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Critical Hits - why, and why not?
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<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 6688631" data-attributes="member: 57383"><p>Contrariwise, the "reality" (for want of a better word) of D&D is clearly different from that of our world. Depending on edition, some D&D characters can <em>reliably</em> fall from the lower stratosphere onto hard rock and walk away, or swim in molten lava for a couple of rounds without dying. Compared to that, a kobold's crossbolt bolt in the eye is barely a tickle.</p><p></p><p>Also, the most powerful beings in D&D are way more formidable than any creature on earth. In principle, it makes as much sense for a peasant to kill, say, Azathoth with the first thrust of a pitchfork as it would for them to destroy an aircraft carrier. </p><p></p><p>In the case of roughly human high-CR creatures like the aforementioned 25th level warrior it makes a bit more sense for them to be vulnerable to the occasional fatal critical, but the chance of that occurring ought to vary with the level of attacker so it's vanishingly unlikely for a 1st level commoner to get that fluke "arrow in the eye" result.</p><p></p><p>That's a common issue with homebrew D&D critical hit tables - they make the hits way too common, so a combat between many low-CR beings and a few high-CR ones becomes more a matter of critical luck than hit point attrition.</p><p></p><p>Whether that's a good feature or not is up to the D&D group, of course.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, I believe that point's already been brought up several times on this thread.</p><p></p><p>Of course, if you have a critical wound system, there's no necessity for the critical to always involve damage multipliers or bonuses. A critical might apply some kind of penalty instead - i.e. a "leg critical" restricts movement. Additional damage could be applied over time rather than instantaneously, using some kind of "bleeding" mechanism. e.g. the injured character loses X hit per round until the wound is treated.</p><p></p><p>Criticals that are potentially fatal could involve some kind of saving throw, so a mortal head wound might require a "save vs. decapitated" instead of having a massive damage multiple, and if the target saves they ducked in time and just take the hit points and maybe a lesser wound penalty.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 6688631, member: 57383"] Contrariwise, the "reality" (for want of a better word) of D&D is clearly different from that of our world. Depending on edition, some D&D characters can [I]reliably[/I] fall from the lower stratosphere onto hard rock and walk away, or swim in molten lava for a couple of rounds without dying. Compared to that, a kobold's crossbolt bolt in the eye is barely a tickle. Also, the most powerful beings in D&D are way more formidable than any creature on earth. In principle, it makes as much sense for a peasant to kill, say, Azathoth with the first thrust of a pitchfork as it would for them to destroy an aircraft carrier. In the case of roughly human high-CR creatures like the aforementioned 25th level warrior it makes a bit more sense for them to be vulnerable to the occasional fatal critical, but the chance of that occurring ought to vary with the level of attacker so it's vanishingly unlikely for a 1st level commoner to get that fluke "arrow in the eye" result. That's a common issue with homebrew D&D critical hit tables - they make the hits way too common, so a combat between many low-CR beings and a few high-CR ones becomes more a matter of critical luck than hit point attrition. Whether that's a good feature or not is up to the D&D group, of course. Yes, I believe that point's already been brought up several times on this thread. Of course, if you have a critical wound system, there's no necessity for the critical to always involve damage multipliers or bonuses. A critical might apply some kind of penalty instead - i.e. a "leg critical" restricts movement. Additional damage could be applied over time rather than instantaneously, using some kind of "bleeding" mechanism. e.g. the injured character loses X hit per round until the wound is treated. Criticals that are potentially fatal could involve some kind of saving throw, so a mortal head wound might require a "save vs. decapitated" instead of having a massive damage multiple, and if the target saves they ducked in time and just take the hit points and maybe a lesser wound penalty. [/QUOTE]
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Critical Hits - why, and why not?
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