Alternate Critical Hit System [Archive] - Wizards Community

Alternate Critical Hit System [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Bolithio
11-26-07, 12:17 AM Anyone know of any alternate systems out there? Anyone have a any good homebrew systems? I would like to put something together that was based on a hit-location system as opposed to just more damage...
Merlin-Karameikos
11-26-07, 01:07 AM Anyone know of any alternate systems out there? Anyone have a any good homebrew systems? I would like to put something together that was based on a hit-location system as opposed to just more damage...

Well, the one I use for critical hits is I have them roll three D6's(but not all at once), the first is to determine if it hits on the upper body or the lower body, 1-3 hits upper 4-6 hits lower. the second roll is to determine where it hits on the upper or lower body. and the third roll is to determineif it hits a specific spot such as an arm or a leg.
For example.
I rolled a Crit on one of my players, he rolls a 1 for his first roll, that hits on the upper body. his second roll was a 3 which is the head. his final roll is a 6, which on the head would be the right ear. so his character took critical damage and lost his ear.

I find this to be a lot of fun and since the player has some control over whereit hits and what area, you as the DM can have a bit of fun, especially with the description of where the PC got hit.
Rulebook
11-26-07, 02:11 AM check out Torn Asunder: Critical Hits from Bastion Press. its 3rd party, which means its a bit off in the normal power scaling... but its -exactly- what you're looking for. Called shots and critical hits.
kuonji
11-26-07, 02:44 AM http://paizo.com/gameMastery/accessories/v5748btpy7wv9

That's what we use.
april151978
11-26-07, 01:38 PM While I understand your wanting of a location system for hits, I find it too much in both paperwork and time to add any real flavor to the game... Also, the players that have suggested it have later complained about it as the system that they called for cripples thier character or worse, drops them dead...

That said, we switched to a more deadly system across the board of greater damage as a whole, so if you choose, take a look into it... I have been using this system as both a player and a DM since we came up with the system back in the early days of 3rd edition...

So, this all came to being from a game in which a lot of criticals were rolled that day, but the overall critical damage was on par with, or even lower than a regular hit at times... The final straw came from an archers three rounds of attacks, 4 attacks being critical hits (yes, lucky as hell)...

So, of those 4 critical attacks, only one was above the max he could do in a standard hit...

He was using a composite longbow built for his strength (12 at the time), so his damage was 1d8+1, or in the regular critical system a critical hit would have yielded 3d8+3...

Now, the worst critical he has only delt 7 damage, while a max arrow hit did 9... That might not seem like a big deal, but when you get a critical on a weapon, you want to say "now that is a critical hit" or something more colorful...

So, we stopped the game after that encounter and discussed the ordeal over lunch... My ex-brother-in-law suggested that the damage be maxed out, but I interjected with the idea of maxing the hit out, then rolling the critical damage and adding it to the maxed out hit...

We sat, at lunch, rolling criticals both ways, crunching the numbers of scratch paper and liked what we saw...

So, the system is this; if a critical hit is confirmed, the weapon damage is maxed out for the hit itself, then the extra dice are rolled normally with bonuses and added to the maxed out hit...

So, the above bow example, if it scored a critical hit would do 2d8+11, not 3d8+3...

So, you may ask about say a greatsword, but it works the same... Fighter, 18 strength, greatsword, and weapon specialization....

Classic rules critical is 4d6+16 (+4 from strength times 1.5 yielding a +6, +2 for weapon specialization) for that attack, but under the rules we created, the critical would be 2d6+28...

Reguarless of this suiting you or not, it has been a popular system with many I have played with or talked to... And yes, we realize things like dragon bites are particularliy nasty if they crit, and they should be... The guy who came up with the idea with me had his character die, first attack in the first round of combat by a first level warrior with a strength of 16 and a battle axe by a critical hit... Poor druid, but he never complained...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bolithio 11-26-07, 12:17 AM	Anyone know of any alternate systems out there? Anyone have a any good homebrew systems? I would like to put something together that was based on a hit-location system as opposed to just more damage...
Merlin-Karameikos 11-26-07, 01:07 AM	Anyone know of any alternate systems out there? Anyone have a any good homebrew systems? I would like to put something together that was based on a hit-location system as opposed to just more damage... Well, the one I use for critical hits is I have them roll three D6's(but not all at once), the first is to determine if it hits on the upper body or the lower body, 1-3 hits upper 4-6 hits lower. the second roll is to determine where it hits on the upper or lower body. and the third roll is to determineif it hits a specific spot such as an arm or a leg. For example. I rolled a Crit on one of my players, he rolls a 1 for his first roll, that hits on the upper body. his second roll was a 3 which is the head. his final roll is a 6, which on the head would be the right ear. so his character took critical damage and lost his ear. I find this to be a lot of fun and since the player has some control over whereit hits and what area, you as the DM can have a bit of fun, especially with the description of where the PC got hit.
Rulebook 11-26-07, 02:11 AM	check out Torn Asunder: Critical Hits from Bastion Press. its 3rd party, which means its a bit off in the normal power scaling... but its -exactly- what you're looking for. Called shots and critical hits.
kuonji 11-26-07, 02:44 AM	http://paizo.com/gameMastery/accessories/v5748btpy7wv9 That's what we use.
april151978 11-26-07, 01:38 PM	While I understand your wanting of a location system for hits, I find it too much in both paperwork and time to add any real flavor to the game... Also, the players that have suggested it have later complained about it as the system that they called for cripples thier character or worse, drops them dead... That said, we switched to a more deadly system across the board of greater damage as a whole, so if you choose, take a look into it... I have been using this system as both a player and a DM since we came up with the system back in the early days of 3rd edition... So, this all came to being from a game in which a lot of criticals were rolled that day, but the overall critical damage was on par with, or even lower than a regular hit at times... The final straw came from an archers three rounds of attacks, 4 attacks being critical hits (yes, lucky as hell)... So, of those 4 critical attacks, only one was above the max he could do in a standard hit... He was using a composite longbow built for his strength (12 at the time), so his damage was 1d8+1, or in the regular critical system a critical hit would have yielded 3d8+3... Now, the worst critical he has only delt 7 damage, while a max arrow hit did 9... That might not seem like a big deal, but when you get a critical on a weapon, you want to say "now that is a critical hit" or something more colorful... So, we stopped the game after that encounter and discussed the ordeal over lunch... My ex-brother-in-law suggested that the damage be maxed out, but I interjected with the idea of maxing the hit out, then rolling the critical damage and adding it to the maxed out hit... We sat, at lunch, rolling criticals both ways, crunching the numbers of scratch paper and liked what we saw... So, the system is this; if a critical hit is confirmed, the weapon damage is maxed out for the hit itself, then the extra dice are rolled normally with bonuses and added to the maxed out hit... So, the above bow example, if it scored a critical hit would do 2d8+11, not 3d8+3... So, you may ask about say a greatsword, but it works the same... Fighter, 18 strength, greatsword, and weapon specialization.... Classic rules critical is 4d6+16 (+4 from strength times 1.5 yielding a +6, +2 for weapon specialization) for that attack, but under the rules we created, the critical would be 2d6+28... Reguarless of this suiting you or not, it has been a popular system with many I have played with or talked to... And yes, we realize things like dragon bites are particularliy nasty if they crit, and they should be... The guy who came up with the idea with me had his character die, first attack in the first round of combat by a first level warrior with a strength of 16 and a battle axe by a critical hit... Poor druid, but he never complained...