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This came up in our game last night.

An enemy attacks and rolls a critical hit. The target uses the Luckbender paragon power "Even the Odds" and reduces the roll by the d6 roll.

Is the result still a critical?

I ruled that it wasn't as the power seems to subtract from the roll (rather than the total result).

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This was all well and good until the player realized he was out of range for the power and took the results (decapitation)... – wax eagle Dec 21 '11 at 12:36
What is this ability from? – Pureferret Dec 21 '11 at 15:22
This is the L12 Luckbender paragon path Utility power. – wax eagle Dec 21 '11 at 15:27

2 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

From the definition of Critical hit on DDI (or the Rules Compendium, pg 216):

Natural 20: If you roll a 20 on the die when making an attack roll, you score a critical hit if your total attack roll is high enough to hit your target’s defense. If your attack roll is too low to score a critical hit, you still hit automatically.

Precision: Some class features and powers allow you to score a critical hit when you roll numbers other than 20 (only a natural 20 is an automatic hit).

For your example, if the to hit roll was a natural 20 AND the modified number would still hit the target's defense then the result is a critical.

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up vote 5 down vote

The rules have pretty much always read that a critical roll is a critical, despite any modifications to the result after the roll. Reducing the roll by a d6 is modifying the end result, not the fact that they rolled a critical hit. The hit is still critical, but the d6 subtraction may be useful for other things.

Remember, unless it says to re-roll, a crit is always a crit.

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3  
The roll itself still stands. You can never change a physical roll, but you can always add modifiers. Unless a power specifically says "Negates a critical attack" (And there are a couple that do, I think, would have to pull out the books to be sure) then it can only change the end result, not stop a natural 20 from being a crit. – RGThigpen Dec 21 '11 at 15:34
1  
@RGThigpen there are several things that negate crits (fortification armor gives you a roll, there is a feat that does something similar, some other interrupt powers). The case here is wondering whether this particular power (or powers like it) alter the number on the die or the result. This power in the first case could be used to achieve a crit or negate one, in the second case it could just give you a chance to change a hit to a miss or a miss to a hit... – wax eagle Dec 21 '11 at 15:39
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Unless the power says otherwise (like the armor and feats you mentioned, yes) then it is only a modifier, not a change to the physical roll. – RGThigpen Dec 21 '11 at 15:42

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