Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
blargney the second said:Mistwell, I think I found the bits that clarify the whole Stone Power thing. Here goes:
1) Stone Power feat: "When you use an attack action or a full attack action, or you initiate a Stone Dragon strike in melee combat [...]" (ToB p.32)
2) Resolving a Maneuver - Attack Rolls: "Many maneuvers include an attack of some kind." (ToB p.39)
3) Resolving a Maneuver - Actions During a Maneuver: "The Initiation Action line of a maneuver description provides the action required to use that maneuver." (ToB p.39)
So the reason you can't use Stone Power while initiating a non-Stone Dragon strike is that it takes a standard action to initiate and allows you to make an attack roll. Neither the initiation action nor the attack roll are an attack action, full attack action, or a Stone Dragon strike. No dice on the Stone Power.
-blarg
ps - Attack actions and full attack actions are described as standard actions and full-round actions in the PHB. (p.139 and p.143, respectively)
My view is that some things grant you a bonus attack action, and that many strikes grant such a bonus action, as well as some spells and feats. For example, when I cast shocking grasp, which allows me to make a touch attack along with the casting, in my view the touch attack is an attack action (a bonus one granted by the type of spell, which can only be used against an appropriate target in melee range). Similarly, when I make a trip attempt with the improved trip feat, the feat grants me a bonus melee attack action against just that tripped target.
It's possible these are not bonus attack actions, but actions which are something other than an attack action. But I think it's unclear, and not unreasonable to view the "make a melee attack" portion of these three types of events as bonus attack actions that can only be used for a stated specific purpose. Melee attacks in the PHB seem to be defined as attack actions, and I cannot find anywhere so far any description of a melee attack which is defined as something other than an attack action (or full attack action).