3rd Ed Fishing Ideas for the Crit-Fishing Handbook [Archive]

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-14, 02:08 PM

I have considered putting together something for crit-fishing a few times in the past. The biggest stumbling block for me is there are a lot of things that require a DM's Call to settle before you can really nail down the direction of a build. Most notably: how does the DM feel about Lightning Mace + Aptitude weapons? Also, what's their stance on stacking Improved Critical with Disciple of Dispater/Psychic Weapon Master?

I certainly wouldn't object to someone else doing a handbook.

Well, Disciple of Dispater explicitly stacks with Improved Critical and even gives an example of how it works, so that should be a non-issue before accounting for DM fiat. Psychic Weapon Master is trickier, though-very lacking in descriptive effects. I would probably apply the same qualifier as the regular Weapon Master PRC in OA, which specifically states the +2 threat ranges is applied last, after any other effects.

Brainstorming a list of relevant effects as I go through books:

Oriental Adventures

Weapon Master 7, (PRC), increase critical threat range

Earth's Embrace (feat), Unarmed during a grapple only, automatic critical on pinning an opponent (feat was updated in CW 3.5, removing the critical effect, possible DM fiat)

Roundabout Kick (feat), Unarmed, bonus attack on successful critical hit

Hida Defender 1, (PRC), increase critical multiplier by 1 for a single weapon for which you have Weapon Focus

Savage Species

Scissors Sword (weapon) successful critical hit can initiate a specific type of grapple

Blade of the Wind (weapon) increased critical threat range and multiplier versus earth subtype

Flame Reaver (weapon) if wielder is fire subtype, on a critical hit, target must make DC 15 Reflex save or catch fire

Flint Basher (weapon) increased critical threat range and multiplier versus air subtype

Ice Scythe (weapon) if wielder is cold subtype, on a critical hit, target must make DC 14 Will save or be affected by Slow, 5th level

Wave Piercer (weapon) if wielder is aquatic subtype, increased critical threat range and multiplier versus fire subtype

Staff of the Glutton (weapon, staff) on critical hit, staff bites target for additional 1d8 damage

Weapon of Energy (spell) 4th level, Cleric/Sorcerer/Wizard, add energy burst effect to weapon

Multiheaded Creature (template) eliminates attack and damage penalty for off hand attacks and gain full attack array with each hand. Also saves a large number of feat slots, in return for a minimum of +2 RHD and LA +2

Maat Mons

2018-09-14, 05:28 PM

I'd also like to suggest covering Shapechanging into a Nimblewright, and the Dolorous Blow spell.

daremetoidareyo

2018-09-14, 05:33 PM

oriental adventures 3.5 update in dragon 318: audacious attempt (scorpion) 1/encounter roll 2d20 on any roll that can only succeed on a 20.

TOB: 1st level shadow strike: roll 2d20 for an attack roll.

Maat Mons

2018-09-14, 05:39 PM

Wait, never mind. Nimblewright got updated.

Climowitz

2018-09-14, 07:15 PM

One good thing to settle on game whike aiming for criticals is that or only natural 20 is auto hit or a critical strike is also an autohit, or even on critical strikes u need to beat ac

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-14, 08:20 PM

More legwork:

Draconomicon

Razorfangs (spell) 2nd level, Sorcerer/Wizard, double the threat range of 1 natural weapon, does not stack

Claws of the Ripper, (magic item, ring) worn by a Large+ Dragon to increase Claw critical multiplier to x4

Dragondoom, (feat) increase critical multiplier versus Dragons, does not stack

Bow of the Mighty Dragon-hunter (weapon) increase critical multiplier versus Dragons, does not stack

The Initiate of the Draconic Mysteries 9 (PRC) increase base critical multiplier on unarmed strikes to x3

Elder Evils

Murderous Intent (feat) automatically confirm critical hits against a favored enemy

Blood Rock (terrain) any roll of a natural 19 or 20 threatens a critical hit while the attacker stands in a Blood Rock square, does not stack, melee only

PhantasyPen

2018-09-14, 08:27 PM

Um, wow guys. o.o I guess I kinda *have* to make that handbook now. I'll try and start on it after my game tomorrow.

Goaty14

2018-09-14, 08:58 PM

and the Dolorous Blow spell.

Speaking of spells, don't forget Hunter's Mercy (SpC)! Auto-threatens a crit, so you can ditch all of those threat-increases!

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-14, 10:40 PM

A few more:

Expanded Psionics Handbook

Gythka (weapon) melee, thrown Exotic weapon with 18-20/x2 critical

Greater Manyshot (feat) apply precision damage and a critical chance for each attack when using Manyshot

Claws of Energy (Psionic) 4th level, Psychic Warrior, add energy burst effect to claw attack

Bodyfeeder (weapon enchantment) gain temporary hit points on a critical hit

Coup de Grace (weapon enchantment) DC 27 fortitude save against 1 turn paralysis on a critical hit

Dissipater (weapon enchantment) automatic critical hit versus ectoplasmic targets

Mindfeeder (weapon enchantment) gain temporary power points on a critical hit

Psychokinetic Burst (weapon enchantment) deal extra psionic energy damage on a critical hit

Soulbreaker (weapon enchantment) inflicts 1 negative level on a critical hit

Staff of Ancient Penumbra (artifact) deals extra fire damage on a critical hit and sets target on fire

Exemplars of Evil

Celestial Slayer (alternate class feature) +4 competence bonus on confirmation rolls against creatures of the good subtype

Twist The Knife (feat) with a melee critical hit with a weapon for which you have the Improved Critical feat, you may forgo the extra damage to inflict a -3 penalty to attacks rolls, weapon damage rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws for a number of rounds equal to the critical multiplier as a pain effect

Dungeon Master's Guide II

Acidic Burst (weapon enchantment) extra acid damage on a critical hit

Fiercebane (weapon quality) extra damage on a critical hit against a specific creature type, plus Bane weapon enchantment qualities and glowing effect within 100 feet of designated enemy type

Riding Boots (magic item, boots) various benefits, including increasing base critical multiplier from x3 to x4 when conducting a mounted charge with a lance

Pitspawned Template (weapon template) +2 to confirm critical hits with a pitspawned weapon

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Lords of Madness

Deities and Demigods

Manual of the Planes

Heroes of Horror

Heroes of Battle

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-15, 04:44 PM

Double post for additional books:

Weapons of Legacy

Guurgal (legacy weapon) additional 1 damage on a critical hit

Stalker's Bow (legacy weapon) 3/day reroll a confirmation roll for a critical threat

Stormchaser's Cudgel (legacy weapon) on a successful critical hit against a Humanoid of 4 HD or less, target must make a Will save or be dazed for 1 round. Doubles critical threat range against creatures and objects smaller than you, explicitly stacks with all other effects that improve critical threat range

Thanifex (legacy weapon) heals 1 point of damage on successful critical hit

Complete Champion

Holy Potency (feat) Conduit of Death can increase the critical threat range of a spell by 1

Mythical Exemplar 2 (PRC) Least Paragon's Gift, Sunyarta, 1/day increase critical threat range of a weapon by 1 for class level/rounds, stacks with all other effects

Paragnostic Initiate 1 (PRC) Deadly Strike, +2 to confirm critical hits

Squire of Legend 3 (PRC) Greater Squire's Burden, Sunyarta, 1/day reroll on attack or confirmation roll, Ally only within 30 feet

Surge of Fortune (spell) 5th level, Cleric, provides +2 luck bonus to various rolls, can channel spell into one roll for an attack roll, saving throw, skill check, ability check, or spell penetration check, treating the roll as a natural 20

Blade of Righteous War (magic longsword) can expend a Turn attempt to gain +4 on a critical confirmation roll

Bow of Elvenkind (magic composite longbow) any successful critical hit forces the target to make a Will save or be shaken for 5 rounds

Spear of the Wild (magic spear) if wielder is a Cleric, Druid or Ranger with the Animal domain, weapon 3/day automatically casts Baleful Polymorph on target on a successful critical hit

Quiver of Elvenkind (magic quiver) if wielder is an Elf or worshipper of Corellon Larenthian, non-magical arrows drawn from the quiver force a Fortitude save against permanent blindness on a critical hit

Temple of the First Dawn (location) any character within the boundary can expend a Turn attempt to render all Undead within 60 feet susceptible to critical hits for 6 rounds

Zaq

2018-09-15, 07:17 PM

Your WIP handbook says that a crit is a natural roll of 20, but that's actually only a critical threat. You gotta deal with the whole confirmation song-and-dance.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-15, 07:25 PM

Critical confirmations are explained in "How do you Crit?" For "What is a Crit?" I was just looking for the most basic definition.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-15, 08:16 PM

More legwork:

Complete Warrior

Swashbuckler 14, 19 (PRC) weakening critical, inflict 2 Strength damage on a critical hit, wounding critical, inflict 2 Constitution damage on a critical hit

Master Thrower 1 (PRC) increase critical multiplier for a thrown weapon by 1, does not stack

Earth's Embrace (feat, updated) deal additional damage when pinning a grappled opponent (same name, different effect, this version does not interact with criticals)

Power Critical (feat) +4 to confirm criticals for 1 weapon

Elven Lightblade and Elven Thinblade (weapons) Exotic weapons with 18-20/x2 critical, Light and One-Handed/finessable respectively, larger damage die relative to the Kukri and Scimitar/Rapier

Complete Arcane

Enlightened Fist 2 (PRC) fist of energy, add energy burst effect to unarmed strikes and monk weapons

Improved Critical-Spells (feat) adds improved critical to ranged or touch spells

Withering Palm (spell) 7th level, Cleric/Wu Jen 7, inflict ability drain instead of damage on critical hit

PhantasyPen

2018-09-15, 09:32 PM

Does anyone know how to make "AWESOME" appear in a rainbow font?

Maat Mons

2018-09-15, 10:04 PM

"You're going to see a whole new spectrum of pain! Like a RAINBOW!"

Palanan

2018-09-15, 10:11 PM

A comment on the handbook-in-progress: I would recommend not using the Impact font, or whatever font that's currently used for the subheadings. It's jarringly strange when compared to the standard text, and as such it's distracting and impedes the flow when reading.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-15, 10:26 PM

Okay. I just used it because it was called "Impact" which works as a pun considering the theme of the handbook.

Endarire

2018-09-15, 10:44 PM

I added my contributions in a reply to the handbook thread.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-16, 12:23 AM

I added my contributions in a reply to the handbook thread.

I'm going to cover those things when I get to the critical threat section. Probably in the morning.

Goaty14

2018-09-16, 01:46 AM

Ooh, a nice lil bit on when your threaten rate makes having <energy> burst more profitable (DPR-wise) than two <energy> enchantments would be nice, concerning the math section.

Rebel7284

2018-09-16, 03:12 AM

There is a barbarian ACF that increases the threat range by one on a charge. Possibly in a dragon magazine.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-16, 08:36 PM

Update for today:

Complete Mage

Critical Strike (spell) 1st level, Assassin, ignore concealment miss chance, can inflict precision damage to a target with concealment

Complete Divine

Rod of the Recluse (magic rod) Inflicts Strength damage with a melee touch attack, ability drain on a critical hit, requires wielder to be a worshiper of Lolth, 11 HD and possess True Believer feat

Flame of Faith (spell) 3rd level, Cleric, add Flaming Burst quality to a non-magical weapon

Zealot Pact (spell) 6th level, Cleric or Pact Domain, automatically confirm critical hits against opponents with an alignment directly opposite that of your deity

Complete Psionic

Divine Mind 1, 10 (PRC) conflict mantle, +2 or +5 bonus to confirmation rolls

Instinctive Consummator (feat) when wielder threatens a living opponent in melee, wielder can expend psionic focus to automatically confirm the critical hit

Spirit of War (psionics) telepathy, conflict 8, caster and allies within area can automatically confirm 1 critical threat during the duration of the power

Flayer (magic weapon) after rolling a natural 20, a confirmed critical hit against a living creature with a brain kills the target outright and extracts the brain

Quietus Stiletto (magic weapon) on a successful critical hit against Undead, mindless Undead are automatically destroyed and intelligent Undead must make a DC 20 Will save or be destroyed

Complete Adventurer

Quickblade Rapier (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical weapon, finessable, one handed, bonus on disarm and feinting

Critical Strike 1st level, Assassin/Wizard/Sorcerer, against an enemy that is flanked or denied Dexterity to AC, weapon threat ranged is doubled-does not stack, and +4 to confirm critical hits/same name with different effect as spell in older book Complete Mage

Exacting Shot (spell) 1st level, Ranger, automatically confirm critical threats against favored enemies, cannot be cast on a weapon with any effect related to critical hits

Complete Scoundrel

Victor's Luck (feat) can expend a luck reroll to reroll a critical confirmation

Races of Stone

Blade Bravado 7 (PRC) +4 bonus to confirm melee critical threats against targets larger than the character

Goliath Greathammer (weapon) 20/x4 critical, +2 to sunder weapons and shields

Great Crossbow (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, 120 ft range increment

Magic of Incarnum

Cobalt Critical (feat, essentia) 1/day, invest essentia, and gain an insight bonus on melee critical confirmation rolls and successful melee critical hits equal to invested essentia

Cobalt Precision (feat, essentia) 1/day, invest essentia, and gain an insight bonus on ranged critical confirmation rolls and successful ranged critical hits equal to invested essentia

Bloodwar Gauntlets (essentia) chakra bind-hands, +4 to confirm critical threats

Mauling Gauntlets (essentia) chakra bind-arms, double threat range of any held melee weapon, does not stack

Necrocarnum Weapon (essentia) chakra bind-hands, profane bonus equal to essentia investment on damage rolls and attack rolls to confirm a critical threat against a living enemy, gain temporary essentia equal to investment upon a successful critical hit

Incarnum Weapon (spell) 5th level, Cleric/Incarnum, can invest essentia to increase the created weapon's damage and critical threat range

Soulbound Weapon (weapon enchantment) chakra bind-arms, +2 insight bonus to confirm critical threats

Incarnum Blade 2 (PRC) +4 insight bonus to confirm critical hits with blademeld weapon

Arms and Equipment Guide

Stunning (weapon enchantment) target must make DC 17 Fortitude or be stunned for 1 round on successful critical hit

Bonebreaker Hammer (magic weapon) weapon deals 1d6 Dexterity damage on a critical hit

Brutal Axe (magic weapon) wielder can make a free trip attempt against target upon a successful critical hit

Dwarven Mauler Crossbow (magic weapon) increases critical multiplier to x4 against giants and goblinoids

Grasping Dagger (magic weapon) wielder can make a free, special grapple attempt against target upon a successful critical hit, and attack with weapon normally during the grapple

Havoc Blade (magic weapon) casts confusion, 5th level, on target upon a successful critical hit

Kukri of Crippling (magic weapon) upon successful critical hit, target halves one randomly determined movement rate for 1 day or until receiving magical healing or a DC 15 heal check

Lance of Crippling (magic weapon) destroys targets shield upon a successful critical hit

Spear of Impaling (magic weapon) successful critical hit allows wielder to initiate grapple against target, and use weapon in grapple

Sword of Thirsting (magic weapon) upon successful critical hit, weapon deals 1d6 subdual damage that cannot be healed without first imbibing a quart of water, target is fatigued as long as it suffers from this damage, does not work on Outsiders or anything immune to critical hits

Wave (sentient, magic weapon) upon successful critical hit, casts horrid wilting on an enemy that opposes its purpose

Lucerne Hammer (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Gnome Battlepick (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Mercurial Longsword (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Mercurial Greatsword (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Double Scimitar (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, double weapon

Ward Cestus (weapon) uses unarmed strike to determine damage and critical

Orc Shotput (weapon) 19-20/x3 critical, base damage 2d6 at medium, thrown range increment 10 feet

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Stronghold Bulider's Guidebook

PhantasyPen

2018-09-17, 11:55 AM

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-17, 12:28 PM

I'm of the mind that it would be best to keep a lot of the "math"/hard numbers of how things work confined to the specific builds that the numbers are being applied to once I open up that section of the handbook. Does anyone have a second opinion on the matter?

I say just list the effects under different sections, then leave specific calculations and interactions under a separate heading of builds/archetype suggestions. Keep the actual listings crisp and readily accessible for the raw data, and leave the suggested builds section for getting gunked up with calculations and interactions.

I will be busy the next few days, but I will try and drop one post a day until all the 1st party material is covered. After that, we can discuss setting specific stuff and I will dig up some of my old builds.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-17, 12:37 PM

I say just list the effects under different sections, then leave specific calculations and interactions under a separate heading of builds/archetype suggestions. Keep the actual listings crisp and readily accessible for the raw data, and leave the suggested builds section for getting gunked up with calculations and interactions.

I will be busy the next few days, but I will try and drop one post a day until all the 1st party material is covered. After that, we can discuss setting specific stuff and I will dig up some of my old builds.

Alright, thanks for all the input Viper.

@everyone Soo for the longest time my understanding of how critical hits work is that only the actual weapon's dice are multiplied, and any enchantments or abilities that add more dice to your damage roll don't multiply, but any flat numbers added to your damage do. But while I was going through the Rules Compendium and Player's Handbook I noticed that it just says "any extra damage" even though the only examples it gives are ones that give extra damage dice. Does anyone know what's up here? Have I seriously just been interpreting the rules wrong this entire time, or have I half-forgotten something and am looking in the wrong places for answers?

daremetoidareyo

2018-09-17, 12:47 PM

You're gonna need a coup-de-gras section.

Falontani

2018-09-17, 01:10 PM

Alright, thanks for all the input Viper.

@everyone Soo for the longest time my understanding of how critical hits work is that only the actual weapon's dice are multiplied, and any enchantments or abilities that add more dice to your damage roll don't multiply, but any flat numbers added to your damage do. But while I was going through the Rules Compendium and Player's Handbook I noticed that it just says "any extra damage" even though the only examples it gives are ones that give extra damage dice. Does anyone know what's up here? Have I seriously just been interpreting the rules wrong this entire time, or have I half-forgotten something and am looking in the wrong places for answers?

Weapon Dice, and static modifiers (stat mod(s), enhancement bonus, and even things like power attack) are all multiplied. IDK when this began (I'm fairly sure the 3.5 PHB) but that is how the current system works.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-17, 01:15 PM

Weapon Dice, and static modifiers (stat mod(s), enhancement bonus, and even things like power attack) are all multiplied. IDK when this began (I'm fairly sure the 3.5 PHB) but that is how the current system works.

Yeah that's what I thought, I just couldn't seem to find that information in my PHB, which through me off.

You're gonna need a coup-de-gras section.

Elaborate on what you mean please? Last time I checked a coup de grace didn't interact much with criticals.

daremetoidareyo

2018-09-17, 01:24 PM

Yeah that's what I thought, I just couldn't seem to find that information in my PHB, which through me off.

Elaborate on what you mean please? Last time I checked a coup de grace didn't interact much with criticals.

Under helpless defenders: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm

Coup de Grace
As a full-round action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.

You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. A rogue also gets her extra sneak attack damage against a helpless opponent when delivering a coup de grace.

Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents.

You can’t deliver a coup de grace against a creature that is immune to critical hits. You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you’ve determined what square it’s in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).

