We all know that a character's damage bonus gets enhanced by many kinds of bonuses — item bonus, feat bonus, power bonus, enhancement bonus, etc. Once all is said and done, a higher-level character's damage bonus is way more than their base ability modifier.
So my question concerns powers and feats that deal "ability modifier damage." When the text says "ability modifier damage," does it always include all damage bonuses from feats, features, items, etc.?
For example, one of my players’ warlock characters has both the White Lotus Riposte feat and the Hellish Rebuke power, and I'm not 100% sure how much damage they do.
The ability modifier in question is Constitution (+6 for this character). After all items, feats, etc. it's actually +21 for his Hellish Rebuke power, which is a big difference.
White Lotus Riposte feat says
when an enemy you hit with an arcane at-will attack power attacks you before the start of your next turn, that enemy takes damage (of the same type the attack power deals) equal to the ability modifier to the attack power's damage.
In this case, would the target take 6 damage, or 21 (or 14, what his other at-will damage bonus is)?
Hellish Rebuke, on a hit, deals
1d6 + Constitution modifier fire damage. The first time you take damage before the end of your next turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 + Constitution modifier fire damage.
On a hit, the target for this character would take 1d6 + 21 fire damage. If the character takes damage before the end of their next turn, does the target take 1d6 + 6 fire damage, or 1d6 + 21 fire damage?
Again, for the curious, the damage-adding elements are:
- +3 from Fundamental Mastery (Academy Master Paragon path feature; +3 damage to at-will arcane attack powers)
- +3 enhancement from wand
- +1 from Hellfire Blood feat (+1 to attack and damage with fire and fear powers)
- +3 from Blood Pact of Cania (+3 damage on CON based warlock powers)
- +2 from Dual Implement Spellcaster (+2 pact blade in off-hand)
- +3 from Blood of Levistus (+3 bonus to damage rolls with attacks that have the cold keyword; Arcane Admixture added cold to this power)
The problem is that I can see the argument for both sides. I've looked around and haven't been able to find anything definitive. On one hand, for Hellish Rebuke, I can see the argument that the target should take 1d6+21 damage twice — you deal the damage, and you deal the damage again. That's how the power works, and the power card makes no mention of anything different. On the other hand, that basically gives each feat and feature double the power — Fundamental Mastery, for example, would add +6 total damage to one application of the spell instead of +3.
The power cards from the character builder don't specify either way. Which should it be?