Level Up (A5E) Changes to Crit and auto-success

[Benjamin Olson]

The only thing I really don't like about 5e crits is that if you need a natural 20 to hit something, it's either crit or miss. I don't think you should be able to crit something that requires rolling a natural 20 to hit.

While that, conceptually, bothers me a little, only hits on a 20 is a pretty damned small subset of attacks ever made in 5e. Monster ACs basically cap out at 22. Player ACs can get higher, but usually only if they really build towards it or the DM improvidently gives out a lot of AC boosting items. In any cast I most often see hits only on 20 situations when a player both has a robust AC and uses the Shield spell, in which case I can accept that the oddity of all actual hits being crits is part of the spell's magic.

 

[rules.mechanic]

I loved @dnd4vr 's critical hit idea on Page 1 here (Level Up - Changes to Crit and auto-success). No new maths for the second roll. But the statistical chance scales nicely with baseline chance to hit, and so also with AC (skillful attackers and unarmoured foes lead to more crits/damage). So this also effectively means AC as DR (or at least crit reduction). And we are all used used to rolling 2x d20 now.

It stuck in my head so I thought I would give it a go. Possibly a step too far for A5E but fun to explore:

Always roll 2 dice:

• 1st is standard attack roll
  • If hit and 2nd roll same or higher, then critical hit
  • If miss and 2nd roll same or lower, then critical fumble (e.g. concede opportunity attack)
• For Advantage, the 2nd roll is also a 2nd chance at a hit (+3rd, 4th roll if stacking)
• For Disadvantage, 2nd roll also needs to hit (+3rd, 4th roll if stacking)

What's also nice is that natural 1s and 20s are still important:

• 1 on 1st roll always a miss
• 20 on the 1st roll always a hit
• If 1st roll missed, 1 on the 2nd roll always a fumble (maybe a super fumble)
• if 1st roll hit, 20 on the 2nd roll always a crit (maybe a super crit - max damage)

Add as someone else said, there's design space for getting the same roll on both dice:

• If a hit, maybe damage target's armour/weapon/shield (-1)
• If a miss, maybe damage your own weapon (-1)

Biggest mechanical consideration is that it means more crits (>1/8 of all attacks at the most common combat difficulty) but that also gives the "DR" element (AC's effect on crit chance) more impact in that range. More damage is fine with me (I think many agree that there are too many HP at high level) but easily compensated (e.g. adding Constitution score to HP should protect low level adventures and beasties, or a bit of a rethink about what is eligible for doubled dice such as smites and other extra dice).

Anyway, I thought it was fun, thought I would share

 

[tetrasodium]

I loved @dnd4vr 's critical hit idea on Page 1 here (Level Up - Changes to Crit and auto-success). No new maths for the second roll. But the statistical chance scales nicely with baseline chance to hit, and so also with AC (skillful attackers and unarmoured foes lead to more crits/damage). So this also effectively means AC as DR (or at least crit reduction). And we are all used used to rolling 2x d20 now.

It stuck in my head so I thought I would give it a go. Possibly a step too far for A5E but fun to explore:

Always roll 2 dice:

• 1st is standard attack roll
  • If hit and 2nd roll same or higher, then critical hit
  • If miss and 2nd roll same or lower, then critical fumble (e.g. concede opportunity attack)
• For Advantage, the 2nd roll is also a 2nd chance at a hit (+3rd, 4th roll if stacking)
• For Disadvantage, 2nd roll also needs to hit (+3rd, 4th roll if stacking)

What's also nice is that natural 1s and 20s are still important:

• 1 on 1st roll always a miss
• 20 on the 1st roll always a hit
• If 1st roll missed, 1 on the 2nd roll always a fumble (maybe a super fumble)
• if 1st roll hit, 20 on the 2nd roll always a crit (maybe a super crit - max damage)

Add as someone else said, there's design space for getting the same roll on both dice:

• If a hit, maybe damage target's armour/weapon/shield (-1)
• If a miss, maybe damage your own weapon (-1)

Biggest mechanical consideration is that it means more crits (>1/8 of all attacks at the most common combat difficulty) but that also gives the "DR" element (AC's effect on crit chance) more impact in that range. More damage is fine with me (I think many agree that there are too many HP at high level) but easily compensated (e.g. adding Constitution score to HP should protect low level adventures and beasties, or a bit of a rethink about what is eligible for doubled dice such as smites and other extra dice).

Anyway, I thought it was fun, thought I would share

It also opens design space like weapons & spells that raise or lower how much above the first die that the second needs to be before triggering a critical hit.. potentially even nullifying the chance by reducing the spread into negatives since you can't roll above and below a number on a single die.