PhantasyPen

2018-09-17, 02:21 PM

Okay then, I guess that's going in the Confirming Criticals section. Thank you! ^^

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-17, 03:24 PM

Yeah that's what I thought, I just couldn't seem to find that information in my PHB, which through me off.

The explanation is in the Rules Compendium, page 17: damage dice apart from weapon damage are never multiplied on a critical hit. However, on page 40, it also states that 'you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together.' Most players take that to mean flat bonuses are multiplied on criticals, provided they involve no bonus dice, like Weapon Specialization or things like the No Thought class feature of the Shiba Protector. Kind of a titchy issue, and the numerous, inconsistent phrasings in the Rules Compendium leave a lot of room for debate. Certainly something that needs to be addressed in a Crit Fishing handbook.

EDIT: updated book search;

Frostburn

Disciple of Thrym 8 (PRC) wielder can use a move action to grant Icy Burst quality to a held greataxe

Ice Axe (weapon) 20/x4 critical, can deal piercing or slashing damage

Tigerskull Club (weapon) 20/x4 critical, bludgeoning and piercing, bonus on trip and disarm

Glot (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, thrown weapon

Razor Skipdisc (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, thrown weapon

Frostfell Figurine of Wondrous Power, Malachite Smilodon (wondrous item) creates smilodon creature with 17-20/x3 critical

Pick of Iceparting (magic weapon) can inflict critical hits on targets of the cold subtype even if normally immune to critical hits

Sandstorm

Eagle's Claw (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, bonus to sleight of hand to conceal

Great Scimitar (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Khopesh (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, can be used for trip attacks

Double Khopesh (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, double weapon, can be used for trip attacks

Great Falchion (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Desiccating Burst (weapon enchantment) desiccation energy burst effect on weapon

Dragon Magic

Dragonclaw Spirit (companion spirit) 5th tier benefit, teams gains a number of automatic confirmations on threat rolls equal to number of team members, can by activated as an immediate action, usable 1/day per member

Fanged Ring (magic ring) wielder deals 1 Constitution damage on an unarmed critical hit

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Stormwrack

Races of the Dragon

PhantasyPen

2018-09-18, 01:56 PM

Alright! The Weapons section is finished and I'm finally moving onto the Critical Threat Range section. After I finish baking some stuff in the kitchen that is.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-18, 06:04 PM

Update for today:

Libris Mortis

Death Master (feat) whenever wielder scores a melee critical hit against a living foe, that foe is shaken for 1 minute, fear effect

Eviscerator (feat) whenever wielder scores a melee critical hit against a living foe, that creature's allies withing 30 feet are shaken for 1 minute, fear effect

Profane Burst (weapon enchantment) adds negative energy burst property to a weapon

Sacred Burst (weapon enchantment) adds positive energy burst property to a weapon

Saintheart

2018-09-19, 12:32 AM

Just a thought for consideration - the handbook's provisional name is "For Massive Damage!". Is it worth briefly referencing the Massive Damage rule (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/injuryandDeath.htm#massiveDamage) as another reason to dish out huge critical hit damage? It doesn't take a hell of a lot of specialisation to start pulling out that sort of number on a critical hit, and it's more economical if the Fort 15 check kills the creature outright as well.

darkela5

2018-09-19, 07:16 AM

underdark 3.5 blade, flutter 1d4 19-20/x3
MM4 3.5 Greathammer 1d12 19-20/x4
Frost burn 3.5 Juak 1d6 19-20/x4
planar hand book 3.5 Jovar 2d6 18-20/x2
MM4 3.5 Maquahuitl 1d12 19-20/x4
planar handbook 3.5 ripper 2d6 19-20/x2 (try making it out of kaorti resin :smallbiggrin: )
honorable mention 1 eberron campain setting 3.5 pre errata Sharrash talenta 1d10 19-20/x4 ( now only x2)
Honorable mention 2 Cheese kingdom ( a.k.a serpent kingdom) 3.5 manyfang dagger (magical weapon) ''A manyfang weapon thus
deals quadruple damage on each successful hit, or +3 to the multiplier damage on a critical hit.''
Honorable mention 3 fiend folio kaorti resin (weapon material can only be applied to piercing weapons) change crit mult to x4
Hope this helps also i suggest a section on WSA that trigger on critical hits.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-19, 12:42 PM

Frost burn 3.5 Juak 1d6 19-20/x4

I covered Frostburn already, and the Iuak is only 19-20/x2. It just happens to be sandwiched between two 20/x4 weapons. Also, the Maquahuitl from MM 4 appears to be only 20/x2, and presumably the stat block is wrong. However, I suppose I will just double check the others you mentioned for today.

Forgotten Realms: Underdark

Flutterblade (weapon) 19-20/x3 critical

Morphing (weapon enchantment) can use a standard action to change weapon into any other of the same type, allowing wielder to pick and choose the right critical range/multiplier for an encounter

Stalactite (weapon enchantment) a critical hit petrifies the target, DC 19 Fortitude to negate

Tentacle (weapon enchantment) a critical hit extracts the target's brain and kills it instantly, unless the target has multiple heads or is a Construct, Elemental, Ooze, Plant, or Undead, DC 21 Fortitude negates

Elfhunter (feat) +1 competence bonus on melee damage rolls and ranged attack rolls against 1 Elf subrace, and gain effect of Improved Critical feat for any weapon when attacking that subrace, does not stack

Lolth's Meat (feat) if you kill a living creature with an Int of 3 or higher, wielder gains +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws for rest of encounter, if wielder kills such an opponent with a coup de grace or touch spell, gain +2 bonus instead, wielder must be Drow

Random Encounters: The Kaorti Ubercyst found here: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031014a

Kaorti Resin (weapon material) increases critical multiplier to x4, piercing or slashing weapons only, not compatible with other material specific effects like Disciple of Dispater

Planar Handbook

Cipher Adept 5 (PRC) combination attack ability, upon a successful melee critical hit the wielder can immediately attempt a disarm or sunder attack against that opponent

Gehennan Lancet (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Jovar (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Consumptive Burst (weapon enchantment) deals additional negative energy damage, inflicts 1 negative level upon a successful critical hit

Restyn's Last Stand (Planar Touchstone) higher order ability, 1/day automatically confirm a melee critical threat, 2 higher order uses before recharge

Monster Manual 4

Greathammer (weapon) 19-20/x4 critical

Dragonsplit (weapon) 19-20/x2 or 20/x4 critical, as either piercing or slashing respectively

Serpent Kingdoms

Tail Scythe (weapon) 20/x4 critical, requires tail, can be used to make trip attacks

Manyfang Dagger multiplies base damage by 4, stacks in additive fashion with critical multipliers

Handfang (spell) 3rd level, Cleric/Sorcerer/Wizard, deal damage with a touch attack, can start a free grapple upon a critical hit

Book of Vile Darkness (3.0 Material)

Disciple of Dispater 4, 8 (PRC) iron power increases critical threat range, stacks with improved critical but not with keen weapon enchantment

Distort Weapon (spell) 1st level, Blackguard, automatically confirm critical hits against good targets

Flesh Ripper (spell) 3rd level, Cleric/Mortal Hunter, ranged touch attack deals damage, on critical hit targets begins bleeding for 1 damage per round until receiving magical healing

Souldrinking (weapon enchantment) weapon inflicts 2 negative levels on a critical hit, and wielder gains 1d8 temporary hitpoints and a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength for 1 hour

Harrowheart (magic weapon) increases critical multiplier from x2 to x3 against good targets

Book of Exalted Deeds

Sanctified Weapons (variant rules) sanctified weapons may deal critical hits to Undead with increased threat ranges and multipliers if these rules are in use for a campaign

Solarian Truesteel (weapon material) +1 to critical confirmation rolls

Resounding Blow (feat) when wielder deals a critical hit with a melee weapon, target must make a Will save or cower for 1 round

Quell The Profane (feat) when wielder deals a critical hit to an evil creature, target must make a Fortitude save or take 1d4+1 Strength damage

Blessed Weapon (weapon enchantment) weapon is permanently affected by Bless spell, automatically confirming critical hits against evil targets, does not stack with any other magical effects related to critical hits

Enfeebling (weapon enchantment) weapon deals 1d6+2 Strength damage on a critical hit

Heavenly Burst (weapon enchantment) on critical hit against evil target, deals bonus damage and forced DC 14 Fortitude save to avoid being blinded for 1 round, deals 1d2 Strength damage to wielder on critical hit

Roaring (weapon enchantment) weapon forced DC 22 or evil target is shaken for encounter, deals 2d6 Sonic damage on critical hit, incompatible with Thundering weapon quality

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Monster Manual 2

Monster Manual 3

Monster Manual 5

Chalhubard

2018-09-19, 02:37 PM

Precision Assault (Teamwork benefit) from Forge of War increases your threat range by 1 and it stacks with keen.

Menzath

2018-09-19, 04:27 PM

It's a little odd, there is extra damage (like a rogues sneak attack) and additional damage(normally from magic items, as described in dmg).
Damage dice from both sources are not multiplied.
Then we get flat values like from weapon specialization, and the collision property that are extra damage and are multiplied. I have not seen any additional damage that is a flat values as of yet.

And then cases of extra damage that normally would not change, but are multiplied on a critical, like the extra damage from the feats craven and maiming strike(not gonna list all the frggin spells that it works with too).

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-19, 04:44 PM

Menzath

2018-09-19, 05:06 PM

Ahh so you did, I was skimming at high speeds and missed it.

daremetoidareyo

2018-09-19, 05:40 PM

x4 weapons that don't appear in frostburn

orc double axe, PHB
gnome battle pick, AEG
ribbon daggger, fiend folio
dragonsplit, MMIV
greathammer, MMIV
goliath greathammer, races of stone
greatpick, races of the dragon
mercurial greatsword AEG
gnome hooked hammer, PHB
mercurial longsword AEG
lucern hammer AEG
dire pick, complete warrior
heavy pick, phb
light pick, phb
scythe, phb
war sling, races of the wild
tail scythe, savage species

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-19, 05:47 PM

x4 weapons that don't appear in frostburn

maquahuitl, MM4

Did I miss an update on the maquahuitl outside the MMIV? It is listed as a 20/x2 in the sidebar, and having an x3 multiplier in one of the statblocks, but I see an x4 multiplier nowhere.

daremetoidareyo

2018-09-19, 10:56 PM

Did I miss an update on the maquahuitl outside the MMIV? It is listed as a 20/x2 in the sidebar, and having an x3 multiplier in one of the statblocks, but I see an x4 multiplier nowhere.

You right! I'll edit.

RaiKirah

2018-09-19, 11:28 PM

Claws of the Wyrm (Dragon Magic) bound to the Arms Chakra has a threat range of 19-20 for the two claw attacks it grants (doesn't stack with any other range multipliers).

Ring of Adamantine Touch (Book of Exalted Deeds) - 120K gp makes a character's weapons and natural attacks count as adamantine. This allows for crit fishing with Disciple of Dispater as a natural attacker.

Saintheart

2018-09-19, 11:32 PM

Tome of Battle (Book of Nine Swords):

Blood in the Water (Martial Stance) Level 1, gain +1 to your attacks and damage with every critical hit you make while in this stance - which helps with confirmations and with damage on critical hits!

Bonecrusher (Martial Strike) Level 3, gain +4d6 damage and +10 on attacks to confirm critical hits.

Tiger Fang (Legacy Weapon) At wielder level 14, this kukri's critical multiplier rises from x2 to x3. At wielder level 17, it gains a +4 to confirm critical hits. At wielder level 20, its critical multiplier rises to x4.

Bonecrusher is perhaps useful when turned into a custom magic item in the way the Crown of White Raven allows several uses of a particular martial maneuver.

Maat Mons

2018-09-20, 12:17 AM

Ring of Adamantine Touch (Book of Exalted Deeds) - 120K gp makes a character's weapons and natural attacks count as adamantine. This allows for crit fishing with Disciple of Dispater as a natural attacker.

That was updated in Magic Item Compendium. The good news is that it now costs only 6,000 gp and still does the same thing. The bad news is that a tiny change to wording means this specific trick no longer works.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-20, 12:25 AM

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-20, 02:39 PM

Doublepost for a legwork update:

Magic Item Compendium Contains numerous reprints and updates

Blessed (weapon enchantment) updated from BoED, still does not stack with other magical critical effects, now only automatically confirms critical threats against evil targets 3/day

Cursespewing (weapon enchantment) on critical hit, target is afflicted with a curse for 1 minute, inflicting -4 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks and skill checks

Desiccating Burst (weapon enchantment) desiccation energy burst effect on weapon, updated version inflicts fatigue upon critical hit

Doomburst (weapon enchantment) critical hit causes target to become shaken for 5 rounds, fear effect, no saving throw

Dragonhunter (weapon enchantment) critical multiplier is increased by 1 against targets of the Dragon type, does not stack with other magical critical effects

Enervating (weapon enchantment) critical hit inflicts 1 negative level upon a living target, only lasts 1 hour

Ghost Strike (weapon enchantment) as ghost strike weapon, plus weapon can make sneak attacks and critical hits on Undead

Heavenly Burst (weapon enchantment) updated, still inflicts extra damage and blinding effect upon evil creature with a successful critical hit, no longer inflicts strength damage on wielder

Impact (weapon enchantment) keen effect for bludgeoning weapon, does not stack with any other effect that expands a weapon's critical range

Maiming (weapon enchantment) deals additional untyped damage upon a successful critical hit based on critical multiplier

Paralytic Burst (weapon enchantment) successful critical hit forces DC 17 Fortitude save against paralysis for 1 round, functions against targets immune to critical hit damage

Prismatic Burst (weapon enchantment) successful critical hit inflicts prismatic spray spell upon target, functions against targets immune to critical hit damage

Screaming Burst (weapon enchantment) successful critical hit inflicts sonic damage based on multiplier

Slow Burst (weapon enchantment) successful critical hit inflicts forces DC 14 Will save or target suffers slow effect for 3 rounds, functions against targets immune to critical hit damage

Souldrinking (weapon enchantment) different effect from 3.0 version, this version acts as an enervating enchantment, and grants 5 temporary hit points and a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls for 10 minutes upon scoring a successful critical hit

Stunning (weapon enchantment) updated, now functions as a screaming enchantment that forces a DC 17 Fortitude save or target is stunned for 1 round upon successful critical hit

Weakening (weapon enchantment) upon successful critical hit, target takes a -4 penalty to its strength score for 10 minutes, minimum Strength of 1, not cumulative with itself

Galeb Duhr Hammer (magic weapon) upon successful critical hit against a target standing on the ground, target's speed is reduced to 5 feet for 5 rounds and takes a -2 penalty to attacks and AC

Rod of Enervating Strike (magic weapon, rod) casts inflict serious wounds spell effect upon successful critical hit

Spear of Retribution (magic weapon, relic) if an enemy scores a critical hit against wielder, in following round the spear gains a keen effect wielder must be a worshiper of Gruumsh + True Believer

Greater Demolition Crystal (weapon crystal) weapon can deal sneak attacks and critical hits to constructs

Greater Fiendslayer Crystal (weapon crystal) a successful critical hit against an evil outsider prevents the target from using teleportation abilities or spells for 1 round

Greater TrueDeath Crystal (weapon crystal) weapon can deal sneak attacks and critical hits to Undead

Bracers of Great Collision (wondrous item) 2/day bonus on damage when scoring a successful critical hit using a bludgeoning weapon

Deathstrike Bracers (wondrous item) 3/day, for 1 round wilder can inflict critical hits and sneak attacks on Undead, Plants, Oozes, Constructs ad Elementals

Devastation Gauntlets (wondrous item) 3 charges, can expend them upon a critical threat for extra damage if threat is successfully confirmed

Flesh Ring of Scorn (wondrous item) 3/day, can automatically confirm a critical threat, wielder takes damage based on critical multiplier of weapon that scored the critical threat

Reciprocal Bracers (wondrous item) 2/day, treat any successful attack as a critical threat if the target scored a successful critical hit or sneak attack upon wielder the previous round

Gharyn's Monastic Array 3 items (magic item set) when scoring a successful critical hit with a scorpion kama, wielder can expend a use of stunning fist to make that critical a stunning attack

Spell Compendium

Burning Sword (spell) 2nd level, Sorcerer/Wizard, adds fire type energy burst effect to weapon

Dolorous Blow (spell) 3rd level, Bard/Sorcerer/Wizard, doubles weapon's threat range and critical threats are confirmed automatically, latter does not stack with any other magical effect, former does not stack with anything else that increase critical threat range

Exacting Shot (spell) updated, now 2nd level, automatically confirm critical threats against favored enemies, does not stack with any other magical critical effects on weapon

Hunter's Mercy (spell) 1st level, Ranger, next attack with a bow is automatically a critical hit, no confirmation necessary, must still land the attack

Jagged Tooth (spell) 2nd/3rd level, Ranger/Druid, increase critical threat range of one piercing or slashing natural weapon, does not stack with any other effect that increases critical threat range

Spark of Life (spell) 3rd/4th level, Cleric/Druid, Undead target loses immunities, including to extra damage from sneak attacks and critical hits

Fiend Folio

Ribbon Dagger (weapon) 20/x4 critical, +2 to disarm attempts

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Unearthed Arcana

Dungeonscape

RaiKirah

2018-09-20, 02:52 PM

That was updated in Magic Item Compendium. The good news is that it now costs only 6,000 gp and still does the same thing. The bad news is that a tiny change to wording means this specific trick no longer works.

How would that work, anyway? Disciple is pretty clear on Iron or Steel, so how would that interact with Adamantine, real or emulated?

Well nuts, you're both right. I suppose I had assumed that Adamantine was effectively an alloy of Iron (as is Steel), but probably not the case, and regardless the update nixes that combo anyways.

RaiKirah

2018-09-20, 08:05 PM

HaHA! If you can bind Ipos from Tome of Magic (Vestige level 6) you gain explicitly Cold Iron claw attacks, so you can use those in conjunction with Disciple of Dispater. This may now be slightly off-topic however. Maybe i'll put a build together.

Saintheart

2018-09-20, 08:57 PM

Dungeonscape:

If your DM wants to mess with you, there are these things called Ancient Arms (p. 84) where if such a weapon scores a critical hit, it takes damage equal to the amount of damage dealt.

Blood Rock: (p. 24) a type of terrain in a dungeon. Any creature standing on blood rock threatens a critical hit on a melee attack roll of a natural 19 or 20, unless your threat range is already higher. Doesn't stack with keen edge, Improved Critical, and so on. Acorn of Far Travel abuse, anyone?

Via word search on an OEF - no other mention of critical hits in this one.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-20, 09:08 PM

Saintheart

2018-09-20, 09:10 PM

Heh, I just finished Dungeonscape less than 10 minutes ago, and marked it under nothing relevant on my last post since Blood Rock is also listed earlier, from another book. Actually, I found it in 2 others so far. :smallwink:

Ooops.

Rather than double up - I'm doing Champions of Ruin at the moment, would it save you some time if I went through the Forgotten Realms splats with the same format you've got going?

