I'm writing today because in a fight scene (a few hours ago) I was swinging a rapier to decapitate a human sorcerer. Before rolling, I called the shot (which gave me a -4 on the roll) and rolled a natural 20. If I'm aiming to decapitate and get the highest success possible what happens? I'm an 11th level human rogue, using a rapier that does 1d6+4 damage. We have a couple "house" rules in play where on a natural 20 its maximum damage. The DM handled the situation one way and I dont agree. Another thing is the sorcerer had false life (+15 hp) casted on himself and full hit points, would this play a role in the critical hit at all.
Copyright © 2024 Q2A.MX - All rights reserved.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
first off a rapier by design is not capable of decapitating someone
the blade is too slim and lacks sufficient mass to cut through bone
a rapier is a finesse weapon designed for speed and thrusting
not slashing
while in 3.5 a "nat 20" is a possible critical hit that you must then reroll to confirm <ie hit your opponents AC >
once you've confirmed the crit the weapon will do it's stated critical hit damage "x" rating, local house rules can allow a weapon to do maximum damage but remember to add any bonus's from spells enhancments and ability mod's
if you want to decapitate an enemy you'll need a heavier weapon such as a long sword or katana as these weapons are historically known to remove body parts/heads
an alternative is to have your weapon enchanted with the "Vorpal" ability <BTW big GP $$$>
this will ensure that a nat 20 will kill as vorpal weapons remove the head on a nat 20 <no save>
a character's defences will still apply even on a crit so you need to make sure your total damage will overpower any known defense
you don't state the scorcer's level but even with the spell's bonus HP your sword would not kill him with max damage <10 points + STR>
as I'd guess the caster's level to be similar to your own
his HP d4x lvl = 44HP + spell = total HP 59 not including CON mod your shot would be a major injury but not fatal
being a rogue why didn't you sneak into position to backstab which would give you a huge damage bump and suprise< no dex mod to AC>
fyi the backstab multiplier and nat 20 weapon crit multiplier stack
so its quite possible to have taken him out in 1 shot from behind