Whirlwind semantic.

[Egres]

I have a little semantic problem.

In the Italian edition of the PHB the Whirlwind Attack feat is translated in a not so clear way.

It seems that you have to make one attack roll against each of your opponents.

In other words, it seems that you roll the die only one time, and apply the result against each of your opponents.

I don't speak English very well, but my reading of the feat makes me think that you roll the die once for each opponent attacked.

Please, mother tongue posters, help me showing Italian players how bad translated our PHB edition is!

 

[TracerBullet42]

I'm afraid I've never found it to be very clear over here either, unfortunately...

For simplicities, sake, I would just make one roll and apply it to all of the creatures in range of the attack, adding bonuses where they apply. It could very easily be interpreted the other way, though, that you make a roll for each opponent.

I like to keep it simple...one roll for me. (Not that I've ever played a PC with the feat, mind you...)

 

[Henry]

From the System Reference Document, taken from the 3.5 Player's Handbook:

WHIRLWIND ATTACK [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Int 13, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: When you use the full attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at
your full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach.
When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or
abilities.
Special: A fighter may select Whirlwind Attack as one of his fighter bonus feats.

It says to make one melee attack against each opponent in your reach. Each attack according to the rules, to the best of my knowledge, is a separate die roll. If they had meant to use one die roll for all opponents, they would have said something along the lines of "make one attack roll for all opponents in your reach. Apply this result to each opponent's AC to determine success." or something similar.

ALSO, You only get one melee attack against each opponent - you cannot add on attacks from cleave or great cleave, or from the Haste spell, or from the Speed ability on a magic weapon.

Hope this helps!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Actually, the feat is pretty clear:

WHIRLWIND ATTACK [GENERAL]

Prerequisites: Dex 13, Int 13, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, base attack bonus +4.

Benefit: When you use the full attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach.

When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or abilities.

Special: A fighter may select Whirlwind Attack as one of his fighter bonus feats.

You make one melee attack against each opponent in range. A melee attack involves rolling a d20 and adding your AB - in this case, using your highest BAB.

In other words, if there's two targets, you make two melee attacks at your highest AB, and therefore roll twice.

If there are ten targets, you make ten melee attacks at your highest AB, and therefore roll 10 times.

 

[Egres]

Ok.

But, may i ask you to underline the feat description's part that clarifies, in English ,that you have to make multiple rolls?

Thank you in advance!

 

[TracerBullet42]

Actually, the feat is pretty clear:

D'oh...(hangs head in shame...)

My memory ain't so good sometimes...

What they said.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Sorry - the board doesn't seem to allow underlining.

The phrase is, "make one melee attack ... against each opponent within reach."

If it did not want you to make separate melee attacks, the feat's description would read, "Make a melee attack at your highest BAB, and apply this result against all targets within reach."

Instead, you give up all of your normal attacks from the full attack action (for instance, at BAB +11 / +6 / +1, or three attacks with descending BAB) for a number of attacks equal to the number of enemies within range - but each attack is made at +11.

For a better example, if WWA was meant to use a single attack roll, the text would be similar to that of Manyshot:

MANYSHOT [GENERAL]

Prerequisites: Dex 17, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, base attack bonus +6

Benefit: As a standard action, you may fire two arrows at a single opponent within 30 feet. Both arrows use the same attack roll (with a –4 penalty) to determine success and deal damage normally (but see Special).

...

 

[angry monkey]

what everyone is saying, in simple terms, is roll for each opponent.

 

[Egres]

Ok.

You have confirmed my thought.

Hope my fellow-countrymen will accept and understand it.

Thank you for your replies!

 

[Coredump]

But, does it really matter? Does it really change anything? (Other than it may be more fun to roll a lot of attacks.)