Do enhancement bonuses to ability count against ability damage?

[wuyanei]

The more I think about it, the more I wish there could be negative values for ability scores (for all but Con). The negative values would be for book-keeping and healing; a negative score would be treated as zero for purposes of the PC's state.

Indeed.

I think Vraille Darkfang 'Easy Math Method': add all bonuses and penalities, subtract total damage and drain, then put the whole result through a {F(x) = 0 if x < 0| F(x) = x if not x < 0} function, is the simplist and most self-consistent method. You can even argue that this does not violate the 'No negative stat' rule, since the stat F(x) is always greater than or equal to zero. It is a house rule, but I think it should be a good one.

 

[dcollins]

There's also the published "Variant: Separate Ability Loss" (as I see it in 3.0 DMG p. 72) which directs you to explicitly keep separate track of the ability loss, and suffer appropriate incapacitation if damage >= ability.

Of course, that still doesn't resolve the need to decide exactly what counts as a "creature reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow".

 

[Hypersmurf]

The difference between the modified score, and the ability score itself, were clear & distinct to me. Hyp, you didn't (that I can see) answer that question straight up. Your thoughts?

Um? Which question?

If someone with a Str of 10 puts on Gauntlets of Ogre Power, their Str is "12". Not "12 (but really 10)".

As long as the enhancement bonus is in effect, their Strength isn't 10.

-Hyp.

 

[glass]

Does a suit of leather armor with +2 enhancement bonus gain an armor bonus of +4? no it has an armor bonus of +2 and an enhancement bonus of +2. Otherwise, one would be forced to wonder how leather the same thickness as all other leather armor can suddenly offer more protection. It doesn't. The magic of the enhancement does.

The same thickness of leather offers more protection, because the magic enhances the leather. Leather armour+2 explicitly does have an armour bonus of +4, because the enhancement bonus applies to the armour bonus.

If the enhancment bonus applied to you AC directly, as you are suggesting, then you could wear magic armour and use a magic shield at the same time (well you could, but they would be redundant).

EDIT: Or, 'what Hyp said'.


glass.

 

[Thia Halmades]

Okay, so making sure I understand this:

- Any magical enhancement also acts as an additional guard against those effects. So your STR score at 14 + Bull's Strength becomes 18. You take 16 points of STR damage - which is 18 - 16 = 2. You aren't a Shadow, you aren't reduced to 0. The spell ends. Since the effect of the spell was in place prior to you being reduced to 0, you are not a Shadow.

Okay. I'll buy that. Magical bonus counts as the actual score until such time as the bonus ends. Note made. Thanks for the clarification, y'all.