Modified Rules for Critical Hits in D&D 3Ed.

Josh Horowitz
3/13/02
$Revision: 1.2 $
$Date: 2003/01/28 07:25:19 $

I have always had a problem with most critical hit and fumble charts. They are either too deadly, complicated, and frequent or too simple. Rolling a 1 or a 20 occurs 10% of the time. Now you could just do the old standby of double damage for a critical hit, but even that quickly becomes boring. The 3rd edition rules correct this a bit, but here is the system I used for 1st edition, modified a bit for 3rd edition.

If a natural 1 or a 20 is rolled, a second roll is made, using the same chances as the first roll. The effects are according to the chart:

CATEGORY FIRST SECOND EFFECT
Critical Fumble 1 1 Stunned and Knocked Prone (init=0, -4AC, Lose Dex Bonus, Flatfooted, Provoke AoO, Lose Weapon(DC20))
Fumble 1 miss Stunned and Off-Balance (init=0, -2AC, Lose Dex Bonus, Flatfooted, Provoke AoO, Lose Weapon (DC15))
Critical Miss 1 hit Off-Balance (init=0, Lose Dex Bonus, Flatfooted)
Miss 1 20 Miss (no damage roll)
miss -
Hit hit - Normal Damage Roll
20 1
Critical Hit 20 miss Max Damage
Smash 20 hit Max Damage + (Multiplier-1)*Damage Roll
Critical Smash 20 20 Max Multiplier Damage

Misc Notes:

In the new rules some weapons have critical threat ranges (ie. Long Sword can score a critical hit on 19 or 20.) For these weapons, the critical range counts as a 20 on the table above.

There is one subtle point to be aware of, however. A natural 20 always hits, no matter what. A roll below 20, even if it's within the critical range, is not an automatic hit. If an attack roll is less than 20, but in the critical range, it does not count as a hit if fails to hit the opponent.

Examples:

For example, let's assume that Phred is wielding a long sword (critical range 19-20) against an opponent for which he needs a 25 to hit. He can still score a hit on a natural 20, possibly a critical hit, but misses on a 19, even though it's in his critical hit range.

Some weapons also have different damage multipliers. For Critical Smashes, just use max multiplier damage. For Smashes, use: Max Damage + (Mult.-1)*Damage Roll. This formula makes sure that a Smash will never do less than the Max Damage for a weapon.

Here's an example: Sheila is wielding a scythe (2d4, x4). On her attack, she rolls a 20, 20 and gets a Critical Smash. Damage is 8x4=32. Later, she rolls a 20, hit and gets a Smash. Damage is 8 + (2d4 x 3).

Called Shots

Firing into Melee