Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Probability, Critical Hits, and the Illusion of Importance
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 8756986" data-attributes="member: 6987520"><p>Personally, I am all for removing critical <strong>hits </strong>from D&D entirely.</p><p></p><p>The "20" means nothing more than success as attacks are binary: you hit or you miss. <strong>Damage is more important IMO. </strong></p><p></p><p>With the assumed attack probability of 65%, doubling the damage dice on a natural 20 is less meaningful overall than a +1 to the attack roll. For example: assume you hit on an 8 or better (65%), dealing 1d8+5 damage:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]259880[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Your expected damage with a +1 to your attack roll and disregarding criticals on a natural 20 is better (6.65) than RAW double dice on a natural 20 (6.4).</p><p></p><p>With the double dice critical hit system, players feel disappointed when the roll low on the dice, since this was supposed to be "critical". So, many groups do max damage and a die roll, to keep players from getting the low critical damage rolls.</p><p></p><p>This is why I (and my group) moved the "critical" away from the hit and onto the damage. Now, if you roll maximum damage on a die, which happens more often of course, the die explodes and you roll another damage die, continuing the process until you don't roll maximum on a die.</p><p></p><p>This accomplishes a couple things which are beneficial IME:</p><p></p><p>1. It makes more sense in the narrative as you will not roll low damage on a critical.</p><p>2. It happens a bit more often (depending on your damage dice), but not so often it becomes routine. It is still exciting.</p><p>3. All sources of damage (spells, hazards, etc.) as well as damage from attacks.</p><p>4. While the increased damage is notable, the effect is actually less than if you used the next size die.</p><p></p><p>Finally, another thing that has always bothered me with criticals on a natural 20 is the case when you actually need a 20 to hit. Granted, this is <em>very rarely</em> the case in 5E, at least.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DND_Reborn, post: 8756986, member: 6987520"] Personally, I am all for removing critical [B]hits [/B]from D&D entirely. The "20" means nothing more than success as attacks are binary: you hit or you miss. [B]Damage is more important IMO. [/B] With the assumed attack probability of 65%, doubling the damage dice on a natural 20 is less meaningful overall than a +1 to the attack roll. For example: assume you hit on an 8 or better (65%), dealing 1d8+5 damage: [ATTACH type="full" width="547px" alt="1662072710961.png"]259880[/ATTACH] Your expected damage with a +1 to your attack roll and disregarding criticals on a natural 20 is better (6.65) than RAW double dice on a natural 20 (6.4). With the double dice critical hit system, players feel disappointed when the roll low on the dice, since this was supposed to be "critical". So, many groups do max damage and a die roll, to keep players from getting the low critical damage rolls. This is why I (and my group) moved the "critical" away from the hit and onto the damage. Now, if you roll maximum damage on a die, which happens more often of course, the die explodes and you roll another damage die, continuing the process until you don't roll maximum on a die. This accomplishes a couple things which are beneficial IME: 1. It makes more sense in the narrative as you will not roll low damage on a critical. 2. It happens a bit more often (depending on your damage dice), but not so often it becomes routine. It is still exciting. 3. All sources of damage (spells, hazards, etc.) as well as damage from attacks. 4. While the increased damage is notable, the effect is actually less than if you used the next size die. Finally, another thing that has always bothered me with criticals on a natural 20 is the case when you actually need a 20 to hit. Granted, this is [I]very rarely[/I] the case in 5E, at least. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Probability, Critical Hits, and the Illusion of Importance
Top