Why the focus on criticals?

[Andor]

I'm honestly baffled here. I don't have the books yet, but from what I've seen here on EN world it seems like an amazing number of powers, feats, and magic items only kick in on criticals.

Which are only on a 20 and there in no "Improved Crit" until epic tier.

The heck?

I suppose with the longer battles we might expect to see about 1 crit per combat, and Wizards especially since they roll a seperate attack for everyone in the fireball de jour, but it still seems like a hell of a lot of gameplay emphasis centering around a fairly rare event. I don't understand the design decision here. :\

 

[themilkman]

True, some of the powers and feats that rely on crits don't make much sense. A hanful of temporary HP on a crit? Okay...

That said, other crit-triggered powers have some pretty awesome effects, like recharging encounter or daily powers or allowing free healing surges. It makes a little more sense for those to be rare.

 

[Mengu]

I don't understand the design decision here. :\

I don't understand it either. The bonuses are so negligible it almost feels like unnecessary complexity. A critical hit will come up once every 20 attack rolls. Assuming around 10 attack rolls per encounter, there will be a critical hit once per milestone. So why not just make some abilities like:

Once per milestone, when you hit with an attack roll, you give +1 bonus to your allies' attack rolls against the opponent you hit.

This kind of mechanic would be easier to track alongside other encounter powers, action points, etc. It would also be more useful since you would trigger it when needed, instead of it triggering randomly, like when you roll that precious 20 against a minion.

 

[Cheesepie]

Because crits are fun! And doing special things on a crit is even more fun!

 

[Andor]

Because crits are fun! And doing special things on a crit is even more fun!

As you said however, crits are fun to begin with. I just question the need to spend a measurable percentage of the PHB (and a significant percentage of feats and powers) into making them more fun.

I mean when in 3e did you ever hear a player complain "Oh damm! I rolled a crit. This sucks. Now if only it gave me 3 temporary HP, then it would be cool."

 

[Incenjucar]

It's a drama thing, I think.

Steady damage is nice and all, but crazy whacko awesome once in awhile is much more exciting.

It's why we bother with dice to begin with.

 

[Voss]

Pretty much what I suspect. That big moment when the dice come up 20 and you skewer the evil wizard? They want to play that up. And crits apparently get huge at high levels, what with all the extra dice.

 

[Duelpersonality]

As far as a design decision goes, I think it has to do with consistency. They have scaled damage back and made it more consistent. If you make a flaming weapon do an extra 1d6 every hit, then you have to account for that damage in the math, and then energy damage weapons become necessary to a character. Adding in that damage on a fairly rare event (5% chance) doesn't skew the math that much, I would think.

On a personal note: I love the new vorpal. Now there's some fun times.

 

[arscott]

I don't understand it either. The bonuses are so negligible it almost feels like unnecessary complexity. A critical hit will come up once every 20 attack rolls. Assuming around 10 attack rolls per encounter, there will be a critical hit once per milestone. So why not just make some abilities like:

Once per milestone, when you hit with an attack roll, you give +1 bonus to your allies' attack rolls against the opponent you hit.

This kind of mechanic would be easier to track alongside other encounter powers, action points, etc. It would also be more useful since you would trigger it when needed, instead of it triggering randomly, like when you roll that precious 20 against a minion.

The problem with this mechanic is that it's the player's choice whether to use it. With extra crit effects, it's more random. And given some of the crit bonuses I've seen, I'd be scared as a DM to let my players have abilities that are that good.

 

[Nail]

It's a drama thing, I think.

Definitely.

Criticals don't really matter much, on average. They never have. But during a live table-top game, nothing is better than rolling that Natural 20 when you need it.