Quick question on procedures for which dice to roll 2X on critical hits for 2 classes.
A number of the Battle Master Fighter maneuvers say to add the superiority die rolled to the damage total. If the player gets a critical hit on the attack with the maneuver, does the superiority die function like a modifier and get rolled once and added (in addition to S or D mod) to the doubled weapon dice total, or is it considered a die that gets doubled?
When an Artillerist Artificer uses the Arcane Firearm and gets a critical hit with a spell attack, does the extra 1d8 damage die function like a modifier and thus only get rolled once and added to the doubled damage dice, or does it also get doubled?
Using the 5 e rules, ALL dice get x2 for the crit.
That is likely going to change when the One D&D rules go from playtesting to RAW, but that is a whole new system.
Sure, I'd seen a number of people in different discussion threads talk about how the Arcane Firearm +1d8 was to be treated like a modifier to damage rather than a damage die; and the way the rules are written in TCoE, I can see why that interpretation might happen. But I found the wording of the Battle Master maneuver rules for superiority dice similar, so I wanted to see what people thought.
Quick question on procedures for which dice to roll 2X on critical hits for 2 classes.
A number of the Battle Master Fighter maneuvers say to add the superiority die rolled to the damage total. If the player gets a critical hit on the attack with the maneuver, does the superiority die function like a modifier and get rolled once and added (in addition to S or D mod) to the doubled weapon dice total, or is it considered a die that gets doubled?
All attack damage dice get doubled, because the entire roll for the attack's damage is doubled. The answer to your question is theoretically maneuver-specific, but in reality, as of when I'm posting this, every maneuver that deals damage adds a damage die to a weapon's damage roll, and an attack's damage roll includes the attack's weapon's damage roll, if any, so all maneuvers in practice deal crittable damage.
When an Artillerist Artificer uses the Arcane Firearm and gets a critical hit with a spell attack, does the extra 1d8 damage die function like a modifier and thus only get rolled once and added to the doubled damage dice, or does it also get doubled?
Arcane Firearm's d8 won't crit because of how it's worded - rather than the damage roll increasing by 1d8, you roll 1d8 and add the number rolled to a damage roll. Only dice can crit, but static modifiers can't, and Arcane Firearm is worded to let you roll a die to determine a static modifier. In other words, AF doesn't give you 1d8 of damage - it randomly gives you a +1 to a +8.
The easiest way to understand this is to ask what happens when you cast Magic Stone through your firearm: the answer is that you roll 1d8 when you cast the spell and then at any time while the spell is still up, when you deal damage with the spell, you can add that number to the spell's damage (consuming the one use of this ability you have for that spell). Because you rolled the die before you made any attack roll at all, you didn't double it, and then later, even if you crit with the attack roll, what you have is a static modifier that you won't double.
Using the 5 e rules, ALL dice get x2 for the crit.
Absolutely false. Even putting aside that Arcane Firearm doesn't even provide a die as I explained above, there are sources of dice that won't crit, such as a Psi Warrior's or a Swarmkeeper's ability to deal die-based damage to a creature they hit, or even basic poison. Attack damage dice crit.
I would like to suggest an alternative to Critical damage, since many complaints deal with what happens when a crit rolls 2 low numbers, (1 or 2) - robbing the character of the feeling of a critical damage hit.
Instead of handling it like advantage (2 rolls, take highest), maybe it can be handled by MAXIMIZING the damage on one of the damage dice - players choice.
This would mean that on a 1d damage die, it's always the maximum... On a 2d damage dice, one will ALWAYS be maximum.
1d8 would be 8+str bonus
2d6 would be 6+ d6 + str bonus (roll 2d6 - get 3 and 5 would be 6 and 5 for 11)
It isn't until a player gets into 3d or more that it might seem to fall off. At that point, maybe half of the dice (rounded up) get the maximize treatment. As long as the PLAYER has agency to decide which dice get to change, they will feel as if they got a good use out of critical hits.
