question: expand critical range and activate critical specialization

[Shinrei123]

Hi all

I was hoping to inform myself using this thread. Does anyone know if within the current implementation of FG PF 2e it is possible to:
1) expand the critical range (implement the keen rune so that nat19 are considered critical hits)
2) how to activate critical specialization for a weapon. If it isn't possible does anyone know if this is on the roadmap?

I apologize if this is mentioned in another topic but was unable to find it. I appreciate all of your time.

Warm regards

[Trenloe]

All of this has to be handled manually.

I don't have any specific plans for the keen rune, but I may add it in if it's convenient as part of other coding.

For weapon critical specialization I suggest you handle this manually via an action on the Actions tab - setup a spell class (but call it "Abilities" or some such), type a number in the level 1 counter (to show the "Level 1" header, then right-click to "add spell" and then add actions (via the right click menu) to this spell (which isn't a spell). For example, the Knife group, have an Effect action with PERS: 1d6 bleed for the persistent bleed damage. Then apply this to the target of a critical hit if you want to.

I am planning into looking weapon critical specializations a little bit more in the future, but I'm not sure what I'll do (if anything). As there are some abilities/situations where the player won't want to automatically apply a specific specialization - hence why it's best to have it as an action the player can apply if they wish.

[Shinrei123]

Hi Trenloe

Thank you for your time! In that case we'll proceed as you say!
I don't know if it helps or not but I know expanding critical hits range works in the DND rule set. I don't know how easy it is to bring it over but in the off chance you weren't aware of this, then I was able to inform you.
Have a nice day and thank you for all your time and effort.

[Trenloe]

Yep, I know about the 5E ruleset and how it’s implemented. It’s a case of prioritizing development time. I believe the keen weapon property and the fighter 18h level feat "savage critical" are the only current rules objects (item, feat, class feature, etc.) that do this, so it’s a fairly rare occurrence and so is not as high on the development list as other features.

[Larsenex]

Shinrei123,

A natural 20 does not automatically trigger a critical hit. It is always a hit but not necessarily a critical one. If the roll is 10+ the AC/target that would be a critical.

This rule invalidates having a keen rune I guess. In my campaign when the players are fighting monsters 3+ levels higher they have rolled 20's a few times and got hits but not critical ones. Not sure how you would implement a keen rune other than to give a specaial case where if the roll is 19 or 20 and to add (+5 to the total) only for determining a critical hit. I don't think this can be implemented in FG right now.

[Shinrei123]

Hi Larsenex

In light of your message I reviewed the CRB for both critical hits (page 445-446 step 4 determine the degree of success and effect & page 584 keen rune)
The rule you state above is correct with one addition: a natural 20 increases your degree of success by one and a natural 1 decreases your degree in success. So unless the players are dealing with AC's/DC's way above their level a natural 20 should result in a critical hit.

Regarding the keen rune CRB states on page 584 that a natural 19 results in a critical hit as long as the result would not be a failure.

As for the implementation in FG:
I just tried out hitting a creature with AC20 with a +7 weapon. This means that if the PC rolls a nat 20 a result of 27 would be achieved which on itself is a regular success but due to the nat 20 the degree of success is increased by 1 resulting in a critical success.
FG gives the expected result as shown in the screenshot below.

36908

Conclusion: FG rules and works according to RAW and as intended.

[Trenloe]

A natural 20 does not automatically trigger a critical hit. It is always a hit but not necessarily a critical one.
A 20 makes the result of the check one level higher than what it would have been normally. If the nat 20 plus/minus all bonuses/penalties is 10 or more less than the AC it would have been a critical failure, but the 20 upgrades it one step to a failure. It would be very, very rare for this to happen, maybe someone with MAP -10 attacking a very high AC, but this is the rules - upgrade one level from the base result when a nat 20 is rolled.

[MaxAstro]

I actually did have this come up last session - it was indeed a character with -10 MAP attacking a very high AC creature. A natural 20 resulted in just barely less than the creature's AC, and was a regular hit instead of a crit.

[Larsenex]

Thanks for the info. I learned a few things today!