# In D&D 4e What does a letter inside of brackets mean for a hit effect of an attack power?

For example, the Clerics level 1 power "brand of the sun" says the following:

Hit: 1[W] + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

What does that mean? Does that mean 1xWeapon Damage + Wisdom modifier? Or does it just mean 1 + Wisdom modifier? Or something else?

The first one: 1 weapon damage + wisdom modifier. Heroes of the Fallen Lands page 25 says

A [W] in a damage roll expression is a variable that stands for the damage dice of the weapon used to deal the damage. The number before the [W] indicates the number of times to roll the weapon dice. For example, if a power deals 2[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the attacker uses a dagger (1d4 damage), roll 2 four-sided dice (2d4), then add the attacker's Strength modifier.

Edit 2 You can find this information in page 273 of the Rules Compendium, in the Reading a Weapon Entry subsection.

Edit 3 As Allen says, an attack that did 2d4 normally would be augmented to 2*2d4 = 4d4. You get to multiply the whole dice expression.

• Corner case that confuses the locals: if you're using a weapon that rolls multiple dice normally (like a Falchion that does 2d4 damage), an attack that does 2W will do 4d4 damage. (Or 2x2d4) – Allen Gould Jun 23 '11 at 16:21
• Another odd case that I had forgotten - Beastmaster Rangers have powers that use [B] instead of [W] - those refer to the beast's damage figure. Pretty sure there's no other letters at work beyond that. – Allen Gould Nov 7 '11 at 23:09

1[W] Means you apply the weapon damage from your equipped weapon once. Whereas, 2[W] means you roll it twice, and so on.

This threw me when I was reading the game for the first time because the specification of that syntax is buried somewhere completely unintuitive. Try looking at the start of the equipment section.

• The other convention on the argument is the use of the letter [B]. It is used to denote a Ranger's beast companion base damage. – Erik Burigo Jan 17 '11 at 16:33
• If I have a +3 on a 1d10 weapon, 2[W] would be 2d10 + 3, correct? – user1277 Jan 19 '11 at 18:21
• Yes, it's correct, the [W] is a placeholder for the dice roll, not for the whole expression. Check the Rules Compendium page I mentioned, or, for example, Heroes of the Fallen Lands page 25, where it says "A [W] in a damage roll expression is a variable that stands for the damage dice of the weapon used to deal the damage." – Adriano Varoli Piazza Jan 19 '11 at 18:21
• Unyielding Avalanche is a stance power and includes the line "Any enemy that starts its turn adjacent to you takes 1[W] damage..." Since this is an effect, and not an attack, would a +3 battleaxe do 1d10 or 1d10+3 damage? – Jason White Oct 3 '11 at 0:03
• It's a "damage roll" and therefore it would do 1d10+whatever your total damage modifiers outside of your stat were. – Brian Ballsun-Stanton Oct 3 '11 at 4:40

If you get something like 2[W]+strength modifier it means that, for a longsword, 2d8 + strength modifier (and other bonus), for a scythe it would indicate 4d4 (two time 2d4) + strenght modifier. In my case, for a one-handed weapon that can be hold with two hands (a weapon with the versatile property), I add +1 damage each time I throw the dice (with a longsword held with two hands, 16 strength, and an attack doing 2[W] + Str Mod damage, you would roll 2d8+5). But do what you want, it the base of RPG.