D&D 5E Do you play without Critical Hits?

[Helldritch]

Why do you think crits favor the monsters? That makes no sense.

The DM rolls a lot more dice than the players. Yes statisticaly, each time you roll the die it is 5% chance. But on the number of dice, it does add up. I roll more crits than all my players put together. A lot more.

 

[Stormdale]

We use same as Yarduff- max dam from normal die and roll for crit dicme or dice. In 1e we used a system of crits and fumbles that occasionally saw characters accidently kill each other when you rolled really badly on the fumble table, can't recall which magazine the rules came from now

 

[DeviousQuail]

Critical hits in 5th Edition can be a little uneven. On my ancestral guardian they felt a little underwhelming. On my current swashbuckler/sorcerer they feel like Christmas come early.

Rogue crits are big, fun, and feel fair since they don't get as many attacks. Paladin crits on the other hand...

As for playing without crits, I don't think I've ever played without them. Different rules for crits sometimes but they have always been there. Never thought to question it since it's so ubiquitous across gaming.

 

[billd91]

Why do you think crits favor the monsters? That makes no sense.

Crits increase the swinginess of the game. The more swinginess you introduce, the riskier it is for PCs. So it's not like it favors the monsters, per se, since most monsters will play bit parts and the game isn't PCs vs Monsters as if they've drawn up competitive sides.

That said, a crit from a wraith can be a pretty hard blow. You do double damage and the damage you do reduces the character's max hit points. I got a PC kill off one of those.

 

[Charlaquin]

Why do you think crits favor the monsters? That makes no sense.

Because math. Monsters make more attacks per combat than players, and therefore are more likely to roll crits more often.

 

[GlassJaw]

Yes. I even want to bring back expanded crit ranges from 3ed!

Crits in 5E are another system that got over-simplified. I also don't like "all dice are doubled." Creates too wide of a disparity.

 

[DND_Reborn]

FWIW we currently use max damage instead of double dice OR double dice, player's choice. Our DM just does max damage.

 

[billd91]

Crits in 5E are another system that got over-simplified. I also don't like "all dice are doubled." Creates too wide of a disparity.

Compared to all bonuses getting doubled? I think that ended up generating a lot of disparity, and that disparity wasn't ameliorated by the tendency toward the mean you get by rolling more dice.

 

[Umbran]

So it's not like it favors the monsters, per se...

Unless you are running only boss fights with one big bad critter each, there are probably more monsters than PCs. So the monsters collectively probably roll more attacks than the PCs, collectively. So the monsters likely generate more criticals than PCs, overall.

Thus, the mechanic really does tend to favor the monsters.

 

[Campbell]

I like double damage crits. I was not a fan of precision damage not being doubled.