Critical Hits with touch special attacks?

[Arnwyn]

Surprisingly, this has not come up in 4 years of us playing 3.x, but I was thinking about it recently due to an upcoming encounter.

What happens if an opponent scores a critical hit with a touch special attack? Two situations:

1) Vampire that causes 2 negative levels on a normal touch attack.

2) Hag that causes 1d6 strength damage with a touch attack.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Surprisingly, this has not come up in 4 years of us playing 3.x, but I was thinking about it recently due to an upcoming encounter.

Heh - reading your questions, it sounds like it'll be an interesting one!

What happens if an opponent scores a critical hit with a touch special attack? Two situations:

1) Vampire that causes 2 negative levels on a normal touch attack.

2) Hag that causes 1d6 strength damage with a touch attack.

The general answer is that, usually, it depends on how the ability is written. For instance, a Fire elemental does Fire damage on each hit. Since it's extra dice of damage, it is not multiplied as is normal for critical hits.

1. A vampire doesn't actually inflict negative levels on a touch attack. He inflicts negative levels when he hits with his slam attack. Specifically:

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain two negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampire can use its energy drain ability once per round.

As per the rules on Energy Drain, a critical hit with that slam attack will inflict twice as many negative levels, as well as giving the vampire twice as many hit points.

Energy Drain (Su): This attack saps a living opponent’s vital energy and happens automatically when a melee or ranged attack hits. Each successful energy drain bestows one or more negative levels (the creature’s description specifies how many). If an attack that includes an energy drain scores a critical hit, it drains twice the given amount. Unless otherwise specified in the creature’s description, a draining creature gains 5 temporary hit points (10 on a critical hit) for each negative level it bestows on an opponent.

So, on a normal slam attack (once per round), a vampire inflicts 2 negative levels and gains 10 temporary hit points. On a critical hit with his slam attack, a vampire inflicts 4 negative levels and gains 40 temporary hit points. Ouch.

2. Which hag are you talking about?

 

[Viashimo]

2) Hag that causes 1d6 strength damage with a touch attack.

Well, as I'm just looking at the MM 3.5e right now, and the only hag in there that does damage on a special touch attack is the green hag(which deals 2d4 instead, but the concept is the same).

Weakness(Su) - A green hag can weaken a foe by making a special touch attack. The opponent must succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or take 2d4 points of Strength damage. The save DC is Charisma-based.

The touch can be criticalled as it is a rolled attack. If you criticalled with the hag that deals 1d6 strength damage on a successful touch attack, you would roll that twice(x2) so your crit damage would be 2d6.

 

[Ovinomancer]

If the ability requires a touch attack and has a numerical effect (damage, negative levels, ability drain, etc) then the effect is doubled on a successful critical hit. Ususally. I can't think of an exception right now, but I'm sure there is one.

Note that an effect delivered by a normal attack that deals damage (natural weapon, improved unarmed strike, spell storing weapon, etc) only multiplies the attack damage on a crit, not the effect damage. So a spell storing weapon that crits only multiplies the weapon damage, not the stored spell damage also. Or a troll sorcerer with a chilling touch spell. Exceptions to this abound, notably the vampire above, and in most natural weapon/slam + energy drain situations, but spells do work this way.

 

[Arnwyn]

Thanks for the responses, everyone (and all consistent, too)!

(And yes, "slam" not "touch" for the vampire, and 2d4 for the hag - everything was by memory as I post from the office... )

Good heavens on a critical vampire attack...

 

[UltimaGabe]

So, on a normal slam attack (once per round), a vampire inflicts 2 negative levels and gains 10 temporary hit points. On a critical hit with his slam attack, a vampire inflicts 4 negative levels and gains 40 temporary hit points. Ouch.

The only problem with this being that 10 doubled is 20, not 40. [/nitpick]

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The only problem with this being that 10 doubled is 20, not 40. [/nitpick]

Correct, but not applicable to the situation at hand.

On a normal strike, the vampire inflicts 2 negative levels and gains 5 hit points per negative level inflicted.

On a critical hit, the vampire inflicts 4 negative levels and gains 10 hit points per negative level inflicted.

Thus, on a normal hit, the vampire gets 10 temp HP. On a critical hit, the vampire gets 40 temp HP.

 

[Hypersmurf]

On a normal strike, the vampire inflicts 2 negative levels and gains 5 hit points per negative level inflicted.

On a critical hit, the vampire inflicts 4 negative levels and gains 10 hit points per negative level inflicted.

Hmm... I'm not sure if that's what it means.

On a hit, a vampire drains two negative levels.

Normally, he gains five temp hit points per negative level his attack inflicts - his Energy Drain inflicts two negative levels, so that's a total of ten.

On a critical hit, he gains ten temp hit points per negative level his attack inflicts - his Energy Drain inflict s two negative levels, so that's a total of twenty. Since it's a critical, the negative levels are also doubled.

I don't know that the intent is to double the temp hit points twice...

Though I can certainly see the reading.

-Hyp.

 

[ken-ichi]

I was about to agree with Hypersmurf, but I looked up the Energy drain ability and Patryn is correct.

Each successful energy drain bestows one or more negative levels (the creature’s description specifies how many). If an attack that includes an energy drain scores a critical hit, it drains twice the given amount. Unless otherwise specified in the creature’s description, a draining creature gains 5 temporary hit points (10 on a critical hit) for each negative level it bestows on an opponent.

So a vampire bestows 2 negetive levels on a normal hit and gains 5 hp per negetive level inflicted.
On a crit, the vampire deal twice the negetive levels (4) and gains 10 hp per negetive level it inflicts (40 hp).
That is pretty nasty!

 

[Hypersmurf]

I was about to agree with Hypersmurf, but I looked up the Energy drain ability and Patryn is correct.

Oh, I can certainly see support for Patryn's reading. Where I'm coming from is a different reading of "for each negative level a draining creature bestows".

The number of negative levels a vampire bestows is two - "the creature's description states how many". On a critical, therefore, he gains thp equal to 10x 'the number of negative levels he bestows', or 10x2. It just happens that the critical also means that twice the given amount is drained, but the given amount hasn't changed; the vampire is still a creature who bestows two negative levels.

-Hyp.