Critical Hit?

[Guest]

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Something surprising happened today. I've been playing for several months
now, my character is at level 39, and I've been using mostly the same 2
weapons ever since I found them a very long time ago. The weapon in
question is a Warhammer of Wounds. I've got lvl 98 Blunt Weapon skill now,
maxed out Strength long ago. I attacked a monster, and I got a little
message saying "Critical Hit", and it made a different sound than usual, and
the monster died on the first strike. (Well okay, it was a Scrib, and they
ALWAYS die on the first strike.) What I don't get is how I've been playing
this game as long as I have, and this is the first time I've gotten a
critical hit? Why only now, when I'm close to maxing out the skill, do I
manage to land one? And only one. Nothing I attacked after that one Scrib
got me a critical hit. The manual doesn't seem to say anything about this
phenomenon. Is it maybe governed by another attribute such as Agility or
Luck? My Agility is near maxed now as well, but I don't think I've put any
points in Luck. Would I see this more often if I had higher Luck? (It
seems to me that increasing your Luck by levelling would take forever, since
there's no way I know to get a multiplyer for Luck, so you can only go up 1
per level...) I could have gone forever never knowing this feature existed
in the game until now...

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 02:26:04 -0500, "Darrel Hoffman" <i.dont@think.so>
wrote:

>Something surprising happened today. I've been playing for several months
>now, my character is at level 39, and I've been using mostly the same 2
>weapons ever since I found them a very long time ago. The weapon in
>question is a Warhammer of Wounds. I've got lvl 98 Blunt Weapon skill now,
>maxed out Strength long ago. I attacked a monster, and I got a little
>message saying "Critical Hit", and it made a different sound than usual, and
>the monster died on the first strike. (Well okay, it was a Scrib, and they
>ALWAYS die on the first strike.) What I don't get is how I've been playing
>this game as long as I have, and this is the first time I've gotten a
>critical hit? Why only now, when I'm close to maxing out the skill, do I
>manage to land one? And only one. Nothing I attacked after that one Scrib
>got me a critical hit. The manual doesn't seem to say anything about this
>phenomenon. Is it maybe governed by another attribute such as Agility or
>Luck? My Agility is near maxed now as well, but I don't think I've put any
>points in Luck. Would I see this more often if I had higher Luck? (It
>seems to me that increasing your Luck by levelling would take forever, since
>there's no way I know to get a multiplyer for Luck, so you can only go up 1
>per level...) I could have gone forever never knowing this feature existed
>in the game until now...
>
Critical hits have a chance to occur when you hit an unaware target. If
the target knows you're there, I don't think it's possible to get a
critical. As such, they are what rewards thief-type classes for the use
of stealth and/or marksman weapons, and makes it possible for them to
kill foes with weapons that would otherwise be inadequate. I expect luck
does play a part in determining when you critical, but I'm not sure.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

Darrel Hoffman wrote:

> Something surprising happened today. I've been playing for several months
> now, my character is at level 39, and I've been using mostly the same 2
> weapons ever since I found them a very long time ago. The weapon in
> question is a Warhammer of Wounds. I've got lvl 98 Blunt Weapon skill now,
> maxed out Strength long ago. I attacked a monster, and I got a little
> message saying "Critical Hit", and it made a different sound than usual, and
> the monster died on the first strike. (Well okay, it was a Scrib, and they
> ALWAYS die on the first strike.) What I don't get is how I've been playing
> this game as long as I have, and this is the first time I've gotten a
> critical hit? Why only now, when I'm close to maxing out the skill, do I
> manage to land one? And only one. Nothing I attacked after that one Scrib
> got me a critical hit. The manual doesn't seem to say anything about this
> phenomenon. Is it maybe governed by another attribute such as Agility or
> Luck? My Agility is near maxed now as well, but I don't think I've put any
> points in Luck. Would I see this more often if I had higher Luck? (It
> seems to me that increasing your Luck by levelling would take forever, since
> there's no way I know to get a multiplyer for Luck, so you can only go up 1
> per level...) I could have gone forever never knowing this feature existed
> in the game until now...
>
>
Usually they only occur when you get a surprise strike, such as sneaking
up on a character and whacking him. They will usually kill most
creatures, and if they don't they will usually drop them to the ground
where you can finish them off with a second hit. Very rarely you will
get the message during normal combat but I don't know the mechanics for
this happening.
My normal mode of combat is to sneak up on an unsuspecting donor and hit
him with Sunder. Instant kill and no damage to any armor or weapons he
is carrying. In Tribunal I was going after the goblins and getting a
critical hit almost every time. This left their shields and any potions
available for looting. The few times they noticed me as I was striking
I still knocked them to the ground and dropped their shield from 500
points to 0.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

I know for a fact that you have to surprise your victim, I believe it is
actually in the Bethesda guide book when it talks about thieves and their
bonuses, but I sold that a while ago and cannot look it up to tell you. It
is the only way they could come up with to give a "backstab" bonus. but it
does do ridiculous damage.


