Why are things immune to crits?

[Ackem]

I've always thought there should be somesortof differeniation should be made between Hard To Crit (Undead), Nearly Impossible To Crit (Golem), and Completely Impossible to Crit (Ooze).

I was thinking of a kind of reverse Power Critical mechanic. A Special Ability called Resilient/Tough/Undead/Construct/Amorphous Physiology (based on the creature) that increases a creature's effective AC when threats are being confirmed against it. A Zombie, for instance, would have +6 to it's AC against confirms, a Golem +20, and only the Ooze woulld have complete immunity.

Possibly, Favored: Enemy and Knowledge (Monster Type) could slightly reduce that bonus by 1 for every level of Favored Enemy and by an additional 1 for every two skill ranks in Knowledge (Monster Type).

 

[shilsen]

I've always thought there should be somesortof differeniation should be made between Hard To Crit (Undead), Nearly Impossible To Crit (Golem), and Completely Impossible to Crit (Ooze).

I was thinking of a kind of reverse Power Critical mechanic. A Special Ability called Resilient/Tough/Undead/Construct/Amorphous Physiology (based on the creature) that increases a creature's effective AC when threats are being confirmed against it. A Zombie, for instance, would have +6 to it's AC against confirms, a Golem +20, and only the Ooze woulld have complete immunity.

Possibly, Favored: Enemy and Knowledge (Monster Type) could slightly reduce that bonus by 1 for every level of Favored Enemy and by an additional 1 for every two skill ranks in Knowledge (Monster Type).

It may just be me, but I can't see how adding this level of detail to a creature's susceptibility (or lack thereof) to criticals would actually help my game. We've been playing for a few years now with the 3e & now 3.5 rules on criticals and creatures being immune to it, and I've never seen a single player or DM having a problem with it. YMMV (as the existence of this thread proves).

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

My only problem with creatures immune to critical hits is that it makes playing a rogue boring during any fight versus these creatures.

I'm playing a svirfneblin rogue right now, and everytime there is anything undead I fall asleep. My 8 strength combined with a katar +1 means I do a lousy 1d4 points of damage to anything immune to critical hits.

I'm aware that the game is designed so that each class has strengths and weaknesses, however it seems that every other weakness goes away for each class. (Wizards can eventually bypass SR with ease. Fighters can get magic items to make up for their lack of flying, etc...)

Whereas, sneak attack gets harder and harder to implement. A single classed rogue with a high dexterity and a low strength is just asking for pain at higher levels.

I'd like it if say, sneak attack damage was halved or at least quartered vs. creatures immune to crits. Or some other rule that didn't completely neuter the rogue when facing these creatures. Ah well, here's to wishing...

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

AARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!


The Miniatures Handbook has the bane of my existence:



Living Undeath!

BLEH!

A 2nd level cleric spell. Second level!

Makes you immune to criticals and sneak attacks. Lasts 1 min/level! Only detriment is a lousy -4 Chr. Oh frickin well...so what? You are immune to crits!


Freakin' Wizards...

 

[dcollins]

Living Undeath! BLEH! A 2nd level cleric spell. Second level!

Interesting. Doing a quick back-calculation from 3.0 sources, it seems like this would be better placed at around a 3rd level spell. Perhaps:
Fortification, Light (25%) -- 1st level spell
Fortification, Moderate (75%) -- 2nd level spell
Fortification, Heavy (100%) -- 3rd level spell

 

[green slime]

Interesting. Doing a quick back-calculation from 3.0 sources, it seems like this would be better placed at around a 3rd level spell. Perhaps:
Fortification, Light (25%) -- 1st level spell
Fortification, Moderate (75%) -- 2nd level spell
Fortification, Heavy (100%) -- 3rd level spell

How on Earth do you figure this?

The Armour at present requires limited wish or miracle. I don't want 5th level spellcasters churning out armours of fortification in my game regardless of how rich they may or may not be.

 

[green slime]

On the topic of the thread, it isn't incomprehensible for an android to be made with sufficiently advanced circuitry, nanotechnology, and enough redundancy in the systems to just say, "hey, it's immune to criticals". Especially an android built for war and conflict. I mean if you are doing androids, what is the limit of the technology available for their creation? What is the purpose behind their creation? What were the developers trying to achieve? What is the cost of an android? How available is the technology? You are going to end up with different designs according to the answers of these questions.

For instance, if you wanted to, you could create an eternal machine based on nano-, bio-, and energy technology on the level of which we can only dream about. It could even be self-resurrecting; should it suffer enough damage to "destroy" it, it carries a collection of bio-engineered microbes and nanotools that repair any major damage over a suitable length of time (similar to biological entities, but on a grander scale, even recovering from apparent destruction). They also keeps its adamantine surface shiny, clean, and free of scratches. It runs on a combination of various power sources: solar energy, wind (bristles akin to hair that generate electricity as the wind causes them shift slightly, the magnetic field of the planet, a fuel cell, a radioactive source, and of course it stores surplus energy in batteries. You could even go so far as to say that such a machine would not be destroyed by disintegrate as there would be sufficient microbes and nanotools in the dust to reconstruct the original.

Whatever you choose I'm sure it'll be fun for those participating in your game.

 

[dcollins]

How on Earth do you figure this?

Per guidelines for use-activated items (3.0 DMG):
1st level spell: 1x1x2k = 2,000 gp ~ +1 bonus armor (as Light Fort.)
2nd level spell: 2x3x2k = 12,000 gp ~ +3 bonus armor (as Mod. Fort.)
3rd level spell: 3x5x2k = 30,000 gp ~ +5 bonus armor (as Heavy Fort.)

The Armour at present requires limited wish or miracle. I don't want 5th level spellcasters churning out armours of fortification in my game regardless of how rich they may or may not be.

That's an entirely separate issue. I am not advocating introducing these spells, nor changing the prerequisites or caster level of armor of fortification. I'm merely estimating where they would sit on the power curve according to the pricing guidelines.

 

[green slime]

Except that comparision to prices is flawed, as the cost for these armour enhancements are dependant on the quality of enhancement bonuses already present on the armour, and the armour must have at least of +1 enhancement bonus.

This means that a heavy fortification armour increases the price of the armour between 35,000 gp (+1 to +6 equivalent) to 75,000 gp (+5 to +10 equivalent).

35,000 gp/2,000 gp = 17,5 > 3*5, closer to 3*6.

75,000 gp/2,000 gp = 37,5 > 4*8

So by using this guideline, one should estimate that this quality is approximately 4th spell level.

 

[dcollins]

Consider the minimum, as was done in my estimate.