What if... and I'm not really arguing about damage on a miss right now but rather saving throws. A lot of the argument has turned into arguing about how saving throws are inadequate to area of effect attacks because we don't have precise 3d modeled simulations of explosions in a game that relies on dice.
What if-Instead of arguing AoE attacks should fall to the same damage resolution as an attack, which seems one extension of the argument, we just created a rule that if you crit on your saving throw you don't take any damage? Would that better model the "sometimes a lowly kobold can survive an explosion through sheer luck"?
I'm not sure I like the solution, especially if your kobold is near the epicenter of the blast, but just wondering how people would think about that.