Critical Effects: Critiques Wanted

[Nik_the_Pig]

Like it but...

I have a couple of questions.

Does your crit system replace the extra damage dealt by the stated crit multiplier for that weapon or is it in addition?

IMO it should replace the additional damage but rather than making crit multipliers obsolete ADD that number as a modifier to you d20 crit effect roll. You would need to scale up the table a little so a standard (x2) weapon still only has a 1 in 20 chance of a Critical critical (you know what I mean). I don't believe this would too unbalancing as almost all weapons with a threat range of greater than 20 have only a x2 multiplier, the only exception I have found to date being the orc shotput (19-20/x3). Those nastier weapons with higher crit multipliers would be more likely to smash your head in than their standard counterparts (ie a warhammer is going to do more severe damage on a crit than a club). This in the main removes the need (request/wish/whatever) for size modifiers as most of the larger weapons have the higher crit multipliers.

Secondly, what exactly is a injury modifier? Is it just applied to BAB or is it like a nonproficient armour check penalty (ie. on attack rolls and all skill rolls involving movement).

Finally I'd just like to congratulate you. I've been playing around with the idea of crit effects for some time and this is by far the simplest, most balanced I've seen while retaining all the colour that said effects can add to the game. Love it.

 

[DnDChick]

Re: Like it but...

I have a couple of questions.

Does your crit system replace the extra damage dealt by the stated crit multiplier for that weapon or is it in addition?

IMO it should replace the additional damage but rather than making crit multipliers obsolete ADD that number as a modifier to you d20 crit effect roll. You would need to scale up the table a little so a standard (x2) weapon still only has a 1 in 20 chance of a Critical critical (you know what I mean). I don't believe this would too unbalancing as almost all weapons with a threat range of greater than 20 have only a x2 multiplier, the only exception I have found to date being the orc shotput (19-20/x3). Those nastier weapons with higher crit multipliers would be more likely to smash your head in than their standard counterparts (ie a warhammer is going to do more severe damage on a crit than a club). This in the main removes the need (request/wish/whatever) for size modifiers as most of the larger weapons have the higher crit multipliers.

Secondly, what exactly is a injury modifier? Is it just applied to BAB or is it like a nonproficient armour check penalty (ie. on attack rolls and all skill rolls involving movement).

Finally I'd just like to congratulate you. I've been playing around with the idea of crit effects for some time and this is by far the simplest, most balanced I've seen while retaining all the colour that said effects can add to the game. Love it.

Well, the critical effect doesnt really inflict any more damage, unless you get the more serious results where a character is reduced to Disabled or Dying in one shot. This system concentrates on what the critical does, not how many hit points you take. But I do see your point about having weapons with a highter crit threat being more dangerous in the crit effects as well. Its certainly something to think about.

Realistically, I would have an Injury Modifier would apply to BAB and all skills. Someone may ask, "How does having an arrow in my leg make it harder for me to make a Knowledge check?" Well...I dont know about anyone else, but when Im badly hurt I find it hard to concentrate on anything but the pain!

Any opinions on this? Excatly what should the injury modifier apply to? Just BAB? Just skills involving movement? What is most balanced and yet still relatively realistic?

And Im glad you like the system! Its inspired by the old Rolemaster crit charts, but is nothing like them (thank gawd). I purposefully left the descriptions fairly vague so a DM can add any description he want so highlight what happens.

Nik...or anyone else for that matter...if you decide to use the system, please let me know how it goes! Its never been officially playtested, so any feedback you can give after you use it will be a big help!

 

[Nik_the_Pig]

Not DMing right now but..

This will definitely be in my house rules the next time I do (DM that is).

As to having the injury modifier on all skills, um… Nah. I recently (last week) was involved in an unfortunate incident that started out as a simple attempt to remove an avocado seed from said avocado with a paring knife and ended up with me in casualty with said knife imbedded in my hand, only failing to succeed in “running through” my hand due to a silly bone getting in the way.

As you can imagine I was a little put out (not to mention embarrassed) by the whole thing and at the time couldn’t do much without thoughts turning to my hand. Once I was waiting (and waiting and waiting) in the casualty ward, after my girlfriend had patched my hand up with a sanitary pad tied on with a pair of old stockings (couldn’t find the first aid kit), I could carry on conversation as per normal and was fine UNLESS I tried to move my hand or was bumped at which time I promptly turned into a 2 year old with a grazed knee.

My point: minor wound but big penalties whenever I tried to do anything involving that body part but only when attempting to do something with that body part.

BTW, better now and more cautious when dealing with avocados.

 

[med stud]

I think the penalties should be there. I talked to a knife fighting instructor that I had once, and according to him, it take something like three or four superficial cuts to make the opponent go into wound- shock.

