"Flipping" saves to attacks

[(contact)]

Maybe staves are the main spell-storing sticks of 4E.

With the changes to the way spells work (having some effects that are once a round), I doubt there will be much need for spell-storing devices.

 

[(contact)]

This is something that I hope does not find its way to 4E.

Really? I wouldn't have any problem with it. I like the old-school "roll a twenty get excited" mechanic as opposed to the new-school "roll a twenty, time for cautious optimism."

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

This is something that I hope does not find its way to 4E.

Why?

 

[DonTadow]

What if the attack roll (or magic spell) was more than just the roll. What if area spells, by level, only killed so many of a creature depending on the level of the spell and the level of the creature.

 

[DonTadow]

This is something that I hope does not find its way to 4E.

We've prety much been confirmed thatthey are (honestly what dm confirmed crits?). Boring, slow and tedious.

 

[Intrope]

And it means that when you fireball a horde of identical mooks, they'll either all succeed or all fail.

True, but you'd still get to do half damage to the mooks unless you failed to hit AC 10 (in which case you didn't actually hit them with the blast).

It's also worth noting that a lot of the mooks in Saga have pretty poor hitpoints, too: anything built on Nonheroic class is pretty fragile (the standard Nonheroic level 4 Stormtrooper has 10 hp!)

On the whole, I think I prefer it; it'll cut at least a few die rolls off--and every little bit helps.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

We've prety much been confirmed thatthey are (honestly what dm confirmed crits?). Boring, slow and tedious.

Umm, I confirmed crits along with everyone I know. I liked confirming them as they fixed the problem with crits in 2nd edition: Everyone was deathly afraid of 20 1st level fighters because on average one of them would hit each round and it would be for double damage.

Most people in my second edition group couldn't figure out why people who could barely hit them at all were doing double damage every time they DID hit them. And that was back when you only doubled the dice themselves and not all the bonuses. Of course most DMs I played with in 2nd edition were using critical hit tables and chopping on limbs and heads when they critted. In 3E, a 1st level half orc barbarian with a great axe would have a 1 in 20 chance of doing nearly 50 damage each round to someone with an AC of 28+ if crits automatically confirm vs the 16 or so they'd do without the confirmation.

It kind of sucks to be the 12th level wizard with 40 hit points when your DM decides that a number of 1st level barbarians would be easy for your party and drops you dead in one hit even though you have shield, greater mage armor, and an amulet of natural armor +3 and an 18 dex.

I admit that not confirming crits IS a lot faster and I DO miss some of the speed of 2nd edition, but the fix WAS put into place to fix a problem. If they come up with a different fix for this problem, then I don't mind.

 

[Scribble]

This is something that I hope does not find its way to 4E.

It's already found its way into any game I've been running since we started playing 3e.. 20s are always a crit. No confirm needed.

anything other then a 20 still gets a confirm though...

 

[Remathilis]

SAGA put in a rule that non-heroic class characters with a CR < the PCs Level CANNOT Crit. So Stormtroopers can crit a 1st level hero, but not a 4th. Anyone with a PC class (including most named NPCS) can crit as normal.

Storm Troopers can also use autofire and aid another to get that "to hit" up and still cause pain to higher level characters (and 3d8 is nothing to sneeze at any level) but it removes the "I can't hit you on any number but a crit" rule.

 

[mmadsen]

It's already found its way into any game I've been running since we started playing 3e.. 20s are always a crit. No confirm needed.

By the rules as written, 5 percent of all hits are critical hits. If a natural 20 is always a critical hit, then 5 percent of all attacks are critical hits -- which (a) leads to a larger number of critical hits, and (b) means that cannon fodder score a higher proportion of critical hits than skilled warriors.