EDIT: Moved CoR to further down for easier searching.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-20, 09:17 PM

Ooops.

Rather than double up - I'm doing Champions of Ruin at the moment, would it save you some time if I went through the Forgotten Realms splats with the same format you've got going?

That would be fine-I can only do so much legwork myself each day. If you scroll back through the last couple of pages and look over my posts, I bolded every book I have already finished, including notations on the ones with no material not already covered. I did Serpent Kingdoms and FR: Underdark, but nothing else from Forgotten realms. If you would be willing to do the rest of those, I will concentrate on the remaining 'mainline' books, starting with the big, bad ELH sometime tomorrow.

As for searching-PRCs, magic items, feats, and any sections on weapons will cover it for most books, but as you saw with Blood Rock there are some oddities elsewhere-I almost missed the critical-relevant touchstone in the Planar handbook.

Format-wise, I bold the books and Italicize individual entries, and leave the explanation as plain text to ease navigation.

Saintheart

2018-09-20, 09:23 PM

That would be fine-I can only do so much legwork myself each day. If you scroll back through the last couple of pages and look over my posts, I bolded every book I have already finished, including notations on the ones with no material not already covered. I did Serpent Kingdoms and FR: Underdark, but nothing else from Forgotten realms. If you would be willing to do the rest of those, I will concentrate on the remaining 'mainline' books, starting with the big, bad ELH sometime tomorrow.

As for searching-PRCs, magic items, feats, and any sections on weapons will cover it for most books, but as you saw with Blood Rock there are some oddities elsewhere-I almost missed the critical-relevant touchstone in the Planar handbook.

Sounds good, and thanks for the note - I did check back on your lists before setting out on Bo9S, not trying to steal any of your thunder or your work on this - just trying to help share the load a bit.

I plan to get through the following (and for anyone else watching :) ), and I'll follow your format for "Here's the options, and here's the books that don't seem to have anything in them."

Lost Empres of Faerun
Unapproachable East
Silver Marches
Shining South
Races of Faerun
Magic of Faerun
Lords of Darkness
Faiths and Pantheons
City of Splendors, Waterdeep
Champions of Valor
Anauroch, Empire of Shade
Players Guide to Faerun
Power of Faerun
Monsters of Faerun

Saintheart

2018-09-20, 10:15 PM

Double posting, but, legwork for today...

Champions of Ruin

Thayan Gladiator (Prestige Class) Level 1 and 2 in this PrC apply Improved Natural Attack and Improved Critical to one of your natural weapons. Qualifying for it requires that you have Weapon Focus (a natural attack), but you get Improved Crit about 3 levels earlier than normal.

Lost Empires of Faerun

Sakkratar’s Triple Strike (spell) 5th level, Sorcerer/Wizard, for 1 round, 1/Caster Level creatures' melee weapon gains the keen and flaming burst property. Also grants said creatures 2 extra attacks on a full attack action.

Sending (weapon enchantment), on a natural 20 followed by a critical confirmation, transports the creature struck to a place of the wielder’s choosing that the wielder has personally visited or seen, on the same plane, is an effective +4 bonus

Unapproachable East

Decastave (spell) 2nd level, Sorcerer/Wizard, creates quarterstaff made of force, strikes with melee touch attack, has the thundering weapon quality, also forces someone dealt a critical hit to save vs Fort or be permanently deafened.

Flamelance (magic weapon), flaming burst lance that can be wielded on foot as a longspear with no penalty, can also cast Aganazzar’s Scorcher.

Shining South

Paralyzing (weapon enchantment) On a critical hit, any living creature is rendered immobile for maximum of 10 rounds, DC 17 Will save ends paralysis. (cf. Paralytic Burst)

Books with no readily apparent critical effects:

Silver Marches

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-21, 12:22 AM

Whatever, I cannot sleep, so early edition:

Epic Level Handbook

Death of Enemies (feat) when wielder scores a critical hit against a favored enemy, the target must make a Fortitude save or die

Devastating Critical (feat) when wielder scores a critical hit with a weapon for which they have selected the feat, the target must make a fortitude save or die

Keen Strike (feat) wielder's unarmed strike becomes a slashing keen weapon, increasing critical threat range to 19-20

Overwhelming Critical (feat) selected weapon deals additional damage on a critical hit, based on multiplier

Vorpal Strike (feat) wielder can treat unarmed strike as a vorpal weapon

Acidic Blast (weapon enchantment) weapon deals acid damage, and bonus damage on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Fiery Blast (weapon enchantment) weapon deals fire damage, and bonus damage on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Icy Blast (weapon enchantment) weapon deals cold damage, and bonus damage on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Lightning Blast (weapon enchantment) weapon deals Electricity damage, and bonus damage on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Sonic Blast (weapon enchantment) weapon deals Sonic damage, and bonus damage on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Chaotic Power (weapon enchantment) weapon deals chaotic damage and 1 negative level to lawful targets, and bonus damage and additional negative levels on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Holy Power (weapon enchantment) weapon deals holy damage and 1 negative level to evil targets, and bonus damage and additional negative levels on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Lawful Power (weapon enchantment) weapon deals lawful damage and 1 negative level to chaotic targets, and bonus damage and additional negative levels on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Unholy Power (weapon enchantment) weapon deals evil damage and 1 negative level to lawful targets, and bonus damage and additional negative levels on a critical hit based on critical multiplier

Dread (weapon enchantment) weapon deals bonus damage to a creature type, and on a critical hit forces such a target to make a DC 27 Fortitude save or be destroyed, functions against targets immune to critical hits and death magic

Gripsoul (magic weapon) any successful critical hit, or an attack that kills a foe or knocks them unconscious, wielder can force the target to make a DC 30 Will save or become trapped via a 16th level Binding spell within the sword, weapon does no additional damage on a critical hit

Mace of Ruin (magic weapon) weapon deals critical hits to constructs and objects as if living creatures

Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of The Nine Hells

Mark of Avernus (feat) whenever a wielder makes an attack as part of a readied action, the wielder gains a +4 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and automatically confirms critical threats

Races of the Wild

Confound the Big Folk (feat) knee striker, when wielder moves into the square of an enemy at least 2 sizes larger, on following round that target is flatfooted and wielder gains +4 bonus to confirm a critical threat

War Sling (weapon) when used with Skiprocks, has a 20/x4 critical and can ricochet as normal skiprocks

Sword and Fist (3.0 Material)

Death Blow (feat) wielder can perform a coup de grace as a standard action

Races of Destiny

The Menacing Brute 4 (feat) +4 confirming critical threats

Masters of the Wild (3.0 Material)

Favored Critical (feat) critical threat range is doubled against 1 favored enemy, stacks with all other effects including improved critical and keen effects

Power Critical (feat) 1/day, can declare an attack to be a critical threat before rolling, if attack is successful it must still be confirmed

Supernatural Blow (feat) favored enemy damage bonus applies against a type normally immune to precision damage, and on critical hit deals additional 1d6 per extra damage die wielder's weapon would normally do

Deepwood Sniper 1, 2, 7 (PRC) treats all fired projectiles as keen at 1st level, increases critical multipliers on all projectile weapons by 1 at level 2 and by another 1 at level 7

Cityscape (Including Web Enhancement, found here http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)

Streetfighter (barbarian alternate class feature) trade away damage reduction for increasing critical threat range by 1 on a charge, stacks with other effects including improved critical and keen effects

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

Enemies and Allies

Defenders of the Faith (3.0 Material)

Tome and Blood (3.0 Material)

Stronghold Builder's Guidebook

Song and Silence (3.0 Material)

Saintheart

2018-09-21, 04:30 AM

More legwork:

Races of Faerun

Barbed Dart (Ranged Simple Weapon) Medium Size, 1d4 damage, 18-20/x2 Critical, Piercing.

Ice Axe - (See Frostburn version).

Chondathan Steelsword (Martial Melee Weapon) Medium Size, 1d8 damage, 19-20/x2 Critical. Slashing.

Flight Lance (Martial Melee Weapon) Large Size, 1d8 damage, x3 Critical. Piercing damage. Can be used as a melee weapon as if it were a shortspear.

Aquatic Longbow (Martial Ranged Weapon) Large Size, 1d8 damage, x3 Critical. Piercing. Operates as normal longbow except when sea arrows are fired from it underwater.

Goblin Stick (Exotic Melee Weapon) Medium Size, 1d6 damage, 19-20/x2 Critical. Double weapon, Can be used to make trip attacks, Piercing damage.

Halfling Warsling (Exotic Ranged Weapon) Small Size, 1d6 damage (if skiprock ammunition is used). X4 Critical. Bludgeoning damage. Duplicates the War Sling from Races of the Wild

Foesplitter Axe (Magic Weapon) +1 Keen battleaxe with a steel haft (hardness 10, 25 hp)

Warsling Sniper (Prestige Class) At 4th level, the warsling gains Improved Critical (Halfling Warsling)

Magic of Faerun

Weapon of Impact (spell) 3rd level, Bard/Cleric/Sorceror/Wizard, Keen Edge for bludgeoning weapons.

Acidic Burst (weapon enhancement): on a critical hit, inflicts extra damage from acid.

Impact (weapon enhancement): See Magic Item Compendium version.

Cormanthyrian Elfblade (Magic Weapon) +1 Keen longsword.

Namarra (Magic Weapon) +2 keen longsword, glows, can cast silence upon itself as often as desired.

Lords of Darkness

Storm Star (Artifact) +3 shocking burst morningstar, can also cast Call Lightning and Lightning Bolt.

Darrin

2018-09-21, 07:32 AM

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Cityscape

In the Cityscape Web Enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a), Barbarian 7, Streetfighter ACF:

"At 7th level, the critical threat range of any charge attack he makes, or any attack he makes against a flat-footed foe, increases by 1. (Thus, a greataxe would threaten a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.) This ability stacks with the Improved Critical feat or the keen weapon enhancement."

Magic of Incarnum

I have been pondering if there's a way to abuse the incarnum weapon spell. Specifically:

"Essentia: Every point of essentia you invest in the incarnum weapon adds a +1 insight bonus on the weapon’s attack rolls and damage rolls and expands the weapon’s critical threat range by 1. For example, an incarnum weapon spell with 2 points of essentia invested would have a +2 insight bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls and would have a critical threat range of 18–20." (bold added for emphasis)

I was thinking that maybe there's a way to work keen/Improved Critical in there somehow, but unfortunately the incarnum weapon attacks independently and doesn't get to use any of your feats or class features.

Saintheart

2018-09-21, 08:36 AM

Didn't skip leg day!

Faiths and Pantheons

Forest Master (Prestige Class), At 6th level of the PrC, any maul used by the Forest Master is treated as if it were a +2 icy burst or +2 shocking burst weapon at the Forest Master's choice each round.

Silverstar (Prestige Class), At 9th level of the PrC, a silverstar treates any weapon as if it were a +2 shocking burst weapon.

Stormlord (Prestige Class), At 5th level, any spear or javelin a stormlord uses is treated as a thundering weapon. At 8th level, the spear or javelin is also treated as a Shocking Burst weapon (the abilities stack.)

Divine Monk (Divine Ability). Treat your unarmed strike as a magic slashing weapon with an enhancement bonus of +5 and the keen, lawful, and vorpal qualities.*

Divine Weapon Mastery (Divine Ability). Gain the benefits of Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialisation, and Improved Critical feats when wielding any simple or martial weapon.

Waterdeep, City of Splendors

Ettin Axe of Uruth (Magic Weapon), Orc Double Axe, icy burst/fiery burst weapon. Intelligent with two sentiences, Ur and Krypt in either end.

Gurt's Greataxe (Magic Weapon), Large +1 human bane, thundering greataxe. Sheds light, can chill metal.

Muiral's Decapitator (Magic Weapon), Large +3 adamantine vorpal greatsword. Magic items touched with the blade glow with a pale radiance briefly.

Champions of Valor

Oath-Hammer (Magic Weapon) Normally a +2 warhammer, but if you swear a sacred vow according to the weapon's conditions, it becomes a +5 warhammer, deals +2d6 damage, and its critical multiplier rises to x4.

* I have no idea why anyone would (a) want a Divine Ability and still be critfishing or (b) play a monk.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-21, 10:53 AM

In the Cityscape Web Enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a), Barbarian 7, Streetfighter ACF:

"At 7th level, the critical threat range of any charge attack he makes, or any attack he makes against a flat-footed foe, increases by 1. (Thus, a greataxe would threaten a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.) This ability stacks with the Improved Critical feat or the keen weapon enhancement."

Magic of Incarnum

I have been pondering if there's a way to abuse the incarnum weapon spell. Specifically:

"Essentia: Every point of essentia you invest in the incarnum weapon adds a +1 insight bonus on the weapon’s attack rolls and damage rolls and expands the weapon’s critical threat range by 1. For example, an incarnum weapon spell with 2 points of essentia invested would have a +2 insight bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls and would have a critical threat range of 18–20." (bold added for emphasis)

I was thinking that maybe there's a way to work keen/Improved Critical in there somehow, but unfortunately the incarnum weapon attacks independently and doesn't get to use any of your feats or class features.

I did list Incarnum Weapon under that book just in case, but I was rather nonplussed at the potential. And good catch with the Web enhancement-I forgot about that this morning. Added in above.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-21, 01:17 PM

Double post (again) to make a clean update:

Dragonlance Campaign Setting

Greater Dragonlance (magic weapon) deals 1 point of Constitution drain when striking an evil dragon, on a critical hit the weapon instead deals Constitution drain equal to the wielder's character level, no save

Ghostwalk

Arboreal Guardian 5 (PRC) 1/day, spend a standard action to make first successful hit with a bow in the following round an automatic critical hit, no confirmation necessary

Ghost Slayer 2 (PRC) all melee weapons including unarmed strikes are considered silver for the purposes of stunning ghosts via critical hits and sneak attacks

Truesilver (weapon enchantment) weapon is treated as silver for the purposes of striking vulnerable targets, and weapon can score critical hits against ghosts

Player's Handbook II

Telling Blow (feat) when wielder inflicts a successful critical hit, skirmish/sneak attack damage is added in

Curse of Arrow Attraction (spell) 2nd, 3rd level, Ranger, Cleric/Sorcerer/Wizard, target takes -5 AC penalty against all ranged attacks, all critical threats from ranged attacks are automatically confirmed

Land of Honor (affiliation) affiliation score 23+, wielder gains +4 to confirm critical threats with a katana

Wintervein Dwarves (affiliation) affiliation score 30+, wielder gains improved critical for dwarven waraxe and dwarven urgrosh as bonus feats

Tome of Battle: Book of the Nine Swords

Warblade 3 (PRC) Battle Ardor, gain insight bonus to confirmation rolls equal to wielder's Intelligence bonus

Shards of Granite (feat) eviscerating strike, if wielder hits 1 target with 2 attacks in a round using a preferred Stone Dragon weapon, on following round the wielder ignores penalties from Stone Power feat when confirming a critical hit

Bonecrusher (strike) upon successful strike, all attacks against target receive a +10 bonus to critical threat confirmation rolls until target has been restored to full hit points, does not function against target immune to critical hits

Blood in the Water (stance) for each critical hit the wielder scores, wielder receives an untyped +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, stacks without limit, resets after 1 minute without scoring a successful critical hit

Claw at the Moon (strike) if strike threatens a critical hit, wielder gains +4 bonus to confirmation roll

Fleshripper (strike) if strike hits, target receives a -4 penalty to attacks and AC for 1 round, if a critical hit is scored, penalty persists for anumber of rounds equal to the weapon's critical multiplier, does not function against targets immune to critical hits

Kamate (magic weapon, Legacy) character level 9+, gain a +4 bonus to confirm critical threats

Tiger Fang (magic weapon, Legacy) character level 14+, 17+, 20+, increase base critical from 18-20/x2 to 18-20/x3 at level 14, then to 18-20/x4 at level 20, gain +4 to confirm critical threats at level 17

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Hero Builder's Guidebook (3.0 Material)

Troacctid

2018-09-21, 01:48 PM

One reason why it's fairly uncommon here to have a separate thread for suggested additions or revisions to a handbook is because it means the actual handbook falls down to lower pages while the suggestion thread gets bumped instead. Putting suggestions in the main thread keeps it near the top of the forum for greater exposure.

That being said, if you're gonna use this thread for suggestions, I'd change its title accordingly. The original question has been answered, after all.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-21, 02:17 PM

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-21, 10:03 PM

Second update for today:

Tome of Magic

Andras, the Grey Knight (vestige) sure blows, wielder gains improved critical with any weapon used, if wielder already has improved critical feat for that weapon, wielder gains +4 to critical threat confirmations

Kas, the Bloodyhanded (vestige) a successful critical hit forces a Will save against permanent blindness, wielder can score critical hits against Undead, and inflict blindness effect on Undead, online vestige

Miniatures Handbook

Marshal (base class) minor aura, accurate strike, Marshal and allies within 60 feet gain bonus equal to Marshal's Charisma bonus to critical threat confirmation rolls

Fear Burst (weapon enchantment) on successful critical hit, target forced to make a DC 11 Will save or be affected by the cause fear spell

Dragon Magazine Compendium

Battle Dancer 20 (PRC) dance of death's embrace, wielder makes a DC 35 Tumble check and picks a target, and thereafter receives 2d6 bonus damage against the target and automatically confirms critical threats

Staggering Blow (feat) Whenever wielder confirms a critical hit with a melee attack that deals bludgeoning or nonlethal damage with a weapon wielder for which has the Improved Critical feat the target must make a Fortitude save or be stunned for one round

Shatter Bolt (weapon) crossbow ammunition, 18-20/x3 critical

Garrote Ring (weapon) grappling weapon, 18-20/x2 critical

Bec de Corbin (weapon) 20/x4 critical, reach weapon, can be set against charging opponent for double damage

Lash of Torment (magic weapon) on a critical hit, forces a DC 18 Fortitude save or suffer a -2 penalty to Dexterity and -4 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks for 1d10 minutes

...And I think that is a wrap for first party material not tied to Eberron or Forgotten Realms, which are up next. After that, the places to go after will be Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and the Dragonlance sourcebooks, since those are official licensed material but not strictly 1st party. I know Kingdom of Kalamar has an ugly rep, but it is also licensed material so I will do those if no one else wants them.

I will get started on Eberron tomorrow. If someone wants to start peeling into the 2 DMGs one issue at a time, feel free and just mark them clearly. If anyone recalls anything in an official module, go ahead and drop it here, but nothing comes immediately to mind for me.

Saintheart

2018-09-21, 11:01 PM

Player's Guide to Faerun

Heartcleaver (Magic Item), Large +2 vorpal battleaxe, renders any injury it makes very hard to heal by magic (DC 20 CL check)

Elqillar (Unique Magic Item), +1 scimitar that can on command turn into a scimitar, kukri, dagger, or sword of any kind sized for a Small, Medium, or Large wielder. Has other associated disguise powers.

Shazzellim (Unique Magic Item), +1 keen scimitar, intelligent weapon with a special purpose to kill Harpers.

Dragons of Faerun

Dragontooth of Lareth (Magic Item), +1 flaming burst dragonfang dagger. Can cast guidance as a swift action.

