Critical hits.

[StigTC]

If my character has a keen scimitar or rapier, and he also has improved critical in that weapon, would he always hit on a roll of 12+ or is it still only on the pure 20?
And if the foe is immune to critial hits, does that mean that I won't hit him, even on a natural 20 (assuming the ac is to high for that hit).

It just started bothering me for some reason.

[ 08-16-2003, 11:07 AM: Message edited by: StigTC ]

[True_Moose]

Nope, a critical hit is an automatic hit...immune to criticals only gets rid of the extra damage you do. And any critical roll will do.

[Micah Foehammer]

Forget the pure 20 idea, that's a holdover from second edition. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I believe the way it works is IF you score a hit with a 12+ die roll then it is always a critical EXCEPT for creatures immune to critical hits.

If you hit a creature immune to critical hits, the hit still does damage - just not critical damage.

[Legolas]

A keen rapier + imp. critical will always hit on 12+. These hits will always be critical hits.
After scoring a critical hit with a rapier, a second D20 is rolled to see if you also do extra damage. This is the 'critical' bit, and the only thing in which critical hits differ from regular hits. Should the second attack also be a hit, critical or no, you'll then roll two dice for damage instead of the regular one.
If the second attack roll 'misses', or if your target is immune to critical hits, only the one die is rolled and the blow is treated no differently from any other hit.

[WOLFGIR]

Oki, critical hit.

First, 20 on an attack roll is always a hit.

If you have critical 12-20 for a scimitar it means that if you roll 12-19 that is a chance for a critical hit if you hit the target with that score. If you do, you have to roll again and only have to succede to hit the target, if you do you have scored a critical hit. If you only hit on 20 that is alwasys a CHANCE for critical hit.

Example.
Your attack bonus with a longsword is +5
You attack a Gnoll (ac 17) with your longsword (19-20 critical) and rolls a 19. You have now a chance to make a critical since your attack scored 24, well over ac 17. Now you have to roll again and only hit it. You roll 12 (12+5=17 a hit) or higher the critical is yours. Anything lower then 12 means that you hit the gnoll but didn't score a critical hit.

If the Gnoll would have an AC of 26 or higher, you can only hit on a natural 20. (20+5=25, but 20 is always a hit)
And since the longswords critical trange is unmodified roll of 19-20 that means that you have a chance for critical (another 20 required).

Hope it is clearly explained... hmm

Cheers.