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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 1390872" data-attributes="member: 15999">Looks like I'm the only one weighing in against them so far.Severe fumbles, to me, are un-heroic.  They add embarassment, don't suggest a feel of myth, legend, or fantasy literature or movies, and make the PCs look incompetent.  The auto-miss on a 1 and auto-hit on a 20 already add that unpredictable element.  The fact that fumbles happen to NPCs too is no consolation - I'd *much* rather have my character disarm the enemy than have the enemy disarm himself.  PC critical hits are balanced by NPC critical hits, they don't need to be further balanced by PC fumbles. Certain fumbles are both un-heroic and unrealistic (especially to occur with a 1/20 or even 1/400 chance).  Hitting oneself with one's own weapon is probably the worst fumble imaginable.  How humiliating.  Conan wouldn't hit himself with his own weapon, nor would Legolas, Gimli, Inigo Montoya, Duncan MacLeod, Han Solo, or Hercules.  As I've said before, the only example I can think of is the Ewok from Return of the Jedi who hits himself in the head with his sling.  Right.  I don't play Ewoks.  I think a previous D&D book said "Characters impaling themselves on their own weapons is simply not a logical outcome of combat, no matter how frenzied."  I'm with that (unless you're trying to use a dire flail or two-bladed sword).  I've probably fired well over 400 arrows and 400 rifle rounds and have never injured myself.  Go me.  A generic "injure self" might mean a twisted ankle or pulled groin muscle.  At least that gets you back into the realm of logic, if not heroism.Broken weapons are certainly both plausible and within the realm of heroic stories.  But the Sunder mechanic already exists for that - if you're going to use a fumble chart to break weapons, would you design it so that breaking weapons on purpose is easier than breaking them by accident?  (Likewise for disarm - if you want to get the blackguard's sword out of his hands, the best option should be to try to disarm him, not to fight defensively and hope he rolls a 1)Minor fumble events such as stumbling and being off-balance for a round or losing an action are basically fine by me.  They don't turn the tide of the fight and they are entirely plausible if imagining the combat as an episode from a movie or a myth.</blockquote>

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