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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6773763" data-attributes="member: 6787650">If you roll a normal natural 20, you just decline to add the extra +d4. According to the spell, it's a &quot;can&quot; not a &quot;must.&quot;So Bless ends up doubling the number of 20s you roll, and according to Crawford's interpretation that doubles the number of crits. I don't like that. It's too complicated and counterintuitive, and Bless is already plenty good for a 1st level spell without that effect.A Cyclops critting with a boulder... meh, doesn't seem like a big deal to me. It's not even as much damage as two normal hits. Either you'll burn a Lucky die to negate it (possibly turning it into a miss), or you'll eat the damage and just heal up afterwards with Aura of Vitality. From a game balance standpoint, it's actually questionable whether you should burn inspiration dice on this usage instead of on turning hits into misses. So if I disallow this interpretation of Cutting Words at my table, I don't think my players will be missing out on anything.BTW, if you're worried about a Cyclops critting you with a boulder, consider just lying prone. If an enemy isn't already in melee threat range, it's a completely free way to impose disadvantage on the cyclops, which makes crits almost impossible. (0.25% chance of crit instead of 5%.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6773763, member: 6787650"] If you roll a normal natural 20, you just decline to add the extra +d4. According to the spell, it's a "can" not a "must." So Bless ends up doubling the number of 20s you roll, and according to Crawford's interpretation that doubles the number of crits. I don't like that. It's too complicated and counterintuitive, and Bless is already plenty good for a 1st level spell without that effect. A Cyclops critting with a boulder... meh, doesn't seem like a big deal to me. It's not even as much damage as two normal hits. Either you'll burn a Lucky die to negate it (possibly turning it into a miss), or you'll eat the damage and just heal up afterwards with Aura of Vitality. From a game balance standpoint, it's actually questionable whether you should burn inspiration dice on this usage instead of on turning hits into misses. So if I disallow this interpretation of Cutting Words at my table, I don't think my players will be missing out on anything. BTW, if you're worried about a Cyclops critting you with a boulder, consider just lying prone. If an enemy isn't already in melee threat range, it's a completely free way to impose disadvantage on the cyclops, which makes crits almost impossible. (0.25% chance of crit instead of 5%.) [/QUOTE]

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