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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8208306" data-attributes="member: 12731">Except, again, it really doesn't. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />What I mean is that while you might characterize this rule as "it does this already"... you need to suffix that by "though pretty badly".In fact, it does this so badly I feel it's better to just say it does not do it.And this is precisely the reason.Any instant death rule designer needs to first learn the expected damage for various levels. These values do not correspond to PC hit point totals - they follow their own curve, and this curve is the relevant one, not how many hp the character has!But again I submit this is a smokescreen. Why focus on numbers at all?Contrast to my suggested variant (above). It is borne out of the realization the exact numbers don't matter!It decouples the probability from your hit points. It adds zero new die rolls. All you need to keep track of is your weapon's instant death number. When you score a critical, just look at the damage die. If it's big enough, just remove that monster and describe its death however you like.Monsters deal little damage at low level and lots of damage at high level. So? We're trying to implement a probability of inflicting a killing blow that stays pretty much the same at all levels! The fact it's too risky at low level and not risky at all at high level is a consistent criticism against all these printed variants, so why not drop the simulationist pretense altogether?!Sure you might want to achieve the effect that a relatively low level enemy should have a lower chance than a BBEG (higher level than you). But that level of fine-tuning might be appropriate for a complex game such as Pathfinder 2. Not 5th Edition.Anyway I digress. I think S&S games like Xoth should have no instant death rules at all. This is more a theoretical post on how to implement it where appropriate.</blockquote>

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