Critical hits and threat

[bigkilla]

ok, im a long time roleplayer, been playing since 79, ive never played 3.5, and i just got into pathfinder a month ago. My question is about critical hits and critical threats, now saying that i have a 10th level fighter with a +10 to hit using 1 attack and the threat of the weapon is 17-20 with feats. Is it a unmodified 17-20 for the threat and the crit or do bonuses get added in meaning that he needs to roll a 7 or better (assuming it hits the ac) to make the threat and crit?

[Odentin]

Unmodified 17-20. Meaning the die shows 17, 18, 19, or 20.

[Magicdealer]

Yup, to threaten a critical hit, your d20 has to land on 17, 18, 19, or 20.

Now, to confirm a critical hit, you roll that d20 again, and if your modified total *dice plus your +10 to hit* would hit the enemy then you've confirmed it and can roll your x2 or x3 or x4 damage, whichever it is :D

[Mauril]

Keep in mind that you initial roll still has to hit. A threatened crit is not an auto-hit. Only a natural 20 is an auto-hit. So, say you roll a 17 but (even with your +10 to hit) your 27 doesn't beat the AC of the guy you are attacking, you still miss.

Critical Hits wrote:

Increased Threat Range: Sometimes your threat range is greater than 20. That is, you can score a threat on a lower number. In such cases, a roll of lower than 20 is not an automatic hit. Any attack roll that doesn't result in a hit is not a threat.

[Magicdealer]

Ah, yes, excellent point.

The only automatic hit is a natural *unmodified* 20.

[Mauril]

That was one of my stumbling blocks converting from AD&D to 3.x DnD. bigkilla seemed to be in about the same boat I was, so I thought I'd share from my experience.