Critical Hits are attacks that cause much more damage than usually inflicted.
Types
There are a number of types of critical hits:
Dark
Attacks from dark enchanted weapons have a chance to cause a critical hit, which may inflict up to ten times normal damage - repeated attacks will eventually cause a critical. Creature size and innate resistance affect the size and frequency of the critical
Weak points
Many creatures have weak points - for goblins and humans it is the head, for cyclops it is the eye, and for dragons it is the heart. Any blow (or magick) directed at a weak point will cause extra damage - for goblins a strike to the head causes double damage, but in other cases the increase is much greater, such as when striking a dragon's heart.
Posture and awareness
Creatures caught unawares ('out of battle stance'), knocked down or asleep often receive increased damage - the increase (for the Arisen) of attacks without the weapon drawn is +20%, for some knocked down foes damage is doubled, whilts for others damage is unnaffected. Grappled foes take more damage and appear to have much reduced defense.
Iraklis
The unique longsword Iraklis inflicts critical hits with regularity - the damage multiplier is from two to ten times normal damage depending on the quality of the sword.
Debilitations
Certain debilitations cause critical like hits when a follow up strike is give - these include :
- Inflicting burning when tarred
- Any strike when frozen - may also shatter
- Lightning based attacks when drenched
- The first attack on any sleeping foe.
