D&D 5E not so critical hit

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, I think Klaus's idea is pretty good!

And I totally don't object to alternate crit mechanics (like whipping out AP's or the like).

 

[Weather Report]

This. I'd be okay with Max Damage + One Extra Die.

I assumed that, went back and reread, and, yeah, I like what you suggested, a mid-ground

 

[Aloïsius]

If there were rules to manage wounds, then critical damage would just mean "lasting wound" : hit points that you don't recover easily, wounds that bleeds (continuous hit points loss), crippling wounds and so on...

 

[billd91]

I don't see anything wrong with a critical being something other than max damage, however I do think this formulation of a critical hit is a bit weak. 3e's method was basically to charge the target with one or more (for x3 and x4) additional hits. For characters who had a modifier equal to or greater than the weapon's die - which could be fairly common for fighter types - you were guaranteed to do more than max damage. But with this formulation, there's no guarantee of that. It could end up being a fairly low damage result, which is kind of lame for a critical hit.

I can understand why the designers may want to rein in the swingy tendencies of larger damage crits, after all the more swingyness you have, the more risky it is for PCs and the harder it is to them to plan a particular sort of mathematically measured experience. That said, I don't think I agree. I agree more with Kamikaze Midget - that crits are one place swingyness is OK.

 

[GX.Sigma]

This. I'd be okay with Max Damage + One Extra Die.

That's what it was for a period of the playtest. It was fiddly and weird.

Why not just make them 2x damage, like non-D&D-players would expect them to be?

 

[Klaus]

That's what it was for a period of the playtest. It was fiddly and weird.

Why not just make them 2x damage, like non-D&D-players would expect them to be?

2x what damage? The rolled damage? So you roll a 2 on your d10, and your greatsword's critical hit is a whopping 4 hit points?

With "Max damage + 1 extra die", you get several benefits:

- You get a significant amount of damage, beyond what you could roll in a regular attack, so the crit feels special.
- You take into account the weapon used. A crit with a dagger would deal 4 + 1d4 (5-8 damage), while a greatsword would deal 10 + 1d10 (11-21 damage).
- You get something to trade off for effects: for instance, you could have the ability to give up the extra damage and knock your opponent prone, or push it back 5 feet.

 

[edhel]

I don't really care. It's so easy to change to whatever you want it to be.
I'll probably end up using Paizo's critical hits deck like I did in 3.x, and maybe make/loan special crit tables for certain monsters like dragons. E.g. DCC rpg has its own crit tables for giants, undead, demons and dragons.

 

[Rydac]

2x what damage? The rolled damage? So you roll a 2 on your d10, and your greatsword's critical hit is a whopping 4 hit points?

With "Max damage + 1 extra die", you get several benefits:

- You get a significant amount of damage, beyond what you could roll in a regular attack, so the crit feels special.
- You take into account the weapon used. A crit with a dagger would deal 4 + 1d4 (5-8 damage), while a greatsword would deal 10 + 1d10 (11-21 damage).
- You get something to trade off for effects: for instance, you could have the ability to give up the extra damage and knock your opponent prone, or push it back 5 feet.

Agreed 2x damage would suck on many rolls. I'm all on favor of max plus a die. Crit needs to be a bit special ...thus max plus a kicker.

Please WotC don't even think of play testing the 3e/pathfinder roll to confirm a crit...the most fun sucking moment in gaming!

 

[Plaguescarred]

I think Critical Hits are currently not enought critical. Max damage + 1[W] would make it for me...

 

[Sunseeker]

I have always liked exploding dice. But I find "max" to be simpler and as such it is my preference. More dice means more rolling, more time spent adding things up, it can be time consuming.