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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 2137065" data-attributes="member: 23094">Taken out of order:And yet, yours is, as well.A rapier will not confirm its critical on 15% of "hits."  That's crazy talk.A rapier *threatens* a critical 15% of the time - assuming you don't need more than an 18 to hit.  It will confirm its critical 95% of the time - assuming anything but a 1 will hit.Which is a faulty way of doing things.  Rather, you should calculate expected damage per attack.IOW, the expected damage for a given attack is:(Chance of Normal Hit * Expected Normal Damage) + (Chance of Confirmed Critical * Expected Critical Damage) = Expected Damge per AttackLet's assume a rapier and a longsword, both used with a damage bonus of +X.  Expected Normal Damage and Expected Critical Damage are thus easy to calculate:END(R): 3.5 + XEND(L): 4.5 + XECD(R): 7 + 2XECD(L): 9 + 2XChance of Hit: MIN(95%, (AC-AB)/20)Chance of Threat: MIN(Chance of Hit, Threat Range)Chance of Confirmed Critical: Chance of Threat * Chance of HitChance of Normal Hit: Chance of Hit - Chance of Confirmed CriticalNow, assuming you hit on anything but a 1 (i.e., Chance of Hit = 95%), then the expected damage for an attack with a Rapier is 14.7 damage per hit - when X is equal to 10.  For the longsword in the same situation?  15.2.  That's equivalent to a 30 Strength score, by the by.They're roughly equivalent - 23.5 damage per attack - at a Strength score of 46.Reduce the chance to hit (to, say 50%), and the longsword wielder retains his lead.  Drop it below the critical threshhold of the rapier (15%), and the longsword's lead increases.Now, take the same situation, and give the Rapier wielder stacking Keen and Improved Critical.  We'll give the longsword wielder Flaming.The rapier-wielder is now down a feat compared to his longsword-wielding buddy.At a damage bonus of +10 (again, equivalent to a 30 Strength), and when anything other than a 1 hits, the rapier wielder is ahead of the longsword wielder - by 0.12 damage per attack.  Should the longsword wielder decide to spend that feat in, say, Weapon Specialization (for a +2 to damage), he's back out in the lead again - by 2 points per attack.EDIT:For kicks and giggles, let's throw in a battleaxe in that last scenario.  It is exactly equal to the longsword - as expected.  In other words, a suped-up rapier wielder *barely* breaks even at +10 to damage vs. the "standard" melee weapons, but only so long as those weapons have nothing fancy going for them.  A single extra damage enhancement - flaming, shocking, an additional +1 enhancement, - or a single extra feat - like Weapon Spec. - and they handily beat the optimized rapier.</blockquote>

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