Critical Hit additional effects?

buddhafrog · Feb 9, 2010

I have never used official critical hit random effects, but often I will add a little fluff to the description of the hit. If my PC specified what part of the enemy he targeted -- like yesterday's crit hit on a cyclops when my PC's first attack specified that he shot an arrow at it's eye -- I will let them roll d20 to see how serious any additional effect might be. When that PC rolled an additional 17, I said the cyclops was blinded until saving throw.... seeing that it was a cyclops that was significant. It turned out that the cyclops missed SEVEN straight saving throws (!) and really threw the battle in favor of the PC's.

I've been considering this. I was looking forward to attacking with the cyclops and in this way it kind of disappointed. But boy, were my PC's excited, and mostly b/c the crit 20 actually "did" something besides damage HP. It was power creep, but I was OK with it.

So I went online and looked at Paizo's Critical Hit card deck. I love the concept for various weapons and the fun/random factor of drawing a card. However, the deck is made for 3.5 and I'm not sure I like all the effects. I'm thinking of writing my own d20 or maybe percentile list of additional effects.

Do you do this? Any recommendations or suggestions? Concerns I haven't thought of? Did you write your own or use someone else's?

defendi · Feb 10, 2010

I use Critical Matters, finalredoubt.com/store. But then again, I wrote it.

The criticals are rolemaster esque. You can see some examples in the product description.

unan oranis · Feb 10, 2010

I used the critical hits deck in 3.5, it's pretty fun - though you should know that there is one "insta-kill" card mixed in there somewhere.

The 4e method I use for crits is an oversized d12 with a condition on each face (such as daze), which I "re-skin" on the fly (ooh, you partially scalp the enemy!)... save ends these effects.

Just like in your example sometimes an effect will last for a real long time and kind of throw the fight, but my players have always enjoyed it.

Charles Lyssimk · Jan 17, 2018

critical hits/called shots

if u let ur pc's designate the area they r attacking, they should do so with negative modifiers to hit, called shots should b harder to land than normal atacks. it is far more difficult to exact a called shot then the normal situational strike. called shots r harder cuz they have 2 b precise, not only that but said pc may not b n a good position to directly attack an area on the enemy's body. not only that but land a called shot on ur opponents neck n they r done unless they have great armo secifically around the neck. critical charts r great. we roll 1 d 10, to determine what part of the body u critically hit. then we roll 1d100 for the exact effect.
example critical hit and roll 3-chart 54- effect +weapon type (slashing, blunt, piercing.) so with a longsword, 3-54 would b, non lead leg, deep gash just above the knee. x2 dmg, stun 1 round, bleed 1 per rnd untill bound. and -2 to movement until bound and either cure moderate wounds or time enough time passes.
my crit. charts start at 1-01 deep cut acrossed shield hand fingers, +3 dmg, loose initiative next rnd. all the way up to 9-99, say piercing this time tho for the weapon type. bridge of nose, arrow enters between the eyes, exits the new hole n the back of head. dead nearly instantly. with nearly everything n between. 5-65 blunt weapon, lower torso, downward impact, pelvis broken, x2 dmg/ stun 5min/ bleed n bruise 1 per rnd./ loose initiative/ 1/4 movement until healed magically or over time.
critical spell failure charts, by spell type. (direct dmg, area of effect, or indirect effect spells like grease, levetate, charm, i.e. spell failure charts r alot harder to make if u ask me.
critical fumble charts, 1 d 100, could b over extending, throwing ur weapon, breaking ur weapon (magic weapons n items get saving throw) u could even damage urself. very low probability.
i used to run a 2.5 edition d n d campiagn, actuslly 3 seperate ones, with all diff players. a hobby shop callesd 'infinite frontiers' used to pay me when i was a kid to run campaigns. they had to b 100% original too. i used characters from books, made up ones, guest pc's (pc's that played cameo roles sorta, and were only around for a few sessions. we played 3 hours 2 nights weekly, or up to 5 hrs once every 2 weeks, different groups, i let them decide the hours. after all i was getting paid cash n store credit.
i wish i could find a group to game with nowadays. would b way better at dm'ing now that i am 20 years older and i would not b doing it as a job
sorry to take up so much of ur time to read this all. my name is charles and how the hell r ya, i'm just fine hope ur the same. good future, good games and good luck.

Deset Gled · Jan 17, 2018

Charles Lyssimk said:
if u let ur pc's designate the area they r attacking, they should do so with negative modifiers to hit, called shots should b harder to land than normal atacks. it is far more difficult to exact a called shot then the normal situational strike. called shots r harder cuz they have 2 b precise, not only that but said pc may not b n a good position to directly attack an area on the enemy's body. not only that but land a called shot on ur opponents neck n they r done unless they have great armo secifically around the neck. critical charts r great. we roll 1 d 10, to determine what part of the body u critically hit. then we roll 1d100 for the exact effect.
example critical hit and roll 3-chart 54- effect +weapon type (slashing, blunt, piercing.) so with a longsword, 3-54 would b, non lead leg, deep gash just above the knee. x2 dmg, stun 1 round, bleed 1 per rnd untill bound. and -2 to movement until bound and either cure moderate wounds or time enough time passes.

Welcome to the boards. You might want to be aware of a few things:

- This thread is from 2010. You are unlikely to get responses from original posters.

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- We're not all grammar nazis, but we generally frown on text speak. Use "to", "are", "you", and "be", not 2 R U B.

I hope this helps, and that we will see you again.

Critical Hit additional effects?

buddhafrog

First Post

defendi

Explorer

unan oranis

First Post

Charles Lyssimk

First Post

Deset Gled

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