Critical hits and bonus damage (NOT DICE!)

[DarkSonic1337]

So I've heard that flat bonuses to damage (not bonus dice) do get multiplied on critical hits, but I cannot find the source that says so.

Is it just implied by the quote "Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit?"

I ask because today I ran into this issue when landing a critical hit while using the burning blade maneuver (which was giving me a 1D6+13 bonus fire damage on attacks that round). I was arguing that the +13 fire damage would be multiplied on the crit because it is a flat bonus, while the 1D6 would not, but I could not find a source to explicitly support my claim.

[gomipile]

So I've heard that flat bonuses to damage (not bonus dice) do get multiplied on critical hits, but I cannot find the source that says so.

Is it just implied by the quote "Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit?"

I ask because today I ran into this issue when landing a critical hit while using the burning blade maneuver (which was giving me a 1D6+13 bonus fire damage on attacks that round). I was arguing that the +13 fire damage would be multiplied on the crit because it is a flat bonus, while the 1D6 would not, but I could not find a source to explicitly support my claim.



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 dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit


There you go. And here's the source. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#criticalHits)

Edit: The original wording is in the sidebar of page 140 of the PHB. For the above wording, you need to go to the errata.

Edit edit: Actually, it's not in the errata. A wording halfway between the PHB wording and the SRD wording is in the Rules Compendium. The SRD seems to be a later version of the rule than the Rules Compendium version. You'll have to check with an expert to find priority on this one.

[Othesemo]

As a disclaimer, the following would be my interpretation as a DM, and not necessarily RAW.

Essentially, dice are an approximation. It is more appropriate to represent your 1d6+13 as a single variable which can equally probably represent any whole number between 14 and 19, inclusive. When we determine this by rolling 1d6+13, it is simply because it would be impractical to set aside a six sided die whose faces read 14, 15, 16... ...19 when we can do the work ourselves. It doesn't imply that the damage dealt by Burning Blade is separated into two separate components.

To contrast, the damage dealt by power attack is a constant. Whereas Burning Blade deals {14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19} damage, Power Attack deals 6 (or whatever) damage. Thus, power attack is multiplied, whereas Burning Blade is not.

Again, take it with a grain of salt. But that's how I would rule it.

[Kane0]

Dont know if it helps you at all, but my group has a houserule for this:
Any physical damage (base weapon dice, strength mod, +1 enhancement, power attack, etc) is multiplied, any energy or other kinds of damage is not unless it says that it is (like flaming burst).

Makes things rather simple for us.

[Zombimode]

Makes things rather simple for us.

I'm confused. The rules for critical hits already are simple. Why houserule it?
Also, your houserule seems to be a lot more complicated since you now have to decide what is "physical" and what is not. Sneak attack is most certainly physical, as is Mountain Hammer, but the non-dice fire damage boost from Burning blade is not. Under your houserule the former would be multiplied, while the later would not (exactly the reverse of RAW). And what about stuff like the Deep Impact weapons? Its a psionic weapon enchantment, so is the damage bonus physical or psionic/magic?