Keen me baby

[wlmartin]

I do miss Keen from 3e however since Criticals work in a different way in 4e it is understandable that they are no longer around.

That being said, I am very keen (pun intended) to learn what Powers, Feats and other features exist within 4e to enable you to maximize on Criticals.

What benefits give you extra [W] or damage on a Critical
What benefits give you a larger Critical range (ie 19-20 or 18-20)
What benefits allow cool things to happen when you Crit

I know it is a case of searching through corebooks for the Critical Keyword (or using DDI which I dont have to search Critical) but I wondered if there was a reference of this information or if there are those of you who have built characters focused on Criticals and have already done the research involved to find the information out.

Thanks in advance

 

[Mentat55]

A few off the top of my head:

• High crit weapons (e.g., greataxe, pick)
• Any feature that lets you make multiple attack rolls against a single opponent (e.g., Twin Strike, Avenger's Oath of Enmity target, multiple attack/single target powers)
• Devastating Critical adds +1d10 damage on critical hits
• Feats that grant non-damage bonuses on criticals, like Surprise Knockdown and Agile Hunter
• Paragon Paths that grant expanded critical ranges with specific types of attacks, like Daggermaster, Radiant Servant, or Student of Caiphon
• Epic feats like Axe Mastery, Heavy Blade Mastery, etc., that grant a 19-20 crit range
• Magic weapons with bigger crit dice, like Vicious weapons (+1d12 per plus)

 

[wlmartin]

A few off the top of my head:

• High crit weapons (e.g., greataxe, pick)
• Any feature that lets you make multiple attack rolls against a single opponent (e.g., Twin Strike, Avenger's Oath of Enmity target, multiple attack/single target powers)
• Devastating Critical adds +1d10 damage on critical hits
• Feats that grant non-damage bonuses on criticals, like Surprise Knockdown and Agile Hunter
• Paragon Paths that grant expanded critical ranges with specific types of attacks, like Daggermaster, Radiant Servant, or Student of Caiphon
• Epic feats like Axe Mastery, Heavy Blade Mastery, etc., that grant a 19-20 crit range
• Magic weapons with bigger crit dice, like Vicious weapons (+1d12 per plus)

Thank you

That is what I am looking for but some of those feats / powers I cant find so am unsure if they are Pre-Req specific and I am missing something

I would love if there was a searchable resource (outside of DDI) that you could download or browse to that you could search "Critical" and spy all the feats and powers that focus on those areas

Doubtful that anyone maintains such a database of information since its constantly being amended with Errata and since it is replicated in DDIs compendium it is redundant to a lot of people

 

[mudlock]

I would love if there was a searchable resource (outside of DDI) that you could download or browse to that you could search "Critical" and spy all the feats and powers that focus on those areas

There is. It's the compendium. You can use it as an index even if you don't have a DDi subscription.

For instance: there are a 145 feats that mention "critical" somewhere in their description, and 107 paragon paths.

Now, it'll only tell you the prerequisites and what book to look in, not the full rules (for THAT, you need DDi) but if you wanted an index, there you go.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Vaguely related question?

If a high-level creature uses an axe, and does something like 2d8+5 dmg (average 14 dmg, so probably a 6th-level creature), how does high crit work?

 

[chriton227]

There is also:

Jagged Weapon (19-20 crit range)
Deadly Axe (treat all axes as high crit)
War Ring (+1 die crit damage, daily to add two crit dice, maximized if milestoned)

High crit adds 1W per tier on a crit (not auto-maxed), so a d8 axe with high crit would do +1d8 from L1-L10, +2d8 from L11-L20, and +3d8 from L21-L30. These extra dice are regardless of the damage of the attack that critted, so it wouldn't matter if the attack was a 1W doing 1d8+5 or a 7W doing 7D8+5, if you are heroic tier it would still be just +1d8 on the crit

 

[Rune]

Vaguely related question?

If a high-level creature uses an axe, and does something like 2d8+5 dmg (average 14 dmg, so probably a 6th-level creature), how does high crit work?

If you mean a monster using an axe, they don't (usually?) retain the high crit property, even with such a weapon. Then, when they're dead, and a PC picks up the axe, the PC does benefit from the property.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I was aware of that, but a few monsters have a high crit property/trait.

 

[keterys]

Usually it looks something like

Hit: 2d8 + 5 damage (crit 2d8 + 21)