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The "Force Training" feat reads:

You add force power suite equal to 1 + Your Wisdom Modifier (Minimum 1)

Does this mean that the feat gives a bonus of [(1 + Wis mod) or 1, whichever is higher] or [1 + (Wis mod or 1, whichever is higher)]? (ie, if your Wisdom modifier is negative do you still get at least +1, or at least +2?)

BESW
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NineTailGoddess
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1 Answers1

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Pretty sure Minimum 1 means that the total outcome is minimum 1; reading it the other way just doesn't sound natural to me, even if it's technically possible in English.

This phrasing of "equal to [formula] (minimum 1)" crops up a lot in various d20 games and the intent, I believe, is basically to make sure you get some benefit from each of your feats and class abilities, even if your level or ability modifiers are low or negative - but not necessarily a lot, hence minimum 1. It's a more tenuous connection than I was hoping for, but I notice that in order to avoid this problem, they've made the phrasing more specific in some cases in DND5e. For example, in the Player's Basic Rules:

  • choose a number of cleric spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your cleric level (minimum of one spell). [p. 22]

  • The character also regains spent Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of the character’s total number of them (minimum of one die). [p. 67 - the general rule is to round down without specific instructions like this.]

More generally, I'm not aware of other cases in d20 games where the minimum for something is given as two, so it would seem like a mismatch if that's what they meant in this case, one they probably would have explained more carefully.

SirTechSpec
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  • I'm not aware of anything that would qualify as a citation for this; though the answer seems clear to me, grammatically it is a matter of interpretation. If someone is aware of e.g. an official example character for whom such a minimum applies, that would qualify, and I'd be happy to incorporate it into my answer or upvote a new answer based on that. – SirTechSpec Apr 16 '16 at 03:37
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    You're right! In attempting to resolve a grammatical ambiguity I inadvertently reproduced it. Should be clearer now. – SirTechSpec Apr 16 '16 at 04:21
  • Yep, better ;) Did a small further edit – doppelgreener Apr 16 '16 at 04:23
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    I don't understand your 2nd sentence. The question isn't if the feat is limiting the character's Wis mod itself; that's the only thing I'm sure isn't being said. The question is whether the bonus provided by the feat is [(1 + Wis mod) or 1, whichever is higher] or [1 + (Wis mod or 1, whichever is higher)]. Since your claim is based on a "which isn't true" that doesn't relate to the question, I don't think this is a good answer. If you can provide an example from the other d20 games you mention, where there's some context (like an example) to support this reading, that'd be a clincher. – BESW Apr 16 '16 at 04:28
  • Hmm, yeah. BESW clarifies what the source of confusion is, and now I realise I might've accidentally given your answer a definite position on that which you weren't taking. – doppelgreener Apr 16 '16 at 04:30
  • OK, I knew generally what OP was getting at but hadn't fully grokked it, so BESW's edits to the question are probably appropriate. In that context I admit that my answer is based primarily on a sense that the other interpretation would be wrong and bad and contrary to the natural order of things - which is based on my sense, as a native speaker, of the "plain English meaning" of RAW plus gaming experience, but it's hard to put that into ironclad answer format. I've done my best, and I'll revisit when it's not quite so late, but someone else may need to run with this one. – SirTechSpec Apr 16 '16 at 05:08
  • Thank you so much, it's something that's been eating at me for a bit, basically I'll put it into this example. My character has a -1 Modifier. I want to know if she will get 1 Force Power or 2, like you edited it to be. (Thank you for the technical clarification edit!) – NineTailGoddess Apr 17 '16 at 01:19