[SWSE] Deflect and Critical Hits

[Remus Lupin]

How would you rule in this situation:

Last night, playing the first of the "Dawn of Defiance" scenarios, my Jedi character is in melee combat with one bad guy, lightsaber ignited.

Three other bad guys with blasters turn and fire at me. One misses entirely, the second hits normally and his shot deflected by my lightsaber. The third rolls a natural 20, critting me.

There then arose a dispute as to whether I could deflect a critical hit. Nothing in the rules explicitly says that I can't, but on the other hand, a critical does "automatically hit."

So the question is, in saying that a critical "automatically hits," does this imply that it is impossible to deflect, or does can it be deflected like a regular blaster bolt?

I'd appreciate any insight, as well as your reasoning. We ended up allowing me to deflect it, but in calculating my UtF target number, the GM ruled that I had to roll against the entire to hit roll (23), rather than a reduced to hit roll (18) for firing into melee. Which seemed a reasonable compromise to me.

 

[SilentJay]

I would argue that a low level Jedi character shouldn't be able to deflect a crit at all, and a high level one should get penalties if trying. If it were easy, then Order 66 would have mostly failed in Ep3, as the Jedi being mowed down by blaster fire would have deflected them all. (Aayla Secura for a named example.)

 

[Nebulous]

I would rule that you can block it (and what better attack to block than a Crit?)

However, since it was your second block attempt, your Use the Force was at -5, and the DC for the attack was 20 + the attacker's bonus. Hard to deflect a Crit at 1st level. I don't know what skills you focused in, but it is certainly possible.

I would argue that a low level Jedi character shouldn't be able to deflect a crit at all, and a high level one should get penalties if trying. If it were easy, then Order 66 would have mostly failed in Ep3, as the Jedi being mowed down by blaster fire would have deflected them all. (Aayla Secura for a named example.)

Not quite. A -5 cumulative penalty on each attack in 1 round would quickly make all those deflections impossible.

 

[drothgery]

According to the devs over at WotC's Star Wars boards, it is possible to block/deflect critical hits.

 

[Remus Lupin]

According to the devs over at WotC's Star Wars boards, it is possible to block/deflect critical hits.

Linky?

 

[Skywalker]

Linky?

Its on the FAQ thread I believe.

 

[ValhallaGH]

How would you rule in this situation:

Last night, playing the first of the "Dawn of Defiance" scenarios, my Jedi character is in melee combat with one bad guy, lightsaber ignited.

Three other bad guys with blasters turn and fire at me. One misses entirely, the second hits normally and his shot deflected by my lightsaber. The third rolls a natural 20, critting me.

You'd have gotten a deflect roll, as normal, including the penalties for making multiple deflections in one round. Of course, your Use the Force roll would have to beat the critical hit's attack total, which should be almost impossible with the -5 for iterative deflects.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Well, we adjudicated the critical first (which was nice of the DM), and his die roll was a 23, ignoring the penalty for firing into melee. I rolled a 21 on my UtF check, so I missed in any event. If the DM had taken the penalty for firing into melee, it would have been an 18. On the other hand, it would have worked out the exact same way if he had both taken the melee penalty and adjudicated it second.

 

[Kaffis]

On the other hand, it would have worked out the exact same way if he had both taken the melee penalty and adjudicated it second.

That's how I would have adjucated it. The DC for your deflection should be the numerical roll with all penalties and bonuses applied -- the crit doesn't bypass penalties, it just ignores the fact that with the penalties it might have missed.

 

[Tarek]

The Deflect Talent does indeed allow the possibility of completely negating a critical hit. That's why it's a Talent as opposed to flavor text or a straight bonus to reflex defense.

Deflect, Block and Redirect all simulate the Jedi prescience in battle.