Inevitable Strike: do I have to declare which die is which?

Question

Inevitable Strike

No Action

Range Personal

Trigger: You make a melee weapon attack roll.

Effect: Make the attack roll twice. If both attack rolls hit, the target takes 1d8 extra damage.

Level 11: 2d8 extra damage.

Level 21: 3d8 extra damage.

I was kind of confused as to how this worked so I googled it. The explanation I got was that there is only one "real" attack roll. There's another one added in which simply gives you extra damage if the "real" one hits. Which lead me to another question, do I have to declare which one's which? That would make it kinda sucky if you ask me.

Answer 1

You don't have to declare which is which, because if either one hits, the attack hits.

Both d20 rolls are the real attack roll, you are effectively rolling 2d20 and taking the highest. This improves your chance to hit tremendously, and also gives you bonus damage if both die rolls are high enough to make the attack hit.

The way this power works:

• Declare power
• Declare you are using inevitable strike
• Roll 2d20
• Check if die 1 hit, attack hits
• Check if die 2 hit, extra damage
• Check if either is a natural 20 apply crit effects if it is
• Resolve damage roll.

It's important to keep the following in mind:

If an effect has a trigger but is neither an immediate action nor an opportunity action, assume that it behaves like an immediate reaction, waiting for its trigger to completely resolve. However, ignore this guideline when the effect has to interrupt its trigger to function. For instance, if a triggered power allows an adventurer to use a free action to reroll an attack roll, with the hope of turning a miss into a hit, the power must interrupt the trigger (“You miss with an attack”) to function; otherwise the attack would be resolved as a miss.

This power is a trigger No Action, but it does not make sense for it to wait until it's trigger is completely resolved (that being the attack roll), so you need to use it like an interrupt and have it go off before you make the roll.

Answer 2

From the description of attack roll in the core player book:

To determine whether an attack succeeds, you make an attack roll.

The definition of Trigger:

A trigger is an action, an event, or an effect that allows you to use a triggered action

This seem to imply you must make an attack roll (since it is an action, and not an enunciation of an action) to then decide if you want to use the "inevitable strike".

On the other hand since an attack roll is used to determine if the attack succeeds and not if it fails, a sucess should mean "an attack is determined to have succeeded", while a failed roll should mean "an attack is not determined to have succeeded". If you roll a fail and a success, the success should be determinant.

Therefore, as written, after making an attack roll, regardless of it being a hit or a miss, you can use the action to make a second roll, if either is a hit, the attack is a success, if both miss the attack fails, and if both hit the attack succeeds and you deal bonus damage, regardless of which attack is the triggering roll and which one is the bonus roll.

In step-by-step format, using wax eagle's answer as a template:

• Declare triggering power that requires a melee attack roll
• Roll 1d20, see the result but don't compare it with target value
• Decide to use Inevitable Strike
• Roll another d20
• If neither d20, with added attack bonuses, reach the target value, the triggering power fails
• If one d20, with added attack bonuses, reaches the target value, solve the triggering power effect
• If both d20, with added attack bonuses, reach the target value, solve the triggering power effect and deal bonus damage