Crit Damage = Max Damage, Thoughts?

[MadGrady]

So coming from Pathfinder, I am overjoyed that 5e has done away with crit confirmation rolls. During the playtest, I know some of the crit mechanics that were tested included doing max damage + 1 extra damage die.

So my thought was this, I hate when my players roll a crit, but then still only do like 2-3 points of damage due to low damage rolls. I was considering houseruling to say your crit just does max damage (no extra die rolls, save for things like Orc ability Savage Attacks - so an Orc critting would roll do max damage for 2d(x) and then actually roll their bonus damage for being an Orc)

Have any of you houseruled something similiar? What were your results? Were there unexpected consequences that you didn't anticipate?

Thanks all!:smallsmile:

[pwykersotz]

I've done it. It works very well. I don't use it in all my games, but I fully endorse it as a variant. It has the added benefit of players instantly knowing how much damage they did, speeding up combat just a sliver more.

[Ramshack]

I've done it. It works very well. I don't use it in all my games, but I fully endorse it as a variant. It has the added benefit of players instantly knowing how much damage they did, speeding up combat just a sliver more.

was thinking of trying something like this but I didn't know how it would pan out. Did you ever have problems at low levels of just 1 shotting player characters lol?

[Theodoxus]

The variation one of my DMs used was the base damage was maximized and the second die was rolled normally. This was a bit of both worlds, where you knew you'd be doing a decent chunk of damage, but still had a bit of variation.

On an aside, I'm actually a little sad that confirmations are no longer the rule of the day. Especially with Mearls noting that the Champions crit increase was also an autohit, even it if didn't hit the AC (granted, there shouldn't be many cases where a 19 on the die doesn't hit, but it still demystifies the Holy d20 some).

If I were to maximize a crit, I'd probably bring back the confirmation roll... just feels like having your cake and eating it too otherwise.

[Ramshack]

The variation one of my DMs used was the base damage was maximized and the second die was rolled normally. This was a bit of both worlds, where you knew you'd be doing a decent chunk of damage, but still had a bit of variation.

On an aside, I'm actually a little sad that confirmations are no longer the rule of the day. Especially with Mearls noting that the Champions crit increase was also an autohit, even it if didn't hit the AC (granted, there shouldn't be many cases where a 19 on the die doesn't hit, but it still demystifies the Holy d20 some).

If I were to maximize a crit, I'd probably bring back the confirmation roll... just feels like having your cake and eating it too otherwise.

I'm on the other side of the fence, I loathed the confirmation roll, nothing was more of a let down than critting and then going nope Just Kidding.

Also I think this edition puts the almighty nat 20 even higher on a pedestal considering only the champion fighter has a way of increasing his crit range. Instead of weapons, feats and magic properties.

[Chaosvii7]

Acquisitions Inc.'s game at PAX Prime used max damage plus additional dice. And if it works for Chris Perkins, it works for me.

[VoxRationis]

I'm going to have to second the disappointment with the experience of failed confirmation rolls, but I see their purpose in keeping the game a little more grounded in attack skill rather than wild swings of the dice.

[Galen]

That's how I intend to run it too when our campaign switches to 5E. Crit just does max damage. Roll less dice, not more.

[MadGrady]

Roll less dice, not more.

This is the only thing I completely disagree with lol :smallbiggrin: Who doesn't love rolling more dice??? :smalltongue:

On a more serious note, I do like the max damage for weapon die and then roll crit die. It's a nice middle ground (I saw Perkins using it at PAX too, and that's what got me thinking about that method)

Glad to hear no one really had much issue with houseruling this though. Thanks everyone!

[MeeposFire]

This is actually how 4e handled crits. In 4e you would deal max damage on all parts of the attack and then you would roll anytype of bonus damage that were added to critical hits (most common was bonus dice from a magic weapon as all magic weapons gave bonus crit dice. Also high crit weapons would add their weapon dice, 1 per tier, to this damage and other things could activate on criticals as well).

It worked well in 4e though I would wonder about using this with the much larger sneak attack dice used in 5e. Granted it could be balanced vs the lack of extra attacks but I would think about it first.

[MadGrady]

My group played last night, and we tried out the max base weapon damage + roll extra crit dice rule, and it worked really well. It's what we will be using for the forseeable future.

You guys rock! Thanks for all the input

[Shadow]

Acquisitions Inc.'s game at PAX Prime used max damage plus additional dice. And if it works for Chris Perkins, it works for me.

And that game was played during the testing phase. During the time of that testing (or at least using the rules that Perkins remembered at that time, as they were constantly in flux) that was the way it worked.
It has since changed.

Our group uses a combination houserule.
When you crit, you roll to confirm.
If you confirm, you get max damage plus an additional weapon die (or dice) rolled.
If you do not confirm, you roll twice just as it says in the book.
So basically if you confirm, the first die is maximized.

[Cambrian]

On an aside, I'm actually a little sad that confirmations are no longer the rule of the day. Especially with Mearls noting that the Champions crit increase was also an autohit, even it if didn't hit the AC (granted, there shouldn't be many cases where a 19 on the die doesn't hit, but it still demystifies the Holy d20 some).The ruling meant nothing. As you mentioned when is that roll not hitting anyways?

Minimum to hit assuming an attainable 16 in the attack stat and no other modifiers:
Lvl 3: (19 crit) min 24 to hit
Lvl 15: (18 crit) min 28 to hit

So never-- you should always be hitting anyways.

[Shadow]

The ruling meant nothing. As you mentioned when is that roll not hitting anyways?

Minimum to hit assuming an attainable 16 in the attack stat and no other modifiers:
Lvl 3: (19 crit) min 24 to hit
Lvl 15: (18 crit) min 28 to hit

So never-- you should always be hitting anyways.

Yeah, if you roll a 19 at level 3, or an 18 at level 15, and you miss.... the DM has outgunned you to such a degree that I would argue he was fully *intent* on a TPK before you even rolled initiative.

[Seerow]

And that game was played during the testing phase. During the time of that testing (or at least using the rules that Perkins remembered at that time, as they were constantly in flux) that was the way it worked.
It has since changed.

Our group uses a combination houserule.
When you crit, you roll to confirm.
If you confirm, you get max damage plus an additional weapon die (or dice) rolled.
If you do not confirm, you roll twice just as it says in the book.
So basically if you confirm, the first die is maximized.

I actually like this a lot.

[Shadow]

I actually like this a lot.

Yeah, it works out really well.
If you crit, you get additional effect via rolling two weapon damage dice just as the PHB states.
If you confirm the crit, it becomes especially deadly.