Critical Hits

[was]

feed my dice addiction

 

[Mengu]

I would prefer crits to reside in the optional, super-crunchy tactics module. I would rather they were not in the core combat rules.

Oh, while I don't care much about the exact mechanics, that is one thing I would definitely not agree with. When a new player rolls a 20, the way their eyes light up is just priceless. I feel there has to be a critical hit mechanic in the core rules.

 

[Ramaster]

I'd like something close to my homebrew.

A critical hit deasl double damage. Then you get a confirmation roll to get a bonus based on class, race, weapon, theme, etc.

So a elf rogue who rolls a 20 on attack with his longsword deals maximum damage on his 1d8 damage roll. He then rolls a confirmation of the hit. If he hits again he may any one of the following effects.

Longsword: Double the base weapon damage
Rogue: Add sneak attack damage
Elf: The target is dazed
Sailor: The target is disarmed

THIS!

This is good design. It's even close to what Wizards is doing.

Class
Race
Theme

It would be cool to see wizards get a bonus, but when the enemies roll a 1 on their saves. Something like, recover the spell, expanded area (or more targets). It could even depend on the spell!

Fighter = Powerful blow = The target is knocked prone "You know where to hit them"

Dwarf = Unbalance = The target is slowed for one turn "Using your comparative short stature, you manage a low blow"

Drunken Brawler = Gain temporary HP equal to damage "Brawlin' makes you feel good!"

Also.... ARROWS IN THE KNEE!!!

Arrow in the knee = Target inmediately removes all ranks from his Profession (Adventurer) skill and adds them to Profession (Guard) skill.

 

[CleverNickName]

My favorite rules for critical hits are those that do extra damage AND something else. Like thundering weapons, that deal extra sonic damage on a critical hit, or venomed weapons that poison their target on a critical hit.

One of my players created a feat that would allow his character to make a free disarm attempt on a critical hit with a particular weapon (requirements: Improved Disarm, Weapon Focus). I liked it so much I started giving it out to monsters and NPCs.

I would like to see more of such things.

 

[BobTheNob]

Yes, but I do also like this idea of having options to select from, one from each source(race/class/theme/item). So what 4e did where the weapon provided the crit bonus becomes "one of many" options.

Has potential.

 

[Rhenny]

Here's what I am playing with in my 4e campaign. The PCs love to make choices so I give them choices when they score a crit. Usually monsters just do the extra damage choice, but sometimes if they are intelligent, they will choose one of the other options. Variety makes crits more interesting and exciting. (I know that some of the effects replicate powers from some attacks, but I don't really care about that. I like faster combats and every once in a while when the PCs score a crit it does help to speed things along. On the other hand, when the monsters score a crit, the PCs start to panic).


Attack Crit Results (max damage and choose 1 option below)

Wounding Strike - (-2 to all rolls until healed in some way)
Knock Prone
Push (Push 10’ then choose to Shift 10’ to remain engaged)
Found Weakness (negate DR for your attacks until end of encounter)
Stun Foe (foe must make DC 12 Strength save; Success = Dazed)
Massive Damage (add 2d6 hp damage/tier)

 

[Connorsrpg]

I would like crits to deal x2 damage or even more, but more importantly it is a great mechanic for all that extra stuff. So, my answer for the poll in kind of a combo of two there. I believe most of the 'extras' from 4E powers could simply be handled with crits.

Anyway, on a crit we roll 2d10. (Kind of Percentage).

The result on the Tens dice states where you hit (and we have a Struck condition) and tells you how much damage you do (max, x2 or x3).

The Unit die has specific extras. Here you can add all sorts of stuff, like push backs, knocking prone, invigorating strikes, extra damage multiplier, conditions, etc.

We like this system, b/c if you roll high on either die you get something cool.

Also, we have a 'Double Rider' column. So if you roll double numbers something rare or really off the cuff might occur.

(We have a similar systme for Fumbles too ). I know big crits are not everyone's playstyle, but we love them. Our charts are clearly 'too much' for core, but I would like to see 'effects' with crits in DnDN though.

Docs attached for anyone interested. (Also available at website in sig below).

 

[Aurikalchos]

In 4e to-hit was no.1 consideration for offense as it was. Go and do this, character design becomes "What is EVERYTHING I can do to up my to hit...and forget about upping damage as upping to hit does the exact same thing as well as improving my odds of success"

D&D has always maintained accuracy & damage as two sides of the offense coin. If you made accuracy contribute to damage in this way, you break that and make offensive capability all about to-hit...which is something I wanted them to back off from.

Im more for the difference between your to hit and targets defence contributing to lowering the target number for the crit e.g. if your target to hit is 8, drop the target to crit to 19, if your target to hit is 5, drop the target to crit to 18...or something along those lines

Either I am missing something or you and I played a different 4e. Beating an opponent's defense by 10 was no different than beating it by 1. Your "attack power" did a number of damage so long as you hit them.

I do understand, however, where you are coming from wanting to keep attack rolls and damage rolls separate. But from a logical point of view, I deal less damage by nicking someone in the thigh (a hypothetical low attack roll) versus stabbing them through the heart (a hypothetical high attack roll)

 

[airwalkrr]

While I still like the classic notion of critical hits as being double damage (option 1), I would not mind seeing something else. Honestly, I would not mind the option of critical hits automatically knocking the character into negative hit points. But there could be different types of critical hits for different weapons that could be an interesting variant.

Slashing weapons could cause bleeding damage. For each critical hit with a slashing weapon, the character takes 1 hit point of damage per round until the character receives medical treatment (a Heal check) or magical healing.

Piercing weapons could cause a slowing of the character or a penalty to hit. For each critical hit with a piercing weapon, the character is slowed by 1 square per move or takes a -1 penalty to hit (until receiving healing).

Bludgeoning weapons could knock their opponents senseless. For each critical hit with a bludgeoning weapon, a character is stunned or dazed for one round.

 

[Mokona]

DMs do not need the power to roll critical hits. Players, of course, really love them.

Solution:

Only Player Characters ever do critical hit (bonus) damage. NPCs and monsters never do crits. Make crits as deadly as possible since they don't apply to PCs.