First 5e house rule - Brutal Hit!

[Michael Morris]

This one's simple. If you have advantage and both dice come up 20, you score a brutal hit. x4 damage.

 

[Pallidore]

This one's simple. If you have advantage and both dice come up 20, you score a brutal hit. x4 damage.

Like it. As with all such rules, it's unfortunately going to have a higher probability of adversely affecting the characters, since they are in combat more than individual monsters who usually make a single appearance.

 

[Michael Morris]

While true, it still leads to some fun stories. And it's sufficiently rare that it's unlikely to bust the game apart.

For example, in 3e I houseruled that if you rolled 20 on the confirm roll you rolled again to confirm an even larger crit. This was open ended. Player got x4 damage on a dragon this way (rolling 19, 20, 20, 17 to hit)

This will be rarer than the 3e open ended system I was using without adding any extra die rolls.

 

[nnms]

That's a cool idea. Though I'm thinking of going for instant 0 hit points. Both dice with advantage come up 20? Target goes unconscious and starts making death saves.

 

[evilbob]

Might be easier (and slightly more tame while still being awesome) to say that you roll your damage dice a third time (twice for the crit, third time for the brutal crit).

 

[Michael Morris]

Nah, x3 is boring compared to how often it will be relevant. Double 20's is a 1 in 400 shot. How many advantage rolls will be made in a session? 20 or so I'd imagine (5 per player). So there's a 1 in 20 shot of the rule coming up in a given session. Meaning it will likely only come up once every couple months or so in play, assuming one session a week. So given the rarity, I don't think x4 is going to shake the balance of the game. And it will make for a fun story.