[RPG] What modifiers are and are not included in a DnD 3.5e critical hit

critical-hitdnd-3.5e

I see one line in the SRD stating:

A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together. Unless otherwise specified, the threat range for a critical hit on an attack roll is 20, and the multiplier is ×2.

However, that is immediately followed by the line:

Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit.

At the moment, I have a +2 strength bonus and a +2 weapon specialization bonus.

My question is this: On a critical hit, do I get to add those bonuses to my total twice?

Best Answer

From Combat Statistics, SRD:

Multiplying Damage

Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results. Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage.

Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.

Thus, you include all modifiers that are just numbers, but do not include any extra rolled dice, like Sneak Attack. The only di(c)e that gets multiplied is the weapon’s base damage di(c)e.

For example, you Sneak Attack for +3d6 with a Rapier (1d8) and have Strength 14 (+2) and Weapon Specialization (Rapier) (+2), your normal attack is 1d8+4+3d6, and a Critical Hit is (1d8+4)×2+3d6.