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General Tabletop Discussion
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Difference between critical hits and automatic hits.
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<blockquote data-quote="tragicjones" data-source="post: 6378415" data-attributes="member: 6779050"><p>Ahh, I suspected 3E worked like Pathfinder, but I wasn't certain.</p><p></p><p>I should clarify a couple points about where I'm coming from, because there's a surprising amount of nuance going on here. First, I agree that the general rules suggest a distinction between an auto-hit and a critical. This seems designed to leave the door open for an attack that could have missed dealing critical hit damage (ie., a feat/feature/spell reading "if the attack hits, it is a critical hit").</p><p></p><p>I just don't think that's the case for Improved Critical, because of the way it's phrased (underpinned by the specific-beats-general axiom). This leads to my second point: "critical hit" isn't the only important part of the wording. Improve Critical says attacks "<strong>score</strong> a critical hit." It strikes me as strange to score a critical hit, but not hit and not gain the benefits of a critical hit, especially since the Critical hits section uses identical language ("When you score a critical hit...").</p><p></p><p>I might find that interpretation more relateable if there were some sort of precedent - if "score" or "score a critical hit" could also be considered terms of art.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tragicjones, post: 6378415, member: 6779050"] Ahh, I suspected 3E worked like Pathfinder, but I wasn't certain. I should clarify a couple points about where I'm coming from, because there's a surprising amount of nuance going on here. First, I agree that the general rules suggest a distinction between an auto-hit and a critical. This seems designed to leave the door open for an attack that could have missed dealing critical hit damage (ie., a feat/feature/spell reading "if the attack hits, it is a critical hit"). I just don't think that's the case for Improved Critical, because of the way it's phrased (underpinned by the specific-beats-general axiom). This leads to my second point: "critical hit" isn't the only important part of the wording. Improve Critical says attacks "[B]score[/B] a critical hit." It strikes me as strange to score a critical hit, but not hit and not gain the benefits of a critical hit, especially since the Critical hits section uses identical language ("When you score a critical hit..."). I might find that interpretation more relateable if there were some sort of precedent - if "score" or "score a critical hit" could also be considered terms of art. [/QUOTE]
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