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Can a Critical Hit miss?
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<blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 7419973" data-attributes="member: 45197"><p>Hiya!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So, to rephrase...</p><p></p><p>PC's walking at night, can't see past torch light into woods. Hear noise and stop. PC1 investigates up to (assuming) edge of dim torch light...and then gets shot. PC2 asks to see if she noticed which direction the shots came from and succeeds. PC2 shoots an arrow at where she thinks the attacker(s) might be.</p><p></p><p>Ok...at this point, I'd ignore all normal 5e "rules". Why? There are no real rules to cover this exactly. There are hiding rules, stealth rules, cover rules, darkness/light rules, combat rules, etc. A LOT of different things are being dealt with. This is where I just say "You can't see where they are...could be 20' away...could be 120' away. And the torchlight is between you and them. And the bushes. And the trees. Hmmm...you could get luck though...go ahead and shoot. You need a natural 20 to hit".</p><p></p><p>The player rolls and gets a 20. At this point the whole "crit" thing kicks in. I'd ask to roll to hit again. If this roll would normally hit the crossbowman, then it's a Critical. If they miss, then it was just a normal hit.</p><p></p><p>This does several things. First it keep players engaged in stead of just throwing up their hands and saying "Well, I guess we run and hope we don't die...because it's impossible for us to hit them". Players feeling completely helpless because of the way a rule/rules work is almost never a good thing...in this case, it would be a "not good" thing (not ALWAYS, but usually). Second, it gives potential for those "lucky shots", or "million-to-one" type situations you read and see in movies...even if the chances are pretty much zero (e.g., movie "True Lies" where she drops the uzi down the stairs and it fires off randomly, killing a half dozen bad guys...'by chance'). Third, it reinforces the role and need of the DM as arbiter of the "campaign world", as opposed to him being a slave to the rules.</p><p></p><p>TL;DR So... in short, I'd say Natural 20 to hit, roll a "confirmation hit" to see if it is a Critical or just a normal hit.</p><p></p><p>^_^</p><p></p><p>Paul L. Ming</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pming, post: 7419973, member: 45197"] Hiya! So, to rephrase... PC's walking at night, can't see past torch light into woods. Hear noise and stop. PC1 investigates up to (assuming) edge of dim torch light...and then gets shot. PC2 asks to see if she noticed which direction the shots came from and succeeds. PC2 shoots an arrow at where she thinks the attacker(s) might be. Ok...at this point, I'd ignore all normal 5e "rules". Why? There are no real rules to cover this exactly. There are hiding rules, stealth rules, cover rules, darkness/light rules, combat rules, etc. A LOT of different things are being dealt with. This is where I just say "You can't see where they are...could be 20' away...could be 120' away. And the torchlight is between you and them. And the bushes. And the trees. Hmmm...you could get luck though...go ahead and shoot. You need a natural 20 to hit". The player rolls and gets a 20. At this point the whole "crit" thing kicks in. I'd ask to roll to hit again. If this roll would normally hit the crossbowman, then it's a Critical. If they miss, then it was just a normal hit. This does several things. First it keep players engaged in stead of just throwing up their hands and saying "Well, I guess we run and hope we don't die...because it's impossible for us to hit them". Players feeling completely helpless because of the way a rule/rules work is almost never a good thing...in this case, it would be a "not good" thing (not ALWAYS, but usually). Second, it gives potential for those "lucky shots", or "million-to-one" type situations you read and see in movies...even if the chances are pretty much zero (e.g., movie "True Lies" where she drops the uzi down the stairs and it fires off randomly, killing a half dozen bad guys...'by chance'). Third, it reinforces the role and need of the DM as arbiter of the "campaign world", as opposed to him being a slave to the rules. TL;DR So... in short, I'd say Natural 20 to hit, roll a "confirmation hit" to see if it is a Critical or just a normal hit. ^_^ Paul L. Ming [/QUOTE]
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Can a Critical Hit miss?
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