Crit confimation roll crit range

[Phantom Lotus]

So I am in a game with a fairly new DM. Here is how he does crit confirmation rolls. Rolls within crit range hit, need a confirmation roll to crit. However, during the confirmation roll, a roll within the crit range that isn't a 20 (like an 18 with an 18-20 weapon) still needs to beat the AC, with bonuses, of the monster. I disagreed with him, but upon searching through the rules I couldn't find anything to support him or me. Can snyone help me out?

[Heliomance]

The confirmation roll has absolutely nothing to do with the crit threat range. The confirmation roll needs to beat their AC like a normal attack does, but it doesn't need to be within your crit threat range if you can beat their AC anyway. If you beat their AC on a 2, a 2 will confirm the critical.

Also, only a natural 20 auto-hits. Even if you're wielding an 18-20 weapon, an 18 on your attack roll won't hit unless you beat their AC.

[Seerow]

The confirmation roll has absolutely nothing to do with the crit threat range. The confirmation roll needs to beat their AC like a normal attack does, but it doesn't need to be within your crit threat range if you can beat their AC anyway. If you beat their AC on a 2, a 2 will confirm the critical.

This.


Also worth noting: If you aren't hitting your enemy on an 18, one of two things is true. 1) You should give up at melee 2) You should run away from whatever it is you are currently fighting.

[Joe the Rat]

The relevant bit from the srd (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#criticalHits)

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.
The confirmation roll has to beat the target's AC, period. A Natural 20 auto-hitting is an exception to the rule that your modified attack roll must beat the target's AC to hit. It just happens to coincide with the threat range of most weapons.

[Phantom Lotus]

Thank you everyone for your quick and clear responses! :smallbiggrin: Even after years of DM'ing I'm still learning new stuff.

[KnotKnormal]

I know I know this but all this talk has got me second guessing myself. crit range of 18-20, 18 misses = no hit. 19 hits = roll to confirm crit. 20 = auto hit roll to confirm.

if crit is not confirmed then you do not get the double (or triple) damage.

2 Nat 20s in a row + confirming crit after the 2nd Nat 20 = insta-kill. (homebrew fun)

do I have that right? also I agree will seerow if 18 =miss, just GTFO.

[Greenish]

I know I know this but all this talk has got me second guessing myself. crit range of 18-20, 18 misses = no hit. 19 hits = roll to confirm crit. 20 = auto hit roll to confirm.

if crit is not confirmed then you do not get the double (or triple) damage.

do I have that right?Yes. A critical threat that fails to confirm is a normal hit (and the attack has to hit for it to be considered critical threat in the first place).