One time when I tripped over a pavement stone, flied 2 meters and crashed on the pavement when I was "in lining" (what's the word in English?), I hit the hand hard, and it took like 2 hours for the shock to completely go away.

 

[Nik_the_Pig]

How about...

What say we apply the penality to all skills and your BAB until first aid has been adminstered (ie after you mates have sat you down and made sure you're not going to keel over from delayed shock) and only to BAB and skills involving movement after that (ie during the time your head's together but your bones aren't)? Sound okay?

 

[Nik_the_Pig]

Not right now..

Just wanted to say that since I found this site (I was a lurker for a while before becoming a member) my keenness for some good roleplaying has increased 10 fold.

Currently the only gaming group I'm a part of is run by a great DM who is hampered by trying to placate his wife's character and another couple who insist on playing characters who are always intent on starting up painful cross-species relationships.

As you can tell by my "location" in my member info I'm an Aussie but knowing that there are some decent gamers out there is almost enough to make me consider moving to the US, or at least to a larger city.

BTW how do you think this would look on a green card application:

Reason for seeking residence in the United States of America: Wishes to partake in games of DnD 3rd Ed with non-munchkins who are interested in gaming, not roleplaying romance novels in their friends livingroom's.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Erica,

Great job so far! I used your crit system in tonight's game and it worked fine. Out of 5 crits, two were minor (no extra effect), 1 was a stab (save made), 1 was a gash (save made) and the last was a deep gash (save made). No one died as a result of receiving a crit and all Fort saves vs stun, etc. were made. One villain took a -6 penalty (-2 from gash and -4 from deep gash). Should he have taken only a -4 penalty or was -6 correct?

BTW: I am in favor of an expanded hit location chart emphasizing the torso/abdomen area as the most likely place to be hit. Left and right arm/leg need to be specified on the chart as this saves an extra die roll.

 

[DnDChick]

Erica,

Great job so far! I used your crit system in tonight's game and it worked fine. Out of 5 crits, two were minor (no extra effect), 1 was a stab (save made), 1 was a gash (save made) and the last was a deep gash (save made). No one died as a result of receiving a crit and all Fort saves vs stun, etc. were made. One villain took a -6 penalty (-2 from gash and -4 from deep gash). Should he have taken only a -4 penalty or was -6 correct?

BTW: I am in favor of an expanded hit location chart emphasizing the torso/abdomen area as the most likely place to be hit. Left and right arm/leg need to be specified on the chart as this saves an extra die roll.

Great! Im glad it worked out ok! As you can see, I have skewed the crit effect roll towards the lower effects for the sake of balance. The roll for a Minor critical is 1-10, so there is still a 50% chance that any given crit will be 'just a crit' and have no adverse effect at all. I see that worked out ok for you.

-6 is a painfully high modifier to have to fight through...you know what? I have never thought about whether or not Injury Modifiers should stack, or if the higher IM simply overrides any lower ones...

For realism, they should probably stack....for balance they probably shouldnt stack...what does everyone else think?

And to address the extra potential of weapons with a higher crit multiplier...Im not sure thats a good idea. A weapon with a ×3 multiple is going to end up donig a LOT of damage, and at the higher crit levels the Fort saves are DC 10 + the damage rolled. Not many creatures will have any chance of making such high Fort saves. Sure that would be realistic, but it would forsake balance, I think.

I suppose we could allow +1 to the crit effect roll if the weapon has a ×3 multiple? It takes into effect the damage potential of the weapon without overbalancing it.

So you think I should bump the hit location roll up to 1d10 like in the other post? No problem...I agree.

 

[DnDChick]

BUMP! Edited the main Crit Effects html. I made some suggested changes, and corrected some errors in the Example.

 

[MythandLore]

I would rework the hit location roll to a d20 (beacuse everything is a d20 )
1d20
1-4 = left leg
5-8 =right leg
9-12 = left arm
13-16 = right arm
17-18 = chest/abdomen
19-20 = head/neck

I would tone down the 'insta-kills' too.
Kinda like this:
Run Through: Recipient is run completely through. The affected area is almost completely destroyed, and the recipient must make a Fortitude save or the recipient is dying (bleeding to death).
A wound this severe to the head or chest results in the recipient making a Fortitude save or die (of trama); and on a successful save the recipient is dying (bleeding to death).

"In real life" even if I torn your arm off your body, you wouldn't suddenly 'poff die' of shock.
And remeber, people have gotten severly shot/stabbed in the head and survived to talk about it.
Most of the time if you die 'of shock' it takes just as long or longer then bleeding to death.

I think it is enuff on a depressing subject.