D&D 5E (2014) Should Crits be x2 Damage? (And Champion Sucks)

[Lanliss]

I have played around with the idea of having Crits deal full damage+ 1 damage die, and give champion +2 damage dice, and +3 at the superior crit. Also playing with the idea of Criticals bypassing all resistances (but not immunities). Thoughts?

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Should Critical Hits deal x2 damage in 5E D&D?

I think that would just lead to exponentially more "SS/GWM is OP" posts.

The champion needs more.

A 5th level Champion has an 18% chance of getting one crit in a round and a 1% chance of getting two (assuming no bonus attack). That's pretty good. A 5th level mage only has 5% chance of getting a critical with an attack spell.

 

[Sunseeker]

Yes. for simplicity's sake, and also the extra damage die is usually pretty weak. Noone likes getting a crit, and then rolling minimum damage.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Crits: Don't care one way or the other. What I use is Max damage, plus a roll. So if you normally do 1d8+3, you do 11, plus 1d8+3 more. This prevents the "Hit with a natural 20! And I do...oh. 4 points of damage".

Champions: Awesome. Lots of fun to see in action (I DM). I think every single Fighter my players have played sans ONE have been Champions.

(PS: No, I don't allow Feats or Multiclassing... probably one reason why Champions are so popular for Fighter choices in my game).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Tormyr]

The champion in my game does well. The other players help that player get advantage on attack rolls when they can. Advantage on attack rolls plus crit on 18-20 makes for lots of damage.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I'm fine with crits as they are.

As for the Champion ... I understand why it exists and what kind of player it's for. And I also understand it will never match a well-built/played Battle Master or Eldritch Knight ... which is exactly why I'd never play one.

 

[SmokingSkull]

As a guy who's playing a Champion/Totem Warrior I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying than watching the dice come up crits for my attacks. I've had instances where I get two, or even three in a row! A couple sessions ago we were fighting a Hobgoblin patrol, we mopped the floor with them but one of them was getting away. I took out my Greatbow and got within minimum range and fired two arrows, both were a roll of natural 20 and 19 respectively. Took that Warg Rider out, although to be fair both rolls were 2d10+1 each, I forget how much I did but it was about 30 something after everything was totaled.

Fun part is that's not even my best weapon (He's mainly a heavy, two handed kinda guy), I'm picking up Archery next level so I can switch hit seeing as the other fighting styles do absolutely nothing for me. Still, the flipside is there are sessions where I don't crit at all, but is that really so bad? I still crit more often than the rest of my party, and have been for the past 9 levels since I first became a Champion (Level 12).

 

[Gladius Legis]

(PS: No, I don't allow Feats or Multiclassing... probably one reason why Champions are so popular for Fighter choices in my game).

In such a game, the Battle Master actually compares even MORE favorably against the Champion. At least with feats, the Champion can get the Great Weapon Master's bonus-action attack on crit more often than the BM, which closes the gap between the two somewhat.

And multiclassing allows the Champion's crit range to shine with classes that have better crits (e.g. Rogue, Paladin, Barbarian).

 

[Hawk Diesel]

In my games I like the old 3E rules of confirming a Critical Hit, which I carried into my 5e games. First 20 (or 18-20 for Champions) is an auto hit and deals max damage. Then they get a roll to confirm the critical with a second d20 roll. If they hit the AC (or get an 18-19 For the Champion) it's double max damage. If they get a second natural 20, it's instant death.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

In my games I like the old 3E rules of confirming a Critical Hit, which I carried into my 5e games. First 20 (or 18-20 for Champions) is an auto hit and deals max damage. Then they get a roll to confirm the critical with a second d20 roll. If they hit the AC (or get an 18-19 For the Champion) it's double max damage. If they get a second natural 20, it's instant death.

Ugh, no. The confirmation roll as implemented in 3E slowed down gameplay and was often a total buzzkill. "I rolled a nat 20...! Oh, wait, I didn't confirm. Boring old normal hit." Your rule of giving players something on the first 20 even if they don't confirm is an improvement, but it still seems like you're gating the excitement unnecessarily.