| Maquist |
The vorpal weapon description states that it severs the head on a roll of Natural 20 with a successful critical confirmation. The Ranger class ability Quarry states that when you roll a critical threat on a target of this ability, critical hits are automatically confirmed.
I'm playing a ranger with a vorpal battle axe. I had designated one of the big bad guys in the encounter as my Quarry to get the +2 to hit. The question came up when I rolled a Natural 20, plus Quarry's automatic critical confirmation: does that automatically trigger vorpal's head severing power?
We looked through the books, but weren't able to find a specific ruling. The GM let me have the severing without any other rolls in that encounter just to keep the game rolling, but afterward said that in the future, the vorpal effect will require a confirming roll to trigger if I have Quarry active. And even if I don't roll the confirmation, Quarry still grants the critical hit, just sans head removal.
Has anyone else had this come up? Are there any rules written about whether things like this trigger when a class ability automatically confirms critical hits for you? What do others think?
| Avoron |
In my opinion, the fact that there are weapon abilities like thundering that activate "upon striking a successful critical hit," but the vorpal description specifies that it must be "followed by a successful roll to confirm the critical hit" indicates that it doesn't activate on a critical hit without a confirmation roll any more than it would on a coup de grace.
| RDM42 |
In my opinion, the fact that there are weapon abilities like thundering that activate "upon striking a successful critical hit," but the vorpal description specifies that it must be "followed by a successful roll to confirm the critical hit" indicates that it doesn't activate on a critical hit without a confirmation roll any more than it would on a coup de grace.
Otherwise never let a twentieth level fighter get a hold of a vorpal weapon.
| Kazaan |
Roll for confirmation. If you pass the roll, it triggers Vorpal. If you don't, Quarry (or other abilities) trump the roll and you score the critical anyway (though not the Vorpal effect). It's basically an extension of this rule:
Magic Weapons and Critical Hits: Some weapon special abilities and some specific weapons have an extra effect on a critical hit. This special effect also functions against creatures not normally subject to critical hits. On a successful critical roll, apply the special effect, but do not multiply the weapon's regular damage.
Against creatures normally immune to critical hits, you roll to confirm anyway but only for the magic effect; you disregard the additional critical damage but something like Flaming Burst would still do its AoE damage. So if your ability automatically confirms a critical, it doesn't matter as far as the damage goes; that's going to be critical damage. But it may be pertinent to magic effects so you roll specifically for that.