version : (3.5/PF) Do "Bane" bonuses on magic weapons stack?



GoatToucher
2010-02-28, 01:26 PM
For example:

I have a Holy Axiomatic weapon. Do CE creatures take +4d6 damage?

--Add Bane (Outsider: Demon) to the equation. Does it do +6d6 to Demons?

I have a weapon that is Bane (Human) and Bane (Humanoid: Orc). Does a half orc (who qualifies as both) take +4d6 damage?

Personal opinion: I'm not a fan of all the damage stacking up like that, but I can't find anything referring to the issue in RAW.

sofawall
2010-02-28, 01:31 PM
The damage stacks. Damage dice from different sources always stack, and Bane (Human) is different from, for example, Bane (Orc), so they would stack.

tyckspoon
2010-02-28, 01:32 PM
Yes, it stacks. If you're going to invest that much +equivalency in beating up one specific kind of enemy, you deserve to get the return on it.

Claudius Maximus
2010-02-28, 01:32 PM
Yes, they stack, at least in damage. I'm less sure about the effective enhancement bonus though.

Half-orcs only count as orcs. There's a feat in Races of Destiny that makes them count as human, so we can infer that they normally don't.

Greenish
2010-02-28, 01:35 PM
Half-orcs only count as orcs. There's a feat in Races of Destiny that makes them count as human, so we can infer that they normally don't.This. SRD:
Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-orc is considered an orc.Seems human blood is rather weak. :smalltongue:

tyckspoon
2010-02-28, 01:47 PM
Yes, they stack, at least in damage. I'm less sure about the effective enhancement bonus though.


They'll stack if you have multiple relevant Banes. If you really, really need to beat up a Devil, you can get a Holy Anarchic Bane (Evil Outsider) Bane (Lawful Outsider) weapon- it'll do +8d6 damage and strike as a +4 higher weapon. It also invests +6 equivalent plusses to do so, and Holy and maybe Bane (Evil Outsider) are the only ones you might expect to regularly apply to anything other than Devils. Not at all broken, just fair return on investment.

ericgrau
2010-02-28, 01:51 PM
For example:

I have a Holy Axiomatic weapon. Do CE creatures take +4d6 damage?

--Add Bane (Outsider: Demon) to the equation. Does it do +6d6 to Demons?

I have a weapon that is Bane (Human) and Bane (Humanoid: Orc). Does a half orc (who qualifies as both) take +4d6 damage?

Personal opinion: I'm not a fan of all the damage stacking up like that, but I can't find anything referring to the issue in RAW.

Yes, IMO.
Yes. Bane and alignment are entirely different.
No, IMO.

The rule you're looking for is that effects from the same/similar source don't stack. This is in addition to the rule that bonuses of the same type don't stack. So you could have 2 untyped bonus from a similar source and they wouldn't stack. The vague language of that rule leaves a lot open to interpretation, so I wrote "IMO".

PinkysBrain
2010-02-28, 01:54 PM
Bane is one of those "it gives you a bonus but it's not called a bonus" effects the writers just threw in because they are either morons or evil people who like to see useless rules lawyering debates (just like the various monk level bonus items/effects).

hamishspence
2010-02-28, 03:34 PM
I think The Sage in Dragon Magazine said they don't stack- a Lawful Outsider Bane/Evil outsider Bane isn't going to do awesome damage to a devil, for example.

However The Sage's rulings don't always match RAW.