Interesting idea, William. I usually let the die rolls fall where they may to make the randomness part of the game. A character could take the savage attacker feat and get to reroll all the weapon damage dice on a crit and choose the higher total to get more mileage out of their crits when they do happen.
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Hi All,
Quick question on procedures for which dice to roll 2X on critical hits for 2 classes.
A number of the Battle Master Fighter maneuvers say to add the superiority die rolled to the damage total. If the player gets a critical hit on the attack with the maneuver, does the superiority die function like a modifier and get rolled once and added (in addition to S or D mod) to the doubled weapon dice total, or is it considered a die that gets doubled?
When an Artillerist Artificer uses the Arcane Firearm and gets a critical hit with a spell attack, does the extra 1d8 damage die function like a modifier and thus only get rolled once and added to the doubled damage dice, or does it also get doubled?
Thank you!
Using the 5 e rules, ALL dice get x2 for the crit.
That is likely going to change when the One D&D rules go from playtesting to RAW, but that is a whole new system.
Sure, I'd seen a number of people in different discussion threads talk about how the Arcane Firearm +1d8 was to be treated like a modifier to damage rather than a damage die; and the way the rules are written in TCoE, I can see why that interpretation might happen. But I found the wording of the Battle Master maneuver rules for superiority dice similar, so I wanted to see what people thought.
All attack damage dice get doubled, because the entire roll for the attack's damage is doubled. The answer to your question is theoretically maneuver-specific, but in reality, as of when I'm posting this, every maneuver that deals damage adds a damage die to a weapon's damage roll, and an attack's damage roll includes the attack's weapon's damage roll, if any, so all maneuvers in practice deal crittable damage.
Arcane Firearm's d8 won't crit because of how it's worded - rather than the damage roll increasing by 1d8, you roll 1d8 and add the number rolled to a damage roll. Only dice can crit, but static modifiers can't, and Arcane Firearm is worded to let you roll a die to determine a static modifier. In other words, AF doesn't give you 1d8 of damage - it randomly gives you a +1 to a +8.
The easiest way to understand this is to ask what happens when you cast Magic Stone through your firearm: the answer is that you roll 1d8 when you cast the spell and then at any time while the spell is still up, when you deal damage with the spell, you can add that number to the spell's damage (consuming the one use of this ability you have for that spell). Because you rolled the die before you made any attack roll at all, you didn't double it, and then later, even if you crit with the attack roll, what you have is a static modifier that you won't double.
Absolutely false. Even putting aside that Arcane Firearm doesn't even provide a die as I explained above, there are sources of dice that won't crit, such as a Psi Warrior's or a Swarmkeeper's ability to deal die-based damage to a creature they hit, or even basic poison. Attack damage dice crit.
Thanks, quindraco! When this came up in play the other day, this is how we handled it in each case!
I would like to suggest an alternative to Critical damage, since many complaints deal with what happens when a crit rolls 2 low numbers, (1 or 2) - robbing the character of the feeling of a critical damage hit.
Instead of handling it like advantage (2 rolls, take highest), maybe it can be handled by MAXIMIZING the damage on one of the damage dice - players choice.
This would mean that on a 1d damage die, it's always the maximum... On a 2d damage dice, one will ALWAYS be maximum.
1d8 would be 8+str bonus
2d6 would be 6+ d6 + str bonus (roll 2d6 - get 3 and 5 would be 6 and 5 for 11)
It isn't until a player gets into 3d or more that it might seem to fall off. At that point, maybe half of the dice (rounded up) get the maximize treatment. As long as the PLAYER has agency to decide which dice get to change, they will feel as if they got a good use out of critical hits.
Interesting idea, William. I usually let the die rolls fall where they may to make the randomness part of the game. A character could take the savage attacker feat and get to reroll all the weapon damage dice on a crit and choose the higher total to get more mileage out of their crits when they do happen.