coup de grace and immune to crits

Voadam

Legend
What happens when you try to coup de grace an unconscious creature immune to crits? A normal attack that automatically hits seems appropriate but the explicit wording is not that they are immune to the crit and fort save but that it can't be delivered. Attacking a helpless creature normally requires an attack roll and it does not say you get an auto hit unless you are delivering a coup de grace.

Helpless Defenders
A helpless opponent is someone who is bound, sleeping, paralyzed, unconscious, or otherwise at your mercy.

Regular Attack
A helpless character takes a -4 penalty to AC against melee attacks, but no penalty to AC against ranged attacks.

A helpless defender can’t use any Dexterity bonus to AC. In fact, his Dexterity score is treated as if it were 0 and his Dexterity modifier to AC as if it were -5 (and a rogue can sneak attack him).

Coup de Grace
As a full-round action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.

You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. A rogue also gets her extra sneak attack damage against a helpless opponent when delivering a coup de grace.

Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents.

You can’t deliver a coup de grace against a creature that is immune to critical hits. You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you’ve determined what square it’s in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).
 

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The last line in the Helpless condition I think answers this: "Creatures that are immune to critical hits do not take critical damage, nor do they need to make Fortitude saves to avoid being killed by a coup de grace." So, it seems to follow exactly what you think it should. They take normal damage, nothing more.

So, you take the same full-round action to autohit. Autocrit + SA is a bonus against those creatures not immune to it.
 

Voadam said:
What happens when you try to coup de grace an unconscious creature immune to crits? A normal attack that automatically hits seems appropriate but the explicit wording is not that they are immune to the crit and fort save but that it can't be delivered.
I agree, that seems to be unfortunate wording that doesn't seem to correspond to the writer's true intent. Yes, I would allow coup d' grace on those immune to criticals (even if no extra damage is done). This would allow for say, burst weapons to still function. It is also the only decent mechanic for simulating the staking of a vampire through the heart.
 

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