Natural 20/1 Crit fails and Crit successes, How do you handle them?

[1QD]

So in most of my gaming experiences, rolling a Nat 1 was bad and a natural 20 was like double Dmg or something. In my own system, nat 20's are bad, and nat 1's are good, 30's are death and 00's can cost you a limb. What are your house rules for determining the result of a really good roll?

 

[Umbran]

I run too many different systems to have a single answer to that. I don't usually house rule critical successes or failures - I just use the mechanics the system has, if any.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

I don't, full stop. If the modifiers are so good that snake eyes is a success, then snake eyes is a success (and for a pass/no pass task, don't even roll 'em). There are few things I hate more than critical failures (or successes).

 

[Basic Expert]

In a d20 system, a natural 1 is usually always a fail and a natural 20 is usually always a success; though I skip rolling if I think the end result is a foregone conclusion.

Also, I view dice results as the vagaries of luck, fate or what have you and not indicative of PC skill. So when interpreting or narrating the results: a natural 1 isn't the PC bungling the attempt, it is some unforeseen impediment that derails things; and a natural 20 critical hit is a fluke shot, not a perfectly aimed blow.

 

[Reynard]

I generally avoid making "crits" too big of a deal. I will use the rules for them if they exist, but I try not to extend it to skill rolls in 5E for example.

 

[Piperken]

Most of the time a crit fail/crit success results in a very favorable or very unfavorable occurrence in the fiction.

One time a player used a less than ideal weapon (sword) to punch through a wood wall. They rolled a crit fail; their weapon went through, got stuck past their wrist. They had to spend additional time to extract it safely.

 

[Blue]

Generally, static-chance crit successes and crit failures hurt the PCs more than help them by increasing swinginess. To take D&D for an example, in any given combat it's most likely that the foes will be dead and the party alive. A foe dying a round early due to a crit/fumble is nice, but mechanically is mostly some resources (like HPs or spell slots) saved so it's just a bit less attrition. While if a crit/fumble takes out a PC, that's a bigger deal.

The same doesn't hold as true for systems with variable chance ones, such as PF2 with the +/-10. Nor for ones where there are set effects and they aren't particularly strong.

 

[jian]

I generally don’t like games with critical failures unless you get something for them (like a Plot Point). Critical successes depend on the system - extra damage, an extra action, player narrates the spotlight, whatever.