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Power of Faerun

Monsters of Faerun

Mysteries of the Moonsea

...and that's it for the Forgotten Realms books as far as I can tell.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-21, 11:54 PM

Ah well, might as well get them finished anyway.

Player's Handbook I

Improved Critical (feat) doubles threat range of selected weapon

Kukri (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Light Pick (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Heavy Pick (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Rapier (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Scimitar (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Falchion (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Scythe (weapon) 20/x4 critical

Gnome Hooked Hammer (weapon) 20/x3 and 20/x4 critical

Bless Weapon (spell) 1st level, Paladin, weapon automatically confirms critical hits against evil targets

Keen Edge (spell) 3rd level, Sorcerer/Wizard, doubles critical threat range of weapon like keen quality, does not stack

Dungeon Master's Guide I

Corrupt Weapon (spell) 1st level, Blackguard, weapon automatically confirms critical hits against good targets

Flaming Burst (weapon enchantment) weapon gains fire type energy burst

(weapon enchantment) weapon gains cold type energy burst

[I]Shocking Burst (weapon enchantment) weapon gains electricity type energy burst

Keen (weapon enchantment) weapon doubles threat range, does not stack with most effects

Thundering (weapon enchantment) weapon deals sonic damage on a critical hit

Vorpal (weapon enchantment) weapon severs head of target on a confirmed critical hit roll of a natural 20

Mace of Smiting (magic weapon) any critical hit to a Construct destroys it, no save, critical multiplier is increased to x4 against outsiders

Oathbow (magic weapon) 1/day, can declare one enemy as a target, increasing enhancement bonus and damage against that target, and increasing critical multiplier by 1, suffers penalties against all other targets

Sword of Life Stealing (magic weapon) weapon deals 1 negative level on a critical hit, and wielder gains 1d6 temporary hit points

Books with no apparent critical effects

Monster Manual I

Saintheart

2018-09-22, 04:17 AM

...did anyone actually mention Keen Edge out of the SRD?

Keen Edge, (spell), Sorcerer/Wizard 3, doubles the threat range of any piercing/slashing weapon on which it's cast. Can't be used on a natural weapon, doesn't stack with other effects such as Improved Critical.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-22, 07:04 AM

...did anyone actually mention Keen Edge out of the SRD?

I mean... it's in the handbook already?

Also.. have you guys really gone through every single book now?

Saintheart

2018-09-22, 07:53 AM

I mean... it's in the handbook already?

Also.. have you guys really gone through every single book now?

Not yet. Looking back at Viper's earlier post, it looks like he's still going to work through the Eberron books, and Kingdom of Kalamar, but that would likely finish out the first party rulebooks. He might be working on the DMG 2 at the moment. Not sure if anyone's going through all the Web Enhancements yet.

I think Viper plans on going through Dragon and Dungeon Magazine since they're first party but not quite dead-on official, same with the Dragonlance sourcebooks -- but that's if nobody else does it, and from just going through the Forgotten Realms books this isn't exactly a fast thing to do without an OEF reader. Really it'd be better if someone or several someones went in and helped him out of fairness.

I suppose there could be critical options hiding down in the various adventure paths or campaign modules, but I'm not sure if it's worth trawling through all that.

Really if there was a game-changing crit-friendly thing down amongst that it likely would've been found already, but it's still worth being comprehensive if only for educative reasons. Looking at this has helped me learn a bit about crits generally, and in particular get some working ideas that there's four elements you can choose to focus on:

(1) Expand the critical range.

(2) Increase the critical multiplier.

(3) Raise the chance of critical confirmation. This one actually strikes me as maybe being worth more work than one might think, because you can blow either step (4) below or indeed the whole bonus damage if you don't hit the guy again on this roll. Indeed unless you confirm, even your 20 roll is in theory wasted - if what you're wanting to do is critical damage. Anything that automates a critical confirmation roll to me is amazingly powerful on this, because it's at this point in the crit procedure that you've got the least control and the most chance of loss. Step (1) is having the right mix of weapon, feat, and enhancement and can be comfortably gotten down to a rough 20% chance of threatening a critical (17-20); Step (2) is choosing the right weapon or option that raises the multiplier as high as possible; but Step (3) is very close to unpredictable; there is only a reliable 5% chance you'll pass this step, the rest of it depends entirely on the opponent's AC. It doesn't matter whether your critical hit range is 5-20, you're still not doing him massive damage if you can't get past this step. Paladin's Bless Weapon at level 1 is a deceptively powerful spell for that, because most of the creatures you fight are going to be evil, and it isn't a one-shot and done.

(4) Increase or optimise the effects that trigger on a critical hit. I suspect these ones utterly depend on you maximising (1) and (3) less than (2), and even then it seems most of the effects that trigger saves on a crit don't scale with your character level - stuff like Thundering will have a fixed DC in the mid to high teens at best, which against really potent opposition may not be too reliable. On that, the best option might be to just pile on the triggers and hope RNGesus decides to be nice for one or two rolls.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-22, 10:14 AM

I actually did the DMG II in my third post, so all that should cover the main line books that are not setting specific. That leaves Dragon magazine, Dungeon magazine, Kingdom of of Kalamar, Eberron, and Dragonlance. I am pretty sure I have access to all of them, but that is still quite a lot of material; I have family obligations today, so I will get started on Eberron late tonight. As for soliciting help-if someone wants to start on either magazine, just drop a post immediately about a list of issues you think you can work through in one sitting, and update it as you go through them-that way, no one else doubles up the same legwork and does not know it until they post the same finished search 5 minutes after you.

Same thing with the other setting books, which I will start doing later tonight-instead of a fresh post, I will drop the books I will cover immediately and edit the post as I go through them, so we do not end up with the Dungeonscape issue we did a couple of days back.

PhantasyPen

2018-09-22, 12:05 PM

@Saint, yeah, those four categories are basically how I was planning to break down the handbook already.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-22, 03:20 PM

Alright, starting on Eberron for tonight:

Eberron Campaign Setting

Great Bite (feat) increase multiplier on fang attacks to x3, shifter only

Hero's Blade (spell) 9th level, Deathless Domain, weapon deals additional damage against evil targets, critical hits deal even more damage against such targets including Undead, and on critical hit evil creatures must make a Will save or be blinded and deafened for 1d4 rounds, evil extraplanar creatures must make a will save or be banished for 24 hours, and weapon threat range is doubled in indentical fashion to a keen edge spell

Valenar Double Scimitar (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical, double weapon

Talenta Sharrash (weapon) 19-20/x4 critical, reach weapon

Talenta Tangat (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Races of Eberron

Shifter Savagery (feat) double critical threat range of wielder's natural weapons and increases the damage die 2 steps, while wielder is both shifting and raging, shifter only

Construct Lock (feat) if wielder rolls a critical threat against a construct, wielder can forgo a confirmation roll in favor of another attack, if that attack hits and deals at least 1 point of damage, target construct must make a Fortitude save or be rendered entirely helpless for 1 round, whenever wielder spends an action point on an attack roll against a construct, the roll is automatically a critical threat, warforged only

Humanoid Essence (spell) 4th, 5th level, Artificer, Cleric, removes many construct immunities including those to critical hits and precision damage

Greater Humanoid Essence (spell) 6th. 7th level, Artificer, Cleric, removes all construct immunities including those to critical hits and precision damage, removes fortification qualities of warforged

Magic of Eberron

Deadgrim 5 (PRC) wielder an deal critical damage to Undead by expending 1 turn attempt upon rolling a critical threat against an Undead target, if confirmation roll is successful the wielder deals critical damge and effects to the Undead target

Sense Weakness (spell) 2nd level, Cleric/Sorcerer/Wizard, target of the spell can discharge the spell anytime in its duration to automatically confirm a critical threat, must be declared before confirmation roll

Secrets of Xen'drik

Drow Scorpion Warrior (feat) when wielder inflicts a critical hit against a living creature with a drow long knife or drow scorpion chain, the wielder's next attack against that target within 1 turn gains a +2 bonus to the attack roll and deals 1d4 Constitution damage

Spear of the Desert Winds (magic weapon) on a successful critical hit, any entity possessing the target must make a DC 20 Will save or be expelled, effect not subject to SR

Xen'drik Magic Items (weapon enchantment) 250 GP effect, wielder gains +1 morale bonus to confirm critical hits

Faiths of Eberron

Argent Fist 10 (PRC) wielder can spend 1 use of Turn Undead to enter limited duration state with benefits, including all critical threats automatically confirmed against Undead, Lycanthropes, and evil outsiders with unarmed strike or special monk weapons

The Forge of War

Bloodlust (shield enchantment) wielder gains a +4 morale bonus on critical confirmation rolls, and shield allows use of a 1/day keen edge effect on a carried weapon

Gloves of Deadly Casting (wondrous item) doubles critical threat range of wielder's ray and touch attack spells, does not stack with improved critical

Scepter of Karrnath (magic item, set) when wielder scores a critical hit, target must make a DC 16 Will save or fall prone

Group Enmity (teamwork benefit) all members gain +2 bonus to critical confirmation rolls against 1 creature type

Precision Assault (teamwork benefit) all members increase melee critical threat range by 1 against target once at least 1 member successfully scores a critical hit against target, last until end of combat or any team member attacks another target, stacks with all other critical effects

City of Stormreach

Bloodbound Crimson Champion (affiliation) affiliation score 23+, wielder gains a +4 bonus to confirm critical threats

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Sharn: City of Towers

Five Nations

Explorer's Handbook

Player's Guide to Eberron

Dragonmarked

Secrets of Sarlona

Dragons of Eberron

An Adventurer's Guide to Eberron

EDIT:

That covers Eberron apart from the modules. I will do Dragonlance sometime tomorrow, unless I find some time late tonight.

Saintheart

2018-09-22, 08:37 PM

All right, I'll start working through the Dragon magazines I've got access to, maybe by blocks of 10 until I see how it works out. So I'm working on the following...

If anyone's got fill-ins for the below issues or issues beyond then, go right ahead. Also bear in mind some of this stuff may be duplicated in some of the mainline publications.

281

Zerth Cenobite (PRC) Level 6 - if a Zerth Cenobite scores a Critical Hit while using a Discerning Attack, the damage is tripled (as if it had a critical multiplier of x3)

Double Scimitar (Exotic Melee Weapon) As scimitar, but two-ended, 1d6/1d6, Critical range 18-20/x2

Panther Claw (Exotic Melee Weapon) As punch dagger, but with two extra blades. Critical multiplier of x3, gives a +4 to disarm attempts.

286

The Sword of Shannara(Magic Item. Yes. That one.) +3 keen ghost touch bastard sword. Lots of illusion powers.

The Sword of Leah (Minor Artifact) +4 ghost touch, wounding, flaming burst, bane vs. evil outsiders greatsword.

The Stiehl (Magic Item) +4 keen dagger of life stealing. On a critical hit, it bestows a negative level on the target. It also has a bane effect that can be switched around.

Born Under A Sign (Character Background - this was a feature from Arcanum, a 3rd party source, functions a bit like a half-trait.) Whenever you score a critical hit, roll 1d6. 1-3, the hit is resolved as a normal damage hit. 4-6, the critical hit multiplier is raised by 1.

294

Green Hunter (Prestige Class) - At 6th level, this PrC gets Improved Critical (Spiked Gauntlet) and has several other bits and pieces given as the PrC goes on.

295

Brawler (PrC) - From 2nd level, this PrC is able to select Improved Critical (Improvised Weapons) (among other Weapon Focus-ish feats).

296

Acolyte of the Fist (Prestige Class) - At 7th level, this PrC gets Improved Critical (Unarmed Strike).

Vengeance Sworn (PrC) - At 10th level, this PrC's critical threat range is doubled when it makes attacks against a creature of the dragon type. Explicitly stacks with Improved Critical and keen.

298

Bloodsister (Prestige Class) - At 9th level, the critical multipliers of any short sword or dagger wielded by a Bloodsister rise to x3.

299

Reaper's Child (PrC) - At 4th level in this PrC, the character can, between 4 and 5 times per day, on declaring a strike, hitting, and the opponent failing a Will save, have the strike automatically confirmed as a critical and with a x4 critical multiplier.

Orc Blademaster (PrC) - At 4th level in this PrC, the character adds +1 to their critical threat range with a bastard sword. This stacks with any other sources of extended threat range, but this bonus must be added last.

310

Encouraging Blow (Special Ability for the Fencer Variant Fighter Class - replaces a Fighter bonus feat), Whenever the Fencer scores a threat against an opponent - whether the threat becomes a critical or not - the fencer gains a +3 morale AC bonus against that opponent for a number of rounds equal to his CHA bonus. If the critical actually hits, double the morale AC bonus to +6.

Sniper (Special Ability for the Targetteer Variant Fighter Class - replaces a Fighter bonus feat) on a Full Attack option, for each attack a Targetteer sacrifices from his full attack, the threat range of his weapon rises by 1 for the remaining attacks on the full attack. He cannot sacrifice all his attacks.

Destructive Strike (Class Feature of the Anarch Variant Paladin Class) - From 2nd level, the Anarch may inflict critical hits (but not sneak attack) on constructs (and objects) a number of times per day equal to his Charisma modifier. He makes this decision after a critical threat is rolled but before the critical confirmation is made.

312

Fang of Turaglas (Magic Weapon) On a critical hit, this item drains 1 level from the victim. Has a number of other drawbacks to using it.

314

Heartfire Fanner (PrC) - mainly because a Heartfire Fanner from first level can effectively grant bonus feats from the Fighter Bonus Feat list, which includes Improved Critical.

315

Sharktooth Gauntlet (Exotic Light Melee Weapon) 1d4 piercing or slashing damage, 18-20 /x2 damage

Shark Cultist (PrC) At 8th level of this hilarious PrC out of Taladas in Dragonlance, a Shark Cultist gets Improved Critical (Sharktooth Gauntlet) and Improved Critical (Bite) where the bite comes from a natural attack or a natural attack accessed via Wild Shape or similar.

Companion Guard Style (feat) - a regional feat for Greyhawk, +2 to confirm critical hit rolls for any attack made with a bow (also allows DEX for STR bonus when using longsword or longspear).

Giantkiller (feat) - regional feat for Greyhawk, +4 to confirm critical hits against giants.

Orcus's Bloodthirst Ritual (feat) - out of Ghostwalk. Once per day you can declare a successful critical hit (before damage is rolled) to be a particularly painful area. This forces the character to take a Fort save (10 + Char. Level/2 + WIS mod) or be stunned for 1 round.

Boge of Nomog-Geaya (PrC) - Hobgoblin-specific PrC, but at 5th level, the Boge can imbue his longsword and hand axe with the flaming burst property as a free action for a total of 10 rounds per day.

316

Ghost Attack [Psionic] (feat) When you make a successful critical hit, whether ranged or melee, the attack is treated as if it had been made with a ghost touch[i/] weapon for the purpose of incorporeal creatures.

[i]Greater Ghost Attack [Psionic] As Ghost Attack, but you expend your psionic focus rather than maintain it.

317

Ancestral Weapon (Minor Artifact) This was a sort of port-over from the D&D Heroes videogame, and even the text of the article says it doesn't translate well. An ancestral weapon - as it's powered up with "soul shards", yeah, I don't know either - gains the keen property, thogh it's not clear how you're supposed to get the thing to level 2 anyway. (It also gives an enhancement bonus to its wielder as well.)

Ring of Accuracy (Magic Item) Critical threat range of any weapon the wearer uses is doubled. Explicitly does not stack with any Improved Critical, keen edge, keen, "or any similar effect".
318

Hook (Light Simple Melee Weapon) 1d4 damage, me hearties, with a critical multiplier of 20/ x4!

Cutlass (Light Martial Melee Weapon) 1d6 damage, 19-20/ x2.

Corsair Cutlass (Magic Item) +1 keen cutlass.

319

Shen [Snake Variant) (PrC) At 4th level in this monk-ish PrC, a Shen of the Snake school gains Improved Critical (Unarmed Strike).

Chatchka (Exotic Ranged Martial Weapon) 18-20 / x2 Crystalline throwing wedge (Duplicates the XPH version)

321

Pistol (Exotic One-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d10 / x3

Hilt Pistol (Exotic One-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d10 / x3

Carbine (Exotic Two-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d12 / x3

Musket (Exotic Two-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d12 / x3

Hand Cannon (Exotic Two-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d10 / x3

Rifle (Exotic Two-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d12 / x3

Spear Rocket Launcher (Exotic Two-Handed Ranged Weapon) 1d8 /x3

324

Hammer of Skill (Magic Item) +2 thundering cold iron warhammer. If you fail an attack roll, you get a -1 penalty on your next attack roll. Fail 10, and the warhammer abandons you permanently. Conversely, if succeed on attack roll, get a +1 on your next damage roll (and no upper limit is specified here.)

325

Bowman Charger (PrC) At 9th level of this mounted-archery based PrC, the character gains Improved Critical (Composite Shortbow).

