Archives of Nethys

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Critical Hit Effects | Special Properties | Weapon Accessories | Weapon Fusions


Critical Hit Effects

If your attack roll is a natural 20 and your attack total is equal to or greater than your target’s AC, your attack is a critical hit. A critical hit means that you roll your damage twice (adding to each roll all your usual bonuses, including any additional damage from special abilities) and then add the rolls together to determine the damage dealt.

Some weapons have an additional critical effect that applies when you score a critical hit. These effects are as follows.

Arc

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The attack’s energy leaps to a second creature. This secondary target must be within 10 feet of your original target and must be the creature closest to the original target (you choose if multiple creatures are equidistant). Roll the amount of damage listed in the weapon’s arc—the secondary target takes this damage (not multiplied by the critical hit), of whatever type the weapon deals.

Bind

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target is entangled, as if the weapon had the entangle weapon special property.

Bleed

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target gains the bleeding condition (see page 273).

Blind

Source Pact Worlds pg. 192
The target must succeed at a Reflex saving throw or gain the blinded condition for 1d3 rounds.

Blind

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target must succeed at a Reflex saving throw or gain the blinded condition for 1d3 rounds.

Burn

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target gains the burning condition (see page 273).

Confuse

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target must succeed at a Will saving throw or gain the confused condition for 1 round.

Corrode

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target takes corrode damage equal to the amount listed. This functions as the burning condition but deals acid damage rather than fire damage.

Deafen

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be deafened (see page 275) for 1d4 minutes.

Degeneration

Source Starfinder #33: Dominion’s End pg. 48
The target’s cells overheat and rapidly degenerate. Each round, at the start of the character’s next turn before they take any actions, they take the listed amount of damage as fire damage and are fatigued. At the end of each of their turns, the creature can attempt a Fortitude saving throw to end the effect; on a failure, cellular degeneration continues but the creature gains a cumulative +1 bonus to the Fortitude save to end the effect.

Demoralize

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
You can attempt an Intimidate check with a –5 penalty to demoralize your foes as a reaction. Compare the result of this check to the DC of each creature that took damage from this attack using the guidelines from the demoralize task of the Intimidate skill.

Digitize

Source Tech Revolution pg. 64
Weapons with the digitize special property convert targets into raw data. A target hit by a weapon with this property must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the item’s level + your Intelligence modifier) or begin breaking down with blips of sound, taking the listed amount of sonic damage every round until the target succeeds at a Will save to end the damage. This functions as the burning condition, except as noted. The ongoing damage also ends if the target succeeds at a Computers check (same DC as the Will save) as a standard action.

Electrocute

Source Pact Worlds pg. 192
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or take 1d4 Dexterity damage.

Embed

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The attack embeds a barbed needle or another lingering effect in the target. The first time each round the target moves 5 feet or more in a single action (voluntarily or not), it takes the listed damage. The target can remove the embedded object with a standard action, dealing the listed damage in the process. Alternatively, with a successful Medicine check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 the weapon’s item level), another creature can remove the object from the target and deal no damage. Multiple embedded objects each deal their listed damage and must be removed one at a time.

Enfeeble

Source Near Space pg. 148
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or take 1d4 Strength damage.

Fatigue

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or gain the fatigued condition for 1 round per item level of the weapon. This condition can be removed as normal.

Frostbite

Source Interstellar Species pg. 79
The weapon rimes the target, draining their heat and causing frostbite damage equal to the amount listed. This functions as the burning condition but deals cold damage rather than fire damage.

Immobilize

Source Starfinder #26: Flight of the Sleepers pg. 49
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be knocked prone and gain the pinned condition. The target can escape the pinned condition by succeeding at an Acrobatics check (DC = 20 + 1-1/2 × the weapon’s item level). The pinned condition ends automatically if the weapon’s wielder either moves or attacks with the weapon again; the penalties from the pinned condition still apply to the target if the wielder uses the weapon to attack the pinned target.

Injection DC +2

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
If the weapon is used to deliver a poison or drug of some kind, the save DC of that poison is increased by 2 when delivered on a critical hit.

Irradiate

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target must succeed at a Fortitude save or contract radiation sickness. The DC for this disease is equal to the weapon’s critical hit DC. This is considered low-level radiation, regardless of the save DC.

Jet

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The attack emits a jet of energy that suffuses the target and extends to strike a second creature. This secondary target must be adjacent to the original target and on the opposite border or opposite corner of the target’s space from you. When in doubt about whether a second creature’s position compared to a target makes it subject to a jet attack, trace a line from the center of your space to the center of the second creature’s space. If the line passes through opposite borders or corners of the primary target’s space, then the second creature is a valid target for the jet attack. If multiple valid targets of the jet damage are present, you choose which is the secondary target. Roll the amount of damage listed in the weapon’s jet: the secondary target takes this damage (not multiplied by the critical hit) of whatever energy damage type the weapon deals.

