improved crit feat

[Anbu002]

hey guys i have a quick question.
so according to the bastion press arms and armor(my dm is pretty open minded about our sources) barbed arrows give a 19-20x2 crit instead of the standard 20x3. so i guess my question is, would i be able to apply the improved crit feat to my bow or not. since the arrows are not keen and the reason they give a bigger threat range is because of barbs, and this has nothing to do with the bow or my abillity to hit soft spots on the enemy which is what improved crit improves.

[Khedrac]

It seems pretty reasonable to allow this - especially as the arrows are 19-20(x2) not 19-20(x3) so they are 'equivalent' to normal arrows in the way a sword's and an axe's crit ranges are 'equivalent'.

[Zombimode]

hey guys i have a quick question.
so according to the bastion press arms and armor(my dm is pretty open minded about our sources) barbed arrows give a 19-20x2 crit instead of the standard 20x3. so i guess my question is, would i be able to apply the improved crit feat to my bow or not. since the arrows are not keen and the reason they give a bigger threat range is because of barbs, and this has nothing to do with the bow or my abillity to hit soft spots on the enemy which is what improved crit improves.

Barbed Arrows having 19-20/x2 would do absolutely nothing if you want to shoot with these arrows. Because the damage and subsequently the crit range and multiplier is a function of the bow, not the arrow. It would only matter if you would use a barbed arrow as an improvised weapon in melee.

[Sayt]

Actually, IIRC, improved weapons always crit 20/2.

What I'm guessing is that the OP has not used strict rules phrasing and that the arrows alter the critical profile of the bow they've been fired from for the purpose of attacks made with that ammo. (I haven't seen it the book, but that's how I'd rule it to work.)

And yes, Improved Critical would work with that.

[supersonic29]

Yeah "When using the weapon you selected, your threat range is doubled."
You are using the weapon you selected and as a result of the arrows your threat range was 19-20, so that's doubled. I see where the doubt comes from, but nah it would stack I'm sure.
If it puts you more at ease, I'd think of it as a bow using conventional arrows is 20/x3 and you are practically wielding a different weapon when you go from bow and arrow to bow and razor arrow or whatever it's called.

[Anbu002]

thank you for the quick answers

and yeah i also thought it would stack since if i where to use any other arrow with my bow i would only get the 19-20 from the improved crit, and i only get a 17-20 if im using barbed arrows which should be balancing enough all on its own.

[Trasilor]

As other posters have said - it should work - confirm with your DM.

The better question is why none of the posters told you not to take Improved Crit Feat :smallamused:

[supersonic29]

The better question is why none of the posters told you not to take Improved Crit Feat :smallamused:

Oh yeah. See, the campaign I usually partake in has a sort of broken house-rule with crits which removes the confirmation roll, so I forget that the improved crit feat is not nearly as good as it sounds to me when I first read it. I suppose when not optimizing it's not that bad, if he's like, a ranger he'll still do work even with one feat "thrown away". Gotta live a little bit somtimes, like with my crit-douchebag character build I was working on at one point.

[Anbu002]

thing is the way my archer works because of how i built him i can do a max of 54 dmg with one arrow plus 2d6 con poison so giving my self a 17-20 crit range actually works