Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

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Kane
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Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Kane »

Critical hits and always hits on a 20 rule are more dangerous to player characters than anyone else. As the only persistent characters in the game, and a minority of characters in the game, they are much more likely to be outnumbered (and thus suffer more attacks, with an increase in always-hits and critical-hits). They are also likely to have more hit points than many of their enemies, which means the enemies will die just about as quickly from normal hits as from the occasional critical, whereas players (who are more likely to survive normal hits) are now killed more quickly as the surfeit of attacks results in more and more relevant criticals against them. Players are also more likely to have a higher than average AC, meaning they stand the most to lose from '20 always hits'.

This is pretty standard module assumptions and monster distribution, and really basic statistics. I am really surprised that most discussions of critical hits don't bring this up. Players receive, like, the square of their own attacks in attacks. When you're using a 5% Critical rule (for example) that will result in PCs receiving criticals in almost every combat (depending on scale of the adventure) but standing a good chance of delivering none in any given combat. And monsters usually die, or escape, so they're not going to really be 'worried' about the extra HP they lost, while the players still have to walk around mauled for several days.

Personally, I just assume whenever you roll max damage that was a 'critical hit', and don't bother otherwise in D&D games. In GURPS crits are rarer and more elaborate, so I'll use them there.

Critical failures are less bad for PCs, but weirder. Because it means 5% of the time every adventurer acts like a complete incompetent (at least, the way most of the tables are written). I can pretty much guarantee you that, as fallible as historical warriors were, they did not stab themselves in the eye with their own arrow every twenty bow shots. They did not fling their sword across the room by accident every twenty minutes of battle. This is Monty Python nonsense.

I think if you're going to do criticals it should be rarer and more conditional, and critical failures should either be far less dramatic (and then, why bother, just incorporate it into the 'miss' description) or far rarer. Either one will involve more complexity than just checking the attack roll.
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Boggo
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Boggo »

There is a reason Criticals, Impales (improved success) and Fumbles were included in the combat rules of Runequest, which were written by one of the movers behind the actually medieval combat simulation used IRL by the SCA, they happen, and those guys (SCA Heavies) Train A LOT
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Solomoriah
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Solomoriah »

"20 always hits" is not going anywhere. Critical hit rules will never be in the core.

Player characters who suffer too many attacks in a given round have failed to plan for the encounter. Always try to bottleneck your enemies.
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Boggo
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Boggo »

Solomoriah wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:42 pm "20 always hits" is not going anywhere. Critical hit rules will never be in the core.

Player characters who suffer too many attacks in a given round have failed to plan for the encounter. Always try to bottleneck your enemies.
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Metroknight
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Metroknight »

Never do what my group did and run into the kill zone. Empty courtyard with no cover just to kill the remaining orc. This orc was almost dead center of the courtyard when he was knocked down and killed. Next round the group lost the init and the 10 other orcs in hiding opened fire with bows.

Never do this.
Kane
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Kane »

Metroknight wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 6:47 pm Never do what my group did and run into the kill zone. Empty courtyard with no cover just to kill the remaining orc. This orc was almost dead center of the courtyard when he was knocked down and killed. Next round the group lost the init and the 10 other orcs in hiding opened fire with bows.

Never do this.
Yeah, a little war gaming experience goes a long way in OSR combat.

However, I'm not really talking about how many attacks per round or per combat they take. Simply as a statistical function of persistent gameplay, they will be getting attacked more than any other character.
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Ironwolf
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Ironwolf »

I like the house rule that only Fighters can land critical hits. So other classes, and most monsters, won't be doing this extra damage. But beware of engaging in combat with NPC Fighters, who can really ruin your day with some lucky rolls.
Kane
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Kane »

Ironwolf wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:39 pm I like the house rule that only Fighters can land critical hits. So other classes, and most monsters, won't be doing this extra damage. But beware of engaging in combat with NPC Fighters, who can really ruin your day with some lucky rolls.
Yeah, that's a good decision. Reminds me of how LotFP has only fighters getting an attack bonus.
Seven
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by Seven »

I like to keep critical hits for magic items like vorpal swords and the like.

Critical hits bring more realism only when those involves have enough hp to withstand several blows. Otherwise, it's just extra gore.
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chiisu81
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Re: Critical Hits are PC Death Sentences

Post by chiisu81 »

:D
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