Ranged Weapon Mastery question

[Dragonnety]

Yesterday I had an interesting question from one of my players. It is about the Ranged weapon Mastery feat (PHB II pg 82).
He has chosen to take the feat for piercing. (he is a fighter using a bow) he has already taken weapon focus, weapon specialization and greater weapon focus for Longbow and he believes that if he take the feat the +2 to damage and attack roll will stuck for the longbow. I rule against it, but the book doesn't says if it stucks or not. What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

[Foxworthy]

It stacks, if I recall correctly it's an untyped bonus and untyped bonuses always stack.

 

[Runestar]

It stacks with all other attack/damage bonuses.

It will not stack with itself however (so you will receive no extra benefit by taking it multiple times for weapons with more than damage type, like the morning star).

 

[milo]

Ranged weapon mastery specifically says it works for ranged weapons, melee weapon mastery specifically says it works for melee weapons. It doesn't work. I would let piercing/bludgeoning weapon mastery work together for the morningstar before ranged/melee weapon mastery for the bow. There are arrows that deal slashing and piercing damage in races of the wild. You could take ranged weapon mastery for slashing and piercing and possibly have that work, your call.

 

[milo]

I was wrong. Found the errata that I have saved for it.
Page 81 – Melee Weapon Mastery
[Substitution]
Should read, “Gain +2 on attacks and damage with weapons that deal certain damage types.” Also, it should be noted that for a weapon like a morningstar, which does bludgeoning and piercing damage, the benefits of Melee Weapon Mastery (bludgeoning) and Melee Weapon Master (piercing) do not stack.
Should specify that the attack bonus and damage bonus from the feat stack with those from Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization.

 

[coyote6]

AFAIK, they stack; the bonuses are untyped and from different sources (i.e., different feats), so the default rule is that they stack.

Thus, if he has Weapon Focus (longbow), Weapon Specialization (longbow), Greater Weapon Focus (longbow), and Ranged Weapon Mastery (piercing), when wielding a longbow, he would have a total of +4 attack and +4 damage from his feats. If he decided to toss a javelin or a dagger, he'd get +2 attack & damage from Ranged Weapon Mastery.

Note that if he used a blunt arrow from Races of the Wild, he wouldn't get the RWM, as blunt arrows do bludgeoning (and nonlethal, at that) damage rather than piercing. Kind of odd, IMO -- I'd think shooting a regular arrow had more in common with shooting a blunt arrow than with throwing a shuriken -- but that's how the feats are set up.

 

[Dragonnety]

Thanks everyone, you really helped solve this out. And believe me, the player is REALLY happy about this. Thanks again.