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects:

110

283

284

285

287

288

289

291

309

311

312

313

320

322

323

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-22, 11:31 PM

Update for the rest of the Dragonlance books, plus Kingdoms of Kalamar:

Dragons of Krynn

Dragonbane (spell) 3rd, 4th level, Sorcerer/Wizard, Cleric/Mystic/Paladin, weapon targeted bypasses all damage reduction of a dragon, including natural DR, magical effects, and magic items, weapon increases critical multiplier by 1 against dragons, and weapon ignores Draconian death throes

Greater Mounted Dragonlance (magic weapon) drains 1 point of constitution when striking an evil dragon, no save, or 2 points of constitution if wielder is mounted, on a critical hit against an evil dragon the weapon drains constitution equal to wielder's character level, if wielder is mounted on a true dragon the weapon drains constitution equal the the wielder's character level +1 point per age category of the mount

Dragonlance of Huma (magic weapon, major artifact) drains 2 point of constitution upon striking an evil dragon, no save, on a critical hit against an evil dragon, weapon drains constitution equal to 5 + the wielder's character level + wielder's Charisma modifier

Dragonlance-War of the Lance

Minotaur Marauder 2, 5 (PRC) wielder gains +2 bonus to confirm critical hits at level 2, increasing to +4 at level 5, minotaur only

Age of Mortals

Greater Abyssal Lance (magic weapon) when striking good dragons, weapon permanently drains 1 point of constitution, no save, on a critical hit against a good dragon the weapon permanently drains constitution equal to the wielder's character level, no save

Holy Orders of the Stars

Huma's Legacy (spell) 9th level, Cleric, weapon targeted deals bonus damage against evil targets, which is increased on a critical hit, deals 2 points of constitution drain against evil dragons, or 4 points on a critical hit, if cast on a dragonlance, the constitution drain stacks and is improved another 2 points, weapon also receives a keen edge effect that doubles critical threat range, does not stack with other keen effects but does stack with improved critical

Knightley Orders of Ansalon

Giantsmiter (magic weapon) wielder deals additional damage equal to character level against a target of the giant type on a critical hit

Vision Partisan 1 (PRC) wielder has a doom score, compared against initiative rolls to determine a doom influenced combat, in such a combat all critical threats made by and against the wielder are automatically confirmed, and all critical multipliers for and against wielder are increased by 1

Races of Ansalon

Demolition Strike (feat) wielder may ignore 1/2 an object's hardness during a sunder attempt, and ignore a construct's immunity to critical hits, Dwarf only

Crook Blade (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical

Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide to the Sovereign Lands

Gladiator 10 (base class) critical focus, when facing a single opponent, critical threat range is doubled and critical multiplier increases by 1 for all attacks

Alliance Merchant 4 (PRC) soft strike, 1/day announce on a successful critical hit, target must make Fortitude save with DC of 10 + damage rolled or fall unconscious for 10 minutes instead of taking damage, if save is successful all damage dealt from attack is subdual

Bounty Hunter 5 (PRC) soft strike, 1/day announce on a successful critical hit, target must make Fortitude save with DC of 10 + damage rolled or fall unconscious for 10 minutes instead of taking damage, if save is successful all damage dealt from attack is subdual

Critical Spell Strike (feat) when wielder inflicts a critical hit with a touch spell, the spell's save DC is increased by 4

Finding the Secrets (feat) choose a creature type normally immune to critical hits, wielder can now inflict critical hits against that type and gain favored enemy damage bonuses, sneak attack at 1/2 normal damage, may be taken more than once

Knock Prone (feat) when wielder inflicts a critical hit, target must make a Fortitude save or be knocked prone

Targeted Attack (feat) when wielder scores a successful critical hit, wielder may forgo bonus damage and injure a specific body part, as listed in the variant rules of the DMG I, page 27

Blinding (weapon enchantment) on a successful critical hit, target must make a DC 13 Fortitude save or be permanently blinded

Stinger (weapon enchantment) weapon inflicts poison on a successful critical hit, DC 13, primary 1d3 Strength damage, secondary 1d3 Constitution damage

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Bestiary of Krynn Revised

Time of the Twins

Towers of High Sorcery

Kingdoms of Kalamar

Kingdoms of Kalamar: Dangerous Denizens

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know I am missing some Kalamar books, including all the modules, but I have not been able to find them anywhere except hideously expensive PDF downloads I cannot afford at the moment-anyone with a full set, feel free to chime in here if anything relevant is out there.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-23, 03:31 PM

Double Post to fill in the blanks for Dragon Magazine:

Issue Numbers

275

Crescent Knife (weapon) exotic light weapon with 20/x2 critical, but each attack becomes 2 discrete attack rolls, resolved separately, allowing wielder potentially increase damage by 100% and double up for all striking effects

Scourge (weapon) exotic one handed weapon with 20/x2 critical, but each attack becomes 3 discrete attack rolls, resolved separately, allowing wielder potentially increase damage by 200% and to triple up for all striking effects, Note: while sharing a name with the weapon in Complete Warrior, this weapon has different damage and special rules, DM fiat may render this weapon inaccessible

277

Dimensional Accelerator Rifle (weapon, firearm) Greyhawk 2000 futuristic weapon, 19-20/x3 critical

Dimensional Accelerator Gun (weapon, firearm) Greyhawk 2000 futuristic heavy weapon, 19-20/x3 critical

Shocker (weapon, firearm) Greyhawk 2000 futuristic weapon, critical of 20, target must make a DC 18 Fortitude save or be rendered helpless for 1d6 rounds, no save on a critical hit

Hunting Rifle (weapon, firearm) Greyhawk 2000 futuristic weapon, 19-20/x3 critical

Sniper Rifle (weapon, firearm) Greyhawk 2000 futuristic weapon, 19-20/x3 critical

Ashram (magic weapon) +2 scimitar, on a successful critical hit weapon deals an additional 1d10 fire damage and a humanoid target must make a DC 16 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1d4 rounds

Malagar (magic weapon) +2 keen falchion, on critical hit target must make DC 18 Fortitude save or suffer bleeding wounds for 3 rounds, dealing 2d6 fire damage each round, does not function against targets without blood or resistance/immunity to fire

292

Fiendrender (magic weapon, sentient) in the hands of a good Cleric, becomes a +2 adamantine, dancing, bane against lawful outsiders, bane against evil outsiders, on a critical hit an outsider must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or be blinded for 1 round

293

Glaive of Azharadian 5 (PRC) 1/day wielder can apply keen quality to a longsword or battleaxe for class level/rounds, does not stack

301

Daishalar (weapon) exotic double weapon, critical 18-20/x2, compatible with weapon finesse

Pistol (weapon, firearm) critical 18-20/x2, ranged touch attack, requires standard action to reload

Musket (weapon, firearm) critical 18-20/x2, ranged touch attack, requires standard action to reload

304

Find Hole (feat) wielder gets +2 to critical confirmation rolls

305

Tail Pick (weapon) 20/x4 critical, requires a tail

Extractor Globe (weapon) +1 returning thrown weapon, 20/x2 critical, on a successful critical hit the target's brain is extracted, no save

Ordinator 6 (PRC) 1/day, + 1/day every 3 further levels, when wielder scores a successful critical hit during a smite attempt, the smite damage is counted twice instead of once for the attack

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

274

276

278

279

280

282

290

297

300

302

303

305

306

307

308

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For now, I guess I will fill in the proverbial blanks for issues other contributors are missing, up through issue 312 so far; I will be on this again sometime later tonight or tomorrow.

Yael

2018-09-23, 05:20 PM

+1 for un-errata'd Talenta Sharash (ECS). 1d10 dmg, 19-20/x4 trip reach weapon for a feat seems pretty solid to me.

Edit.
Now that I remember, if you're looking for 3rd party sources, World of Warcraft RPG Core Rulebook, page 193, has the Arcanite special weapon material that has a +1 enhancement to attack and damage rolls, and expands the critical threat range of a weapon by +1, and explicitly stacks with effects that increase threat range, such as Improved Critical.

Dragon Magazine #358, page 43, has the Serrated item quality, that deals an extra point (1) of bleeding damage for 1d4 rounds on a successful critical hit. Works only on slashing and piercing weapons.

Saintheart

2018-09-24, 01:07 AM

Went through issues 312 to 325. Went back over a few issues because I got a bit sleepy last night and might have skipped over some areas. Where I did and I find something I missed, I've edited it back into the entry/post where I referred to that issue.

EDIT: In fact, I've just shifted all of 312-325 back into the preceding post. Between Viper's posting and mine, that should take us from 275 until 325 inclusive for Dragon.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-24, 02:22 PM

Update, I will be working on Dragon Magazine Issues 326-337 today.

327

Tainted Strike (feat) when wielder scores a successful critical hit, wielder may deal additional negative energy damage to target equal to wielder's number of racial feats, Drow only

329

Token of Faith: Death (holy symbol, Death domain) a wielder who is a Cleric with the Death domain and using this as a holy symbol increases the save DC by +2 for target to avoid death whenever the wielder performs a coup de grace

Token of Faith: War (holy symbol, War domain) a wielder who is a Cleric with the War domain and using this as a holy symbol gains +1 to critical confirmation rolls with the chosen weapon of the wielder's deity, must be worn for 24 hours before coming online

333

Moonrat's Bane (magic weapon) a successful critical hit against a rat/ratlike target leaves the target shaken for 1 minute, no save

335

Supremely Confidant (feat) wielder can use Perform (act) in place of Intimidate when demoralizing an opponent, and upon striking a successful critical hit wielder can, as a free action, immediately attempt to demoralize that opponent, Fighter bonus feat

336

Sacrificial Knife (magic weapon) if weapon is used for a successful coup de grace attempt, weapon immediately casts Death Knell upon target

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

326

328

330

331

332

334

337

PhantasyPen

2018-09-24, 10:05 PM

Alright! The Critical Threat Range section of the handbook appears to be finished (for now). I was surprised at how many of the things listed actually do stack according to their own rulings.

Saintheart

2018-09-24, 10:40 PM

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-25, 12:19 AM

Can't really get to my Dragons where I am right now, but there is another sort of rumination I had on this whole idea, putting it up for debate or correction:

Proposition: optimising to confirm criticals should always be a secondary consideration to optimising your attack roll if you have to choose between the two. The rationale being: since a critical threat is meaningless unless you actually get over the opponent's AC on that roll, it makes more sense to pump your attack modifiers, since the same roll you make to threaten the critical hit in the first place is the same roll you'll make to confirm it as well.

Therefore, any feat that does something to help confirmation critical hits is always -- by definition -- going to be weaker than a feat that boosts all attack rolls. I would argue a feat that confirms all critical threats is, bar the most exceptional of circumstances, necessarily weaker than a feat that boosts all your attack rolls.

Also related to this -- I had a look at the SRD version of Bless Weapon, which I'd otherwise thought a godsend because it confirms criticals against evil opponents automatically. I was surprised by this last line, which I hadn't noticed before:

So if you were going to run around the countryside with a Wand of Bless Weapon on you, this shuts down most stuff like thundering or fiery burst -- though not stuff that operates independently of the weapon, like Staggering Blow further up -- and your critical threat range is going to have to come solely from the weapon's inherent threat range, any extension to the range you can pull from natural-ish sources like Targeteer does for bows, and then doubling via Improved Critical.

As for the proposition-up to a point, since a bonus to an attack roll will also apply to that confirmation roll: only the most spectacular confirmation effects are really worth investing in, and as part of the 3.5 updates they removed most of the stacking effects. Notably, they made most of the common effects not stack unless they were damage or minor effects, and went out of their way to entirely partition most of the auto-confirm stuff like Bless/Corrupt/Distort Weapon unless it is a single shot discharge effect.

There is still a place for confirmation bonuses, though, depending on the build: in very general terms, a crit fisher is constructed one of 2 ways. Either you go whole hog with TWF/MWF and try to land as many crits as possible, and let huge stacks of on-striking effects plus raw damage speak for itself: or you take a more measured approach, and rely on a few hideously powerful critical effects do the work for you, and manage limited use effects to ensure you hit and discharge them consistently in the 3-4 encounters a day where you need to directly contribute in combat. Effects like Vorpal, the Extractor Globe, Dragonlances versus dragons, Mace of Smiting, Kas the Bloodyhanded, Devastating Critical, and the like. Basically the melee version of save-or-suck/save-or-die, often becoming just-die effects with you only needing a successful critical in lieu of giving the target a save.

Saintheart

2018-09-25, 02:22 AM

Also dug up this thread regarding building a critfisher with the Targetteer archer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?540364-Crit-Fishing-With-Targetteer), which I found oddly inspiring and might actually attempt to make a build for this thread at some point...

EDIT: Sort of related - note that Deepwood Sniper makes all your "projectile weapons" behave as if they were keen weapons from first level (added to the crit multiplier bonuses that you get at 2nd and 7th). While you need WF(Bow) to qualify for the PrC, there isn't much in that PrC that a halfling slinger couldn't also qualify for on the RAW, and you wonder whether that wording gets you around Bless Weapon's restrictions since it's explicitly an (Ex) ability and "as if", not magical of itself. That is just a nice-looking PrC for a critfishing archer.

Saintheart

2018-09-25, 07:08 AM

Right, onward. Issues 338 - 348 being looked at, will edit the results in here.

338

Imbued Staff (ACF) A mage can forego a familiar to imbue a staff with increasing portions of her power. At 15th to 16th level, the staff gains one of a number of special abilities, one of which is thundering. Unlike normal, this quality applies to both ends of the staff.

341

Iron-Toothed Maw (Warforged Component) - has a biting mouth that projects out from the girdle to which it's mounted. 10 bite attacks per day, has a 5 foot reach, 3d6 piercing damage, 19-20 /x2 and is considered a magic weapon for the purposes of DR.

Kas the Bloody Handed (Pact Magic) - When you score a critical hit, the struck creature must make a Will save (DC 10 + half binder level + CHA bonus) or be permanently blinded. Critical hits and blinding effects work on undead. (Duplicates Tome of Magic's benefit.)

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

339

340

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-25, 11:56 AM

Updated the Deepwood Sniper entry this morning, and this update should finish the 3.5 Dragon Magazine issues, 342-363.

342

Initiate of Erythnul (feat) whenever wielder outright kills a target with a critical hit (but not a coup de grace), wielder gains the benefits of a Death Knell spell, wielder also gains 3 unique spells, including Erythnul's Slaughter

Erythnul's Slaughter (spell) 5th level, Initiate of Erythnul, 30 ft radius, all melee weapons, including that of opponents are affected by a keen edge spell while within the spell radius, and no living creature within the radius can stabilize normally, requiring magical healing or a heal check to stabilize when they fall into negative hit points

344

Plate Thinner (alchemical item) can be used as a thrown weapon, coats 1 medium sized target, requires multiple doses to coat larger targets, for 1 minute increases critical multipliers by 1 on any roll of a natural 20, affects only creatures of the dragon type or reptilian subtype with a natural armor bonus

348

Ghost Spike (weapon) 19-20/x2 and 19-20/x3 critical, exotic double weapon, Ninja and Assassins receive weapon proficiency for free

349

Relentless Smash (Alternate class feature, Barbarian) replaces Mighty Rage, when wielder scores a successful critical hit or strikes the same target 3 or more times in 1 round, the target is stunned for 1d3 rounds, no save, and targets the same size or smaller than the wielder must make a Fortitude save or be knocked prone

351

Elven Longblade (weapon) distinct from elven lightblade and thinblade, 18-20/x2 critical, compatible with weapon finesse, made from bone rather than metal

Potent Dweomercraft (feat) may expend arcane focus as a swift action, from the arcane focus feat, to double the critical threat range of the next melee touch attack spell wielder casts within the same round

Bane of the Clockwork (alternate class feature, Monk) replaces slow fall and 6th level bonus feat, wielder's unarmed strikes but not monk weapons can deal critical hits to constructs, wielder can also use stunning fist and quivering palm against constructs

352

Rivebow (weapon) exotic ranged weapon with 40 ft range increment, 19-20/x3 critical, base damage 2d6 slashing at medium size

357

Critical Observation (skill trick) 1/day, wielder can make a Heal skill check with a -10 penalty in place of an attack roll for a critical confirmation roll, with a DC equal to the target's AC

358

Serrated (non-magical weapon quality) on a successful critical hit, target bleeds for 1 additional damage for 1d4 rounds

363

Gaia. Soul of the Land (Epic Vestige) wielder gains ability to inflict sneak attacks, critical hits, and all other forms of precision damage against Aberrations, Contructs, Oozes, and Undead and automatically confirms critical hits, among other benefits

Blade of Ragnarok levels 24, 30 (Epic Destiny) at level 24, 2/day swift action, wielder can gain +20 luck bonus on attack rolls for 1 turn, doubling critical threat range, suffer no miss chance on attack rolls and wielder can reroll any 1's for attack and damage rolls, at level 30, 3/day (Su), declare use before making an attack roll, can suppress one defensive ability for 3 rounds, including one immunity of wielder's choice

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

343

345

346

347

350

353

354

355

356

359

360

361

362

With Saintheart's work, that finishes Dragon Magazine. Onward to Dungeon Magazine.

Fuzzy McCoy

2018-09-26, 03:19 PM

Of note, the great crossbow can also be found in Races of Stone.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-26, 03:44 PM

Of note, the great crossbow can also be found in Races of Stone.

Moved to the appropriate section. When I came across that in Dragon Magazine I could have sworn I saw it in a book somewhere before, but came up blank when I scanned the work I did prior in the thread.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: update for the first batch of Dungeon Magazine.

83

Turiew's Spear (magic weapon, Major Artifact) On a successful critical hit, weapon permanently disenchants any magic armor worn by target, no saving throw

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

82

84

85

86

Saintheart

2018-09-26, 11:14 PM

I'm still away from my Dragons at the moment, but I wanted to try and apply some crayon-level probability math to all this. Anyone better at statistics or probability is welcome to chime in and tell me where I'm wrong. I was trying to work backwards a little from this.

We know that a successful critical hit -- leave aside magic options -- necessarily involves two d20 rolls:
(1) the roll to overcome AC and in passing impose a critical threat by virtue of a character/weapon's threat range; and
(2) the roll to confirm the critical hit, which also has to overcome AC.

We also know the chance of any particular number coming up on any given d20 roll is 5% across infinity, in theory.

However, when you take two successive rolls, the probabilities change a little because you're combining probabilities. In particular, the results take on a Bell curve. When we run the numbers on www.anydice.com, it turns out that 2d20 has a mean result of 21 and a standard deviation of 8.15.

If I understand that right, then, when you roll two successive d20s, 68% of those occasions will be where the rolls end up in the range of returning totals of 13.75 through to 29.15, i.e. 14 through 30 since dice can't return decimal results. The highest possible numbers you can roll to get those results are 13 (13+1 = 14) or 20 (20+10 = 30).

What I'm on about here is that whilst in a theoretical optimisation build it's entirely possible to get a critical threat range of 1-20 (Targeteer seems the easiest theoretical way to do that via Haste, Girallon Arms Totemist, Rapid Shot, etc, etc) you're living in a world where it's fairly unlikely a DM is ever going to agree to such a character. Or is going to agree to a character only for so long as it takes to start throwing critical-immune opponents at you. And indeed if you start getting the threat range seriously down into single digits it's likely to bring on the DM's notice even moreso. I'm trying to figure out if there's some "sweet spot" in terms of probability as a range of d20 rolls which is nice enough to get you threats on the majority of opponents but not such that it becomes auto-threat on everything in sight.

What I'm wondering, then, is this: since 68% -- that's slightly above 2 out of 3 -- of 2d20 results statistically fall in the range of 14-30, does one actually have to have a threat range down in the single digits to still do major damage? Does a crit threat range of, say, 10-20 suffice given that a successful critical hit necessarily involves at least 2d20 rolls (absent magic options) and that 2 out of 3 of the results of those rolls are going to total no less than 14? Given how BAB works, and how AC creeps upward through the levels, how likely is it that your opponent's AC is going to be low enough that you could roll less than 10 and still hit? Do you actually need to worry about threatening on single digits given your critical threats are likely to be gated out by virtue of the opponent's AC? In short, is an expanded critical threat range a case of diminishing returns against DM wrath, and is it feasible to calculate how much that diminishing return is?

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-26, 11:57 PM

No real sweet spot-as much range as you can get, up to 2-20: a 1 is always a miss, even without the critical fumbles optional rule. As for DM fiat-obviously depends on the table, but functionally that is no different than DM fiat shutting down certain books, spells, or items. Just find out what the ground rules are, and plan your build around them.

Much more important is what your critical effects are, and how you plan to get around immunities-without that, a crit fisher is just a collection of spare parts. If you just want to do damage, you can build a charger that has some critical effects, to jack up HP sponges than can survive a competent charge. Scoring criticals consistently is just fine, but that means little if all your build has amounts to mediocre damage boosts and a couple of riders. Relying on hit point damage to actually drop opponents, puts you in direct competition with the damage output of a charger. You only want to go in that direction if you are multi-weapon fighting with 6+ arms, so that you can stack enough flat bonuses to keep apace.

More important is gaining effects that you can trigger consistently, that would be hard to get on a charger-so you can tag numerous opponents with debilitating status/debuffs and have many more attack rolls to spread around.

