Weapon-specific enhancements in Animal form

[GeoffWatson]

Do the weapon specific enhancements work when a multiclassed druid is in animal form, and using the appropriate weapon?

Things like a Henshin/Acrobat staff bonuses/Quick Strike, Assassin dagger bonuses, etc.

Geoff.

[Violith]

nice question... would be nice if they did however I doubt they do. the enhancements add to the weapon itself (so instead of say str, it becomes Str/Dex whichever is higher). The same problem pops up when you use flameblade (it uses wisdom to hit/damage, yet in animal form only your strength is used)

[SerPounce]

You're going to have to test it to be sure. You never really know if X is going to work with Y in this game until someone tests it, and the enhancement system is new enough that there's not the archive of information we have for older stuff.

My intuition based on how most things work with animal form is:
1. any weapon specific bonus will not work unless it also works for handwraps (e.g. quarterstaff +damage or +crit range/mulitpler will not work when using a q staff in animal form, nor will +dex to damage with a scimitar, but kensai +crit range probably will work if you choose martial arts focus)
2. "elemental" weapon mods like poison damage should work

If you do any testing make sure to report back to add to the known information, as the Devs essentially never provide information about how things do (or even should) work.

[EssenceofEvil]

Weapon finesse supposedly works with animal forms to hit attacks via the ddo wiki....I doubt deep wood snipers improved weapon finesse adds damage from dex as its an "issue" ie I don't know if wai or not with monks unarmed attacks when finessed is in the fact.. It doesn't add dex to damage for unarmed attacks.

[VorpalKnight]

Henshin Staff bonus seem to add to hit so I guess it also adds damage, however quarterstaff moves like the one that give up to 25% double strike do not work while in wolf form, which is a bummer.

[richieelias27]

Henshin Staff bonus seem to add to hit so I guess it also adds damage, however quarterstaff moves like the one that give up to 25% double strike do not work while in wolf form, which is a bummer.

When in animal forms you are considered to be unarmed. Any special attacks that require weapons other than handwraps wont work.

[GeoffWatson]

When in animal forms you are considered to be unarmed. Any special attacks that require weapons other than handwraps wont work.

That's not entirely true.

Lightning Mace from Legendary Dreadnaught works in animal form.
I haven't tried the other Tier 4 weapon-specific LD attacks.

Geoff.

[Tilomere]

Animal form copies over standard weapon treasure effects to your unarmed animal form. So 2d6 damage part of Crown of Summer, draining effects found on multiple weapons, and the enhancement bonus. Treasure effects do not refer to any properties of a base lvl 1 non-magic version of the weapon.

The critical profile isn't copied, which is why when adrenaline overload increases the crit profile of your weapon by +16, it isn't copied to wolf form.

Lightning mace and other check equipment slot to see if X is equipped check your equipment slot, which is the same in any form. The shield talents work this way. If a shield is in equipment slot: gain X.

In contrast, a weapon attack, such as swinging a staff, does not work since you are not swinging a staff. Unarmed attacks, such as a Ki Strike, do work.

Unique weapon effects, such as polycurse found only on the polycurse dagger, or ninja poison enhancement, or the henshin/rogue etc. enhancements you ask about are not standard weapon treasure effects, and therefore are not copied over. They are working, you are poisoning your equipped weapon slot, or converting its damage stat to str from dex, or equipping a dagger that can curse people. You just aren't swinging that weapon in unarmed form. For example, the polycurse dagger says "This item...." and refers to the item itself having a unique effect. A flame blade still is using wisdom to hit and damage, but you are not actually swinging it, and a damage mod is not a treasure effect, as it is found on a level 1 non-magic item.

In contrast, the arcane archer bow enhancement bonus of +1 bow enhancement per core ability does affect a standard treasure ability, the enhancement level, and will be copied over. 2d6 damage of Crown of Summer is a standard treasure effect, found on many items, so will also be copied over.