Where do crits come from?

[Michael Dean]

Can't prove it, but I seem to remember the original Chainmail rules had critical hits. I remember a buddy talking about them with gruesome glee: "and if you roll a 20 on this table, the guy's head is PULPED!"

 

[T. Foster]

Can't prove it, but I seem to remember the original Chainmail rules had critical hits. I remember a buddy talking about them with gruesome glee: "and if you roll a 20 on this table, the guy's head is PULPED!"

Nope. No critical hits in Chainmail (unless you consider every hit a critical, since there are also no hit points -- in Chainmail a "hit" = a kill...).

P.S. Don't know how many of you already know this, but there's actually an essay/rant by Gary Gygax in the 1E DMG about how critical hits are a bad addition, antithetical to the spirit of the AD&D game, and that people who include them in their games (and pressure him to include them in the official rules) are all poopy-heads (or words to that effect ).

 

[Asmor]

Ironic that that attitude seems to contradict both EGG quotes in your sig.

 

[Jesus_marley]

I know it's not the origin of he critical, but in the old computer game Dungeons of Moria, the critical system was interesting. In addition to scoring a critical hit, there were different levels of critical hit (good, excellent, superb) which were x2, x3, and x4 damage respectively. Unlike 3.5, the crit modifier was not weapon dependent but based on a separate roll; the x2 modifier being the base modifier for a crit.

 

[Nyaricus]

Ironic that that attitude seems to contradict both EGG quotes in your sig.

I think the 1E DMG was out before either quotes. Maybe he had a change of heart.

Either way, ironic

 

[Nifft]

Blackjack -- The idea that there is a top value that automatically wins.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Asmor]

Blackjack -- The idea that there is a top value that automatically wins.

Cheers, -- N

The same could be said of Poker, no? A royal flush, it seems, is worth more than the sum of its parts (straight, flush and high card).

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Damn, you already ruled out my answer of when a sword and a spleen love each other very much!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Huw]

The same could be said of Poker, no? A royal flush, it seems, is worth more than the sum of its parts (straight, flush and high card).

Not really. Royal flush is merely the highest valued hand - not much good if everyone folds. An ace+king in Blackjack is an automatic win - even though in some rules variants it isn't even the highest valued hand, and so wouldn't have won if the round had been played through normally.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Damn, you already ruled out my answer of when a sword and a spleen love each other very much!

Olaf the Stout

may I stab you gently? It will only hurt at first, i swear.