[RPG] As a Barbarian, does the CMB and CMD increase during rage

barbarianpathfinder-1e

I'm playing D&D Pathfinder as a Barbarian, and today I had this doubt and at this point of the game I was too ashamed to ask my friends or my GM:

While in rage, a barbarian gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, right? Does this bonus apply to CMB and CMD saves? And to Fortitude saves as well?

Being more clear: without being in rage, my barbarian has CMB=9, and CMD=21. When she enters in rage, her CMB becomes 11 and her CMD becomes 23 (because of the +4 bonus on strength)???

Thanks in advance!

(Sorry for any mistake in English)

Best Answer

Pretty much all stats in d20 (including Pathfinder) are dynamic, that is, they can change on the fly. Your CMB and CMD depend on your Strength, so when your Strength changes, so do they.

In other words, yes, Rage increases CMB and CMD. You can generally assume this to be the case; there are very few where it does not (skill points from temporary Intelligence-increasing effects, for example), and they’re usually pretty explicit (e.g. fox’s cunning specifically says “This spell doesn't grant extra skill ranks”).

Note that while the Strength bonus from Rage does increase your CMD, that improvement is negated by the −2 penalty to AC that rage bestows on you; see Combat Maneuver Defense:

Combat

Combat Maneuvers

Combat Maneuver Defense

  • Miscellaneous Modifiers

    A creature can also add any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to its CMD. Any penalties to a creature's AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD.

(emphasis mine)

Thus, you do not actually see better CMD until you get Greater Rage or better.

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