Overall, I think breaking immunes, critical effects, critical range, total attack bonus, and critical multiplier are the most important, in that order. Generally a build's multiplier will max out around x4 or x5, so making sure all your iteratives hit trumps the extra raw damage in most cases.

@Saintheart: if you are away from your materials tomorrow, I can finish up the Dragon issues as well.

Saintheart

2018-09-27, 12:09 AM

^^^^

Would appreciate it and if it's not an impost on your time - real life is a bit busy right now.

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-27, 06:46 PM

Update for more Dungeon Magazine:

95

Double-Bladed Scythe (weapon) exotic double weapon, 2d4/2d4 with critical 20/x4 and 20/x4, piercing and slashing on both ends

Demogorgon's Tooth (magic weapon) +2 Vile Scimitar, casts DC 14 Contagion on any Good target struck, deals additional 2 points of Vile Damage on a critical hit, wielder can speak and understand Abyssal

97

Keshen Blademaster 2, 3, 6, 10+ (PRC) wielder gains 1d6 bonus damage on successful critical hits with a slashing weapon that includes a blade, increasing by 1d6 at level 6 and every 4 levels thereafter, at level 3 wielder also gains 1/day keen edge (Su) effect, held slashing weapon only

100

Holocaust Warrior 5 (PRC) wielder can, 2/day at 5th level and +1/day every three levels thereafter, add the Flaming Burst quality to a held weapon for rounds/character level

Githyanki Double-Scythe (weapon) 20/x4 critical on both ends, 2d4 slashing and piercing (functionally identical to regular Double-Bladed Scythe)

Githyanki Scythe-Sword (weapon) 2d4 20/x4 critical, slashing and piercing, and 1d8 19-20/x2 critical, slashing

Githyanki Double-Scimitar (weapon) 18-20/x2 critical (functionally identical to regular Double Scimitar)

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

96

98

99

101

There are only only a handful of new items or spells in each issue, so I do not anticipate too many additions. However, I have already find some pertinent additions to this thread, so I will do all the 3.0/3.5 Dungeon issues for the sake of completion. When that is finished, all 1st Party-ish material should be covered.

martixy

2018-09-28, 08:08 PM

@Saintheart
I can probably help out with the math a bit.

I'm not sure what you're doing with the bell curve and the stdev and all that.

You calculate the probability of landing a crit by multiplying the two.
Here, I made a handy chart(the criticals sheet, though the other one is interesting too*):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14P-_AUDhtIEwav7dhF5G7AD0OowlRq2MmRVabsqDTU8/edit?usp=sharing

If one column is the roll you need for a threat, and the other is the roll you need to confirm, the intersection is your chance of landing the crit.

The other columns on the right allow you to study how the chances change as your values change - you'll notice that they steadily increase faster, the lower in the ranges you get. There is not magic "peak number" after which you get diminishing returns.

* It investigates the chances of n number of creatures with a to-hit chance of p of landing k hits on a target, and the effects of aid another. I made it for my other thread on making useless mooks useful in number - incidentally prompted by your RHoD handbook(hobgoblin regulars are hopelessly useless).

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-28, 08:43 PM

New post for more Dungeon Magazine:

105

Nervewrack (weapon enchantment) on a successful critical hit, targets takes a -2 penalty on AC, attack rolls, weapon damage rolls and Reflex saves, and afflicted target must make a DC 15 Concentration check to cast spells, condition lasts for 1d4 rounds, pain effect

106

Sword of Answering (magic weapon, Minor Artifact) +3 keen bastard sword, on a successful critical hit the enhancement bonus is treated as +2 higher and the weapon deals an additional 2d6 damage, wielder can use weapon in an attack of opportunity to strike an opponent who successfully damages the wielder with a weapon

112

Whip of Red Shadows (magic weapon, Minor Artifact) +4 Brilliant Energy Shocking Burst whip, on successful critical hit weapon tears away target's shadow, giving weapon a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against target and inflicting 2 points of Wisdom drain with each successful strike, torn shadow can only be healed with 8 hours of uninterrupted rest or casting of Greater Restoration, Miracle, or Wish

116

Dementia (weapon enchantment) on a successful critical hit, target must make a DC 16 Will save or be affected by the effects of the Confusion spell for 7 rounds

120

Braid Blade (weapon) exotic light weapon, 18-20/x2 critical, woven into hair rather than held, can make an attack action or make an extra attack as part of a full attack at a -5 penalty, +2 bonus to feinting in combat

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

102

103

104

107

108

109

110

111

113

114

115

117

118

119

ViperMagnum357

2018-09-29, 03:10 PM

Doublepost, more Dungeon Magazine:

123

Jotur the Imprint Maker (magic weapon) +1 warhammer, on a critical hit, in addition to other effects weapon head animates and leaves a bite impression on target, each such bite can be removed from target and assembled as the pieces to a map leading to a tomb filled with treasure

129

Sword of Aaqa (magic weapon) +2 axiomatic mithril longsword, on a successful critical hit weapon creates a blast of wind, forcing target to make a DC 18 Fortitude save or be knocked down or blown backwards and knocked down, depending on target size

142

Darsam-Tor-Ews (magic weapon) +4 axiomatic ghost touch adamantine greatclub, can inflict critical hits on constructs

Issues with no readily apparent critical effects

121

122

124

125

126

127

128

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Annnd that is a wrap for Dungeon Magazine. Unless someone chimes in with a critical effect from a printed module or Kingdom of Kalamar books I do not have, that should be all 1st party material covered for 3.0/3.5, I think.

PhantasyPen

2018-10-01, 12:57 PM

Wow. I don't think I can thank you guys enough for all the help. :happytears:

Saintheart

2018-10-03, 03:33 AM

Saintheart

2018-10-06, 04:17 AM

Double posting for a bit of advice/example on critfishing, specifically on the Targeteer path, here's an unfinished build I wouldn't mind some advice on if anybody wanted to consider it.

I was looking at was a flavourful archery-based critfishing build without resorting to Disciple of Dispater. I was trying here to fill a niche of critfishing archer and support caster, as well as trying to make some contributions at various levels. Rather than Disciple, I resort to cheesing via my equipment, which I get at surprisingly cheap prices via Runecaster.

1 Targeteer Fighter 1 (Grey Elf) (Starting feat – Precise Shot) (Flaw feat – Magical Training) (Flaw feat – Point Blank Shot) (Targeteer Fighter feat – Vital Aim) (Targeteer Bonus EWP: Composite Greatbow) (Targeteer Bonus EWP: Harpoon)
2 Targeteer Fighter 2 (Targeteer Fighter feat -- Sniper)
3 Mystic Ranger 1 (Feat – Weapon Focus (Bow))
4 Mystic Ranger 2
5 Mystic Ranger 3 (Rapid Shot)
6 Mystic Ranger 4 (Feat - Sword of the Arcane Order)
7 Deepwood Sniper 1
8 Deepwood Sniper 2
9 Peerless Archer 1 (Feat – Far Shot)
10 Peerless Archer 2
11Peerless Archer 3
12 Mystic Ranger 5 (Feat - Woodland Archer)
13 Mystic Ranger 6
14 Mystic Ranger 7 (Manyshot)
15 Mystic Ranger 8 (Feat - Quick Draw)
16 Justice of Weald and Woe 1
17 Justice of Weald and Woe 2
18 Justice of Weald and Woe 3 (Feat - Combat Reflexes)
19 Warblade 1
20 Eternal Blade 1

Less Deepwood Sniper in here than I'd originally thought, mainly because the returns are diminishing if you're trying to do something else useful with your time. Waiting 7 levels in Deepwood Sniper does get you to an extra crit multiplier, but with the right equipment and/or spells I reckon you could get the same thing elsewhere. As it is, I'd be using a Composite Greatbow which has a x3 multiplier, which Deepwood Sniper 2 raises to x4.

Yes, no Improved Critical in here. You get a keen effect from Deepwood Sniper 1 and absent a very clever class you won't get Improved Critical to stack with it, so why bother? (This is not a rhetorical question - if anyone has good answers, let me know.)

Significant equipment:
- Composite Greatbow, Elvencraft. Would add usual stuff like Splitting, Seeking maybe.
- As an alternative, I actually find the Elven Double Bow (AEG p. 7) kind of interesting, because it basically is Manyshot 2.0 in a can. The Double Bow allows you to load two arrows as a move-equivalent action and then your next attack has an effect basically the same as Manyshot. So the Double Bow allows you to use these two arrows either as the first iterative on a full attack or as a standard action attack. Indeed I suspect you can use this silliness to shoot off three or even four arrows if you combine this with Manyshot, which operates as a standard action. I like the Double Bow mainly because that move-equivalent action means your standard action is still open to cast True Strike or something similar. And as said, because it's an exotic weapon, Targeteer can pick up proficiency in it for free.
- Harpoon: the Stormwrack version, mostly because it's a fun backup. Hit someone with a harpoon and their movement speed is dropped by half, they can't charge or run, and they literally do as much damage pulling out the harpoon as it did on the way in. Would be fun to optimise this with critical hits, but that's not the purpose. Main reason it's in there is because it's an exotic ranged weapon, and a Targeteer gets two EWP (ranged only) for free at first level.
- Truedeath Crystal: 10,000 gp (SA and Critical Hits vs. undead.)
- Demolition Crystal: 6,000 gp (SA and Critical hits vs. Constructs.)
- Permanent rune of Curse of Arrow Attraction, carved on a grey ioun stone: (2 x 5 x 2,000 x 2) = 40,000 gp default. Made by an Ur-Priest who went into Runecaster, it’s 3 x 3 x 2,000 x 2 = 24,000 gp. This rune, carved onto the ioun stone, circles your head and is set to trigger on any enemy who comes within 30 feet. That means every one of your opponents gets tagged with something that nerfs their AC by 5 and automatically confirms criticals.
- Permanent rune of Weapon of Energy, made by an Ur-Priest going into Runecaster: it’s 3 x 3 x 2,000 = 18,000 gp.
- Permanent rune of Bless Weapon : (1 x 4 x 2,000) = 8,000 gp (If needed. Curse of Arrow Attraction might make this nugatory).
- Some object of Haste.

Wealth by level is 88,000 gp at 12th level, these are not bank-breaking purchases at this point. The trickiest ones to arrange are these:

- Permanent rune of Sakkratar’s Triple Strike: (5 x 10 x 2,000) = 100,000 gp. Made by Ur-Priest Runecaster who uses Anyspell to get him access to Sakkratar’s Triple Strike: 5 x 5 x 2,000 = 50,000 gp.
- Rune of Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, usable 3/day, made by Ur-Priest going into Runecaster: 7 x 7 x 3 x 400 = 58,800.

The fact these grant extra melee attacks is not a problem for Targeteer's Sniper ability because we're using an Elvencraft weapon, which explicitly tells us that ranged and melee attacks can be used interchangeably.

So this gives us, at level 12, 3 attacks from BAB, 1 from Haste, 2 from Sakkratar's Triple Strike*, 1 from Righteous Wrath of the Faithful*, 1 from an Elvencraft bow's status as a double weapon, 2 from Vital Aim (at -5, which penalty is cancelled out by our rune of Curse of Arrow Attraction) for a total of 10 attacks available on a Full Attack. We sacrifice, say, 8 of those attacks. Our weapon's critical range goes from 20 to 12-20. Keen arrow quality from Deepwood Sniper 1 either doubles that - bringing it to a threat range of 3-20 - or increases it by 1, which gives us 11-20. And it auto-confirms thanks to Curse of Arrow Attraction. Also some extra dice from sneak attack and Weapon of Energy. And flaming burst from Sakkratar's Triple Strike. And if we miss, we still have one attack left, which gets a +4 from Woodland Archer. Not that it's likely, since we also have Lucky Shot from Justice of Weald and Woe for a +10 insight bonus to a ranged attack, which by virtue of Justice's Power Shot ability can be Power Attacked into damage as well.

Any thoughts for how I could improve the build, other suggestions? (Yes, I know Totemist 2 = Girallon Arms for another 4 attacks, but that's kind of "eh" for this build.)

* If can't get these two runes at this level, then the critical range becomes about 6-20 or so.

EDIT: Probably the single biggest change I'd make to this on a few days' reflection would be to change one of the EWPs ... to Kaorti Resin Composite Greatbow, mainly because that automatically pumps the critical multiplier of the weapon to x4, which Deepwood Sniper then raises to x5. And seeing as the biggest drawback to Kaorti Resin weapons is that you have to have a specific EWP in the resin weapon concerned, Targeteer is just made for that exploit with its 2 free EWPs at first level.

Maat Mons

2018-10-06, 05:46 PM

I didn't see it elsewhere in this thread, so I'll post the method for calculating how much of a damage boost critical hits give.

To get the % increase, we need to take (a - b) / b, where a is the damage with critical hits, and b is the damage without.

So, to involve way too much math, we're going to define the following variables:
Phit = probability that attack roll is high enough to hit target's AC
Pthreat = probability that attack roll is within weapon's critical threat range
D = weapon damage before critical multipliers
M = critical multiplier

So, what's the expected value for damage against crit-immune enemies? That's pretty straightforward.
Phit * D
That's the probability that we hit, times the damage we deal if we hit
That's our b from (a - b) / b.

What's the expected value for damage against enemies that are subject to critical hits? Slightly more complicated.
It's the odds that we critically hit times the damage of a critical hit, plus the odds of a non-critical hit times the damage of a non-critical hit.

The critical hit part of that is pretty straightforward. Assuming that any roll good enough to be a critical threat is also good enough to hit, it's
Pthreat * Phit * D * M

There are two ways of getting a non-critical hit. We can roll a critical threat and fail to confirm, or we can roll a hit that wasn't a high enough roll to be a threat. So the odds of a non-critical hit is the sum of the odds of those two events.
Pthreat * (1 - Phit) + Phit - Pthreat
And then of course multiply by non-critical damage, D.

So the big, complicated formula becomes:
[ Pthreat * Phit * D * M + (Pthreat * (1 - Phit) + Phit - Pthreat) * D - Phit * D ] / Phit * D
Which, when you cancel out the terms, becomes the much friendlier-looking formula:
Pthreat * (M - 1)

So, and this is an important result, once both the initial attack roll and the critical confirmation roll are both factored in, they both factor out.

As such, we can very easily calculate the value of the critical threat range/multiplier of weapons:
x3: +10% damage
19-20/x2: +10% damage
x4: +15% damage
18-20/x2: +15% damage
19-20/x3: +20% damage
17-20/x2: +20% damage
19-20/x4: +30% damage
15-20/x2: +30% damage

Saintheart

2018-10-06, 08:05 PM

^^^

I admit I don't quite understand the terminology, but would higher multipliers follow the same pattern, i.e. a 20 /x5 multiplier adds +20% overall, and a 19-20/x5 is a +40%?

Asking mainly because it's fairly straightforward to pull a slightly higher multiplier if you start with a x4 weapon.

Also, on the assumption that you can auto-confirm your critical hits for all targets, does that change the numbers?

In passing, thank you very, very much for doing this calculation. This is a really handy way for evaluating what features to prioritise when building a critfisher.

For example, unless I've got it wrong, it seems from this table that having a higher multiplier -- up to a point -- is better than a wider threat range. The good old Orc Shotput does as much expected extra damage as a rapier does, and even if all you do is finagle an Improved Critical for Gork's throwing ball, you're still outdoing Inigo Montoya.

ViperMagnum357

2018-10-08, 03:07 PM

Update, since I forgot about the Dragonlance modules:

Dragonlance: Key of Destiny

Shard of Light (magic weapon, Minor Artifact) +2 Shortsword, deals double damage against Undead and creatures native to the Negative Energy Plane, explicitly stacks with critical multiplier

Staff of Bones (magic quarterstaff, stave, Minor Artifact) on a successful critical hit, weapon deals an additional 2d6 Cold damage to a living target

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Specter of Sorrows

Price of Courage

Dragons of Autumn

Dragons of Winter

Dragons of Spring

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Separate topic: Is anyone interested in the Ravenloft setting stuff? It is printed under the Sword & Sorcery license so most people assume OGL by default, but it turns out it is an official licensed product complete with the WOTC licensed logo and nary an OGL stamp in sight. I think I have them all, going by the printing list, so would that be of interest to anyone?

Saintheart

2018-10-08, 06:26 PM

Mememe! Always of interest to me! :smallsmile:

PhantasyPen

2018-10-08, 08:28 PM

Definitely

ViperMagnum357

2018-10-08, 08:29 PM

Alright, here is a start for Ravenloft:

RavenLoft Campaign Setting

Parthian Rapier (weapon) exotic one handed weapon modeled on rapier, 18-20/x2 critical, finessable, mounts a single shot pistol that can be used in conjunction with a successful attack as a free action

Champions of Darkness

Scourge 1 (PRC) Pinpoint Agony ability, any successful critical hit with an unarmed strike stuns the target for 1 round as the Stunning Fist feat, no save, RAW/RAI conflict-by RAW the ability works on any opponent, RAI has PRC fluff and ability description only mentioning Humanoid targets, likely DM fiat

Target Vulnerable Spot (feat) on a successful critical hit against a creature with a specific vulnerability, while using that vulnerability, such as a silvered weapon versus DR/Silver or a wooden stake against a vampire, the wielder's critical multiplier is increased by 1 and automatically counts as having targeted any specific vulnerable points, such as driving a wooden stake into a vampire's heart

Legacy of the Blood

Finding Weakness (feat) Fighter bonus feat, wielder can take a standard action to make an opposed Intelligence check against an opponent with both adding their respective BAB, if successful wielder increases their melee critical multipliers by 1 against that opponent for the rest of the encounter

Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide

Gray Matter Blade (magic weapon) Keen Longsword with modified 18-20 -> 15-20 critical threat range against targets with a head and brain, and critical multiplier increases to x4, on a successful critical hit sword will attach itself to target's head and consumes brain in 1d6 rounds

Carrion Blade (magic weapon) +1 Guisarme attaches itself to target on a successful critical hit, and continues attacking on its own for 4 rounds, similar to Fleshgrinding property from BoVD

Fang of the Nosferatu (magic item, Cursed, Artifact) deals 1d4 Constitution damage on a successful critical hit and heals wielder of a like amount of damage, blade must be sated regularly or it permanently drains Hit Points from wielder until slaked

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Denizens of Darkness

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft
(Okay, actually an adventure module, but it is one of the few with a lot of extra material)

Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends

Heroes of Light

Masque of the Red Death

Saintheart

2018-10-08, 09:21 PM

EDIT: So anyway I decided to do up a table, based on Maat Mons' calculations, as to what additional damage can be expected based on critical multiplier and critical threat range. Hope it's of assistance.

