Game Questions

[Grozer]

Forgive my ignorance, but I am not as familar with the game mechanics and I have a couple of silly questions... tried searching Bioware but couldnt find my answers.

I was battling the zombie knights last night and wondered what causes the knockdown? Is this a special power or feat?

After reviewing the game log, I didn't see any reference to knockdown, but did notice threat rolls by the zombie knights... can someone explain threat checks? Is this related to why my character kept getting put on his rear?

Thanks in advance.

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

All I know about their knockdown ability is that it is spell like, with no saving throw. Prolly some on hit cause spell/spell effect to trigger. The only reason i know this is because epic level donovan brunheld never gets knocked down cause of his high spell resistance.

[Misha Aogail]

Actaully, when Tori took the Bull's Strength potion, there were times she wasn't knocked down by the blast. 'Course what was interesting was that when any of us gals that were there would hit a knight, all three of us went down and when the guys hit a knight, just the guys went down. Maybe there's somewhat of an area thing there as well.

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

It's not the zombies... it's their shields...

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

Ill have to get me one of them shields .

[kenny26]

knockdown is a feat, you can take it at any level it has no requirements. you can high light it and read the description.

threat rolls are what you use to determine whether you score a crital hit.
if your attack roll was within your threat range (longswords have threat range 19-20, if the dice roll scores either a 19 or 20, you've made a threat), you automatically do a re-roll, and if that hits you score a critical hit. critical hits multiply the damage you cause, depending on the weapon you use.

[Grozer]

DM said:

It's not the zombies... it's their shields...

Umm... where can I buy one of those shields?

[Grozer]

Misha_Aogail said:

Actaully, when Tori took the Bull's Strength potion, there were times she wasn't knocked down by the blast. 'Course what was interesting was that when any of us gals that were there would hit a knight, all three of us went down and when the guys hit a knight, just the guys went down. Maybe there's somewhat of an area thing there as well.

Interesting idea, but my strength was buffed really high and I still got knocked on my rear.. (see the black and blue marks ;D ) Seriously though I did notice the area of effect seemed to different. At certain times the female characters were really far away from the knights yet were effected while the male characters were closer and avoided the effect.

[Grozer]

kenny26 said:

knockdown is a feat, you can take it at any level it has no requirements. you can high light it and read the description.

threat rolls are what you use to determine whether you score a crital hit.
if your attack roll was within your threat range (longswords have threat range 19-20, if the dice roll scores either a 19 or 20, you've made a threat), you automatically do a re-roll, and if that hits you score a critical hit. critical hits multiply the damage you cause, depending on the weapon you use.

Thanks Kenny! From the game log, it looks like there are some modifiers to threat rolls... any idea what that might be, strength maybe or something else?

[kenny26]

i don't know. from what i know threat rolls should be made at the normal attack bonus...

anyhow, i'd like to answer any other questions you have. you can also reach me in-game. my account name is kenny26 and my char is Jargo.

[DM Richard (Retired)]

Zombie Knights knockdown can be resisted and even totally negated. Don't worry to much about the game mechanics of it. Just think how would you resist being knocked down.

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

Quote : Just think how would you resist being knocked down.

Umm ... not fight those zombies?

[Misha Aogail]

Well apparently standing far away from them doesn't help not getting knocked down, so... Maybe if we all jump at the same time at the precise moment we can resist it!

[kenny26]

he means with the discipline skill. that's what you normally use to resist KD attacks.

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

Actually I'm gonna have to disagree with kenny here, in that I dont think your discipline will help you at all. Sure if they were using the attack, knockdown, your discipline would help you. However, since this affect only happens when you strike them (and since it is on their shields) just cause you fall prone doesnt mean you are getting hit with knockdown. There are at least 4 spells that make one fall prone, that i know of: Bagalorn's Iron Horn, Bigby's Forceful Hand, Great Thunderclap, and Gust of Wind. I believe that since the affect only happens when they are struck, it has to do with a spell like ability being triggered. But since I dont know which ability, I can't tell ya what ya have to do to prevent it. Kenny may be right, it might be discipline, but since i am always maxing that skill out and still falling on my arse, and they aren't really "attacking" with it, I think it is something else. But enough of my powergaming tactics , just do what your character would prolly do ... run

[louminator]

Regarding threat checks...

All creatures and characters have a critical threat range. Typically when you make your attack roll using the d20, any roll of 20 (also known as a "natural 20") is considered a critical threat. That means you must make a threat roll using the same attack bonus to see if your attack was a critical hit. If your threat roll succeeds, then damage from your attack is multiplied by the critical hit modifier, which is usually double the normal damage.

Certain types of weapons have improved critical threat ranges or critical hit modifiers, or both. Some feats, spells, class abilities (weapon masters), and weapon properties can also improve these ratings. You can view your own character's critical hit information where his damage is listed. It is usually expressed in the following format: 19-20/x2. This means that on a natural roll of 19 or 20, your character makes a threat roll to see if he scores two times (x2) his normal damage.

Hope that explains a bit more.

[Quadhund/Greenhouse]

A bit off topic, but absolutely correct in explaining critical hits.

[Grozer]

Thanks everyone for all the info...