Critically confirming crits

[GreyVulpine]

I'm interested in hearing what house rules you guys have made up for critically confirming critical hits or fumbles.

Say a character wields a weapon which has a 20/x2 crit range. That character rolls 2 natural 20s in a row for attacking. What happens?

Would you rule that it only does double damage, and leave it at that?

Would you add some sort of variant to the rule? Say increasing the damage to x3, or staggering the opponent? Do you have a specific crit deck or table to reference?

What happens on a crit fumble?

Would you apply the same rules to a minion which crits?

-GV

 

[Aus_Snow]

Say a character wields a weapon which has a 20/x2 crit range.

---snip---

Would you apply the same rules to a minion which crits?

Error. . . Does not compute. . .

 

[GreyVulpine]

Error. . . Does not compute. . .

Okay, what if an enemy crits a player?

-GV

 

[Hawken]

Here's a rule I've used in the past and its worked out fine:

When a critical threat is rolled, the player makes a second roll to confirm.
Result of confirmation roll:
If confirmation roll misses: attack inflicts maximum damage.
If confirmation roll hits: critical hit confirmed, roll for critical damage.
If confirmation roll result is in the critical threat range: critical hit confirmed, make secondary confirmation roll.

Result of secondary critical hit confirmation roll:
If roll misses: critical hit still confirmed, roll critical damage.
If roll hits: secondary critical confirmed, maximum critical damage.
If roll result is a critical threat: secondary critical confirmed, make death roll.

Result of death roll:
If roll misses: maximum critical damage inflicted.
If roll hits: Critical hit damage increased by additional multiplier.
If roll result is in critical threat range: Target is killed.

And yes, if enemies roll like this against the PCs, its used against them. I've never killed a PC in this manner but they have killed monsters this way and in one particular adventure a few years back, one of the new players in a game I was running killed the BBEG four rounds into the final battle by these rules. I was kind of disappointed, but also impressed and everyone else thought it was great!

 

[El Mahdi]

Here's a rule I've used in the past and its worked out fine:

When a critical threat is rolled, the player makes a second roll to confirm.
Result of confirmation roll:
If confirmation roll misses: attack inflicts maximum damage.
If confirmation roll hits: critical hit confirmed, roll for critical damage.
If confirmation roll result is in the critical threat range: critical hit confirmed, make secondary confirmation roll.

Result of secondary critical hit confirmation roll:
If roll misses: critical hit still confirmed, roll critical damage.
If roll hits: secondary critical confirmed, maximum critical damage.
If roll result is a critical threat: secondary critical confirmed, make death roll.

Result of death roll:
If roll misses: maximum critical damage inflicted.
If roll hits: Critical hit damage increased by additional multiplier.
If roll result is in critical threat range: Target is killed.

And yes, if enemies roll like this against the PCs, its used against them. I've never killed a PC in this manner but they have killed monsters this way and in one particular adventure a few years back, one of the new players in a game I was running killed the BBEG four rounds into the final battle by these rules. I was kind of disappointed, but also impressed and everyone else thought it was great!

Nice! I like this.

I could see it slowing things down a bit because of the extra dice rolling, but I can also see everyone at the table having their eyes glued to the dice, waiting to see if instant death happens with one swing. Very Cool.

 

[Dyson Logos]

With the "confirming a critical" rule, they finally started taking the luck out of Critical hits and started aiming it back towards skill-based.

Double-crit rolls are pure luck and are thus skill-free. So I don't reward them.

 

[kitsune9]

I'm interested in hearing what house rules you guys have made up for critically confirming critical hits or fumbles.

Say a character wields a weapon which has a 20/x2 crit range. That character rolls 2 natural 20s in a row for attacking. What happens?

Would you rule that it only does double damage, and leave it at that?

Would you add some sort of variant to the rule? Say increasing the damage to x3, or staggering the opponent? Do you have a specific crit deck or table to reference?

What happens on a crit fumble?

Would you apply the same rules to a minion which crits?

-GV

My rule is that two nat 20's, regardless of AC, is a crit.

 

[Megahedron]

I don't like this. I don't think that anyone should be rewarded for not confirming a crit.

 

[Megahedron]

I always stack the critical damage. I've known some dm's who make it instant death, which happens a lot anyway with stacking crits. When the player's roll critical misses, I usually make them hit an ally. Sometimes I make them drop their weapons. Sometimes I get more creative, especially if they have the unlucky flaw.

 

[El Mahdi]

With the "confirming a critical" rule, they finally started taking the luck out of Critical hits and started aiming it back towards skill-based.

Double-crit rolls are pure luck and are thus skill-free. So I don't reward them.

I'm sorry, but I don't see how adding a confirmation roll made crits less about luck and more about skill. Odds wise, needing a roll in the critical threat range and a second successful attack roll, has less of a chance of being a critical hit than just taking every natural 20 as an automatic. That makes crits with the confirmation mechanic less common but just as random. Even with feats meant to increase your critical threat range, crits are still less common than just taking every natural 20 as an automatic crit. I don't see where the skill comes in?