A new viable option for the Vital strike chain?

[Nemitri]

Greetings, I was browsing the Dwarf fighter archetype found in the advanced race guide, and found this ability:

Devastating Blow (Ex): At 19th level, as a standard
action, a foehammer may make a single melee attack with
a weapon from the hammer weapon training group at a
–5 penalty. If the attack hits, it is treated as a critical threat.
Weapon special abilities that only activate on a critical hit
do not activate if this critical hit is confirmed. This ability
replaces armor mastery.

Assuming I can combine this with the vital strike chain and a good 2handed hammer, like:

Longhammer, dwarven 70 gp 1d10(small) 2d6(medium) ×3 — 20 lbs. B reach

On a critical I could do 24d6, if I use a potion of enlarge person, it goes to 36d6 for one attack, and I even haven't factored in the many +'s fighters get yet, does it seem useful? The only bad thing is that the ability comes so late (19th level).

Thoughts?

[Randy Lockard]

Not seeing how you are getting the 2D6 doubled and then doubled again BEFORE the crit is confirmed. Dev Blow only seems to help you crit.
I see the Enlarge Person taking it to 3D6, then tripled for the crit (IF you confirm) to 9D6. Vital Strike says additional weapon damage from the feat ARE NOT MULTIPLIED ON A CRIT but are instead added to the total.

[Nemitri]

Randy Lockard wrote:

Not seeing how you are getting the 2D6 doubled and then doubled again BEFORE the crit is confirmed. Dev Blow only seems to help you crit.

I see the Enlarge Person taking it to 3D6, then tripled for the crit (IF you confirm) to 9D6. Vital Strike says additional weapon damage from the feat ARE NOT MULTIPLIED ON A CRIT but are instead added to the total.

Well, there goes my plan I guess...

[Mort the Cleverly Named]

I don't think you can't combine Vital Strike with it anyway. Each one is a specific type of standard action attack, meaning they can't be activated together. It is the same thing that hurts many interesting Vital Strike builds.

[Randy Lockard]

You are better off anyways taking your FULL attacks and possibly critting on all of them. By 19th level a fighter should be able to crit on more than a natural 20 anyways (Keen, expanded crit, high crit weapons etc). I would personally prefer multiple chances, as Dev Strike only allows for one attack.

[Roaming Shadow]

Mort the Cleverly Named wrote:

I don't think you can't combine Vital Strike with it anyway. Each one is a specific type of standard action attack, meaning they can't be activated together. It is the same thing that hurts many interesting Vital Strike builds.

I do believe he is right, mostly because the wording of Vital Strike states "when you use the attack action" and not "when you make a single attack". The feat is calling out the Attack Standard Action, not simply the act of making an attack (otherwise you could use Vital Strike on AoOs, and that could be brutal). The Devastating Blow ability is it's own seperate action, and therefore you couldn't apply Vital Strike to it.

[Roaming Shadow]

Randy Lockard wrote:

You are better off anyways taking your FULL attacks and possibly critting on all of them. By 19th level a fighter should be able to crit on more than a natural 20 anyways (Keen, expanded crit, high crit weapons etc). I would personally prefer multiple chances, as Dev Strike only allows for one attack.

The problem with that is after the second attack, you're simply rolling for crits, and on that third or fourth iterative attack, it's still only a Nat 20 that auto hits; if you threaten on, say, an 18, roll 18, and fail to confirm (because your attack bonus is 10 lower cause it's your third attack), you sill missed. I'd rather move and crit somewhat reliably every turn (with the right crit mod weapon being as though you hit him 3 or 4 times).

[Bobson]

Roaming Shadow wrote:

Randy Lockard wrote:

You are better off anyways taking your FULL attacks and possibly critting on all of them. By 19th level a fighter should be able to crit on more than a natural 20 anyways (Keen, expanded crit, high crit weapons etc). I would personally prefer multiple chances, as Dev Strike only allows for one attack.

The problem with that is after the second attack, you're simply rolling for crits, and on that third or fourth iterative attack, it's still only a Nat 20 that auto hits; if you threaten on, say, an 18, roll 18, and fail to confirm (because your attack bonus is 10 lower cause it's your third attack), you sill missed. I'd rather move and crit somewhat reliably every turn (with the right crit mod weapon being as though you hit him 3 or 4 times).

Actually, if an 18 misses, it still missed even if it's within your crit range. Only natural 20s are auto-hits, which is an entirely unrelated mechanic to critting. It just so happens that a 20 is within every weapon's crit range.

Quote:

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.