Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Should you apply critical damage to the 10d10 damage of the following feature:
Level 20: Headshot
When you score a Critical Hit against a creature using a Ranged weapon, you can choose for it to be a Headshot. If the creature has less than 100 Hit Points, it dies. Otherwise, it takes an extra 10d10 damage of the weapon’s type.
No.
Since the ability triggers only on a Critical Hit, we must assume that the critical bonus is already factored in.
Additionally, Headshot doesn't count as part of the attack's damage in its text.
This is correct. The wording does not make the attack deal extra damage, the target simply takes the damage, so it is not affected by the critical hit.
Is there additional text to this effect? Because I see no differentiation between this ability and, say, Brutal Strike.
(I still think that the damage isn't doubled; I just am unsure of this line of argument.)
Nothing relevant, which actually makes me change my answer: It totally doubles.
The math checks out anyway. Headshot auto-kills at 100 HP or lower. Doubling to 20d10 averages 110 damage.
The math doesn't check out. If the intent was for the feature to do 100 damage, it would say that, rather than having two separate functions that do effectively the same thing. It would be really weird for the feature to work better on targets that have more health. Also, the wording says "the target takes an extra 10d10 damage, not "the attack deals an additional 10d10 damage", so it's not doubled, I think.
Compare the wording to Sneak Attack, which we know definitely doubles.
But sneak attack is not contingent upon a crit.
Brutal Strike: "If the chosen attack roll hits, the target takes an extra 1d10 damage of the same type dealt by the weapon or Unarmed Strike, and you can cause one Brutal Strike effect of your choice."
Sneak Attack: "Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack roll if you have Advantage on the roll and the attack uses a Finesse or a Ranged weapon."
Headshot: "Otherwise, it takes an extra 10d10 damage of the weapon’s type."
The crit requirement isn't relevant. Other similar effects can have requirements and those don't affect their ability to double.
I am unaware of any other ability that fits the template and activates only on critical hits.
In any event, we have a number of possibilities:
As I said, #1 is the most likely. In which case, the intent of the ability is that it does 10d10 damage.
#3 is, I think, the best reading. Things do what they say. The ability says it does ten dice. Doing twenty dice every single time it's invoked is not that.
In addition to the argument in #3, interpretation #2 makes the ability way out of scale with the most comparable other ability, Power Word Kill.
Power Word Kill does 78 average, much closer to 100 than the 55 that Headshot does. And Headshot requires you to roll a crit, making it less reliable than a guaranteed casting.
The wording matches other abilities that double, that's what this ultimately comes down to. You can't effectively argue that the same wording gets different results.
I absolutely can. Context matters.
The context being an if-then statement doesn't change anything.