Do Bless Weapon, Smite, Power Attack and Power Critical stack?

Kalendraf · Dec 3, 2002

I'm in the process of making some 14th level characters for a one-shot adventure. In the process, I found some interesting synergy between Bless Weapon, Smite, Power Attack and Power Critical, but I might be wrong in my analysis. Forgive me if this has been answered before - couldn't find anything about it in a casual search.

Consider the following scenario:
1. Paladin Level 14, BAB: +14, Smite 1/day (+14 damage vs. evil), Strength: 18, Weapon is a normal Longsword (1d8, 19-20/x2).

2. Paladin casts Bless Weapon (All critical rolls against evil foes are automatically successful so every threat is a critical hit.

3. Paladin declares his next attack is a critical threat using Power Critical feat (Once per day, you can declare a single melee attack with your chosen weapon to be an automatic threat before you make the attack roll.)

Note - The synergy between these two, assuming I'm understanding it correctly is that this is an auto critical hit with no need to roll any dice at all. Power Critical essentially makes the normal 1st die a critical threat, and bless weapon makes the backup roll successful. Moving on...

5. Paladin declares use of his Smite Ability, adding +14 to damage.

6. Paladin declares use of his Power Attack feat, subtracting +14 from BAB to add +14 to his damage.

7. Paladin attacks an evil creature.

Unless I'm missing something here, the result is an automatic critical hit dealing 2x(14+14+4)+2d8 damage. In other words, its up to 80 points of damage w/ no chance of save for the monster. Pretty powerful. You expect powerful stuff at 14th level, and this is only a 1 per day event and the target must be evil, but still that seems pretty strong.

Dr. Zoom · Dec 3, 2002

Kalendraf said:
Note - The synergy between these two, assuming I'm understanding it correctly is that this is an auto critical hit with no need to roll any dice at all. Power Critical essentially makes the normal 1st die a critical threat, and bless weapon makes the backup roll successful.

The "synergy" is fine here, except for one thing. Power Critical still requires a successful attack roll. Any hit is a threat, but you still have to hit the evil foe's AC. So if you miss, you blow the smite and power crit for the day. This makes it more risky to max out the power attack part of the attack, since you get nothing if you miss.

Caliban · Dec 3, 2002

Re: Re: Do Bless Weapon, Smite, Power Attack and Power Critical stack?

Dr. Zoom said:
The "synergy" is fine here, except for one thing. Power Critical still requires a successful attack roll. Any hit is a threat, but you still have to hit the evil foe's AC. So if you miss, you blow the smite and power crit for the day. This makes it more risky to max out the power attack part of the attack, since you get nothing if you miss.

This is why you cast true strike the round before....

Dr. Zoom · Dec 3, 2002

Re: Re: Re: Do Bless Weapon, Smite, Power Attack and Power Critical stack?

Caliban said:
This is why you cast true strike the round before....

That would work. He would have to be Paladin 13/Wiz or Sor 1, though.

Caliban · Dec 3, 2002

Re: Re: Re: Re: Do Bless Weapon, Smite, Power Attack and Power Critical stack?

Dr. Zoom said:
That would work. He would have to be Paladin 13/Wiz or Sor 1, though.

You could also do it using a spell storing device that your friend the sorcerer/wizard has charged with the spell. But taking an arcane caster level is the less expensive method. =)

Kalendraf · Dec 3, 2002

I'm not understanding something yet. Does an attack die still have to be rolled? Or does the power crit + blessed weapon auto crit = auto hit, thus negating the need for a roll.

I was thinking that auto crit implies auto hit, but I just realized that's not always the case. For example, my example of the Long Sword was perhaps poor seeing as it can crit on a 19, which doesn't guarantee a hit against AC20 or higher.

What if the weapon was a battle axe (1d8 x2) instead of a Longsword? In that case, the auto crit could be extrapolated to imply having rolled a 20 on the never-rolled-die which would seem to guarantee a hit of anything.

Caliban · Dec 4, 2002

Kalendraf said:
I'm not understanding something yet. Does an attack die still have to be rolled?

Yes.

Or does the power crit + blessed weapon auto crit = auto hit, thus negating the need for a roll.

Click to expand...

No.

I was thinking that auto crit implies auto hit, but I just realized that's not always the case. For example, my example of the Long Sword was perhaps poor seeing as it can crit on a 19, which doesn't guarantee a hit against AC20 or higher.

What if the weapon was a battle axe (1d8 x2) instead of a Longsword? In that case, the auto crit could be extrapolated to imply having rolled a 20 on the never-rolled-die which would seem to guarantee a hit of anything.

Click to expand...

The Power Crit feat just means that you auotmatically threaten, if you hit. You still have to make an attack roll, and you still have to hit with that attack roll. If you miss, it's a wasted attempt.

The Souljourner · Dec 4, 2002

Power critical specifically mentions you have to make an attack roll "If the attack is successful, you roll to confirm the critical regardless of whether the actual attack roll was a threat."

And yes, this is powerful, but like everyone else, I don't think it's too bad. It's a once a day thing, in fact it takes two once a day abilities (though admittedly it doesn't take too much to get extra smites), and they're blown whether or not you hit.

-The Souljourner

Epametheus · Dec 4, 2002

If the paladin has an 18 wisdom somehow (or is level 15), you can do something possibly more vicious, and you'll get more mileage out of it.

Specifically, Holy Sword.

The drawback to holy sword is that it overrides all enchantments already on the weapon and doesn't stack with bless weapon. it also has a very short duration, especially for 1/2-level casters like paladins.

On the other hand, the weapon becomes +5, and automatically inflicts double damage on evil opponents. So you basically get a crit on every single attack, even if you're fighting undead or a sentient construct.

Combine this with a Prayer Bead of Karma (+4 to caster level when activated).

If you then cast Divine Favor, you'll get +3 Luck bonuses to attack and damage (you'd get a +2 without the bead).

And while Bless Weapon doesn't combine with Holy Sword, Power Crit will, so when you drop your smite attack you can hit for triple damage with your longsword. Minimum (10 STR, 10 Cha) of +22 to hit, 3d8+66 damage, and with a minimum of +22 you should probably be able to hit on the crit confirmation. If you're not smiting, then you'll be, with a 10 STR, +22 hit, 2d8+16 damage.

Sadly, a single greater dispelling will rip your fangs right out. Paladins and rangers suffer from a very low caster level, and a greater dispelling from an equal level character will succeed even on a low roll, for the most part.

That's the most basic of what you could do; I'm sure it gets much uglier as abilities from more splat books (such as Divine Might from DotF) get thrown into the mix.

Ah, well. Hopefully that's actually relevant to what you're doing.

Elder-Basilisk · Dec 4, 2002

If you're building your paladin to smack things around with power critical smites, you should get yourself a heavy pick instead of a longsword (or at least get a battle-axe). x4 crits work much better for that kind of thing. . . .