PF - Ideas for houseruling critical effects

[tadetpiano]

Hello

I'm currently DM:ing my second Campaign and I've got this idea into my head about making critical hits a bit more threatening to my players. They always revel in my graphic description about the carnage they wreak against opponents when they kill someone with a critical hit, but I would like to take things a step further.

The idea I'm working on is that whenever a critical hit brings a player (or a potential recurring NPC) below 0 hp it will also have an additional effect that will take some more effort than a cure whatever wounds spell to get rid of.

The effects would be determined on the fly (I might make som charts later on) based on weapontype and how much damage the hit actually made, regardless och how low below 0 it put the target.

An example: a crit that could be made with a dagger (or a bad hit with other weapons), that is around 2-10 dmg might cause: damage to an Eye, cut a tendon, internal bleeding or a smashed knee. This damage would last untill the victim has regained max hitpoints.
Bigger damage might include lost limbs, ruptured organs and the like and require restoration och regeneration to heal.

So after all this babbling I would like to ask you guys for advice and ideas for this. What afflictions can you think of and how would they be implemented mechanically? Any and all ideas are appreciated! :smallsmile:

[Artillery]

Would you be basing this on the crit rating of the weapon or dmg done with a crit?

Finding a good threshold where it comes into play is important. Crit ranges and dmg done by the crit should be taken into account. Should how often something crit effect how powerful its crit effect is, or should be it based on how much dmg a person did with said crit, etc...

[tadetpiano]

Would you be basing this on the crit rating of the weapon or dmg done with a crit?

Finding a good threshold where it comes into play is important. Crit ranges and dmg done by the crit should be taken into account. Should how often something crit effect how powerful its crit effect is, or should be it based on how much dmg a person did with said crit, etc...

I'm thinking the total damage dealt should determine how severe the effect should be. To explain my reasoning, Bringing down a barbarian at 50 hp in one hit would take someting big, like a monster tearing his leg of or gouging his eye out with a sword.

Someone weak or heavily damaged does not require something quite so severe (although drama and symbolism always comes first so it might depend :smallwink: )

I should add that I'm mainly looking for general guidelines and suggestions so that it can be done on the fly as appropriate for the situation :smallsmile:

[Jlerpy]

Have you had a look at the Critical Hit Deck (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ysr?GameMastery-Critical-Hit-Deck)? It's pretty neat.

[Spore]

Have you had a look at the Critical Hit Deck (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ysr?GameMastery-Critical-Hit-Deck)? It's pretty neat.

This thing is gold.

It not only rewards for critting (getting to read something as present is entirely more satisfying than rolling a dice again), it also powers up mundane crit builds significantly. With that deck, crits do ability damage, bleed damage or give spell failure chance. Basically the control and debuffing the characters lack.

In the same breath I recommend against a deck for critical failures because it forces you to take what is written instead of individually adjusting the effect to balance the encounter. If your fighter cuts his muscles and imposes a hefty penalty on Str to himself, the guy is out of the fight for several encounters if you happen to lack a very good healer.

[tadetpiano]

Have you had a look at the Critical Hit Deck (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ysr?GameMastery-Critical-Hit-Deck)? It's pretty neat.

No, but i'm definitely going to! It does not seem to be exactly what I had in mind but it's great inspiration.

It's mostly for the drama I'm doing it, I want there to be a stronger sense of danger in combat than there is normally when we play without going to far. So it's not every crit that does something but rather the dramatic ones.

[Arbane]

No, but i'm definitely going to! It does not seem to be exactly what I had in mind but it's great inspiration.

It's mostly for the drama I'm doing it, I want there to be a stronger sense of danger in combat than there is normally when we play without going to far. So it's not every crit that does something but rather the dramatic ones.

I can't help thinking that this is a bad idea for the same reason that fumble rules are a bad idea: it yet again hobbles the fighters without inconveniencing the spellcasters.

Idea stolen from Legends of the Wulin: Yes, getting critted _can_ mess a character up worse than a regular hit... IF the player wants it. If the player agrees to take a sucking chest wound (or whatever), they get a little XP bonus.

[tadetpiano]

I can't help thinking that this is a bad idea for the same reason that fumble rules are a bad idea: it yet again hobbles the fighters without inconveniencing the spellcasters.

Idea stolen from Legends of the Wulin: Yes, getting critted _can_ mess a character up worse than a regular hit... IF the player wants it. If the player agrees to take a sucking chest wound (or whatever), they get a little XP bonus.

Normally I would agree with you, even though ranged attacks also carry this danger. The idea is however made very much with the party in mind. We only really have one dedicated caster, a sorceror who pretty much only cast damaging cold spells. We have a cleric but he's...a special case. He usually lets his golem (dont ask :smallannoyed: ) do the dirty work while he heals, which puts him at equal risk to the meele combatants.

The shining stars of the party has so far been the barbarian and fighter/duelist who can pretty much kill any encounter by themselves in a round or to if they can reach them. The barbarian in particular deals and endures insane amounts of damage.

But I will think on it, and any suggestion for how to balance this for the casters are much appriciated :smallsmile:

[Spore]

These crit cards killed my melee druid (x3 mod, so two cards - 1d4 Con damage, double damage and Dex damage, the con penalty tipped me over) and I still love them. It just makes a raging battle that more unpredictable if even the DM doesn't know what card will be pulled.

[Keneth]

I've been using the critical hit and fumble decks in all my games for ages now (with a few houserules for smoother gameplay), and they're pretty damn sweet.

There are also apps which display the text from the cards, both official (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8rwf?iCrit) and unofficial (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/tools/critical-generator), if you can't buy them.