D&D 5E Sneak Attack Critical

[Meliath1742]

That's pretty much what I've been using in 3.5

 

[transtemporal]

One of my houserules is going to be to change crits.

Change to max damage plus one extra roll of weapon dice and that's it. No doubling SA dice, or smite dice, poison etc - it's just overkill/unnecessary, especially for paladins.

I think you're missing the point. The point is that its fun to roll lots of dice and shine for a moment. If you really think they're not fun and unnecessary, then take crits out.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I think you're missing the point. The point is that its fun to roll lots of dice and shine for a moment. If you really think they're not fun and unnecessary, then take crits out.

Not at all. I like crits. I just dont like crazy huge crits, which is what you get with the standard rule and SA, or worse, a paladin with smite and poison.

 

[transtemporal]

I just dont like crazy huge crits

That's kinda the point. You only get them 5% of the time and when you do, they should feel special. One dice doesn't feel special.

Just sayin'.

 

[Ravenheart87]

I like overkill. It's so much fun.

 

[ccooke]

It's also worth remembering that the way crits work in 5e is part of balance. Right now, one of the scariest things you can hear is "The rogue gets a critical on you" and that's a part of the class design - Rogues do massive damage if things work out exactly right.

(Changing criticals would have a huge effect on the Rogue's Assassin subclass, given that they get multiple class features that depend on the version as written)

 

[Stalker0]

If you really think they're not fun and unnecessary, then take crits out.

Theres a healthy balance of give and take with such rules. On the one hand, crushing a monster with a big crit is a ton of fun. On the other....getting instantly crushed by a big crit from a monster might not be.

Personally I think the current crit rules are good, but I can understand a desire to tone them a bit.

 

[transtemporal]

On the other....getting instantly crushed by a big crit from a monster might not be.

Fair point. I'd forgotten about that side of the equation.

 

[PDGames]

Or you could just go all out and roll on the Dungeon Wheels: Critical Hits.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pdgames/dungeon-wheels-critical-hits-and-fumbles

(Yes, we're tooting our own horn here, but it seemed fitting... toot...toot)

 

[Anth]

Change to max damage plus one extra roll of weapon dice and that's it. No doubling SA dice, or smite dice, poison etc - it's just overkill/unnecessary, especially for paladins.

Isn't this two different questions?

First is if you like random results or not.
If you like random results: you roll abilities with 4d6 drop lowest, roll hp, roll damage, roll double damage at a crit,
If you don't like random results: you use point buy, average hp, average damage, max damage at a crit.

Second is if other damage (like sneak, smite, poison) than pure weapon damage, should be doubled or not at a crit.