Immune to Crits?

[Uhtred]

So I recently built a Warforged who is getting Fortification from multiple sources. He has his natural Warforged fortification, which I upgraded with the Improved Fortification Warforged racial feat, and now he's hit Warforged Juggernaut 1, which also gives him immunity to extra damage from crits. My question is, are these three things like Damage Reduction, in which if one is overcome somehow (like with a demolition augment crystal, for my Juggernaut immunity, which legitimately turns me into a construct) does one of the other two kick in? Or do they all count as the same thing and are therefore all overcome if someone is allowed to crit constructs?

[Eldonauran]

:smallconfused: Oh, now THAT'S a good question.

After reading a bit and applying some of my understanding of the rules ... I got nothing definitive. I have to resort to logic.

Being a construct, by definition, makes you immune to critical hits.
Fortication, by its description, gives you a chance (whether 25% - 100%) to negate (ensures damage is rolled normally) a critical hit that strikes you.

So, something being able to bypass your innate immunity to critical hits, makes you vulnerable to them as normal. Fortification would (IMHO) still give you that chance to negate the now 'successful' critical hit against you.

I would totally treat this similar to overlapping damage reduction.

[BowStreetRunner]

A quick look at the Deathstrike Bracers in the Magic Item Compendium gives a clue about how this works. The bracers overcome the natural immunity of constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, and undead to critical hits. However, for clarification purposes the entry mentions that this does not overcome any other effect that gives them immunity or resistance, such as the fortification property on armor.

[Curmudgeon]

Something which bypasses immunity to critical hits works as the rules state. It usually doesn't matter how many ways you've got immunity to critical hits if immunity is bypassed. There might possibly be an effect which would counter only fortification; if so, then that would work as stated and you'd still have Construct Perfection I from your Warforged Juggernaut class, but I don't know of such an effect.

The Humanoid Essence and Greater Humanoid Essence spells will remove your Construct's immunities to critical hits and sneak attack, regardless of how many ways you have those immunities.

The Lightbringer Rogue Penetrating Strike ACF (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, page 208) lets a Rogue deal sneak attack with ½ the usual dice against targets normally immune to sneak attack (as your Warforged would also be), and you would take sneak attack damage from such a Rogue opponent. Penetrating Strike is specific to sneak attack, so the Rogue still couldn't score a critical hit on your character.

[BowStreetRunner]

The Humanoid Essence and Greater Humanoid Essence spells only remove the immunity to crits granted by virtue of being a construct. So you would still keep fortification from armor, as well as immunity to crits from any other source.

[Curmudgeon]

The Humanoid Essence and Greater Humanoid Essence spells only remove the immunity to crits granted by virtue of being a construct. So you would still keep fortification from armor, as well as immunity to crits from any other source.
That's not quite right. The spells only target Constructs, so they won't affect items like armor. But they have no "by virtue of being a construct" limitation, so either spell will remove the Construct target's immunity to critical hits from any intrinsic source, including race and prestige class features. When the spell says:
The target is now subject to critical hits, sneak attacks, nonlethal damage ... you follow that description.

[Fouredged Sword]

A swift hunter will still be able to sudden strike you if you are favored, as they specifically are allowed to sudden strike you dispute any immunity.

I think you would have to go by the description of particular abilities. Both of these abilities are based on your character's race, so effects that bypass construct immunity would likely pass both.

Does an ability that bypasses immunity specifically also bypass fortification though? Attacks that bypass fire immunity don't bypass fire resistance do they?