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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 6499676" data-attributes="member: 53980">Well, a crit is slightly weaker than landing two hits (because although you double the dice, you only add static modifiers once). If you want crits and fumbles to be equivalent, how about something like, your next attack (if it hits) deals minimum damage? You automatically miss on your first attack (because it was a nat 1) and you either miss with the follow-up or get minimum damage (making it slightly less than automatically missing twice).If you want the two to have parity, then if you add cinematic effects (dropping your weapon) on a fumble, you should probably have similar effects on a crit (disarming your opponent).That's true, but increased swing (while it has the potential to make things exciting) favors monsters over players in the long run. If you think about it, a typical orc will not survive the encounter he's introduced in, whereas the PCs are generally expected to survive more than their first encounter. The vast majority of fights are designed (via the XP guidelines) to be a statistically likely win for the party (as opposed to a TPK). Crits and fumbles increase swing, increasing the possibility that you will stray outside that probability.Let's say, merely for the sake of illustration, that crits and fumbles are auto-kills (dial the swing up to 9000). Over the course of a day, PCs and monsters are indeed likely to crit and fumble roughly the same number of times, not counting casters who are less likely if they use certain spells. However, there's a big difference when Ragnar the Bold kills himself with a nat 1 and when Orc #5 does it. They're both dead of course, but unless you're playing ToH there was probably an unspoken assumption around the table that Ragnar's lifespan was likely to be longer than that of a random unnamed orc. If fights were rare and only against named BBEGs, it might be different.Crits and fumbles increase the odds that PCs will die, not due to bad play but rather bad luck. That said, they can be exciting and fun, but the potential for increased party turnover is something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to add fumbles.</blockquote>

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