On the topic of the Assassin rogue subclass, and critical hits

[Fingersome]

One of the Assassin's class features in 5th edition grants an automatic critical hit against any creature you hit with an attack, as long as it is surprised by you. I can handle granting advantage against such a target easily with a custom condition called "Surprised", by giving the player a condition that checks for the Surprised condition. However, forcing an automatic critical hit appears to be more tricky... unless there is some hidden parameter I've missed. It's an edge-case so I'm assuming there just isn't an effect or parameter for it in the Effects system.

I expect someone could write an extension for it, but alas, that is beyond my ken.

I suppose I'll just have to remind my player to hold shift when rolling damage against surprised targets, eh? :)

[Beemanpat]

Disregard I didn't read the last sentence. You got the bit about holding shift. I'm unaware of an extension that autmates this.

[dendarii]

If you click the +/- button (Modifiers) in the top right, there is a Damage button for Critical, as well as Max and Half.

[Zacchaeus]

You are correct; you can't force a critical via an effect. Holding SHIFT whilst rolling damage is the way to go.

[MrDDT]

One of the Assassin's class features in 5th edition grants an automatic critical hit against any creature you hit with an attack, as long as it is surprised by you. I can handle granting advantage against such a target easily with a custom condition called "Surprised", by giving the player a condition that checks for the Surprised condition. However, forcing an automatic critical hit appears to be more tricky... unless there is some hidden parameter I've missed. It's an edge-case so I'm assuming there just isn't an effect or parameter for it in the Effects system.

I expect someone could write an extension for it, but alas, that is beyond my ken.

I suppose I'll just have to remind my player to hold shift when rolling damage against surprised targets, eh? :)

You can code this pretty easy.

Put an IFT: CUSTOM(Surprised); CRIT: 2

Apply this to the player that gets it, you can even leave it on all the time. Then when something has the "Surprised" effect (fyi it's really not a condition don't ask me why it should be), it will allow the to crit on any roll over a 1.

Just make sure you put the Surprised effect correctly spelled on the target before they roll attack roll.

Edit, nm this wont work as it will give a hit on any roll even if it would normally miss (other than a nat 1)

[spoofer]

That should still work since the assassin character will not roll damage unless they actually hit, right?

[TheoGeek]

I coded this up as an exercise to address this...not super tested, but it does work in the cases I tried. Check it out if you want. :)

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?72515-Theogeek-s-Assassinate-(5E-only)&p=639245#post639245

[TheoGeek]

That should still work since the assassin character will not roll damage unless they actually hit, right?

The effect "IFT: CUSTOM(Surprised); CRIT: 2" will actually make every attack roll a critical hit unless it's a 1 because it lowers the crit range floor to 2 like MrDDT's edit says. In that case, a "3" which would miss would be considered a critical hit. The player wouldn't have to roll damage in that case, but then the DM would need to tell the player that the critical hit was actually a miss and not to roll damage.