D&D (2024) DM's no longer getting crits on PC's

[Charlaquin]

No not really, balance absolutely matters, right up until it interferes with fun.

Fun is not a very useful term. I believe that this change would lead to a more enjoyable gameplay experience overall. But that won’t matter, because the way in which it could improve design is not obvious, and the way in which critical hits are enjoyable is obvious.

 

[payn]

Fun is not a very useful term. I believe that this change would lead to a more enjoyable gameplay experience overall. But that won’t matter, because the way in which it could improve design is not obvious, and the way in which critical hits are enjoyable is obvious.

In these situations obvious always wins. You can balance around crits, it’s not tight or solidly predictable, but can be done.

 

[MGibster]

Crits from the monsters interfere with cooperative story telling. If a player overcomes great adversity to achieve their story arc, the last thing they generally want is to die to a few lucky/unlucky rolls. This is especially true when you consider that monsters often outnumber the PCs, allowing them not only more actions but more crit chances. This often leads to DMs having to fudge damage or hit results.

It would seem to follow that randomness interferes with cooperative story telling. Even without crits, a player can roll poorly and see their heroic wizard bumble about ineffectively throughout an entire encounter. Also, I think knowing death is always a possibility is part of overcoming great adversity. There's no real sense of accomplishment for me knowing the deck is stacked in my favor to the point where death is but a distant possibility. And is D&D a storyteller game? This isn't a hill I'm going to die on, but if D&D is abotu cooperative story telling then they really need to work on the classes that have little in the way of skills or abilities outside of combat encounters.

 

[Charlaquin]

In these situations obvious always wins.

Yep. This is unfortunate in my opinion, but undeniably true.

You can balance around crust, it’s not tight or solidly predictable, but can be done.

I like my crust loose and flaky

 

[James Gasik]

Some randomness is perfectly fine, or we'd all be playing Amber.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I've been asking for nat 20 auto succeed on saves ever since I realized it's possible to have save DC's that are impossible to succeed against. That's just bad design, IMO.

Like I said I’m gonna try it, but…I disagree that it’s bad design. IMO it’s elegant design. There should be effects that you cannot avoid or escape without help because you aren’t especially strong against them, at very high level. And it really is only a thing at very high level.

But yeah, Orcus should have abilities that a character who has trained their mind and body to resist that sort of attack has a chance of fighting off, but the character who hasn’t just cannot fight off without help.

I'm less thrilled about it for standard ability checks, but gamers seem to already believe natural 20's and 1's have mystical powers.

I mean…they have in the past, basically. A lot of folks find it very satisfying, even when it is detrimental to them.

 

[Reynard]

Some randomness is perfectly fine, or we'd all be playing Amber.

Amber is awesome. But you have to buy in.

 

[payn]

I like my crust loose and flaky

Sounds like you like it tight and solid. (Stupid autocorrect)

 

[MGibster]

I mean…they have in the past, basically. A lot of folks find it very satisfying, even when it is detrimental to them.

I have some particularly fond memories of various characters of mine dying because of a critical hit. My favorite is when my rogue snuck up on a hillbilly ogre for a sneak attack and then received a hook to the face killing him instantly. Good times.

 

[Reynard]

Sounds like you like it tight and solid. (Stupid autocorrect)

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