Question about Grandmaster of Mountains

[T.T]

Hi!

Three data:

- the monk stays in earth stance
- the monk is a Grandmaster of Mountains (threat 19-20 to unarmed attack)
- the monk have "Improved Critical Bludgeoning"

Wich will be the threat for his unarmed attacks? 17-20 or they do not stack?

[Avidus]

They don't really stack.
That is to say that IC:Bludgeon gives you threat 19-20(with unarmed)
Grandmaster Earth grants you +1 critical multiplier to monk weapons and unarmed attacks on a natural roll of 19-20. Giving you an effective 19-20 x3 profile with unarmed.

So you will not crit on a 17-20 but if you plan on staying only in earth IV you could possibly drop IC:Bludgeon if that is what you are thinking.

[edgarallanpoe]

bummer....it should be at least 18-20 IMHO. That being said, swapping a feat would be nice.

[ulticleo]

I am not 100% sure about this, but...

It is my understanding that GM mountain DOES NOT grant you and effective IC. it is worded that way so that if you are using, say, long swords (wss) or short swords (ninja spy), which have crit range of 19-20 (17-20 with IC/ninja spy2), the +1 crit multiplier does not apply on 17/18, and only on natural 19/20.

so I don't think you want to drop the feat. you can test it and let us know.

[cforce]

bummer....it should be at least 18-20 IMHO. That being said, swapping a feat would be nice.

I think you might be misunderstanding... they don't "stack" because they don't overlap -- one increases threat range, the other increases critical multiplier.

But, actually, reading the exact wording of the stance:

"...the critical multiplier of all weapons you use is increased by 1 on rolls of a natural 19 or 20."

This actually begs the question: as worded, the stance doesn't actually say it increases your critical range to 19-20 in *absence* of iCrit. My rules-lawyer interpretation would say that, if you don't have iCrit, you're don't actually get a confirmed critical on a 19, so that the critical multiplier would never come into play. In other words, "Lucky you! Your critical multiplier for this roll of 19 is x3! If only you had made a critical hit, you'd be really happy!"

Anyone know the truth of this? I imagine this might be tricky to find out -- most folks will be running with Improved Crit.

[edgarallanpoe]

Ahhh....I see. I have an Earth III monk right now and was wondering about the wording of Earth IV. Truth be told, I don't even know what feat I would swap IC for anyway, or even if I would. It would still be useful to have in other stances.

[elg582]

1. Earth III and IV have the same effect on critical hits.

2. The effect is to increase your critical hit multiplier by 1 on a 19 or 20, so to answer your original question, with improved critical, you would have 19-20/x3 crit profile.

3. If you do not have improved critical, you should get 19/x2 and 20/x3, but I have not tested this and have no intention of doing so.