|
Posting in the PFS forum, even though it's a rules question, because this trait comes from the Guide to Organized Play as a Lantern Lodge trait, so it's a PFS specific rule.
So I know Lantern Lodge is going away. But PCs who are in the faction before then will be able to keep any LL trait after changing factions. I'm making a PC using a kitsune race boon, and I'm leaning towards doing a ninja. For obvious reasons, he's probably from Tian Xia (haven't narrowed down the specifics yet), so putting him in the Lantern Lodge in the short term is an obvious choice.
I know there's too many obvious stereotypes in there - I'll have to come up with some personality quirks to make this guy stand out. I was already thinking of making him a sociable, talkative character to take advantage of the good charisma instead of a stereotypical quiet, stealthy ninja.
Anyway, I was looking at this Lantern Lodge trait from the Guide to Organized Play:
Meridian Strike: Energy flows through channels in the
body, like rivers through the land. Once per day when you
roll damage on a successful critical hit, reroll any 1s and
take the new roll (even if it is another 1).
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but I thought I'd ask to be certain. Does it only apply to the weapon damage dice that get doubled on the crit, or to all dice you're rolling as part of your damage? Since it just says "when you roll damage", not specifically "weapon damage", I'd say it applies to all dice rolled during a crit damage roll, including the sneak attack dice for a ninja/rogue, along with any other bonus dice you get from other sources. Is that correct?
Since my ninja is likely to go two weapon fighting with wakizashi (another stereotype, I know), which have an 18-20 crit range, I'm likely to get a lot of crits in his career. Between 2d6 weapon damage on a crit and more sneak attack dice every two levels, this could mean rolling a lot of dice for damage. So being able to reroll a couple of them when I get multiple 1s on a crit against the BBEG each scenario could be useful.
So I like the trait and would seriously consider taking it, but only if I know for sure it'll apply to sneak attack dice as well as the weapon damage dice.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
Well, since it just says "when you roll damage on a successful critical hit", those are the only requirements you need to meet in order to use the ability.
Did you make a successful critical hit?
Did you roll damage?
If both answers are "yes", then you can use the ability (if you haven't already used it for that day, obviously).
This interpretation also passes the common sense test: is a 1/day ability to reroll 1s, even on sneak attack, going to be overpowered? Not by a long shot.
|
|
That's pretty much what I was thinking, but I just wanted to be certain.
And obviously, it's far from overpowered. In fact, it's not even useful for most builds. A ninja/rogue two weapon fighter using a pair of 18-20 crit weapons is pretty much the only build that will find this trait even remotely useful. But I'd be willing to bet if I take the trait, I'll have an opportunity to use it almost every scenario.
That's the main reason I was considering it. That and I like interesting traits. Sure, I could just take some generic trait to get a +1 on a saving throw or skill, which would be useful, but kinda boring. It's not even like many of my builds where I'll use a trait to pick up an additional class skill - ninjas get so many skills already that I don't need any more.
I had a Meridian Strike question for my new Magus so I'll just tack it onto this thread. When Spellstrike crits do I need to choose to use MS on the weapon damage, spell damage, or can it work on both.