Sword of Subtlety

[Kalshane]

From the DMG:

Sword of Subtlety
A +1 short sword with a thin, dull gray blade, this weapon provides a +4 bonus on its wielder’s attack and damage rolls when he is making a sneak attack with it.

Does this mean that on a sneak attack the bonuses increase to +4 to attack and damage, or that they are added to the sword's existing +1 bonus? We've been playing it as the former, but actually reading the description I'm inclined to think it's the latter since the +4 bonuses are not named.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Right. It's a sword with a +1 enhancement bonus, and it gains a +4 unnamed bonus to attack and damage when used in a sneak attack.

If you cast GMW on it, it might be a sword with a +3 enhancement bonus, and it gains a +4 unnamed bonus to attack and damage when used in a sneak attack.

So the totals would be +5 to attack and damage without GMW, and +7 with.

-Hyp.

 

[Fieari]

To tie this question in to the bane issue in the other nearby thread, a +3 Sword of Subtlety would not, however, by pass DR x/epic, even on a sneak attack.

 

[Hypersmurf]

To tie this question in to the bane issue in the other nearby thread, a +3 Sword of Subtlety would not, however, by pass DR x/epic, even on a sneak attack.

Right. The +4 is not an enhancement bonus, nor an improvement to an existing enhancement bonus; it's a separate bonus altogether.

-Hyp.

 

[Kalshane]

Okay, cool. Now to convince my DM.

It'd be nice if they'd specified "an additional +4" in the description, but oh, well.