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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 1238690" data-attributes="member: 2011">Almost simple. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />If a low BAB character was prone on the ground and had the Cleave feat, he could cleave opponent #2 after downing opponent #1, even though his bonus to hit is a negative number.This same character would actually have a bonus of zero (i.e. no bonus) if we used your "simple" interpretation. He would actually be better at doing a CDG/Cleave combo than he would a normal Attack/Cleave combo if it were allowed. In order to get "the same bonus as the attack that dropped the previous creature", the previous attack had to have a bonus (even a negative one).This is kind of like string fields in a database. You could have an empty string in the database, but the field has an actual value: Empty. If you have a null value, however, there is no data. It is not that the data is empty, it is that the data does not exist. Ditto for an integer field in a database. If it is null, it is not zero.In this case, the attack bonus does not exist. Hence, you cannot make the attack bonus of an existing attack be the same as something that does not exist. It is not that the previous attack bonus is zero, it is that it does not exist.This is no different than firing a Lightning Bolt out of your staff. Because a Lightning Bolt does not have a melee attack bonus, you do not get to cleave. You still attacked, you just did not do an attack action with a melee weapon where you had a melee attack bonus.</blockquote>

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