I want to build a half-orc fighter going for a lot of critical hits. I wanted to know if the Killer combat trait from the Adv. Players Guide stacks with the Brute racial trait from the Orcs of Golarion Player's Companion. Killer says I add additional damage to my successful critical HITS and Brute adds the same bonus to critical THREATS. The Killer damage only applies on a confirmed critical hit, while the Brute damage would apply even if a missed the confirmation roll (after threating a crit of course), but on a successful critical hit, both bonuses would trigger--Brute on the THREAT and Killer on the critical HIT. Sorry for making this so long. Just trying to clarify as much as possible without re-posting missing info later.
Thanks for any help!
Just thought I'd add the actual wordings from the two books
Killer: You made your first kill at a very young age and found the task of war or murder to your liking. You either take particular pride in a well-placed blow, or find vile pleasure in such a strike as you twist the blade to maximize the pain. You deal additional damage equal to your weapon's critical hit modifier when you score a successful critical hit with a weapon; this additional damage is added to the final total, and is not multiplied by the critical hit multiple itself. This extra damage is a trait bonus.
Brute: You are an especially large and hulking individual, and when you strike, you aim to deliver the maximum amount of pain. Whenever you score a critical threat, you add (but not multiply, in the case of a confirmed critical hit) an amount of damage equal to your weapon's critical modifier.
My confusion stems from the fact that one of these damage bonuses is independent of the other, but they use the same source as the bonus damage. Any thoughts on this would help alot.
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Just thought I'd add the actual wordings from the two books
Killer: You made your first kill at a very young age and found the task of war or murder to your liking. You either take particular pride in a well-placed blow, or find vile pleasure in such a strike as you twist the blade to maximize the pain. You deal additional damage equal to your weapon's critical hit modifier when you score a successful critical hit with a weapon; this additional damage is added to the final total, and is not multiplied by the critical hit multiple itself. This extra damage is a trait bonus.
Brute: You are an especially large and hulking individual, and when you strike, you aim to deliver the maximum amount of pain. Whenever you score a critical threat, you add (but not multiply, in the case of a confirmed critical hit) an amount of damage equal to your weapon's critical modifier.
My confusion stems from the fact that one of these damage bonuses is independent of the other, but they use the same source as the bonus damage. Any thoughts on this would help alot.
Lots of interesting word plays on the boards today. I would say they would stack. Killer's bonus is named as a trait bonus. The bonus from Brute is unnamed. The bonuses are not exactly from the same source, they just happen to have the same source as their value.
I would rule that the following happens.
1. You roll a critical threat with an x3 weapon. Brute automatically kicks in and you gain a +3 bonus to damage from it.
2. You confirm your critical hit. Killer kicks in and your bonus goes from +3 to +6.
I don't have my copy of Orcs of Golarion handy, so I can't confirm if the bonus for that version of Brute is named as a trait bonus anywhere else. If it does, then they wouldn't stack.
This question does bring up an interesting point, though. The PRD already has a Half-Orc racial trait called Brute, that gives you a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks and makes Intimidate a class skill. So, it looks like we have two racial traits with the same name and different effects.
Thanks for your input, I was thinking the same thing as well. Interesting point on the two Brute traits. I didn't even notice before. But since they are both racial traits, noone could take both together so there isn't any need to worry about a Brute-Brute half-orc.