D&D 5E (2024) DM's no longer getting crits on PC's

[UngeheuerLich]

PF2 crits are an essential part of keeping PF2 combat exciting and tense.

You can design a game around that. Or you can achieve tension differently.

 

[jasper]

YOU WILL TAKE MY CRITS FROM YOUR DEAD PCS HANDS. I will ignore the rule. The recharge range will have to change. Currently it is GENERALLY 1 out 6. It would have to default to 3 out 6. Or more monsters get legendary actions and more Legendary Actions.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I am... uncertain about the balancing through recharge abilities. I am looking forward to seeing what they'll put forth, but I feel it will change the balance.

Mechanically, monster crits are a 5% change doing doing double damage, each attack roll. In my experience, fights hardly last more than 3-4 rounds, so that's, say 8 attacks per monster, assuming they have two attacks each. Let's say, roughly, that you'd expect a critical each fight when you face three of these monsers (I know it's not how the maths work and you'd get roughly 1 in 3 chance of having a fight without crit), but the please bear with me, the order of magnitude is the important thing here).

Recharge happen on a 6 or on a 5-6 each round. Also, monsters start with the power charged. So, against a fight of 3 monsters for 4 rounds, you'll expect 3 recharge power (the initial use) and, over 12 rolls, 2 or 4 recharged use (insert math disclaimer). That makes recharge power happening 5-7 times over the course of a single fight. That means the recharge power isn't a huge thing, since it must be balanced with "double damage" happening less often. It would be:

Regular attack: 2d8 damage
Mighty blow (recharge 5-6): 2d10 damage.

Not as exciting as a a crit IMO, high risk, low chance (and in fact I wouldn't bother with the recharge rolls if this was the case...), that you need to prepare for. "I fear to kill my players" "OK, then tell them that attacking a vicious-looking murderer with a big, pointy metal stick in his hand is DANGEROUS and you'd better enter the fight with a healing potion." With the death rolls, if you ignore sudden death by massive damage, lethality is already at an all time low and the borderline case where it happens can be prepared for by any careful character.


As a side note, I try to narrate fights but, being totally lazy, there are many times when narrating the 24th sword swing of bugbear #3 is... a very concise narration. However, I'll take time to narrate a crit against a player. It helps make the higher damage memorable, I think.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Both my monsters and spells will be able to crit, it's not like monsters are too strong now, and my table like crits - it's one of the few things that break fighting tedium.

 

[Weiley31]

I think Nick Fury has the correct opinion about this whole "monsters can't do crit hits" fiasco.

 

[DND_Reborn]

How do you all feel about the proposed change to crits affecting the PC's?
I know my players and I will not be following that bit of advice but I was curious about how everyone else feels about this.

Definitely not. It would be better to bring back critical threats and confirmation rolls.

Then low CR creatures would be less likely to crit.

 

[MGibster]

That is what the hit or miss roll is for. However, that hit or miss is also based on skill (the to hit bonus of the monster). There is some logic to it. Crits are just luck. Does it really make sense that 5% of your attacks deal extra damage, no mater what? No, it really breaks a certain sense of verisimilitude (or at least it does to me if I think about it).

The sound of versimilitude being broken is typically drowned out by the sound of how awesome rolling a crit is.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Also, you can just remove critical hits from the game. They were never part of the original design anyway.

Get more excited about when you roll maximum damage.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I can't get myself worked about this proposal (either positively or negatively) because I have no idea what the Monster Manual revisions are going to be.

Sure I could huff and puff right now... but for all I know in four months time when we get a monster UA packet it will include a whole host of changes to monsters that more than adequately keep them exceedingly dangerous with additional abilities and such without needing them to use the 'Nat 20 is a critical hit' rule.

@Charlaquin has the inside track I think, when they said they were in favor of the rule but that it had 0% of making it through the feedback. Without knowing right now what monster changes would be coming along instead of the "monsters can't crit" rule... mostly everyone will reflexively write in "No" on the survey. The question of course being whether WotC acknowledges it, and if that changes their design or timetable in revealing the alternatives?

 

[tetrasodium]

I like it, personally, with the caveat that it depends on these controllable burst, recharge abilities and their design. My table focuses a lot on the players’ stories, and while we’re mostly fine with PCs dying, death shouldn’t feel cheap or random in our opinion.

This is the key. We have half the change without even a single example monster.

We also have no idea if the "poorly working proof of concept" level absorb shield death saves atop basically no cost yoyo healing will remain in place or get fixed.