Natural 20 followed by a natural 20

[Aust Diamondew]

IMC 2 20s followed by a succesful crit check equals an instand kill.
3 20s followed by a succesful crit check equals disentegration of the opponet.
4 20s followed by a succesful crit check equals disentegration and automatic damnation.
5 20s followed by a succesful crit check wipes the sorry SOB out of existence as if they never had been.

The last one has only happened once which is consequently when we made it up. 4 20s has only happened a few times as has 3 20s. 2 20s though happens a little less than once a month.

 

[Gez]

A 20 is an automatic hit,
To confirm, you need to hit on your confirmation roll.

Therefore, syllogistically, a 20 automatically confirm.

 

[genshou]

I've always doubled the weapon's critical multiplier (NOT including changes due to feats or class abilities such as those from Deepwood Sniper or Weapon Master).

However, in Pledge of Tyranny, I use a vitality/wounds system with the forbidden... called shot *gasp!*. IMC, however, called shots are a little more balanced, as you have to deal a certain amount of damage and STILL have to rely on an entirely random die roll to get the maximum result in any given category (so even if you deal enough damage to pull the attack off every time you make the called shot, you still only have a 1/8 chance to decapitate your foe). Thus, in Pledge of Tyranny a natural 20 on a critical confirmation roll grants a free called shot to any area of the attacker's choosing, which automatically achieves the highest result on the random die roll. And since critical hits deal an awful lot of damage, it's more than likely an effective instant kill if the target has only wound points remaining. But since it's a vitality/wounds system, I dropped the critical multiplier for all weapons by x1, and only the base damage is applied to wound points–the extra damage (if any) is always dealt to vitality points first. So, it's not a guaranteed kill... but in a gritty system, a 1/20 occurrence on a threat should be pretty good.

 

[HellHound]

I used insta-kill once upon a time, but I've had it happen too often to PCs.

And to major NPCs, never to the plebes.

First attack against the big villain, Melf's Acid Arrow, hits, double-20, dead.

Meanwhile, that same campaign, no less than eight character deaths were caused by kobolds, skeletons and other CR 1 or lower critters (including one house cat) scoring double-20 crits.

Double 20 now means... you rolled two twenties.

Still might not be a critical, if the character had to roll over a 20 to get a hit.

 

[S'mon]

Although I use the insta-kill, I also use Fate Points (fr Conan) which can be spent to avoid anticlimactic PC deaths.

 

[Jarrod]

You know, the 20-20-20 instakill rule (as opposed to 20-20) is mechanically equivalent to the 20-20-MDS. Since if they roll a 1, they fail So it's (1 in 20)^3 either way.

We use the cumulative crit system -- if you keep threatening, you keep multiplying the crit. So for a x2 weapon it's x2, then x3, then x4... for a x3 it's x3, x5, x7...

 

[Old Drew Id]

We do not normally use a hit location chart, except on the two 20's in a row scenario. When that happens, it is a normal critical hit, but it also disables one body part. For a humanoid, the body part table is:

1 - head (usually blinded, but may also be decapitated, depending on DM's mood)
2 - right arm (arm disabled, no 2-handed weapons, penalty to grapple checks)
3 - right leg (can only move at half speed, no double moves)
4 - left leg (can only move at half speed, no double moves)
5 - left arm (arm disabled, no 2-handed weapons, penalty to grapple checks)
6 - torso (various penalties based on damage type)

 

[freebfrost]

I just keep adding multipliers to the critical damage.

Though on a really good roll, I've been known to allow the critical to affect even creatures immune to criticals. (I'm a soft touch for "heroic" moments like that...)

 

[glass]

Well, we use exploding dice, so the way it would work would be like this.

Suppose you're a 3rd-level fighter with a total attack bonus of +7... you roll a natural 20! Hurray! Now you get to roll to 'explode'- and you add what you roll to your attack roll. So far you're hitting AC 27- hey, another 20! That means you hit AC 47! And you explode again- let's say you roll a 5. Your total to hit roll is 52.

If folks'll forgive the slight 'jack:

Would I be right in thinking that there is no way of rolling 20 (or 40, 60) in your system? It's not going to come up very often, but there will be cases where there is no difference between adjacent ACs.

For example, if your attack bonus is +10, then there is no difference between 30 and 31. I realise that there is no difference in the core game either (or between them and 32, 33, etc), but I guess that is part of what you are trying to address.

What I am getting at is, have you considered adding the final roll to 19, 39, 59, etc as appropriate? And if so, why did you reject the idea?


glass.

 

[apesamongus]

What I am getting at is, have you considered adding the final roll to 19, 39, 59, etc as appropriate? And if so, why did you reject the idea?

Well, I think the fact that you got the numbers wrong in your question (they should be 19,38,57,etc) - which didn't need to be done quickly during a game - explains pretty well why that idea would be rejected.