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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4695765" data-attributes="member: 82106">Critical Miss rules tend to break down conceptually, as well as being not so fun for the party. I remember one RPG system that famously had a crit miss system where we calculated that if you had 100 soldiers fighting another 100 soldiers for 10 minutes on average they would all decapitate themselves, and do so BEFORE they wiped out the other side. I would think that characters (and monsters) who are considered to be pretty experienced with weapons would VERY rarely cause someone an accidental injury. On the order of once in 1000's of rounds of combat. Something that might not be TOO out of line would maybe be on a 1 and a subsequent 1 you drop your weapon (usually not a huge deal, it might cost you a minor action to pick it up or draw another one). One a THIRD one, then maybe you do some minor accidental damage to an ally. Even so it is kind of hard to see it being major damage, you aren't trying to whack him with all your might, he just got in the way of your backswing or whatever.As far as critical hits go I'm satisfied with what we have now in terms of damage potential. As far as 'fluff' goes, by all means describe them in whatever gruesome way you like. Remember though, 'hits' in D&D don't really DO much to a target until they get to 0 hit points. It is more like you're wearing down their endurance, maybe making minor wounds, etc. Once that last killing blow lands, then sure, you chopped through his spine, he's dead. I suppose it is a matter of taste, but gore really isn't exactly what I'm after in an RPG. A real sword fight would be unutterably gross. Kind of takes the excitement out of things IMHO.</blockquote>

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