Critical Hit with Fireball!

[HeinorNY]

I'll betcha that we'll see a MAB (magical attack bonus) equal to level for wizards

d20+MAB+Int bonus+miscellaneous/circumstance modifiers = to hit Reflex/Will/Fortitude defense

Yeah. In SWSE there "is" an effective MAB, the Use the Force skill.
Since characters gain free skill ranks in all skills based on their character level, the Use the Force skill is effectively a MAB in SWSE.

 

[BryonD]

Spell crits sound good to me.

But I thought they were supposed to be pulling back on instant kills......
Now they are celebrating one.

And yes I understand that "they" is really just Rich and a whole lot of damage is different than save or die. But if a crit can outright kill a "tough" foe then you have gone from "I died cause I rolled a 1" to "I died cause he rolled a 20".

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I don't think spells (or weapons for that matter) will neccessarily be "double damage". Perhaps it will work like this, a rule which we houseruled a LONG time ago.

Longsword inflicts 1d8 damage. On a crit, it normally inflicts 1d8+whatever multiplied by 2.

Instead, we just roll 2d8 then add bonuses.

So, for instance in the fireball's case, let's assume it was 4d6 damage. Instead of coming out to the sum multiplied by 2, it would be a 8d6 fireball.

With these rules, there's more chance for variance (instead of TPKs/TEKs).

 

[HeinorNY]

DM much?

I do.
I understand your point, but I think your problem is with critical hits, and not only with AOE spells that crit.
Sure, if critical hits are a problem for you as a DM, an AOE critical hit just make things worse!
But take a better look in the blog entry, the critical fireball didn't wipe out the monsters, so it will hardely do the same to PCs, I hope.

 

[blargney the second]

That's cool. More!

 

[kreynolds]

The only problem I see is the potential for an enemy Fireball that crits and results in a TPK.

I suspect you would have to crit on each victim of fireballanza individually.

 

[HeinorNY]

I don't think spells (or weapons for that matter) will neccessarily be "double damage". Perhaps it will work like this, a rule which we houseruled a LONG time ago.

Longsword inflicts 1d8 damage. On a crit, it normally inflicts 1d8+whatever multiplied by 2.

Instead, we just roll 2d8 then add bonuses.

I bet no player in your games ever got Improved Critical, because that change makes the feat worthless.

 

[Cadfan]

Celebrim- You can't be sure that's a problem without knowing the damage potential of a 4e fireball compared to typical hit points of characters of relevant levels.

If a typical level X character has 40 hit points, and a fireball at level X typically does 15 damage, a fireball critical isn't all that problematic.

In any case, I'm crossing my fingers that spell criticals will only apply to the targetted individual, and won't multiply splash damage.

 

[Wormwood]

DM much?

Yes.

And the number of fireballs my party is subjected to is minuscule compared to the number of fireballs they cast.

I don;t see this as more problematic than a metamagic rod---but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I bet no player in your games ever got Improved Critical, because that change makes the feat worthless.

Improved Critical was houseruled to let the player effectively triple the damage:

Longsword dmg- 1d8
Normal critical- 2d8
Improved critical- 3d8