D&D 5E Replacing Crits wwith Exploding Dice

GMMichael · Feb 2, 2017

MechaPilot said:
Can you explain to me how a lethal weapon dealing its maximum damage doesn't kill? That's rhetorical, but I feel it illustrates the point appropriately.

Not appropriately enough, since I'm not sure what you mean.

Do you mean that dealing full damage on the die isn't "critical" if it doesn't result in death?

Or that, since D&D weapons don't kill effectively on a per-hit ratio*, the whole argument is moot?

*Assuming most opponents must be hit more than twice for the kill.

discosoc · Feb 2, 2017

As someone who plays Savage Worlds, I'd say exploding dice are far more lethal for players than they are for the enemies.

Blue · Feb 2, 2017

MechaPilot said:
Can you explain to me how a lethal weapon dealing its maximum damage doesn't kill? That's rhetorical, but I feel it illustrates the point appropriately.

When the dagger plunges into the troll. Or the sword into a hero. Or the hammer into a dragon.

This is a game about heroes that can pick themselves up after getting breathed on by a dragon. How a measly weapon doesn't kill is already baked into the fiction.

closterphobia · Feb 3, 2017

MNblockhead said:
I have three sets:

1. Critical Hits for GMs
2. Critical Hits for Players
3. Critical Fails

I did not buy the Luck set.

My players and I really enjoy using them in our game. The effects are fun but mechanically simple. They do not bog down the game any more then rolling for extra damage. I also like how they are ranked by how deadly they are, so that you can removed deadly and life-threatening cards from the deck for lower level characters.

I highly recommend them.

All right, thanks for the quick review. I think I'll nab the GMs deck and critical fails for sure, will mull the players deck over. I know my players will get love having the deck as part of the game, which is all I could ask for.

Flamestrike · Apr 15, 2017

jasper said:
DM "The orc with a great axe d12 AC 13 HP 15. Nat 19 hit Shroiken 12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12 120 hit pts. .

Buy a lottery ticket. You just jagged a greater than one in 100,000,000,000 roll.

I'm thinking of using exploding damage dice in my next gritty campaign. Not just for critical hits but for all damage all the time.

Anyone have any experience in this?

77IM · Apr 15, 2017

Flamestrike said:
Buy a lottery ticket. You just jagged a greater than one in 100,000,000,000 roll.

I'm thinking of using exploding damage dice in my next gritty campaign. Not just for critical hits but for all damage all the time.

Anyone have any experience in this?

Not in D&D, but in Savage Worlds. What happens is, large numbers of enemies suddenly become much more lethal, because the damage is so much more swingy. Throw several goblins with d6 weapons at the party and odds are good that at least one of them will have a d6 that explodes 3-4 times. Consider each explosion is roughly equivalent to a crit, you're increasing the number of crits by around 15% (more or less; larger dice have fewer explosions but they are worse when they happen). I've seen many a robust hero felled by a black swan of exploding d6s.

I think the way D&D does hit points should soften this blow. Once the characters have a few levels under their belts, they should be able to absorb the swingy damage much better. OTOH if you're a fan of simulation, the swingy damage greatly improves the city militia's odds against the ancient red dragon.

You should probably also let healing dice explode, like from cure wounds or healing word, and maybe even hit dice.

Also, you might consider NOT applying the exploding damage to area effects. These tend to have a lot of damage dice, so exploding dice basically becomes a free damage upgrade for those spells because the dice will explode almost every time (I'm looking at you, 8d6 fireball). Of course, maybe that would be unfair to spellcasters, since the weapon-users and the goblins they are fighting have both gotten a damage boost. I'm more worried about the reverse scenario, when an enemy spellcaster drops an area effect on a couple of party members, that exploding dice could be really really bad. Maybe you could have the exploding dice of area effects only apply to the creature closest to the origin point of the area; that way only one party member gets screwed by the exploding dice.

In short, I think exploding dice in D&D is a fine idea, if you want to increase swingyness, unpredictability, and lethality. It should give characters more incentive to avoid combat.

Ancalagon · Apr 15, 2017

Warhammer had exploding dice... but warhammer was different.

Every weapon did 1d10 + something* damage. On a 10, you re-roll the to hit roll, if you confirm, reroll the d10 and add that to the damage (not the + something). If you roll 10 again, reroll damage (you only need to confirm once). We've never gone higher than 3 d10 of damage.

This made for a *very* tense combat system, as heroes had 10-20 hit points (and after that started taking critical hits, which are things like being knocked out, lost an arm, stabbed in the lungs etc...).

Behind the GM's table though I felt it forced me to pull punches :/

Edit:
* the something was based on strength, used to go from 2-6 usually. The target also had a toughness (2-6) which would reduce incoming damage. Usually the two canceled each other out. Armor also reduced damage (1 for leather, 3 for chain, 5 for plate kinda deal).

Kabouter Games · Apr 15, 2017

cooperjer said:
I currently use the max damage plus one die roll, i.e. 2d6 greatsword crit is 12 + 2d6 + strength bonus. When looking at class balance I found this change causes the Champion fighter to exceed the Barbarian in damage at level 20. It also gives a step bonus to the Champion fighter through all levels but one that I didn't think made a significant difference.

reelo said:
When your attack roll crits, instead of double rolls for dmg, you automatically deal max weapon dmg PLUS one roll of weapon dmg.
I always find it disappointing when you crit, but then roll low on dmg dice. Thos way, you are sure to deal *at least* "max weapon dmg +1" on a crit.

That's how I do it at my table: Crit=Max weapon die/dice + 1W + bonuses

Thus, for dagger, 4+1d4+bonuses

Sneak Attack damage is part of Max W. Yeah, it's probably OP, but it makes the Rogue feel awesome the tiny amount of times it happens.

In that case, it's MaxW+MaxSA+1W+bonuses.

Works for the Champion Fighter, too. She just crits more often.

Yes, foes get the same advantage. Since I generally use the "book" damage instead of rolling for it (players are asked on every hit "book or roll?" and usually choose "book"), I just double it. If the player chooses "roll," it's the formula. This modification to the critical rules has twice that's led to PC deaths from the massive damage rule. Twice, in (average) monthly play since the PHB was released in 2014. So I'm not that concerned about increased PC death from it.

Cheers,

Bob

www.r-p-davis.com

Edited to add: I love the idea of exploding dice, whether damage or "keep rolling attacks until you roll below 20." My wife once rolled 6 20s in a row. No idea the odds on that, because math is hard. But it made her feel AWESOME, and that's always the best.