"Darrel Hoffman" <i.dont@think.so> wrote in message
news:Er2dnXzodqgx3D3cRVn-3w@giganews.com...
> Something surprising happened today. I've been playing for several months
> now, my character is at level 39, and I've been using mostly the same 2
> weapons ever since I found them a very long time ago. The weapon in
> question is a Warhammer of Wounds. I've got lvl 98 Blunt Weapon skill
> now,
> maxed out Strength long ago. I attacked a monster, and I got a little
> message saying "Critical Hit", and it made a different sound than usual,
> and
> the monster died on the first strike. (Well okay, it was a Scrib, and
> they
> ALWAYS die on the first strike.) What I don't get is how I've been
> playing
> this game as long as I have, and this is the first time I've gotten a
> critical hit? Why only now, when I'm close to maxing out the skill, do I
> manage to land one? And only one. Nothing I attacked after that one
> Scrib
> got me a critical hit. The manual doesn't seem to say anything about this
> phenomenon. Is it maybe governed by another attribute such as Agility or
> Luck? My Agility is near maxed now as well, but I don't think I've put
> any
> points in Luck. Would I see this more often if I had higher Luck? (It
> seems to me that increasing your Luck by levelling would take forever,
> since
> there's no way I know to get a multiplyer for Luck, so you can only go up
> 1
> per level...) I could have gone forever never knowing this feature
> existed
> in the game until now...
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:49:40 GMT, "finndo" <finndo@sc.rr.com> wrote:

>I know for a fact that you have to surprise your victim, I believe it is
>actually in the Bethesda guide book when it talks about thieves and their
>bonuses, but I sold that a while ago and cannot look it up to tell you. It
>is the only way they could come up with to give a "backstab" bonus. but it
>does do ridiculous damage.
>

>My character is a "beefy" mage and I haaaave snuck up on nasties with
>invisibility cast and get behind them and "WHACKO" it's a critical hit. Kills most
>lower level characters, tough guys require another hit.

>
>"Darrel Hoffman" <i.dont@think.so> wrote in message
>news:Er2dnXzodqgx3D3cRVn-3w@giganews.com...
>> Something surprising happened today. I've been playing for several months
>> now, my character is at level 39, and I've been using mostly the same 2
>> weapons ever since I found them a very long time ago. The weapon in
>> question is a Warhammer of Wounds. I've got lvl 98 Blunt Weapon skill
>> now,
>> maxed out Strength long ago. I attacked a monster, and I got a little
>> message saying "Critical Hit", and it made a different sound than usual,
>> and
>> the monster died on the first strike. (Well okay, it was a Scrib, and
>> they
>> ALWAYS die on the first strike.) What I don't get is how I've been
>> playing
>> this game as long as I have, and this is the first time I've gotten a
>> critical hit? Why only now, when I'm close to maxing out the skill, do I
>> manage to land one? And only one. Nothing I attacked after that one
>> Scrib
>> got me a critical hit. The manual doesn't seem to say anything about this
>> phenomenon. Is it maybe governed by another attribute such as Agility or
>> Luck? My Agility is near maxed now as well, but I don't think I've put
>> any
>> points in Luck. Would I see this more often if I had higher Luck? (It
>> seems to me that increasing your Luck by levelling would take forever,
>> since
>> there's no way I know to get a multiplyer for Luck, so you can only go up
>> 1
>> per level...) I could have gone forever never knowing this feature
>> existed
>> in the game until now...
>>
>>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.morrowind (More info?)

>My character is a "beefy" mage and I haaaave snuck up on nasties with
>invisibility cast and get behind them and "WHACKO" it's a critical hit.
Kills most
>lower level characters, tough guys require another hit.

Ah, my character has never made a big deal about stealth. I can kill
practically anything in 3-4 hits anyhow, so I just rely on my superior
strength. Probably why I never saw a critical hit before. I've heard
people say that a good way to increase your Sneak skill is to practice on
Scribs, since they're easier to sneak up on. Perhaps that's how I was able
to get that critical hit this time. More often than not, I just ignore
Scribs now, but I was doing the Imperial Cult quest where I needed to
collect 5 Scrib Jellies. They're more trouble than they're worth to kill.
If you happen to miss the first stroke, they might get you with that
Paraylsis attack, and you're sitting frozen while the poor little thing
tries its darndest to bite your legs off. They're not even slightly
dangerous, but having to wait until you're unfrozen is just a pain...