coup-de-grace

[whatisitgoodfor]

Geesh...and here I though the idea behind a coup de gras was too kill somebody. Well...my mistake.

The character would still have to make the fortitude save to avoid dying.

The DC would be 10 + damage dealt (of course the damage would be negative in this case)

And remember that on a natural roll of 1, you automatically fail your saving throw. It would really suck to die from a CLW CDG.

 

[Mark]

Caliban: The question I am trying to ask, is whether or not effects that trigger on a critical hit can be activated by spells that don't deal damage.

PH page 123 A Critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together to get the total damage.

If you're not rolling damage, you can't be making a critical hit. *shrug*

Oops...

I am not the Caliban you're looking for...

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

If you're not rolling damage, you can't be making a critical hit. *shrug*

However, it has been verified by the sage that effects such as flaming burst can trigger against undead, who are immune to critical hits.

 

[Caliban]

However, it has been verified by the sage that effects such as flaming burst can trigger against undead, who are immune to critical hits.

You still roll damage against them, and you still score a critical, they are just immune to the extra damage the critical would normally grant.

According to the Sage, the Burst ability triggers as long as you succesfully score a critical, even if the creature doesn't take any extra damage from the critical itself.

It makes sense when taken in conjuction with how the effects of the Mace of Smiting and Vorpal weapons work.

If the attack itself does no damage, then I don't see how you can score a critical with it.

 

[kreynolds]

The character would still have to make the fortitude save to avoid dying.

Answer this question, huh? How can you possibly die from a healing spell? What, do you just become suddenly so overwhelmed by the massive amount of joyous life you received that it's just too much to take? C'mon.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

Well, I'm not really sure how to explain it, but Robert Jordan plays with those rules.

In the books, sometimes the healing is too much for people to take, and they just die while recieving magical healing.

 

[Ristamar]

Answer this question, huh? How can you possibly die from a healing spell? What, do you just become suddenly so overwhelmed by the massive amount of joyous life you received that it's just too much to take? C'mon.

Amusingly enough, that can happen on the Plane of Positive Energy, if you stay too long. However, it's really not possible otherwise, in D&D terms.

 

[kreynolds]

Yeah, the positive energy plane can be pretty rough. I haven't lost a character there yet, but hey, the campaign ain't over yet!

 

[Wolfspider]

This is about the silliest thing I've ever read on the boards--using coup de gras with a healing spell in order to heal more damage. That's utterly ridiculous. These things are ATTACKS. Attacks aren't meant to heal. Can you sneak attack a target using a healing spell and add your sneak attack damage to the Cure Light Wounds effect? (Sneaking up on someone and scaring them to cure the hiccups doesn't count in this instance.)

Talk about trying to twist the true intent of the rules! This is absolutely shameful. Bah, I say. Bah!

 

[Number47]

Although kreynolds already stated it, I will restate it so it won't get lost:

Your cleric can CDG with an Inflict spell, but not in the same round that he casts it. He could theoretically cast the spell and "hold the charge" a couple rounds if he knows he's getting into combat. In this case, he still would need to be within five feet of the victim to perform a CDG in a single round.

Of course, there's always haste. Adding that in would make the combo pretty deadly, although at a very high cost of spells. Using this many spells per opponent is likely to leave one high and dry later in the day.

Hmm. Thinking on it, I suggest potions of Haste and a wand of Inflict Light Wounds. If you don't have to have the Cleric deliver the CDG, a wand of Chill Touch would work nicely. You can get several attacks from one casting of Chill Touch.