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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="Iosue" data-source="post: 6378763" data-attributes="member: 6680772"><p>This is pretty much exactly where I am on this issue. I think it's fairly clear that critical hits are distinct from the the auto-hit of a 20 result, and so not all critical hits are <em>necessarily</em> auto-hits as well. I think that design space is there, so that some abilities or situations can make hits become critical hits, unrelated to the auto-hit of a 20. Striking an unconscious character is a perfect example. It is not an auto-hit, a regular attack roll must still be made. But all hits against an unconscious character are critical hits.</p><p></p><p>But the Champion's critical abilities aren't part of that design space, both because it ties the critical hit to a specific roll result, and because specific beats general, and the rule is absolutely clear: when the result is 19 or 20, you score a critical hit, end stop. If it was "when you hit with a roll of 19, you score a critical hit", I would go the other way. But the rule doesn't mention hitting with a 19. It just says that if you roll a 19 or a 20, you score a critical hit. And when you go to the critical hit section: "When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack's damage against the target."</p><p></p><p>If the 20 wasn't included in the Improved Critical description, I could see it the other way in that case, too. But given that by the rules a 20 is already an auto-hit and critical hit, the only reason I can think for them to include it in the ability description is to tie the 20 and 19 together, to say that the 19 now acts like a 20.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 6378763, member: 6680772"] This is pretty much exactly where I am on this issue. I think it's fairly clear that critical hits are distinct from the the auto-hit of a 20 result, and so not all critical hits are [I]necessarily[/I] auto-hits as well. I think that design space is there, so that some abilities or situations can make hits become critical hits, unrelated to the auto-hit of a 20. Striking an unconscious character is a perfect example. It is not an auto-hit, a regular attack roll must still be made. But all hits against an unconscious character are critical hits. But the Champion's critical abilities aren't part of that design space, both because it ties the critical hit to a specific roll result, and because specific beats general, and the rule is absolutely clear: when the result is 19 or 20, you score a critical hit, end stop. If it was "when you hit with a roll of 19, you score a critical hit", I would go the other way. But the rule doesn't mention hitting with a 19. It just says that if you roll a 19 or a 20, you score a critical hit. And when you go to the critical hit section: "When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack's damage against the target." If the 20 wasn't included in the Improved Critical description, I could see it the other way in that case, too. But given that by the rules a 20 is already an auto-hit and critical hit, the only reason I can think for them to include it in the ability description is to tie the 20 and 19 together, to say that the 19 now acts like a 20. [/QUOTE]
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