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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 1285738" data-attributes="member: 6875">Actually, your math is very slightly off.  With a Threat Range of 18-20, you go to 15-20 with Improved Critical.  That's a flat 30% chance with each swing to get a threat.  The trick is, when counting two swings together ... you don't simply add 30% and 30% to get 50%.. Instead, you have to measure yoru chance to score no threats at all, over the course of two attempts.  Your chance there is 70% per swing.  To measure proability over two attempts, you multipy the chance times itself ... .70 x .70.  So, you have a 49% chance to score no threats (including not hitting at all, of course).  You have a (.30 x .30) 9% chance to score two threats, and thus, what is left -- 42% -- is your chance to score one and only one threat.  But ... this is all just counting THREATS.  Your chance to CONFIRM, and get actual critical hits, is dependant on too many variables to easily account for: the actual AC of your opponent and resultant number you have to roll to hit; wether or not the opponent is incorporeal vs wether or not you have a ghost touch weapon; wether or not your opponent has some level of fortification; wether or not your opponent has some level of concealment vs your ability to counter that concealment.  And a bunch of other, less-probable factors.  In the case of bless weapon, of course, alignment replaces AC-to-confirm as a factor in wether or not the critical happens or not.  Absolutely, on all counts.  Heck, oils of bless weapon are worth carrying around just for the "ignore all DR" benefit ... especially in 3.5, and regardless of threat range!  0 spells of that level.  A paladin who gets 0 base spells of a given level, DOES get bonus spells.  If that Paladin(4) had a bonus spell of bless weapon's level, would he still be unable to cast it ... ?  Of course not. ^_^</blockquote>

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