A New Way to Crit
The Tavern's Newsletter for Nov 26th, 2024
Blades & Arcana - On Crits
As I stated last week, one of the things I intend to do with The Tavern’s Newsletter is to use it as a development journal for Blades & Arcana.
As a general observation, I'm not too fond of Critical Hits on a Nat 20. Whether you need to roll a 19 to hit or a 9, a Nat 20 is a critical hit. It never sat well with me. Additionally, critical hits favor the monsters and the DM in the long run.
There’s an advantage that Blades & Arcana has in that it uses two consistent dice in combat - a D20 to hit and a D6 for damage (optional rules will allow for using different dice for damage, but that is for another update).
Well, if we have two constant dice, we DON’T have to use a D20 to determine critical hits. Instead, we can look at the D6.
On a roll of 6 on the D6, there’s the possibility of a critical hit. Roll another D6 and refer to the following chart.
Crit 1 - All Level 1 / 1HD Monster
Crit 2 - Fighter 2 / Cleric 3 / Thief 3 / 3 HD Monster / MU 4
Crit 3 - Fighter 4 / Cleric 6 / Thief 6 / 6 HD Monster / MU 8
Crit 4 - Fighter 6 / Cleric 9 / Thief 9 / 9 HD Monster / MU 12
Crit 5 - Fighter 8 / Cleric 12 / Thief 12 / 12 HD Monster
You will write down your Crit Number on the Character Sheet for reference.
If you roll equal to or less than your Crit Number, add that damage to your damage roll. If you roll above your Crit Number, you do no extra damage.
Two-handed weapons roll two D6s for their Crit Damage, and both rolls can add damage to the initial roll if successful.
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I get what you are saying, but I think this takes away a major feature of the d20 crit. That is the immediate cheer and high-fiving that erupts around the table when that die spins, bounces, teeters and finally stops on that all mighty 20. In over 35 years of gaming, I have seen few things as 'cool' as when someone rolls a crit.
I'm a rules-lite guy and so I know that I am probably biased but I really think that even having to spend two seconds processing "ok, but is this roll ACTUALLY a crit?" takes away one of the better moments at the table. The second roll is fine in my book. In fact, I think it would build up tension. But that second one should IMOHO be an immediate, no thinking, visceral "WE GOT HIM BOYS!!! WE GOT HIM GOOD!!!"
Just my 2 cents.
quote: a D6 for damage (optional rules will allow for using different dice for damage, but that is for another update)
If you allow optional dice (presumably D4 or D8) you are going to have to fiddle with the crit chances as max damage on a D6 (~17%) vs. a D8 (~13%) will allow the D6 to crit slightly more often (4.17%). You might be able to get the numbers to work out about right by tweaking the D8's initial chance (or allowing a "confirmed crit" on a slightly larger range). Or just ignore things.
You've probably already thought of this, but if not, I've thrown this out for thought.