Threat Range
x2
x3
x4
x5
x6
x7
x8

20
+5%
+10%
+15%
+20%
+25%
+30%
+35%

19-20
+10%
+20%
+30%
+40%
+50%
+60%
+70%

18-20
+15%
+30%
+45%
+60%
+75%
+90%
+105%

17-20
+20%
+40%
+60%
+80%
+100%
+120%
+140%

16-20
+25%
+50%
+75%
+100%
+125%
+150%
+175%

15-20
+30%
+60%
+90%
+120%
+150%
+180%
+210%

14-20
+35%
+70%
+105%
+140%
+175%
+210%
+245%

13-20
+40%
+80%
+120%
+160%
+200%
+240%
+280%

12-20
+45%
+90%
+135%
+180%
+225%
+270%
+315%

11-20
+50%
+100%
+150%
+200%
+250%
+300%
+350%

10-20
+55%
+110%
+165%
+220%
+275%
+330%
+385%

9-20
+60%
+120%
+180%
+240%
+300%
+360%
+420%

8-20
+65%
+130%
+195%
+260%
+325%
+390%
+455%

7-20
+70%
+140%
+210%
+280%
+350%
+420%
+490%

6-20
+75%
+150%
+225%
+300%
+375%
+450%
+525%

5-20
+80%
+160%
+240%
+320%
+400%
+480%
+560%

4-20
+85%
+170%
+255%
+340%
+425%
+510%
+595%

3-20
+90%
+180%
+270%
+360%
+450%
+540%
+630%

2-20
+95%
+190%
+285%
+380%
+475%
+570%
+665%

Maat Mons' calculations spell out how the figures are arrived at, but in essence it's basically a multiplier of the base percentage at the top, up to a maximum of 19 since rolling a 1 means an automatic failure ... absent some sort of device that allows you to always reroll a 1.

Saintheart

2018-10-08, 11:45 PM

Doubleposting now, but I was browsing through some of the old WOTC archives (daremetoidareyo has been compiling them into PDFs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21696231&postcount=32)) and I came across this in the Hidden Realm Above (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20050311a):

Gauntlet of the Vortex: A mithral gauntlet of the vortex is fashioned so that swirling patterns of spirals and vortices coil over its every surface. When worn, the air around the gauntlet shimmers, and its wearer constantly seems to be standing in a brisk breeze since her hair and clothing flutter and dance about. The gauntlet's basic function is to serve as a +1 shocking burst gauntlet, but it also has three additional powers.

First, its wearer can call upon the gauntlet to create a gust of wind at will.

Second, whenever the wearer critically hits a creature with the gauntlet, it unleashes a powerful blast of wind against the creature struck. This wind blast manifests even if the creature struck is normally immune to additional damage from critical hits; the effects are not considered damage, and thus they affect such creatures in the same way they affect anything else. This blast of wind is hurricane force, but it affects only the creature struck. This creature must make a DC 20 Fortitude save to resist the wind. A Medium or smaller creature is blown away; creatures on the ground are knocked down and roll 1d4x10 feet, taking 1d4 points of nonlethal damage per 10 feet. A flying creature that is blown away is blown back 2d6x10 feet and takes 2d6 points of nonlethal damage due to battering and buffering. Large creatures that fail to resist are merely knocked down. Huge creatures are checked, and cannot approach any closer to the wearer for the remainder of the turn. Flying creatures are treated as one size category smaller than their actual size for purposes of determining the effects of a failed save.

Finally, the wearer can use the gauntlet to create a whirlwind, as the spell of the same name, once per day.

Strong evocation; CL 15th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, call lightning or lightning bolt, gust of wind, whirlwind; Price 110,500 gp; Cost 55,500 gp + 4,420 XP.

Guess I'm gonna have to start going through all the archives now as well.

Cathedral of Leaves:

Splinterbolt (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040710a) (Druid 2, Sorcerer/Wizard 3)
You cause a long, thin, sharp beam of splinters to lance out of your outstretched hand to strike a target in range. You must make a ranged attack (not a ranged touch attack) to hit the target; if you hit, the splinterbolt deals 4d6 points of piercing damage. The splinterbolt threatens a critical hit on an 18-20 and deals x3 damage on a successful critical hit.

You can fire one additional splinterbolt for every four levels beyond 3rd (to a maximum of three splinterbolts at 11th level). You can fire these splinterbolts at the same or different targets, but all splinterbolts must be aimed at targets within 30 feet of each other and fired simultaneously.

If you cast this spell in forested terrain, the splinterbolts are treated as cold iron magic weapons, and they deal an additional +4 points of damage on a hit.

Foundations of Stone:

Hammer of Flatlander's Doom (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040612a) (Minor Artifact): A somewhat unbalanced dwarf priest named Mardiak crafted these +4 adamantine warhammers. Mardiak had strange fears that those who dwelt in the lowlands surrounding his precious mountains had plans to raze the mountains down and transform them into plains and rolling hills. He forged no less than two dozen hammers of flatlander's doom before being carried off by a roc. The story goes that Mardiak killed the roc, but himself died when the bird plummeted into the heart of a large region of grasslands. Some say that Mardiak's insane ghost haunts the crater this fall created.

A hammer of flatlander's doom deals +2d6 points of damage when used against creatures native to nonmountainous regions. Additionally, against such targets, the hammer's threat range for critical hits becomes 19-20. A nonmountain-dwelling creature who is critically hit by a hammer of flatlander's doom must make a successful DC 18 Fortitude saving throw or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. The Dungeon Master is free to decide what creatures are not mountain dwellers. At a minimum, a creature whose environment entry does not include mountains is not a mountain dweller.

If used against a creature that dwells in mountainous regions, though, the hammer loses all of its magic properties for 24 hours, right after it bestows a curse on the wielder. The wielder can resist this curse with a successful DC 20 Will save; otherwise he loses all of his weapon proficiencies (including those gained from feats) until the curse is lifted.

Strong transmutation; CL 20th; Weight 5 lb.

The Lost Coast

Trident of Red Brine: (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040320a) Said by some to be the prototype of the infamous trident Wave, a trident of red brine is a +2 keen bane vs. aquatic creatures trident made of magically hardened red coral. On a successful critical hit, the trident causes an additional 2d6 points of damage as it draws off blood and water from the target's body, desiccating the target horribly. A creature that suffers this additional damage must also make a successful Fortitude saving throw (DC 14) or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds. Creatures that are immune to critical hits do not suffer this additional desiccation damage.

Strong necromancy; CL 15th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, horrid wilting, keen edge, summon monster I; Price 72,315 gp; weight 4 lb.

Fire and Ash

Lavalash (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20031227a): A lavalash is a +1 flaming burst whip that seems to be made of a thin strand of molten lava. The handle of the whip is made of obsidian and remains cool to the touch. Although the lavalash's base damage deals nonlethal damage as a normal +1 whip, the additional fire damage can hurt creatures normally.

Three times per day you can cause the strand of lava to detach from the handle as you attack with it. This allows you to make a single ranged touch attack against any target within 60 feet. If you hit, the strand of lava wraps around the target and inflicts standard damage. Additionally, the whip can immediately make a free grapple check to wrap around the target; the whip attacks as though you were making the grapple check against the target. If the whip gets a hold, it holds the target immobile and inflicts 2d6 points of fire damage each round it maintains the hold. The strand of lava fades away into nothingness if it ever fails a grapple check, or after 6 rounds pass.

Strong evocation; CL 12th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, entangle, flame blade, flamestrike; Price 47,000 gp; Cost 23,701 + 301 XP.

Toxic Paradise

Poacher's Blade: (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20030627a) A poacher's blade is a sickly yellow glowing longsword with a serrated blade. These weapons were initially developed by poachers to aid in their cruel harvest of trophies, but many adventurers have found the qualities of the blade to be especially helpful when exploring areas infested with creatures that have natural attacks. Druids and other guardians of nature find poacher's blades to be sickening and overly cruel, but the swords themselves are not intrinsically evil.

A poacher's blade has all of the abilities of a +1 bane versus animals keen longsword. In addition, if the user successfully inflicts a critical hit on a creature that has a natural attack (such as a bite, claw, tentacle, or gore attack), the strike inflicts normal critical damage and renders one of the creature's natural attacks (determine which one randomly if the creature has more than one) useless until all the damage from the critical hit is somehow healed, either naturally or through healing magic.

Caster Level: 13th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, keen edge, summon monster I; Market Price: 50,315 gp.

Sand and Sun

Scimitar of Stonestriking: (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20020921a) The powerful scimitar of stonestriking looks like it was carved entirely out of a single piece of granite. Despite this appearance, it is a dangerous weapon and functions as a +3 keen scimitar. The scimitar of stonestriking is particularly effective against creatures made of stone or earth (including stone golems, clay golems, and any creatures with the Earth subtype). Against such creatures, the scimitar does +2d6 points of additional damage on a successful hit and penetrates any damage reduction the creature may have. The scimitar's most terrible power, however, functions only against living creatures. If it scores a critical hit (which is a natural result of 15-20) on such a creature, the creature must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 19) or turn to stone. If the creature resists, it still suffers the critical damage. If a petrified creature is struck with a scimitar of stonestriking, the creature shatters into a thousand pieces and is slain.

Caster Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Magical Arms and Armor, flesh to stone, keen edge, shatter; Market Price: 138,315 gp; Weight: 4 lb.

Archives with no readily apparent critical effects:

Shadows of Glory

Mire and Mud

Snow and Ice

The Hidden Depths Below

EDIT: That's the last of the Far Corners of the World archive.

ViperMagnum357

2018-10-09, 12:00 AM

Guess I'm gonna have to start going through all the archives now as well.

Uh oh...I had a sinking feeling something flew over our heads...we somehow forgot about all the online material posted over the years and scattered across who knows how many archives.

:smallsigh: headdesk

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 12:02 AM

What, did you have something better to do this decade? :smallbiggrin:

Going to the Magic Books of Faerun (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/mb) archive now. Hopefully I'll recognise these as dupes in the SpC, but if not, apologies ahead of time...

Archives with no readily apparent critical effects:

Hate of the Cobra

Kaupaer's Quick Book, but damn, Kaupaer's Reflexive Strike for a free +1 AoO per round is just begging to be put on a permanent rune for stuff like Robilar's Gambit and whatnot, especially as a level one spell.

Nybor's Small Codex

Treasure of the Golden Hills

Guildbook of the Watchful Order

Master Tactician

Obsul Ssussun, "The Door to Light"

Earthmother's Weapons

The Codicil of White

Tar'Ael Veluuthra

Lesser Testament of Vraer

Barb of the Mind

A Harper's Companion, Volume III

...aaaaaand that's a big fat zero for the Magic Books of Faerun, though there were some interesting bits and pieces in there which just continue to underline to me how much 3.5 should have been underlined "Caster Edition".

ViperMagnum357

2018-10-09, 12:54 AM

What, did you have something better to do this decade? :smallbiggrin:

Gah. Well, I can probably finish Ravenloft tomorrow or the day after. And the archives site appears reasonably intact, so I suppose a methodical search could work alright rather than trying to google individual articles or tracking down the in-progress PDF bundles like the one you linked. Not a problem for tonight, though. :smalltongue:

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 01:14 AM

Gah. Well, I can probably finish Ravenloft tomorrow or the day after. And the archives site appears reasonably intact, so I suppose a methodical search could work alright rather than trying to google individual articles or tracking down the in-progress PDF bundles like the one you linked. Not a problem for tonight, though. :smalltongue:

Sure. Me, seeing as it's all up there on the web I'm going to presume they're happy with copypasta'ing, so I'm just going to bring interesting junk down here and hotlink to the page - rather than type up one line summaries, that's what we're paying PhantasyPen to do :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 01:24 AM

Onward!

Mintiper's Chapbook

Griffonlance of Goring: (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mc/mc20020130a) The griffonlance of goring was borne into battle by successive generations of Waterdhavian Silmerhelves until it was lost during the Battle of Turnstone Pass in 1343 DR following the death of Laerlos Silmerhelve II. This heavy lance is fashioned of duskwood and inscribed with depictions of rearing griffons. It is currently interred within the Cairn of Moonlight in Turnstone Pass alongside the corpse of Laerlos II.

The griffonlance of goring is a +1 thundering heavy lance grants its wielder the ability to use the Spirited Charge feat. In addition, it grants the wielder a +10 circumstance bonus on Ride (griffon) checks.

Caster Level: 6th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, blindness/deafness; Market Price: 36,310; Weight: 10 lb.; Cost to Create: 18,310 gp + 1,440 XP.

Thank God they summarised all the new magic items and spells in the last entry of this archive. That's it for Mintiper's Chapbook.

Expeditionary Dispatch

Refers to the Weapon of the Deity spell from Eberron, which includes keen qualities being granted to certain weapons, but it's already in Faiths of Eberron. Nothing else in the Extraordinary Dispatches.

Archives with no readily apparent critical effects:

Dragonshard Archive

Class Chronicles

Rand's Travelogue

Fey Features ... although there's an interesting feat (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20030815a) if you're fey to sub your CHA for your DEX mod on attack rolls with a crossbow or bow. Which is counterbalanced by a stupid PrC (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20030905a) that has Leadership as a prerequisite and then grants you Leadership as a bonus feat. Invitation to Dark Chaos Shuffle?

Living Spells archive

Adventure Seeds archive

Perilous Gateways archive ... which had a subpage called the Trail of Tears, and which is pretty descriptive for this so far ...

Wyrms of the North ... but the Wingbind spell (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20011121a) is a nice anti-dragon or anti-flier spell, good movement controller.

Eberron Under Glass/Eberron Expanded Archive

Clockwork Wonders ... but Cyran Gliding Boots (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20061120a) allow you to make a 10 foot free adjustment in combat as opposed to a 5 foot step 3/day, which is nice, as well as a +10 feet land speed.

That's all of the archives mentioned in that earlier post.

martixy

2018-10-09, 01:31 AM

Ok, so, I have not audited all the math here, just skimmed it, so I may have missed something.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the calculation be something simple like:
C = Crit
N = Normal hit
M = Multiplier
% = Damage increase from being able to crit

% = PC*M + PN - 1
(PN = 1 - PC)
Which reduces to:
% = PC(M - 1)

E.g.
M = 2
PC = 0.2
PN = 0.8
% = 0.2*2 + 0.8 - 1 = 0.2 (20%)

Maat Mons

2018-10-09, 03:04 AM

I admit I don't quite understand the terminology, but would higher multipliers follow the same pattern, i.e. a 20 /x5 multiplier adds +20% overall, and a 19-20/x5 is a +40%?

Yes.

And don't worry too much about the math. I factored in irreverent complications for the purpose of showing that they didn't actually change the final result.

Also, on the assumption that you can auto-confirm your critical hits for all targets, does that change the numbers?

It would mean that chance of hitting doesn't completely factor out. Which makes sense. The relative value of auto-confirming critical threats depends on what the odds of confirming them normally would have been.

I believe it works out to Pthreat(M-1)/Phit.

So if you figure a 100% chance of hitting, the formulas for auto-confirming and not auto-confirming become the same. Which makes sense, because if you had a 100% chance of hitting (actually impossible), you'd have a 100% chance of confirming too, and auto-confirming wouldn't actually be doing anything for you.

Also, if the minimum number you need to roll to hit is within your critical threat range, hits and critical threats become synonyms. And if you're auto-confirming, critical hits and critical threats become synonyms too. So you'd never get a hit that wasn't a critical. Notice that, in that case, the auto-confirmation formula works out to % increase = M - 1.

For example, unless I've got it wrong, it seems from this table that having a higher multiplier -- up to a point -- is better than a wider threat range. The good old Orc Shotput does as much expected extra damage as a rapier does, and even if all you do is finagle an Improved Critical for Gork's throwing ball, you're still outdoing Inigo Montoya.

If you're trying to maximize a*b, and you can choose between adding +1 to either a or b, you get the best result by adding it to the smaller one.

Note that this doesn't go for multipliers, such as improved critical or keen.

% = PC*M + PN - 1
(PN = 1 - PC)
Which reduces to:
% = PC(M - 1)

Your method of calculating the result ignores both the possibility of an attack missing, and the possibility of a critical confirmation failing. However, you arrive at exactly the same result.

That's fine. Those are irreverent distractions in the normal case. I only included them in my math to show that they don't turn out to matter.

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 03:46 AM

If you're trying to maximize a*b, and you can choose between adding +1 to either a or b, you get the best result by adding it to the smaller one.

Note that this doesn't go for multipliers, such as improved critical or keen.

Sure. Having sat down and tabulated the numbers that flow from those calculations makes that fairly clear to me now. Thanks again for the calculations.

martixy

2018-10-09, 04:02 AM

Your method of calculating the result ignores both the possibility of an attack missing, and the possibility of a critical confirmation failing. However, you arrive at exactly the same result.

That's fine. Those are irreverent distractions in the normal case. I only included them in my math to show that they don't turn out to matter.

Well, it's kind of trivially obvious that they are irrelevant.
Like, it's part of the problem stipulation.

My calculation is: Increase in damage, given a hit and the probability that hit is a critical.

It is basically a calculation of the weapon's ideal (maximum damage increase).

It does however indeed not account for hitting and confirmation - which DOES matter.

You basically have this:

m h c
<---------|---------|--------->

m = miss
h = hit
c = crit
And I (and you) are looking at the h-c part when talking about critical chance.

But we need something more comprehensive to model specific situations, where we have the last quantity known (m).

I'll see if I can whip up a 3d plot of the entire probability space sometime later.

Maat Mons

2018-10-09, 04:46 AM

And I (and you) are looking at the h-c part when talking about critical chance.

Hmm? I factored in misses. I just didn't bother to write out Pmiss * 0. You know, because zero times anything is zero. And adding zero doesn't change anything.

No, the reason I said you're ignoring misses is that you put Pnormal = 1 - Pcritical as one of your equations. Instead of Pmiss + Pnormal + Pcritical = 1.

Anyway though, once you figure the probabilities for:

missing the attack roll
succeeding on the attack roll, but not threatening a critical
threatening a critical, but not confirming it
scoring a critical hit

And put them in a weighted average for damage you get... well the formulas I posted.

martixy

2018-10-09, 05:09 AM

Hmm? I factored in misses. I just didn't bother to write out Pmiss * 0. You know, because zero times anything is zero. And adding zero doesn't change anything.

No, the reason I said you're ignoring misses is that you put Pnormal = 1 - Pcritical as one of your equations. Instead of Pmiss + Pnormal + Pcritical = 1.

Anyway though, once you figure the probabilities for:

missing the attack roll
succeeding on the attack roll, but not threatening a critical
threatening a critical, but not confirming it
scoring a critical hit

And put them in a weighted average for damage you get... well the formulas I posted.

Well, I haven't actually looked at the math yet (I'm at work now), but I will look at it later and see how it all works out. It just seems to me, it won't be that simple. But we'll see.

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 06:12 AM

MOAR!

Random Encounters archive (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/re):

Kaorti Resin - already covered.

Arcane Duelist (from Ways of the Sword (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20030224a)) - (Prestige Class). What we're most interested in here are False Keenness at level 7 in the PrC, with an honourable mention to Dextrous Attack which comes in at level 3. Quoting:

False Keenness (Ex): To create the idea that she is more effective than she really is, the arcane duelist can make her chosen melee weapon keen once per day per arcane duelist level. To activate the keen effect, she must subtract the weapon's normal threat range for critical hits from her attack bonus. For example, if the arcane duelist wields a rapier, she must subtract 3 from her attack bonus, since the rapier has a threat range of 18-20, to make it keen. The keen effect lasts for 1 round per arcane duelist level, and it does not stack with the keen edge spell or other magical effects that make a weapon keen. The ability does stack with the increased threat range granted by the Improved Critical feat and by a keen magic weapon. If the arcane duelist uses this power in conjunction with the dexterous attack power, the damage dealt by a critical hit is reduced by the weapon's critical multiplier. Thus, the arcane duelist wielding a rapier and using dexterous attack to reduce the damage by 4 on her rapier has it reduced by 12 if she scores a critical hit using this power. The weapon must still do a minimum 1 point of damage.

