new feat idea: Roll With Critical

[Negative Zero]

several months ago, i had this idea for a feat, and then forgot about it. i kinda just stumbled onto it in my files again.

ROLL WITH CRITICAL [Special]
Prerequisite:
Dex 13, Dodge, Lightning Reflexes, base attack bonus +6 or higher, Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger
Benefit:
on any successful critical hit against you, (before damage is rolled) you get to make a reflex save against DC 22 to halve the damage. [... or perhaps to make it a regular hit]

the DC is set deliberately high, as i envisioned it as a high level feat. a lvl 6 fighter has a +2 on his REF save and assuming no DEX bonus, would only succeed on a natural 20. what do you think? is the DC too high? is the idea even any good?

~NegZ

 

[Crothian]

Here's Wizard's version of this feat found in Dragon 292

Avoid Critical Hit (General):
Prerequisite: Dex 13+, Dodge, Skill Focus Tumble, BAB 8+, Tumble Skill
Benefit: Whenever you are hit with a critical hit, you may try to negate the critical hit. Roll Tumble DC the total confirmed critical attack roll. If you succeed treat the hit as a normal hit.

 

[hong]

I wouldn't use a Ref save or Tumble DC. I think the fighting specialists should be the ones who are best able to avoid crits, and neither Ref saves nor skills are the strong point of fighters. Suggest opposed attack roll, as an AoO, to turn the crit into a regular hit.

Should this also work against sneak attacks (which have a similar rationale to critical hits)?

[edit: That would be: defender makes attack roll, attacker makes _new_ attack roll, not using either the original attack that was a threat, or the confirmation result. Using the these die rolls would be skewed in favour of the attacker, since usually only high rolls result in crits.]