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Consider the Potion of Giant Size, from Storm King's Thunder (p. 236, Appendix B):

Everything you are carrying and wearing also increases in size for the duration. When rolling damage for weapons enlarged in this manner, roll three times the normal number of dice; for example, an enlarged longsword would deal 3d8 slashing damage (instead of 1d8), or 3d10 slashing damage (instead of 1d10) when used with two hands.

Now consider a weapon such as the Oathbow:

If the attack hits, your sworn enemy takes an extra 3d6 piercing damage.

If a character enlarged by a Potion of Giant Size hits a sworn enemy with an Oathbow, what damage dice do you roll?

  • 3d8 + 3d6?
  • 3d8 + 9d6?
V2Blast
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Alex Millette
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2 Answers2

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All of it is tripled (3d8+9d6)

Similar to this question, the main question is "what is within the weapon's damage."

From the above question:

Also: As pointed out by Doval, Jeremy Crawford allows all weapon dices to be rerolled. This includes, for instance, a Frost Brand sword's additional cold damage, since that damage is part of the weapon's damage itself (not from an additional feature)

Frost Brand states (DMG. 171):

When you hit an attack using this magic sword, the target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage.

This language is very similar to the Oathbow's text (DMG. 183):

If the attack hits, your sworn enemy takes an extra 3d6 piercing damage.

The replacement of "the target" and "your sworn enemy" is necessary for the Oathbow because of its mechanics surrounding the sworn enemy, but does not mean that the extra damage from the Oathbow is not the Oathbow's weapon damage.

Community
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Blake Steel
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  • Maybe this would warrant its own question (or topic on a discussion forum), but does this seem balanced to you? SPOILERS SKT: the potion is intended to be used while fighting the final encounter, which is more or less a single opponent, so this is not limited by the Oathbow sworn enemy ability. A lvl 10 fighter would make 6d8+18d6 per turn (assuming both attacks hit), for an average of 90 dmg. That's more than 3 fireballs. – Alex Millette Jul 26 '18 at 18:41
  • Not at all, but potions are supposed to have great effects temporarily. Potion of Speed, for example, is very strong because you need not hold concentration on the Haste spell. It doesn't increase the damage output as much as this potion, but it still is pretty strong. The balance comes from the fact that you need to choose the correct time to use the potion. – Blake Steel Jul 26 '18 at 19:01
  • While I generally agree with your point, this potion lasts for 24h and is given just before the last encounter of the hardcover. I am afraid that the Fighter wielding the Oathbow will outshine all the other PCs. – Alex Millette Jul 26 '18 at 19:07
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    You'll need to ask another question to get that point discussed in detail – Blake Steel Jul 26 '18 at 19:09
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3d8 + 3d6

Rolling three times the "normal number of dice" and the examples listed afterward gives plenty of room to exclude a magic weapon's bonus damage dice from the x3 multiplier. Since the "normal number of dice" is different than "the weapon's damage dice" I believe this is the better RAW interpretation. Also, your weapon getting bigger doesn't mean its magic is also getting amplified so I believe this is the better RAI interpretation. Not to mention it's also the safer interpretation when considering game balance.

Henri Marceau
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