D&D (2024) Tweak to new Critical Hit rule

[Sir Brennen]

The UA Critical Hit changes limit doubling of damage to just weapon dice. Lots of impacts to the game for this, including no x4 Nova damage for a Grave Cleric/Rouge Assassin, no more paladin crit-fishing for maximum Smites, and no crits for spells (possibly opening up some design options for spells with To Hit requirements). All of these impacts have been gone over in other threads.

My only concern is, and always has been for those classes without bonus dice on damage, is the all-to-common scenario of rolling low, or worse, minimum damage on a critical when it’s supposed to be something extra (and with the UA rules, actually inspiring). But there's nothing particularly exciting or inspiring about rolling two points of damage on your "critical" longsword attack.

So, my suggestion is, instead of rolling the weapon dice again and adding, just add the weapon die's max value instead. Change the second (lengthy) sentence in the Critical definition as follows:

If a player character rolls a 20 for an attack roll with a Weapon or an Unarmed Strike, the attack is also a Critical Hit, which means it deals extra damage to the target; you add the maximum value of the Weapon or Unarmed Strike damage dice as extra damage to the target.

That's it. Nothing complicated. And gets rid of one dice roll in the process.

 

[Charlaquin]

Normally I’m iffy about house rules that buff crits, since PCs usually take more critical hits than they dish out, making any buff to crits a net negative for players. However, with crits being one-sided, you can buff crits as much as you want without it hurting the PCs. So, yeah, I’m into this. I do like rolling double the dice, because rolling extra dice adds an element of tactility to a critical hit that I think is fun (at least if you’re using physical dice). But with only the weapon dice doubling, it doesn’t seem like it would have the same thrill as rolling fistfuls or sneak attack dice or smite dice. So maybe this is the best move.

There was a little while where I experimented with bringing back crit confirms. Natural 20 was an automatic hit and max damage on the die, roll to confirm; if the confirm roll was a hit, roll the damage die again; if the confirm roll was a natural 20, max damage on the second die (I didn’t have confirm rolls explode, but one easily could do). However, I find that crit confirms just kill the excitement of a natural 20.

 

[Bupp]

I've been doing this for years for the same reason.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I usually go with max value + 1 roll of the die, but I think I'd prefer plain x2 damage in the end. Barbarian would add extra multipliers (yes, up to x5 damage).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's a good way to end what we call "critiful" (crit+pitiful) rolls: When you roll a crit, and then roll lower on two dice than you often do on a regular hit. It also stops the "search for an extra damage die" that I have often seen. (Why they can't remember the first roll and roll the same die again, I have no idea).

 

[aco175]

It is easy enough of a change so I can see it.

I might even give the option to those who like to roll dice to re-roll 1s, but only once. Maybe 1s and 2s for fighters, or all martials.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

The UA Critical Hit changes limit doubling of damage to just weapon dice. Lots of impacts to the game for this, including no x4 Nova damage for a Grave Cleric/Rouge Assassin, no more paladin crit-fishing for maximum Smites, and no crits for spells (possibly opening up some design options for spells with To Hit requirements). All of these impacts have been gone over in other threads.

My only concern is, and always has been for those classes without bonus dice on damage, is the all-to-common scenario of rolling low, or worse, minimum damage when it’s supposed to be something extra (and with the UA rules, actually inspiring). But there's nothing particularly exciting or inspiring about rolling two points of damage on your "critical" longsword attack.

So, my suggestion is, instead of rolling the weapon dice again and adding, just add the weapon die's max value instead. Change the second (lengthy) sentence in the Critical definition as follows:


That's it. Nothing complicated. And gets rid of one dice roll in the process.

I lot of people already do this. I think it would be great if ‘24 adopted it. I will mention it in the survey for sure

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I can imagine Rogues getting a feature that says their sneak attacks double on a crit, that would fix all my issues with it.

I don’t think Paladins need crit smites, and this makes them more likely to use other options with their spell slots.

 

[MarkB]

I like it - if only because players seem to be eternally confused about whether or not they double their fixed bonus damage along with the roll, despite the rule being very specific. If there's no doubling happening, the question might not arise.