Crit question

[Theroc]

Longswords have a smaller crit range but two damage types. That's kind of nice.

True, but they are also a one-handed weapon. Using two light weapons would allow a rogue to use finesse and two-weapon fighting with reduced penalties, and get 'twice' the benefit of weapon focus if the light weapons were identical.

Though, the additional damage type and die size might be a decent option too.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Hm... this partially explains my confusion. I thought effects such as Keen and Improved critical just went from 18-20 to 17-20 or 19-20 to 18-20.

If the effect is greater than that, then I've misread and makes the crit seem less an impossible thing, lol. Granted, one must still confirm after the threatened hit.

A rapier or elven thinblade is 18-20 without any additional features like keen or improved crit. With Improved Critical, the crit range is doubled to 15-20.

So, with Slashing Fury, you'd get an extra attack - or Whirlwind Attack or whatnot.

 

[Shin Okada]

Also, Power Critical (CW) will help you confirm crits (+4 bonus on the roll), though you have to take Weapon Focus to qualify for it.

And you can use a weapon made of Abyssal Bloodiron (Planar Handbook) which gives you +4 bonus on rolls to confirm crits.

 

[NewJeffCT]

And you can use a weapon made of Abyssal Bloodiron (Planar Handbook) which gives you +4 bonus on rolls to confirm crits.

Good idea - does that stack with Power Critical?

There is also a low level paladin spell that auto-confirms crits (Bless Weapon?) - there are likely other spells for non-paladins as well (forgot what the names are, though... can anybody help me on them?)

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

On the subject of spells...Check out Hunter's Mercy, a level 1 Ranger spell in Spell Compendium. It only benefits one attack the next round, but since Rangers are already a good class for TWF, and more attacks is key ot a critical hits build...

(The spell is a standard action and your next attack, if it hits, is a crit even if you didn't roll high enough to normally threaten).

EDIT: One of the luck feats in C.Scoundrel lts you treat a natural 1 as a natural 20 by spending a luck point. I think it's called "Better Lucky than Good." I also think you can only use it once/day, even if you have more luck points.

On that matter, any luck type abilities to get rerolls would be useful for a crit build.

 

[Physiker]

If you plan a rogue/assassin type you might do not need such a high crit range since you may won't hit with a 15 anyway.

From the SRD

Critical Hits: When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target’s Armor Class, and you have scored a threat. The hit might be a critical hit (or “crit”). To find out if it’s a critical hit, you immediately make a critical roll — another attack roll with all the same modifiers as the attack roll you just made. If the critical roll also results in a hit against the target’s AC, your original hit is a critical hit. (The critical roll just needs to hit to give you a crit. It doesn’t need to come up 20 again.) If the critical roll is a miss, then your hit is just a regular hit.A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together. Unless otherwise specified, the threat range for a critical hit on an attack roll is 20, and the multiplier is x2.
Exception: Extra damage over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit.
Increased Threat Range: Sometimes your threat range is greater than 20. That is, you can score a threat on a lower number. In such cases, a roll of lower than 20 is not an automatic hit. Any attack roll that doesn’t result in a hit is not a threat.
Increased Critical Multiplier: Some weapons deal better than double damage on a critical hit.
Spells and Critical Hits: A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OTOH, if you somehow have a high-crit ranged weapon with the Brilliant Energy power, you'll vastly improve the odds of hitting heavily armored foes, leading to a corresponding increase in the odds of getting a successful crit.

 

[Theroc]

Well, I figured part of the point of the build was flanking, which is a +2 bonus to hit rolls, yes? Wouldn't this alleviate the rogues lower BAB?

 

[cheshire_grin]

On that score, Find The Gap (Spell Compendium) is a low-level spell (Assassin and maybe Ranger?) that makes your first attack in each round (1 rd/lvl duration) a touch attack.

 

[Thanael]

OTOH there's SKR's Rant: If Keen and Improved Critical Don't Stack, The Terrorists Will Have Won...