Though I can see where you are going with this Sneak attack and Crits are still two separate things. Flavor text, though it is nice, are not Rules. You could House Rule this of course, but they are separate for game balance reasons.
And if you want to go along the lines of Flavor Text a Character that Crits should also get to apply Vital Strike (cause your hitting a vital spot).
Critical Hits can be flavoured a few different ways, Hit a Vital spot, took advantage of a momentary distraction, you swung your sword in a great rage. No mater how you Flavor it, its still just Flavor :c
To answer the question: not unless it would apply on a regular hit.
If youre a 1st level rogue with a punching dagger:
Regular crit: 2d4.
Crit from flanking etc: 2d4 + 1d6.
Note that the SA dice are not multiplied on a crit.
I gifted my rogue player with a custom magic enchantment that does this. On crit you get a bonus damage equal to your sneak attack damage even if the attack already is a sneak one.
It encourage the rogue to have high critical weapon with are thematically fitting of a finesse class, gives him some punch when he is unable to flank, and probably more important gives him something to be excited about when he crit instead of a "hay, extra 1d4 damage".
The OP is wondering if Sneak Attack damage should apply any time the rogue (or any class that gets sneak attack) lands a critical hit.
Hes wondering this because both Sneak Attack and Critical Hits (flavor wise) generally mention hitting a vital spot.
But in the end duel wielding kukri with improved crit would break the system
My point exactly.
But in the end duel wielding kukri with improved crit would break the system
I do not think it would. There are things worse than that in the core rules.
The problem I have with this is: What would be the difference between a normal crit and a crit while flanking with this rule? Would you then apply double the normal sneak damage?
I guessed the answer would be clear but I'll give it non the less:
At higher level all the damage a rogue could deal with sneak on crits is nothing compared to what full casters can do. At low levels the sneak damage is not high enough to really break anything.
A rogue would cause a lot of trouble if all those dice were multiplied for many GM's.The problem is not comparing casters to martials. The problem is that the game is built around certain expectations, and that much damage, barring very bad rolls would also make the fighter and barbarian wonder why they are even there. Yeah a caster can do a lot of things, but in most games he wont be competing with anyone for damage. It is not efficient to even try.
If you allow this you may need to up the hit points of the monsters, BUT that depends on your particular group and how they play. I would tell the player this is an experiment, and to be prepared to have it ruled the normal way if it becomes a problem.
Probably the fact that spell casters on get so many spells per day, if a caster is never able to get enough rest to prepare there spells they are useless, melee characters never run out of amount of attacks you can do in a day.
Every spell cast is one less spell from a limited number they get.
A rogue would cause a lot of trouble if all those dice were multiplied for many GM's.
It is not about multiplying. It is about getting sneak dice on a crit without flanking or something.
In other words every crit is a sneak attack, regardless of situation. (Depending on situation this might be better or worse than multiplying).And I do not think it would make a barbarian look bad.
On a semi-related note, there was a 3.5 feat that allowed players to deal SA damage on any critical, has anyone tried using it in PF? I would be interested to hear some feedback.
But in the end duel wielding kukri with improved crit would break the system
No it does not. Tested in play for levels 6-11 (then he died XD). Still does less damage than an archer ranger fighting non-favored enemies.
But in the end duel wielding kukri with improved crit would break the systemNo it does not. Tested in play for levels 6-11 (then he died XD). Still does less damage than an archer ranger fighting non-favored enemies.
That depends on your build and how you play them.