The monster 'crit' problem

[Plane Sailing]

It has occurred to me recently, that one of the problem that faces high level monsters vis a vis high level PCs comes down to the 'monster crit' problem.

Specifically, even though monsters have a built in number to match their assumed equivalent to magic item power, they lack the ability to do additional dice damage on a critical hit.

From early to mid heroic onwards, PCs are adding 1d6 or more when they crit. The Monsters don't get this benefit. Any idea why not?

(I suppose it would be possible to give an assumed crit bonus depending upon monster level, and possibly a crit die based on role - bigger for brutes. Possibly worth discussing in the house rules forum).

Cheers

 

[Runestar]

Maybe to make them easier to run by not giving the DM too much to keep track of? I suppose the extra damage from crits could already have been factored into their normal damage....

 

[Nightson]

1d6 = 0.175 average damage
...
6d6 = 1.05 average damage

Even 6d12 is a little under two points of average damage increase per round.


This is an option that will add more swing to your combats. Should that be what you desire then go for it.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Maybe to make them easier to run by not giving the DM too much to keep track of?

Heh! If that was a consideration then we would have the mass of effects hanging around throughout combat now - marked, weakened, bloodied, dazed, end of next round, start of next round, save ends...

Nope, I don't think crit effects would have been a significant burden in the issue of running a battle!

 

[Plane Sailing]

1d6 = 0.175 average damage
.

Average damage per round is meaningless in this case - since they didn't do it for PCs. The clumpiness of crit damage is significant too.

(It would also make higher level minions more interesting on a crit too, FWIW)

Cheers

 

[keterys]

I'd suggest going simpler and just doubling damage for monster crits - little more swing on something that is otherwise predictable, deals with minions easily, takes care of brutes doing more on crits, etc.

 

[fissionessence]

Hm. Well this isn't at all what you mentioned, but I make minions' crits 150% of their damage. That is, if they normally dealt 4 damage, their crit damage is 6. This was mainly because one player had armor that punished monsters that scored a critical hit against him . . . he got to destroy the minion without suffering any additional effects. This made it bad for the minion to roll a 20.

Anyway, it wouldn't be that hard to implement something for what you brought up. Here are two options I thought of:

1) When it scores a critical hit, maximize its damage, then roll an addition die equal to the size of what the attack would normally deal. This way you get a little bonus damage in, but it doesn't really scale well with level (the way players' crits do).

2) When it scores a critical hit, add a xd6, according to the following:
levels 1-5: 1d6
levels 6-10: 2d6
levels 11-15: 3d6
levels 16-20: 4d6
levels 21-25: 5d6
levels 26-30: 6d6
This would be more on par with characters' crit bonuses, but can potentially make monster crits much more devastating (something you may or may not want).

In general, I'd say just to keep things as they are. Monster damage is probably measured well. Ask yourself why you feel additional damage for the monsters is necessary. In my opinion, players have critical hits to make them feel really cool when they score one, but monsters won't (though you as the DM might, and I guess that could be reason enough). If you want to 'impress' players when the monster scores a critical hit, consider using option (2) only when using a foe that is obviously wielding a magical weapon. If you do this, the players should probably be able to collect that magic weapon after they defeat the enemy, even if it's in the form of a base item.

~ fissionessence

 

[Artoomis]

I think it is fine as is.

Do you really want to increase the effect of critical hits from monsters? The net result will be more character deaths at random (a roll of 20) times.

I like the idea of near-death characters managing a last-minute victory. If ciritcals become more deadly, then characters will win those final desperate moments of battle less often, which seems like a bad result to me.

The characters are the heroes, not the monsters.

 

[MarkB]

I think it is fine as is.

Do you really want to increase the effect of critical hits from monsters? The net result will be more character deaths at random (a roll of 20) times.

I like the idea of near-death characters managing a last-minute victory. If ciritcals become more deadly, then characters will win those final desperate moments of battle less often, which seems like a bad result to me.

The characters[b/] are the heroes, not the monsters.

This is what it comes down to. Extra swinginess in combat ultimately hurts the PCs more than the monsters. A system in which criticals are deliberately less swingy when scored by monsters than PCs is actually properly designed, not flawed.

 

[chaotix42]

I don't think your average monster needs the extra damage from critical hits - your average monster won't have a magic weapon anyway.

That being said, if you really want to dish out some pain to your PCs, equip important/elite/solo monsters with a level-appropriate magic item for the extra crit damage. Or just use monsters with high-crit weapons like greataxes.

@ Runestar - for monsters with high-crit weapons the extra damage is listed. It'll read something like 1d12 + 8 (crit. 1d12 + 20).