Knockdown

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target is knocked prone (see page 277).

Leech

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
This weapon can leach life force from a target, draining its vitality and leaving it feeling unsteady. The target must succeed at a Fortitude save or gain the off-target condition for 1 round per item level of the weapon. This has no effect if the target is immune to disease.

Mutation

Source Starfinder #33: Dominion’s End pg. 48
The creature’s cells attempt to break free from the gravitational forces that keep them in orbit. As electrons escape, the resulting subatomic changes in the creature cause severe transformations. The target must attempt a Fortitude saving throw; on a failure, roll on the table below. The effects of a mutation can be removed with the remove affliction spell (DC = 5 + the item level); some mutations can be removed in other ways.
D20MutationEffect
1–4CalcificationThe target grows a rigid exoskeleton and is paralyzed; a successful DC 23 Strength check frees the target and ends the effect.
5–8ExsanguinationThe target gains the bleeding condition for 2d6 damage as its vascular system becomes porous.
9–12Limb distentionThe target takes a –10 penalty to land speed, and a –2 penalty to attack rolls and Dexterity-based skill checks.
13–16Sensory deprivationThe target is blinded as their eyes melt.
17–20TransmogrificationThe target is polymorphed into a Small animal or similar beast, as a 6th-level baleful polymorph; each round at the end of their turn, the target can attempt a Fortitude save to end the effect with a cumulative +1 bonus.


Nauseate

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or gain the nauseated condition for 1 round.

Nuisance

Source Near Space pg. 148
This weapon delivers targeted pops of sound and strobes of light. If you score a critical hit against a target with this weapon, the target is affected as though hit with harrying fire.

Pulse

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The weapon’s output explodes in a pulse of energy. All creatures adjacent to the original target take the amount of damage listed in the pulse entry, of the same type dealt by the weapon’s initial attack.

Push

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target is pushed the listed distance away from you. If the target runs into an obstacle, it stops moving and falls prone.

Recharge

Source Alien Archive pg. 45
When the wielder scores a critical hit against a living creature or a construct with the technological subtype, the weapon regains the listed number of charges (up to the weapon’s maximum capacity).

Second Arc

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The attack’s energy continues leaping from a secondary target to a tertiary target. This functions identically to the arc critical hit effect, except the second arc can’t target either the original target of the attack or the creature struck by the first arc special property.

Severe Wound

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
Roll twice on Table 7–11: Wounding Weapons and choose your desired result. The target can still attempt any associated save.

D20LocationSaveEffect
1–10GeneralBleed 1d6
11–13Eye (sensory)RefLost eye, –2 Perception
14–15Leg (mobility)FortSevered limb, –10 land speed
16–17Arm (manipulation)RefSevered limb, lose a hand
18–19Vital organFort1d4 Con damage
20BrainFortStunned 1 round


Sicken

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or become sickened for 1d4 minutes. This has no effect if the target is immune to disease.

Staggered

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target must succeed at a Fortitude save or be staggered (see page 277) for 1 round.

Stifle

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The target can’t speak or make vocalizations of any kind for 1 round.

Stunned

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
The target is stunned (see page 277) for 1 round.

Suffocate

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 31
The weapon sucks the atmosphere away from the target. If the target is wearing armor or a space suit that has activated environmental protections, the weapon depletes a number of days of that protection equal to half the weapon’s item level. If this depletes the environmental protections entirely, or if the target was not wearing any such protections, the target must succeed at a Fortitude save or gain the exhausted condition

Teleport Slip

Source Starfinder #49: A Light in the Dark pg. 42
The weapon’s wielder can teleport adjacent to a different target within 10 feet and make another melee attack against that target at a –4 penalty; this does not require an action. The wielder can benefit from this critical hit effect no more than once per round.

Wound

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 182
Roll on Table 7-11: Wounding Weapons. The target must succeed at a saving throw of the listed type (if any) or suffer the listed effect. If the creature lacks a specified location, use the general location.

D20LocationSaveEffect
1–10GeneralBleed 1d6
11–13Eye (sensory)RefLost eye, –2 Perception
14–15Leg (mobility)FortSevered limb, –10 land speed
16–17Arm (manipulation)RefSevered limb, lose a hand
18–19Vital organFort1d4 Con damage
20BrainFortStunned 1 round