D&D 5E Is there a way to negate critical hits without adamantine armour?

[Psikerlord#]

Just make a custom feat:

True Grit
(i) Gain +1 Constitution
(ii) You do not suffer Critical hits. A critical hit is treated as a normal hit instead.

Tada!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

To be more specific, I mean is there a way for players to negate critical hits against them with out relying on features that allow them to force their opponent to reroll (i.e. the Lucky feat), in the same way as adamantine armour, that is constantly on? The reason I am posing this question is because I am soon to be a Player and my concept requires i have very low health, so critical hits would be devastating. The reason I can't have armour is because the character is going to most likely be a monk.

Frankly, if I were in your shoes I would do exactly what you've already mentioned and take the Lucky feat. Turning a crit into a miss is golden.

 

[Duan'duliir]

Just make a custom feat:

True Grit
(i) Gain +1 Constitution
(ii) You do not suffer Critical hits. A critical hit is treated as a normal hit instead.

Tada!

The problem with this is the DM is generally against custom stuff, otherwise, this would be rather cool, albeit a little powerful. They don't mind custom magic items, so maybe they would be inclined to allow adamantine bracers of defence... Thanks for the idea!

Frankly, if I were in your shoes I would do exactly what you've already mentioned and take the Lucky feat. Turning a crit into a miss is golden.

The problem with this, and the reason I don't want to take it, is that it only has 3 charges per long rest, and that may not be enough. When they have been a player, I've seen the DM roll 20s quite often.

Unfortunately, it seems that taking the Lucky feat is my only option. Since the campaign is in the epic levels, I will have access to boons. If any of you are DMs, how would you rule using the Boon of Fate on a crit? Would you allow it to negate the crit or not? I am looking at this as a potential solution once per short rest, and then relying on Lucky after that.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The problem with this is the DM is generally against custom stuff, otherwise, this would be rather cool, albeit a little powerful. They don't mind custom magic items, so maybe they would be inclined to allow adamantine bracers of defence... Thanks for the idea!



The problem with this, and the reason I don't want to take it, is that it only has 3 charges per long rest, and that may not be enough. When they have been a player, I've seen the DM roll 20s quite often.

Unfortunately, it seems that taking the Lucky feat is my only option. Since the campaign is in the epic levels, I will have access to boons. If any of you are DMs, how would you rule using the Boon of Fate on a crit? Would you allow it to negate the crit or not? I am looking at this as a potential solution once per short rest, and then relying on Lucky after that.

It seems the best thing for a sickly/ frail character to do is avoid combat as much as possible. Perfectly robust and healthy characters are seriously injured or killed quite frequently if they get into a lot of fights. A sickly character engaging in such activity willfully simply has a death wish.

 

[Duan'duliir]

It seems the best thing for a sickly/ frail character to do is avoid combat as much as possible. Perfectly robust and healthy characters are seriously injured or killed quite frequently if they get into a lot of fights. A sickly character engaging in such activity willfully simply has a death wish.

The character will be a Follower of the Way of the Long Death, so they do actually have a death wish.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The character will be a Follower of the Way of the Long Death, so they do actually have a death wish.

Problem solved then! Repeatedly enter combat and thy wish shall be granted.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Hm. I am strongly against having high con and being sickly.
As a monk you have an easy time being safe against critical hits: Using your bonus action and a ki point for the dodge action.

Not always the best option but certainly possible. Especially high wisdom and dexterity will make sure you are seldom hit at all. 16 AC is not that bad when you actually don't pick fights with too many enemies at once. The occasional critical hit won't kill you. As a long dearh monk you also have a way to gain temporary hp. You also have means of not being killed and frightening enemies. So your risk of being killed by the occasional critical hit is low.

 

[mellored]

Half-orc or the Death Ward spell work to a degree.
Barbarian rages can keep you alive after 1 big hit as well.


Though in 5e, most crits are not that devastating. Roughly 50% more damage for most creatures, less then getting hit twice. Unless it's a barbarian or something, but even they only crit at 2x.

 

[Inconnunom]

According to Crawford, cutting words cuts crits:

Q: Can I cancel a "Natural 20 Critical Hit" using Cutting Words?
A: Yes, You can.
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/672608353487470592

"...you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll."
Sounds like if you roll say a 4 on a Bardic Inspiration die then the number on the d20 is not considered 20 but 16.

Bards are the masters of metagaming. lol

 

[pdegan2814]

By the way, I'm playing a low hit point Tempest Cleric in a campaign. His backstory has him as raised by Elves. He is a duelist (with the duelist feat) and he wields a rapier and shield. He is quite squishy, and for the first few levels he was always trying to avoid too much fighting (he called it wisdom) unless the odds were in his favor. After one of the party members questioned his courage, he started taking more chances, and made vow to stand side-by side with some of the melee PCs.

The duelist feat helped him block a few key attacks even though at low levels it only gives him a +2 AC vs. 1 attack.

With a full party, it is kind of fun being squishy. Each combat is much more exciting, and even though I've been knocked down about 3 or 4 times over the first 4 levels of play, I've always been revived, and the events always add more tension to the game, which we all like.

I dunno about other players, but if anyone in my party is going to be squishy, I'd rather it NOT be the guy who's likely to be the party healer. My group had an early session where our Cleric was knocked unconscious at least 3 times(pretty sure 2 of them were in one fight), and it was FRUSTRATING.