[RPG] Does the vorpal/defender rune also give a +X attack/damage bonus to a Moonblade

dnd-5emagic-itemsstacking

One of the randomly obtainable runes on a Moonblade (DMG, p. 217) is:

The moonblade functions as a vorpal sword.

A regular vorpal sword has a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls.

If you get the vorpal rune, would the Moonblade also benefit from the inherent +3 bonus that a regular vorpal sword gives? The same question goes for the defender rune.

Note that a Moonblade comes with an initial +1 bonus, but whether that bonus would stack on top of the (possible) vorpal/defender bonus needs a separate question if this one is answered as "yes".

Best Answer

No, the Moonblade probably does not get the +3 from Vorpal Weapon

There are no rules or designer clarifications that answer this question beyond a doubt. However, there is a very compelling case to be made by looking at the two options through the lense of the other runes and features of the Moonblade to see which interpretation better fits in with the rest.

Giving the Vorpal rune +3 would make it much more powerful than and very different design-wise from all the other runes

No runes directly duplicate effects of other runes

If the Vorpal rune were to give a +3 bonus it would directly overlap with another rune on the Moonblade which says:

Increase the bonus to attack and damage rolls by 1, to a maximum of +3. Reroll if the moonblade already has a +3 bonus.

This kind of overlap is something none of the other runes do at all. But this interpretation would mean the Vorpal rune completely overlaps this rune to the point of making it useless if the Vorpal rune is obtained. This is also something none of the other runes do: make another rune unusable.

No runes are as powerful as 4 runes combined

Not only is the Vorpal rune duplicating the effect of the +1 rune, it is doing so in a way that is 3 times better than the other! It doesn't make sense for one rune to give a simple additional +1 bonus property but then to have another rune automatically give the Moonblade a +3 bonus in one go. You would literally have to get the first rune 3 times to even get part of the power of the Vorpal rune. And I say "part of" because...

No rune adds more than one effect per rune

The Vorpal Weapon isn't just +3, it would also add a really powerful effect. Note that every other rune adds a single effect to the weapon. Why would the Vorpal rune function any differently? It even says in the description:

Each rune beyond the first grants the moonblade an additional property.

When taken together, I think this makes a very compelling case for saying that taking the Vorpal rune only grants you the powers of a Vorpal Weapon but not its +3 bonus.

tl;dr Essentially we have two interpretations, one that would make the Vorpal rune more powerful than 4 other runes combined and one interpretation that makes its power roughly equal to the other runes. And it just makes sense to conclude that the second, more reasonable interpretation is likely what was intended here.

And until we get designer clarification I think that is the best I can do.