I thought up a couple of new rules for fighting opponents that are very easy to hit. They should fall over and die rather quickly. In D&D 4th edition there is the concept of minions — mobs with only one hitpoint. This is something else, these opponents aren’t by design less powerful or important, they are just simply no match for you in combat.
The rule? If you beat the targets armor class by leaps and bounds you automatically make a critical hit. Every player character should get this power for free.
Expert Strike: “You know where to strike to deal maximum damage. If a foe’s defenses is wide open to you, you hit him where it hurts the most.” If your to hit roll beats 10 + 3x the opponents AC bonus, you’ve made a critical hit.
For example: You’re fighting Fnords with an AC bonus of 4, making their AC total 14. You hit a Fnord for 22 (10 + 3 x 4). You deal critical damage. Simple as that.
Deadly Expert Strike: Like Expert Strike, but if your to hit roll beats 2x the opponents total AC, you instantly kill the target.
For example a 28 to hit kills the Fnord.
By the book: Daily Bard utility power level 3
“You are especially knowledgeable about the monster you are fighting, and know just where to hit to hurt it the most.”
Do a skill check of DC 20 + monster level on either Nature, Religion or Arcana, depending on the type of monster. If you make it, you grant a +1 knowledge bonus to the range for critical hits on the target for all allies within burst 5 for the rest of the encounter. The bonus does not stack with any other bonuses that increases critical hit range.
Paragon tier: the bonus increases to +2.
Epic tier: the bonus increases to +3.
Tags: 4th edition, Rules
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