Optional rule: The DEATHBLOW!

[Rachel]

Could this optional rule help *spice* up the danger level of Heroic-tier campaigns??

(Applies to PC/NPCs/Monsters levels 1-10)

[DEATHBLOW]

When an attacker rolls a natural 20, they have made a Critical hit as per those rules. However, after doing so the attacker may make a follow-up d20 roll. If the results on this second d20 roll are also a natural 20 then the attacker has not only made a Critical hit, but has executed a Deathblow!
The defending creature loses all remaining hit points down to 0 and is now Dying.

 

[weem]

Could be cool.

I had a player fighting one on one with the leader of this Dragonborn clan (that was apposed to his). They were surrounded by this council made of the heads of the various clans in this great hall - an epic fight that was lead up to over most of the campaign (my first 4e campaign).

Anyway, the fight had been going for a while, and the leader the was down to about 30% of this life when the PC rolled a 20. I then described how his twirling attack (with his axe) decapitated his enemy to the shock of the council around him. The crit would not have killed the guy, but the PC was winning (albeit barely) - it was just an epic way to end the fight - I had not decided ahead of time he would win, and he knew going in that if he died, that was it (the council would not allow either party to be rez'd) - and I roll out in front of everyone, etc etc.

It just felt like the right time - it was close, it was hectic and the PC had pure hatred for this guy. The player jumped up and literally jumped in the air in excitement.

That's what it's all about

 

[Flipguarder]

Citan wholeheartedly agrees with this thread.

 

[eriktheguy]

This rule will cause the occasional encounter to swing in one direction or another more. In an adventure, any given player is going to be attacked more than any given monster. It is more likely that a given player will be hit with a 'deathblow' than a given monster. If 'dangerous' is the feeling your going for, you are certainly going to achieve it.
There is balance in this. Deathblow won't kill PCs, only reduce them to zero, so it isn't the end. They can be healed easily. Monsters don't heal as much so they likely won't be getting back up. I think your players can really enjoy this rule.
It will certainly make them more afraid of minions, and would be truly epic if a player performed one on a solo.

 

[Rachel]

Well do keep in mind that we're talking 2 *consecutive* natural 20 rolls. How often exactly does that happen?! LOL. It's just the possibility, that tangible "maybe, just maybe" that makes it exciting. And the pay-off if you can nail down consecutive natural 20s is commesurate with it's odds of happening...

 

[Rachel]

This rule will cause the occasional encounter to swing in one direction or another more. In an adventure, any given player is going to be attacked more than any given monster. It is more likely that a given player will be hit with a 'deathblow' than a given monster.

Absolutely not true. There are often alot more monsters overall in an adventure, and both parties are going at it. Some PCs/monsters will get in more hits, some will get in less. Over the course of an adventure, the number of times the PCs swung at something and were themselves swung at should more or less equal out. In some cases (alot of minions are involved) the PCs got swung at more. In other cases (solo monsters vs. a 4-5 PC party) the monsters got swung at more. Meh.

Oh but you're post did lead me to think of adding in a "Minions cannot cause a Deathblow" stipulation. (Of course they don't have them rolled against them, either, with only 1HP in the first place).

 

[eriktheguy]

I think you mis-read my post. Players and monsters should each receive about the same amount of 'deathblows', but any given player will get attacked more than any single monster. The players take part in every combat, each monster takes part in only one combat.

In previous editions critical hits were a disadvantage for players overall. An occasional critical against a monster made a bit of difference, but a critical against a player could easily initiate a TPK.
In 4e criticals are balanced. Players get loads of bonuses on a critical compared to monsters, and there are more HPs on both sides, so there is less swinginess. Overall players are better for having criticals in the game.

The same should be true of deathblows. They should add fun and danger without making the players at a disadvantage. When a player scores a deathblow agianst a monster, that monster is out of combat. If a monster scores a deathblow a player is reduced to 0 hp, but that only really keeps them down for a round until they are healed. So overall, deathblows shouldn't cause too many TPks. I think taking them away from minions makes sense.

Suggestion for deathblows against minions: When you score a deathblow against a minion, kill every minion adjacent to that minion.
Sure its broken, but deathblows are 1/200 rolls.

 

[Rachel]

Gotcha.

 

[Stalker0]

I think its pretty cool.

Because the deathblow just knocks you back to dying, and 4e is far kinder in letting a person get back from dying, I think this rule could be an addition that adds some lethality...but not too terribly much.

 

[Amaroq]

We actually use something similar to this, but instead of the quickness and ease of your "Deathblow", the second 20 gives a secondary critical effect of the DM's discretion according to environmental factors. (Same on 1's, actually - with a double-1 being a critical failure.)

Our canonical example / guideline reads as follows:

When a “confirm” roll repeats the previous roll – e.g., a player rolls two consecutive “1”s or two consecutive “20”s, the DM tells a story, using environmental considerations, and applies additional status results to the appropriate party.

Those additional status results are entirely at the DM’s discretion. Here are some guidelines:

1. Don’t kill off a major villain or a player character just because of an unlucky roll.
2. Do kill off minor villains and minions on an unlucky roll.

For example, a fighter is battling an ogre and a minion along the edge of a cliff face.

If the minion rolls a double-1, he slips over the edge of the cliff and plummets to his death.

If the fighter or the ogre rolls a double-1, one foot might slip at the edge of the cliff, but the attacker merely loses his footing and falls prone.

If an archer fired into that combat, a double-1 might hit the archer’s ally for normal damage.

Remember, the story is key. If the ogre is near death, and the fighter’s critical reduces him to 5 hit points, the most glorious victory for the players would be for the fighter’s critical to cause the ogre to stagger back over the edge of the cliff and plummet to his death – that feels a lot more “epic” to the players than the archer’s next arrow doing 5 hit points of damage and killing the ogre.

However, the ogre fumbling his way to his death does not feel “epic” to the players; that should be avoided.

Play-wise, its been a lot of fun .. it doesn't come up often, but when it does the results are as spectacular as the imagination of the DM.