Is power attack damage multiplied on a critical hit?

[jeffman]

Is power attack damage multiplied on a critical hit?

The critical hit entry has this exception listed:

Exception: Extra damage over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit.

Which I would consider power attack damage to be "extra damage over and above the weapon's normal damage."

Additionally, the critical hit entry has this to say:

A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together

Which I would consider power attack damage to not be an "usual bonus."

This is probably an obvious rules question, but I am just surprised by since I never considered power attack damage to not be multiplied in a critical hit. It never crossed my mind.

 

[shilsen]

It's not written as well as should be, but Power Attack damage is multiplied for crits.

 

[Mortis]

Yes additional damage from Power Attack is multiplied on a critical, as is anything that is +X damage.

What isn't multiplied is additional damage that takes the form of additional dice - such as sneak attack and a weapon with the bane property.

Regards
Mortis

 

[Mallus]

It's not written as well as should be, but Power Attack damage is multiplied for crits.

It certainly is...

 

[Infiniti2000]

jeffman, it's "extra damage dice."

 

[frankthedm]

Actually, I do believe nearly everyone has been running this wrong.

Have fun getting folks to agree what a weapon’s normal damage exactly is though.

I do like the idea of a 1d8 weapon can only benefit from 8 more bonus points of damage.

Critical Hits
When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target’s Armor Class, and you have scored a threat. The hit might be a critical hit (or "crit"). To find out if it’s a critical hit, you immediately make a critical roll—another attack roll with all the same modifiers as the attack roll you just made. If the critical roll also results in a hit against the target’s AC, your original hit is a critical hit. (The critical roll just needs to hit to give you a crit. It doesn’t need to come up 20 again.) If the critical roll is a miss, then your hit is just a regular hit.

A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together. Unless otherwise specified, the threat range for a critical hit on an attack roll is 20, and the multiplier is ×2.

Exception: Extra damage over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit.

I think crits would be a lot more saner this way. As it currently is played for higher level play, it is numerically better to invest in a 18-20 x2 crit weapon.

 

[wayne62682]

You know, I'm inclined to agree with frankthedm. I believe that Power Attack IS multiplied (and have played that way since starting 3.x), but I agree that crits wouldn't be nearly as crazy as they are now if they were not multiplied.

 

[Cedric]

Considering the number of creatures immune to crits and the available means of becoming immune to crits (Fortification and the like)...I don't think full crits are unbalancing.

To my thinking a BBEG is going to know the danger of a well placed, lucky shot...and is going to have taken steps to protect himself from such eventualities.

 

[Dracorat]

Wow good question and good responses. I am highly likely to tell people to stop multiplying their power attacks now.

[edit]I just looked all the quoted sources up. I think that you arent supposed to multiply them and until further notice, my peeps are going to be prevented from doing so.[/edit]

 

[mvincent]

I think that you arent supposed to multiply them

That appears to be incorrect. This was clarified back in the 3.0 FAQ (still valid for this purpose):
"It’s easiest to think of a confirmed critical hit as a number of
hits equal to the weapon’s critical damage multiplier. The
example character is using a greataxe, which has a critical
multiplier of x3, so the damage for a confirmed critical is just
like the damage for hitting the foe three times. The only
damage that is not multiplied in this way is damage expressed
in extra dice, such as for a rogue’s sneak attack"