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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8208777" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>Maybe I didn't convey my point clearly enough?</p><p></p><p>"Instakill on max damage crits" means that a dagger has a 25% chance of inflicting that (when you roll a 20), while a battleaxe (a d8 weapon) has exactly half that chance (12,5%).</p><p></p><p>Why is that? It is because rolling a 4 on a d4 is much more likely than rolling a 8 on a d8. Twice as likely, in fact. A knife to a critically vulnerable area can indeed be deadly, as can an axe blow to the head. I don't contest that. What I do contest is that a knife is twice as likely to instakill your opponent as a battleaxe, not to mention a greataxe.</p><p></p><p>The only way to achieve parity here, so that the kill chance remains equal for all weapons, is either to not focus on the weapon die at all, or to change the criteria from "rolling max on the die". For instance, if you say a dagger needs to roll 4, a battleaxe needs to roll 7+ and a greataxe needs to roll 10+, then you have achieved parity. Now the chance of a crit instakilling your foe is equal for all three weapons.</p><p></p><p>I just expanded on that to make weapons more likely to inflict instakills as they grow larger and heavier.</p><p></p><p>Another way of implementing parity could be "if you roll even on your damage die". Then 50% of all critical hits kill the foe, regardless of weapon. Or you could (as already stated) forget about the weapon die entirely. "If you crit, roll a second d20. 16 or higher means an instakill." results in 25% of all crits kill the opponent, for instance.</p><p></p><p>Best regards and apologies for the statistical aside,</p><p>Zapp</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 8208777, member: 12731"] Maybe I didn't convey my point clearly enough? "Instakill on max damage crits" means that a dagger has a 25% chance of inflicting that (when you roll a 20), while a battleaxe (a d8 weapon) has exactly half that chance (12,5%). Why is that? It is because rolling a 4 on a d4 is much more likely than rolling a 8 on a d8. Twice as likely, in fact. A knife to a critically vulnerable area can indeed be deadly, as can an axe blow to the head. I don't contest that. What I do contest is that a knife is twice as likely to instakill your opponent as a battleaxe, not to mention a greataxe. The only way to achieve parity here, so that the kill chance remains equal for all weapons, is either to not focus on the weapon die at all, or to change the criteria from "rolling max on the die". For instance, if you say a dagger needs to roll 4, a battleaxe needs to roll 7+ and a greataxe needs to roll 10+, then you have achieved parity. Now the chance of a crit instakilling your foe is equal for all three weapons. I just expanded on that to make weapons more likely to inflict instakills as they grow larger and heavier. Another way of implementing parity could be "if you roll even on your damage die". Then 50% of all critical hits kill the foe, regardless of weapon. Or you could (as already stated) forget about the weapon die entirely. "If you crit, roll a second d20. 16 or higher means an instakill." results in 25% of all crits kill the opponent, for instance. Best regards and apologies for the statistical aside, Zapp [/QUOTE]
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