Whats wrong with this?

[DJ_draken07]

Heres The Story:

The party was traveling through one of the Dungeons I had planned for them in this campaign. They ran into a Succubus deep into the 3rd layer of the Dungeon.

Within the first round... The fight runs up to her with a Great Falchion (doing 1d12 dmg with 18-20 crit) Well he has power critical Giving him a +4 to confirm crit.

When You Roll If you get a crit on the attack:
Crit 1 = Threat of The Crit
Crit 2 = Crit Dmg (if you get
Crit3 = Instant kill

Well.. He instant killed the Succubus within round 1

Am i doing something wrong?

If im doing it wrong please tell me

If im doing it right , How can i make monsters to make it a challage for him.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Heres The Story:

The party was traveling through one of the Dungeons I had planned for them in this campaign. They ran into a Succubus deep into the 3rd layer of the Dungeon.

Within the first round... The fight runs up to her with a Great Falchion (doing 1d12 dmg with 18-20 crit) Well he has power critical Giving him a +4 to confirm crit.

When You Roll If you get a crit on the attack:
Crit 1 = Threat of The Crit
Crit 2 = Crit Dmg (if you get
Crit3 = Instant kill

Well.. He instant killed the Succubus within round 1

Am i doing something wrong?

If im doing it wrong please tell me

If im doing it right , How can i make monsters to make it a challage for him.

You let him use that houserule. This happens when you change the rules.

If you like the houserule, be happy, the rules work as intended.

Was there another expectation that the roll Crit again for instant death was going to work?

 

[Nebten]

You are using a variant rule from the DMG. Sounds like you shouldn't be using it.

In any case, it will only get worse when he picks up Improved Critical or Keen for that sword.

If you want to keep that rule in play, only allow the third roll if he rolls a natural 20 on the confirmation and auto kill on a natural 20. It minimizes the odds of such an event occuring frequently.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

Not sure about the instant kill roll, but it shouldn't be a problem: Assuming 18-20 is a crit, and 14-20 confirms, and 14-20 leads to instant kill, the probability that this happens is: (3/20)*(7/20)*(7/20) = 0.018375, or a little less than 2% of the time. (Note: This is the player's best case scenario -- vs. higher AC enemies the odds will be worse.)

 

[DJ_draken07]

You are using a variant rule from the DMG. Sounds like you shouldn't be using it.

In any case, it will only get worse when he picks up Improved Critical or Keen for that sword.

If you want to keep that rule in play, only allow the third roll if he rolls a natural 20 on the confirmation and auto kill on a natural 20. It minimizes the odds of such an event occuring frequently.

That makes alot of sense ... I also looked in the DM book and It says Natural 20s so... Thanks alot you guys.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Yeah, I have that rule. The first attack roll and the confirmation both have ot be natural 20's, the last just has to hit. I'm considering dropping it, though, because while it may be fun for the players when it happens for them...

Twice in my last 5 nights DMing, I actually at one point rolled two nat 20's against a PC...and decided to be merciful and not roll for instant death. If the rule's not going to apply to the PCs, it's not fair to let them keep benefitting.

 

[Darklone]

Our houserule: Every further confirmation if the second would be a threat too adds the crit multiplier again... so a crit with a greataxe would do *3 damage, a crit with two confirmations a *5 damage...

 

[Thanael]

As an aside:

How can i make monsters to make it a challenge for him.

(a crit-specialist)

Simple, make the opponent immune to crits. Undead come to mind. Also constructs, fortification armour etc. DR helps if you changed the instakill rule. Or use it against him with misdirection. Too bad they found out it was an illusion/disquise covering the innocent victim only after he hit her.

But in the end, if he chooses to invest in this trick let him succeed at it too, just not always.

 

[Sparafucile]

Not sure about the instant kill roll, but it shouldn't be a problem: Assuming 18-20 is a crit, and 14-20 confirms, and 14-20 leads to instant kill, the probability that this happens is: (3/20)*(7/20)*(7/20) = 0.018375, or a little less than 2% of the time. (Note: This is the player's best case scenario -- vs. higher AC enemies the odds will be worse.)

Iterative attacks will change this a bit, but this is accurate.

However, I still wouldn't use that "third roll" house rule. . . . if only because rolling yet another die during a single player's turn can bog down play even further.

Also remember that Power Critical stacks with itself. Your player can take it multiple times for his weapon.