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Harm and critical hits...
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<blockquote data-quote="thebitdnd" data-source="post: 1428892" data-attributes="member: 12226"><p>Hi,</p><p></p><p>I play in Destan's campaign and a situation arose this past playing session that we believe we adjudicated correctly, but it left us feeling less than satisfied with the ruling (didn't get warm fuzzies that it was the right thing to do).</p><p></p><p>I rather imposing evil outsider cast a harm spell and rolled a 20 on his touch attack. According to page 140 of the PHB, any spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical. The crit was confirmed and the character (not me, fortunately) failed his Will save. This outsider was of sufficient level to inflict the maximum for the spell (150 hp on a failed save), so doubled, the attack did 300hp of damage and killed the character outright. </p><p></p><p>Questions;</p><p>1. Can harm spells (or any spell without variable damage, for that matter) score a critical hit.</p><p>2. Does a failed save mean the spell can take a character below 1 hit point? It clearly states that "if the creature saves..." the target's hit points cannot be reduced below 1. This led us to believe that a failed save could indeed bring a character below 1. Agree? Disagree?</p><p></p><p>Thanks for any help. Below are the relevant sections from the SRD. I checked the DMG and PHB for any evidence of a mistake, but found none. I quote the SRD because I don't have the books with me at the moment.</p><p></p><p>From the SRD:</p><p></p><p><em>Harm charges a subject with negative energy that deals 10 points of damage per caster level (to a maximum of 150 points at 15th level). <strong>If the creature successfully saves</strong>, harm deals half this amount, but it cannot reduce the target’s hit points to less than 1</em></p><p></p><p>From the SRD:</p><p></p><p><em>A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit.</em></p><p></p><p>Thanks,</p><p></p><p>thebitdnd (a.k.a. Kellus)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="thebitdnd, post: 1428892, member: 12226"] Hi, I play in Destan's campaign and a situation arose this past playing session that we believe we adjudicated correctly, but it left us feeling less than satisfied with the ruling (didn't get warm fuzzies that it was the right thing to do). I rather imposing evil outsider cast a harm spell and rolled a 20 on his touch attack. According to page 140 of the PHB, any spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical. The crit was confirmed and the character (not me, fortunately) failed his Will save. This outsider was of sufficient level to inflict the maximum for the spell (150 hp on a failed save), so doubled, the attack did 300hp of damage and killed the character outright. Questions; 1. Can harm spells (or any spell without variable damage, for that matter) score a critical hit. 2. Does a failed save mean the spell can take a character below 1 hit point? It clearly states that "if the creature saves..." the target's hit points cannot be reduced below 1. This led us to believe that a failed save could indeed bring a character below 1. Agree? Disagree? Thanks for any help. Below are the relevant sections from the SRD. I checked the DMG and PHB for any evidence of a mistake, but found none. I quote the SRD because I don't have the books with me at the moment. From the SRD: [I]Harm charges a subject with negative energy that deals 10 points of damage per caster level (to a maximum of 150 points at 15th level). [B]If the creature successfully saves[/B], harm deals half this amount, but it cannot reduce the target’s hit points to less than 1[/I] From the SRD: [I]A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit.[/I] Thanks, thebitdnd (a.k.a. Kellus) [/QUOTE]
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