maritimo80
First Post
A character Fighter Batlemaster rolls 16 and its superiority die, rolls a 4 and so the total is 20. It's a critical hit?
D&D 5E Critical Hit with superiority die ?
- Thread starter maritimo80
- Start date
Astrosicebear
First Post
I believe only natural rolls qualify for criticals. So no, dice modified after the fact are not natural criticals.
Sacrosanct
Legend
correct. A critical hit is only on a natural 20 die roll (unless you have a champion fighter)
MonkeezOnFire
Adventurer
This raises a similar question. If a battle master scores a critical hit by rolling a natural 20 and they decide to use one of the maneuvers that adds the superiority die to the damage, is the superiority die rolled twice for damage? I would be inclined to say yes, since it is a die that is part of the attack's damage roll.
Sacrosanct
Legend
That would be my interpretation as well. All damage dice is doubled. Then you add any modifiers.
Although it would only add a small amount of damage, I would have a problem with this if the fighter is choosing to use the superiority die after rolling the 20. If the fighter chose to include a superiority die before rolling the attack roll, double it, no problem.*
*At my table we roll damage dice and attack roll simultaneously to speed things up. So it would be obvious if they chose to use the superiority die or not.
AntiStateQuixote
Enemy of the State
The problem with that method is that you make the choice to use superiority dice "when you hit" in most cases which means after you know the result of the attack roll. I guess if you're saying die not expended on a miss then your method works just fine.
I do it as written: roll attack roll. If hit choose to add superiority die before rolling damage. If you got a natural 20 on the attack roll, double up all of the dice (including the superiority die). I look at it as an extra bit of the class feature: battlemasters get really big crits (if they conserve their dice for crits).
This is not the only place where it works. Lots of classes have effects that you choose to use after you hit. In addition to Battlemaster Fighters, you have:
Rogues. Sneak attack damage is once per turn, and you can apply it when you hit.
Paladins. Converting spell slots into extra damage only happens after a hit - and given it costs spell slots, it would only ever be used if it is intended this way round.
I think the Paladin is the clear example that this is how the mechanic is intended to work.
Rogues. Sneak attack damage is once per turn, and you can apply it when you hit.
Paladins. Converting spell slots into extra damage only happens after a hit - and given it costs spell slots, it would only ever be used if it is intended this way round.
I think the Paladin is the clear example that this is how the mechanic is intended to work.
Warmaster Horus
Explorer
5e has many die-adjusting mechanics that require the player to make a decision about how to influence the outcome after a die is rolled but before an outcome is determined. I would think that a natural 20 falls into that mechanic for damage (or influencing a to-hit, or add to AC adjustment, etc) just fine.
No. Critical hits come from the d20 roll, not from the d20 roll plus bonuses.