Dexterous Attack (Ex): Because the arcane duelist values successful hits over actual damage dealt, she can subtract damage from her chosen melee weapon's potential damage and add the same amount to her attack bonus. However, the weapon must do a minimum 1 point of damage. For example, the arcane duelist who wields a rapier as her chosen weapon can subtract up to 5 points from the damage, since the rapier has a damage potential of 6 points, and add that to her attack bonus. If she were wielding a +3 rapier, she could subtract up to 8 points from damage, since the weapon has a damage potential of 9 points, and add that to her attack bonus. The arcane duelist declares this power before rolling her attack, and the amount subtracted cannot exceed her base attack bonus.

So if I've got this right, if you have a rapier, you subtract 3 (18-20) from your attack roll using False Keenness, but your weapon can still benefit from Improved Critical and keen. If you then shunt damage away to attack accuracy (-3 damage to a +3 on attack accuracy), on a critical hit the damage is deducted at the critical multiplier (so you'd lose 9, 3 from the original and then x2 = 6 off the critical)...

I guess this PrC works best on critfishers if you're piling antecedent effects onto the critical hit, or if you're piling masses of Power Attack into the hit?

EDIT: My mistake. It's vastly more stupid and horrible than that. So basically what this thing does is extend the critical threat range at the cost of attack accuracy. It stacks with Improved Critical and a keen weapon, which means a 18-20 weapon becomes a 15-20 weapon under IC, a 12-20 weapon under keen, and finally a 9-20 weapon under false keenness. Wide critical threat range at -3 to attack accuracy. If you want to get the attack accuracy back via Dexterous Attack, you sacrifice damage: 6 points for the 1d6 of the rapier, and the suckifying continues with the plusses added to it: a +3 rapier means you lose 9 points at least because of the 1d6+3. I imagine it'd get worse the more feats and damage bonuses you add, and it gets explicitly worse because the damage penalty is multiplied on a crit! That is just horrible, horrible to contemplate when the major point of the crit is to actually do a multiple of damage. The penalty takes maximum critical hit damage off you when you might score a damn minimum on the rolls!

The one reason I can see you doing it if you had no other way to boost your threat range than to take advantage of the stacking of Improved Critical and keen weapon - something that's hard to come by elsewhere outside a Disciple of Dispater build. Or as said, if all you care about is getting the critical and pushing an effect on the target.The worst part of it is that the better the threat range of your weapon, the harder it suckifies your attack roll.

martixy

2018-10-09, 07:56 AM

which means a 18-20 weapon becomes a 15-20 weapon under IC, a 12-20 weapon under keen, and finally a 9-20 weapon under false keenness.

Keen weapons and improved critical don't stack, so you will have to explain how you get 9-20 above.
Because if keen = the keen weapon property and IC = improved critical, then you've made a mistake.

Also - note the date - 02/24/2003.
This is before 3.5 and before criticals were redesigned, so is on par with Disciple of Dispater in validity.

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 08:36 AM

Keen weapons and improved critical don't stack, so you will have to explain how you get 9-20 above.
Because if keen = the keen weapon property and IC = improved critical, then you've made a mistake.

Also - note the date - 02/24/2003.
This is before 3.5 and before criticals were redesigned, so is on par with Disciple of Dispater in validity.

Fair call. The way I'd assumed you could pile keen and improved critical together was the (Ex)'s indication that the False Keenness ability "does stack with the increased threat range granted by the Improved Critical feat and by a keen magic weapon." Disciple of Dispater's equivalent wording doesn't go that far, so I inferred that -- when using that (Ex) and at no other time -- all three could be piled on one another? The argument being "it says 'and', not 'or'?" If that's not a popular deduction, fair enough, but it might be worth trying on with a DM...

ShurikVch

2018-10-09, 04:32 PM

How about to morph into the Wild Hunter (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20070601a), Assume Supernatural Ability (Selected Prey)
Three times per day, as a swift action, the wild hunter can mark a single target within 60 feet as its prey by pointing at it. The hunter gains a +5 morale bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls against its marked target for the next 24 hours. In addition, all critical threats made against that target are automatically successful, so every threat is a critical hit. The hunter may have only one creature selected at a time.?

ViperMagnum357

2018-10-09, 06:23 PM

The rest of Ravenloft:

Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 1

Herald of Dawn 2, 4 (PRC) Strike of the Rosy Dawn, wielder can inflict critical hits normally against Vampires and Vampire Spawn, and the critical threat range and multiplier of any shortspear wielded against a Vampire or Vampire Spawn are increased by 1

Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 4

Baron's Arm (magic weapon) exotic double weapon, heavy mace and light flail, a successful critical hit increases target's OR by +1 for each 10 points of damage inflicted

Van Richten's Arsenal Volume 1 (Including Web Enhancement)

Rapier Sword Cane (weapon) standard rapier concealed inside a can, requiring a DC 20 Search check to find

Rheumatism (spell) 1st/2nd level, Bard, Druid/Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard, Ray spell strikes randomized location for a penalty that last 2 rounds/level, on a critical hit caster can choose a specific target

Heartseeker (weapon enchantment) piercing weapon only, on a successful critical hit, opponent's heart is pierced, possibly slaying them instantly unless they are Undead, Constructs, Plants, or Oozes, no save unless targeting an Outsider which can negate the death effect with a DC 15 Fortitude save, Vampire struck counts as staked until weapon is removed

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Denizens of Dread

Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 2

Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 3

Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 5

Book of Shadows

Secrets of the Dread Realms

Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead

Ravenloft Player's Handbook

Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That should do it for Ravenloft. In the spirit of discovery, I am going to pore over my other books and see if I mistakenly labeled any other licensed material as OGL out of habit.

Saintheart

2018-10-09, 08:46 PM

How about to morph into the Wild Hunter (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20070601a), Assume Supernatural Ability (Selected Prey)?

Nice catch!

That Wild Hunter's ability is solid even if you read the ability down to imply that all it does is auto-confirm critical hits. It would be nice to read that the ability is saying every time the dice comes up within your threat range, bang, it's a critical even if you don't pass the monster's AC, but sadly I don't think I could stretch it that far. The wording of the ability is "In addition, all critical threats made against that target are automatically successful, so every threat is a critical hit."

The SRD tells us that

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.

So basically what this is saying is that if you get past the target's AC it auto-confirms the critical, i.e. no second roll is needed.

That said, it's still a great ability because it also adds a +5 to attack -- which helps with scoring the threat -- and +5 to damage -- which, not being an extra damage dice, doubles or triples on the critical as well. It's like getting the Collision weapon quality, an auto-confirm on critical threats, and a +5 to attack all in one package. And though it only works 3 times a day, it'll last the entire combat and it isn't narrowed down to a creature of a certain type.

Most interestingly, it doesn't say, unlike a lot of similar abilities, that it works only on targets subject to critical hits, i.e. it doesn't contain the standard depressing rider "This ability does not function against creatures that are immune to critical hits." It might be stretching it, but arguably by reason of that absent phrase, this might bypass critical immunity -- particularly given that one of the Wild Hunter's other (Ex) abilities, Bow Precision, is explicitly said to not apply to creatures who are immune to criticals.

More widely speaking: Oooooh boy. Here's another category of critfishing we might have to consider - monsters whose forms have advantageous (Su) or (Ex) abilities addressed to critical hits, since these might be accessible via Polymorph or Wild Shape depending on how the ability is phrased. Polymorph doesn't allow you to pick up a monster's (Ex) special qualities, but it does allow you to pick up its (Ex) special attacks. For example, say the monster has an attack "Keen claws". Is that an (Ex) special attack, or is it a (Ex) special quality? And then, as said, we have the above feat: Assume Supernatural Ability, which renders the debate moot in respect of any (Su) ability that's addressed to criticals.

EDIT: Went briefly looking for monsters with interesting critical hit features. The monster ability Augmented Critical usually boosts the threat range and critical multiplier of a monster's claws, so if you're Google searching that's one to look for. The Nimblewright is probably the most interesting with a natural threat range of 12-20, but the trick is Polymorphing into it since it's a construct.

EDIT THE SECOND: Of course: Polymorph Any Object. Become a Nimblewright and your threat range is 12-20, to which Improved Critical can be applied bringing it down to 3-20.

ViperMagnum357

2018-10-09, 10:13 PM

And of course I missed things: :smallredface:

Wheel of Time RPG

Trolloc Scythesword (weapon) exotic 2 hander, 18-20/x2 critical, slashing

Blademaster 2, 6, 10 (PRC) wielder can increase critical multiplier on a successful critical hit 1/2/3 times per day, must be declared before rolling damage dice

Diablo II: Diablerie (Note all weapon herein are subject to proprietary durability damage rules, reducing weapon hit points when dealing significant damage)

Light Falchion (weapon) identical to scimitar, 18-20/x2 critical, 1d6 slashing

Military Pick (weapon) identical to heavy pick, 20/x4 critical and 1d6 piercing

Crystal Sword (weapon) one handed martial slashing weapon, 1d8 and 18-20/x3 critical

War Scythe (weapon) 2 handed martial piercing, 2d6 and 20/x4 critical

Poleaxe (weapon) 2 handed martial slashing, 2d4 and 19-20/x3 critical, reach weapon

Short War Bow (weapon) martial bow with 70 ft range increment, 1d6 and 20/x4 critical, permanent +2 Strength bonus as composite bow

Long War Bow (weapon) martial bow with 110 ft range increment, 1d8 and 20/x4 critical, permanent +2 Strength bonus as composite bow

Prefix and Suffix enchantments (weapon enchantments) proprietary magic system separate from usual 3.X systems, Deadly, Heavy, Massive, Sharp, Warrior's, Knight's, Lord's, King's and Savage increase critical threat range by 1, Ruthless, Fine, Soldier's, Master's, Champion's and Merciless increase critical threat range by 2

Books with no readily apparent critical effects

Prophecies of the Dragon

Saintheart

2018-10-10, 12:39 AM

Logging for interest more than anything else, Sean K. Reynolds' rant on how they unjustifiably tore keen and Improved Critical apart like Romeo and Juliet (http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/rants/keenimprovedcritstacking.html) from 3.0 to 3.5.

In 3E D&D, a keen weapon's increased threat range stacks with the increased threat range from the Improved Critical feat. In 3.5, this is no longer the case.

Some think that this rule was made because the combo is too good, especially with creatures with a lot of bonus damage (which gets multiplied along with the crit). According to some, the change was made because having a crit range that's too big means crits happen to often, and are therefore no longer "special."

I respectfully disagree on both points.

Update 2/18/04: I've decided to redo this rant, as it's sorta scattered and makes some assumptions that are correct but some people aren't comfortable with. The first step is to do a comparison of longsword and rapier and how keen and Improved Critical affect their damage, and compare that to the effects of a simple energy property (such as flaming) or the Weapon Specialization feat. Eventually I'll do other comparisons and fold them back into this main document. In the meantime, please accept my apologies for directing you through multiple documents for this rant.

Is the Combo Too Good?
For this part, I'll prove numerically that allowing these crits to stack is necessary for the high-threat-range weapons (such as rapier and falchion) to keep up with normal-threat-range weapons, and if it's not egregious in the case of frequent crits, it isn't a problem with infrequent crits.

As a player of a character with this combo in Monte's game, I played alongside Erik Mona's paladin Zophas, who was lower-level than my character Shurrin (but our net attack bonuses were almost the same due to Weapon Focus and some levels in cleric and rogue that I had). Shurrin used a +2 keen rapier. Zophas used a +1 holy greatsword. Not counting Strength bonuses (and his was higher than mine, so it only would skew the example in his favor more, and he'd get x1.5 for using a two-handed weapon, which would make it even better for him), here's how it went:

Against nonevil opponents, Zophas was doing 2d6+1 damage (8 points on average) with a 10% chance of a crit (so +10% x 8 points, or +.8 points), for a total of 8.8 points per attack. Shurrin was doing 1d6+2 points of damage (5.5) with a 45% chance of a crit (so +45% x 5.5 points, or +2.475 points), for a total of 7.975 points per attack.

So right from the get-go, his character (with essentially the same attack bonus) is doing more damage per round than my character. And that's on the primary attack ... on iterative attacks we're both less likely to confirm criticals; since his base damage (not including crits) is higher than mine, it means his average damage is higher for these attacks (8 points vs. 5.5 points).

It gets really obscene when we're fighting evil opponents. His weapon is dealing at extra +7 damage per attack (15.8 total), while mine deals no extra damage. I'll remind you here that our weapons have identical plus-equivalent values (+1 enhancement +2 holy = +3; +2 enhancement +1 keen = +3).

And my weapon doesn't get its "bonus" (crit) damage against undead, so when fighting undead we're back to comparing the 8 points vs. 5.5 points. Note that most undead are evil, so he's probably also getting his holy bonus on top of that.

And then you have to consider that I paid a feat for Improved Crit just to keep up with his weapon damage, and I'm still behind in the average and the optimal situation.

For those who point out that the falchion is a better version of the rapier, let's run the numbers for the falchion.

If Shurrin had a +2 keen falchion instead of a +2 keen rapier (and Improved Crit with falchion instead of rapier, of course), his average base damage would be 7 instead of 5.5. With crits included his average damage would be (45% x 7 = +3.15) 10.15 (compared to Zophas' 8.8). Iterative attacks are still less likely to crit, same situation as the rapier, so this advantage essentially disappears after the primary attack (Shurrin's 7 vs. Zophas' 8). So against nonevil crittable opponents on the first attack, Shurrin would average +1.35 points ahead of Zophas. Against evil crittable opponents Zophas again jumps to 15.8 and Shurrin is still at 10.15, and Zophas still has the advantage against uncrittable things.

So with weapons of equal value, Shurrin is a little ahead against nonevil creatures, behind on uncrittable nonevil creatures (just like with the rapier), and far behind against evil creatures (just like the rapier). This despite the fact that Shurrin had to spend a feat in order to get his advantageous crit threat range.

[Aside: Let's compare the absolute base values of a nonmagical greatsword and falchion. Greatsword = 3.5+3.5 = 7, with crits = 7.7. Falchion = 2.5+2.5 = 5, with crits = 5.75. So falchion is worse. Include keen or Improved Critical on the falchion and you add another threat increment of .75 damage, for a total of 6.5, which is still worse than the greatsword. Add another threat increment (if you have keen _and_ Improved Crit _and_ they stack) and you're at 7.25 damage ... still not as good as the greatsword! The only way Shurrin's hypothetical falchion is keeping up in base damage is that his falchion is +2 while Zophas' greatsword is only +1. The falchion is really a worse weapon than the greatsword. Likewise, the rapier is worse than the longsword.]

[Another aside: Let's be totally crazy and assume Shurrin and Zophas both have 20 Str (and we'll take into account the x1.5 Str bonus -- 7.5 points -- for the weapons being two-handed in this example, since that might be enough to help Shurrin come out on top). Now Zophas' +1 holy greatsword averages 7base+1enhancement+7.5str = 15.5 base damage, 17.05 including crits. Shurrin's +2 keen falchion averages 5base+2enhancement+7.5str = 14.5 base damage, 21.025 including crits. Shurrin's ahead by almost 4 points -- woohoo!. Against evil creatures, Zophas' damage still jumps by 7 to 24.05, and against uncrittable things Shurrin's damage drops to the base value of 14.5. So with a hyped-up Strength, which is where the argument for this rule revision comes from, the falchion-wielder is just barely ahead of the greatsword-wielder in ideal circumstances (and note he had to spend one more feat than the greatsword-wielder to get there), and in non-ideal situations (such as when he can't crit, or when fighting evil creatures, or both) he still loses compared to the greatsword-wielder, even though he spent more money (25gp) on his weapon and spent one more feat (Improved Crit) than the greatsword-wielder.]

Does It Make Crits Un-Special?
Imagine an average 10th-level PC fighter. He has a +10 BAB, and say a 20 Strength (base + magic). He's spent almost all of his 49,000 gp on his weapon, a +3 keen rapier (32,000 gp ... and I don't have data on how much a typical fighter spends on his weapon, but I'm guessing it's not "almost all"). Assuming he's not using Weapon Finesse, his total primary attack bonus is +10+5+3 = +18. With Improved Critical, he threatens a crit on a 12+.

If you look at a range of CR10 and CR11 creatures (and only the ones that can be critted), their ACs are in the 20-30 range. That means that at worst (AC 30) the fighter has a 50% chance to hit, and about a 40% chance to threaten; if he hits, he has to confirm (about a 50% chance), so that means his odds of hitting and confirming are (50% x 40%) = 20%. So on average he's just about guaranteed a crit if he fights a creature for five rounds. And if he crits, he does an extra d6. Woohoo.

So maybe letting keen and Improved Critical means crits come up a lot more often. Maybe that makes crits a little less special. But we're talking about crits that are an extra weapon die of damage ... we're not talking about Arduin-style crits that do 1d100 damage, or sever limbs, or do instant-kills ... it's just another d6 or d8. They're not that special in the first place. And as established above, the weapons that crit more often need those crits to keep up with standard-crit-range weapons, otherwise there's no real point in choosing those high-threat weapons.

And there are a lot of things in the game that are "special." 9th-level spells are special. Paladins are special. Dragons are special. But we allow 9th-level spells on scrolls. And we let paladins as PCs as commonly as fighters (there are no mechanical restrictions on how often you can have paladin PCs). And we now have little wyrmling CR2 dragons in addition to the big hulking party-killer monsters. Don't those things make 9th-level spells, paladins, and dragons less special? Don't the epic-level rules make everything under 20th level less special? "It's not special" isn't really a good reason to cut a mechanically sound mechanic from the game. It's a reason to consider cutting it, but the benefit of leaving it in (as demonstrated above) is necessary for that character build and choice of weapon, and isn't that damaging to the "specialness" of crits.

Conclusion
In conclusion: For the lower-damage but higher-threat-range weapons to be viable in combat (as they were designed to be by the original core designers, who crunched all the numbers), keen has to stack with Improved Critical. Otherwise there is no game-mechanical reason to spend the extra 25 gp for the 2d4 falchion instead of the 2d6 greatsword, or the extra 5 gp for the 1d6 rapier instead of the 1d8 longsword, or the extra feat to increase your threat range ... choosing those high-threat weapons is just a bad choice. And if letting these mechanics stack makes crits a little less special, that's only a small mark against letting them stack.

So let them stack, dagnabbit.

Reynolds' comments about the AC of creatures in the CR 10 and 11 range (and those the ones that are vulnerable to critical hits) were what I found most germane: again, it doesn't matter how wide your threat range is or whether you automatically confirm critical hits if you don't score the original threat. Therefore, never sacrifice attack accuracy for a better threat range, and in particular don't do it the way Arcane Duelist does it unless you have a no-save condition attached to the critical hit.