D&D 5E Critical Hits Appears to be Next in D&D Archive

[Magus Coeruleus]

Some groups, esp those who prefer greater threat of death, will perhaps not like the change. For those of us who prefer to have PC deaths rare (due to emphasis on character dev, continuity, or even just rareness of raise spells), I think less spikiness is better. Also, I really appreciate the point that was made that those rolls you "lose" (for those who don't see it as a speeding-up benefit on its face) you get more combats or gaming in and thus potentially more rolls anyway. Furthermore, I feel comfortable assuming that the "new math" will make this rule make more sense than it may appear from a 3e perspective. Anyway, this has all been said before. I really wanted to post at this time to say that if for some reason there aren't (enough) special abilities or properties that work with crits, or for those who want more randomness in damage, a perfectly viable houserule is to use the new 4e crit system but roll a second d20 and add that to the max damage (you could use a smaller die if preferred). This gives a lot of randomness but still ensures at least maxnormal+1 damage and it doesn't encourage builds that milk crits for insane amounts because it's the same random extra for any and all crits. It's also still pretty fast since you could still write down your max damage as suggested in the article and adding d20 to that may be faster than multiplying damage rolls and trying to remember what does and doesn't get multiplied by the crit.

 

[BASHMAN]

Well, I am shocked to see that this thread made it 10 pages, and even more shocked to find myself on the same side of an issue as Mourn! I have been critical of many of 4e's proposed changes, however this one I think is a Slam Dunk.

Max damage is a great idea. No longer will 1st level PCs have to flee in terror at the site of an Orc with a greataxe (oh, how many PCs I have slain in one hit by this very situation-- even worse when they had cleave). No longer will someone be totally crestfallen when they threaten and fail to confirm, or worse, confirm only to toll a bucket of 1's on the dice. No more will Players have to wait for the slow-math person to count how many dice s/he gets for a crit and count recount the damage on the dice and modifiers-- instead it will just be on the sheet. Simple, elegant, easy.

For those who doubt this mechanic, why not test-drive it in your own 3.5 campaigns? It should be easy enough to impliment. Weapons that give especially good crits-- x4 or 18 x2, I would have do Max Dmg +1d6-- everything else is just Max Damge for now.

 

[The Little Raven]

Well, I am shocked to see that this thread made it 10 pages, and even more shocked to find myself on the same side of an issue as Mourn!

So many people agreeing with me that normally don't makes me suspect I'm in the Twilight Zone or something.

 

[Archmage]

If you never fail to overcome challenges it takes away all the joy about the challenges you did conquer.

It's like beating every video game endboss at first try. It makes the game easily forgotten. A few bosses you need 3-5 tries make sweat victories. The designer just needs to avoid bosses that you still haven't beaten after the 15th try. That's why I want a "healthy" dose of bad things

Where did I say anything about always winning the challenges? PCs should taste defeat from time to time - my argument is that it's not level drain or big monster critical hits that accomplishes that. Also, even if you do win on the first try, that doesn't mean the encounter was forgettable. In my game's last session, the party defeated the most powerful monster with one swing of a non-magical item (not even a weapon), but I guarantee you they will remember the session and laugh in the face of anyone who says they got off easy.

Well, if it kills me I am dead and I have no longer to worry about anything. But if I survive crippled, I have to deal with it for some time after the encounter is long over.

This is what I mean by a player that's not invested in the character, it's only a set of stats. If the character dies, get a new one. If he's down a level or drained some Con, though, that makes things harder. There's nothing wrong with that outlook, but if the player is just the tiniest bit involved in campaign events then the character's death is going to be more meaningful than just losing some numbers off a stat.

As a DM, I don't like killing characters - it messes with a campaign's continuity and usually lessens the player's enjoyment of the game. However, I will kill characters, and my players know that I have no qualms about running a fight that's far over their heads as long as I give them a fair chance to avoid it. Two of my mottoes as a DM: "the world doesn't care what level you are" and "the fear of character death is far better than actual character death."

Anyway, this is off-topic enough for this thread as is, so I'm done with it, but in one final effort to salvage topicality I will say that I won't miss deadly critical hits by monsters, because they are a big wild card that I'd rather do without in planning an encounter. I don't mind player big crits so much, but I'm not overly attached to em either.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Maybe the change is due to differences in mechanics that make the ordinary way unbalanced? Don't know haven't seen them, but it's not impossible.

On the other hand does anyone actually roll extra dice for crits. Ever since my brother taught me to play I and my groups have always just taken the damage rolled and done a straight multiplication for critical hits. Didn't eat up any extra time at all.

 

[Ahglock]

Ah, yes, the "reductio ad absurdum" argument. Since people think some parts of 3.X weren't fun, let's just extend that to the entire system because it suits our snark-based argument.

I'm having one of those pot calling kettle moments. Read your posts in this thread, heck read virtually any thread you post in multiple times. There is a heck of a lot of insulting snark coming form you as well.

 

[Wolfspider]

Why do people feel the need to state this?

If you're going to go, just go. Stop being so melodramatic about it.

I tried to send this to you as a private message, but you have disabled that feature.

I have been a member of the ENWorld Community for many, many years. As I've described in other posts, I consider a lot of people here more family than I do my real family. I have tuned in to this forum every day for as long as I've been an active member. If I suddenly disappear and stop posting, someone might think something was wrong with me. At least, I hope that someone might spend a nanosecond wondering where I was.

Also, it just felt wrong not to give an explanation.

I'm sorry if my "melodrama" was so distracting to your enjoyment of the thread.

Now I am done.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

... It is just the remedial and boring crit determination system that looks to suck.

I am a bit confused, this thread has gone on 10 pages and on every second or third page there is a post stating basically that the design and development article highlights the baseline crit mechanic...that is built upon through weapon qualities {like the pick}, class abilities {like the Paladin Smite}, and possibly character level....

Yes, the baseline crit mechanic appears boring. How the additional goodies stack on top of it? I think I will reserve my final judgement for later.

However, I like that the crit damage is somewhat normalized as I have had both PCs and NPCs slaughtered out fo hand due to a crit... and no matter what, its not too fun to watch combat from the sidelines after round 1...

and.. hey Mourn... I agree with you too!
{don't fall out of your chair }

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

So many people agreeing with me that normally don't makes me suspect I'm in the Twilight Zone or something.

I still disagree with you, so you're not in the Twilight Zone yet

 

[Spatula]

You must have missed this line in the article:

"In addition, some powers and magic items have extra effects on a hit."

It's brief, but it's there.

Hits are not crits... Well, 5% are, and all crits are hits. They are two different but related concepts.