Natural 20 followed by a natural 20

[Gez]

I use the "official variant rule" -- threat confirmed by natural 20 and then confirmed again is instakill.

If you have for your weapon a threat range of 12-20, it doesn't matter; the instakill threat range is always just 20.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I've modified the official variant by adding the death by massive damage rule:

i.e. 20 + 20 + confirmed = DC15 fort save or hps reduced to point of death

 

[LeapingShark]

I just up the criticial multiplier by +1. Seems to do well enough. Each successive 20 will do the same.

Me too exactly.

 

[S'mon]

Well, I know that in some games, if you threaten a crit, and your confirmation roll would threaten a crit again, you get one more roll, and if that confirms, then it's an auto kill.

That's the standard DMG variant. I use 20-20 causes Massive Damage Check - Fort Save DC 15.

 

[S'mon]

I've modified the official variant by adding the death by massive damage rule:

i.e. 20 + 20 + confirmed = DC15 fort save or hps reduced to point of death

Great minds & all that... I think forcing a MDC at some point is a better rule than 20-20-confirm = auto kill.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Yeah, it seems wrong that a character can be slain without any means for their skill to save them; AC is less dependent on level than fort saves are.

 

[Gez]

Well, I know that in some games, if you threaten a crit, and your confirmation roll would threaten a crit again, you get one more roll, and if that confirms, then it's an auto kill.

That's the standard DMG variant.

Nitpick time: not exactly.

As I said above, threatening on your confirmation roll is not enough, you need a natural 20. Any owner of keen falchions will see the difference it makes.

 

[Oryan77]

I like the "does maximum damage" rule. The "add x1 to damage" is also nice. Now to figure out which I like better.

The only reason I don't like instant kill is because you'll get into the situation where a 1st lvl PC has a chance to kill a high lvl NPC with a rock thrown out of a slingshot. I know David killed Goliath that way...but Goliath didn't have damage reduction, spell resistance, and buffs cast on him

The reason I don't like the "roll a fort save for instant death" is because if the NPC saves it, then the PC's double 20's were wasted. The chances of getting double 20's are rare, so I'd like the PC to feel like he accomplished something when it happens.

 

[Ferret]

I use the insta-kill. I'm going to change to full damage though. Sounds like a nicer method.

 

[apesamongus]

Kind of a side question, but does the RAW actually say that a 20 automatically confirms?