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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other DR/Critical, Regen/Critical



Avianmosquito
2017-08-17, 03:22 AM
Don't know why I'm floating this on this site, but I was thinking of giving some of my creatures weaknesses specifically to critical hits. That is, normally they have damage reduction and/or regeneration, but any and every critical hit bypasses them. Thoughts?

Nifft
2017-08-17, 04:16 AM
I've seen monsters which used a mechanic like that -- maybe 4e zombies? I can't remember what they were, but I remember that critical hits were one of the best ways of dropping these otherwise nasty critters.

It worked well.

Avianmosquito
2017-08-17, 04:48 AM
I've seen monsters which used a mechanic like that -- maybe 4e zombies? I can't remember what they were, but I remember that critical hits were one of the best ways of dropping these otherwise nasty critters.

It worked well.

I have not played 4e, at all. I have played about an hour of 5e and REALLY liked it, but no 4e, so I cannot relate to this.

Lalliman
2017-08-17, 06:10 AM
Zombies in 4e are instantly killed by a critical hit, regardless of their current HP. So it's similar.

DR/Critical seems fine. It makes the fight extra swingy because you'll either deal a lot of damage on a crit, or very little on a normal hit. If these creatures are common, it causes an indirect buff to weapons with a large crit range.

I can't imagine a reasonable IC justification for Regen/Critical though.

Avianmosquito
2017-08-17, 06:12 AM
I can't imagine a reasonable IC justification for Regen/Critical though.

The creature you fight has organs that don't regenerate as well as the rest of its body?

jqavins
2017-08-17, 01:47 PM
The creature you fight has organs that don't regenerate as well as the rest of its body?
I was thinking the same. Really, you have to define the fluff that surrounds crits and then you can devise a reason for Regen/Crit. If the former is organ damage, then the latter is that flesh wounds heal faster. If the fluff is finding the weak spot in the armor then there's a problem with this. Different fluff, different answer.


If these creatures are common, it causes an indirect buff to weapons with a large crit range.
And makes the Improved Critical feat more valuable.

rferries
2017-08-17, 05:55 PM
Regeneration/critical would be essentially identical to fast healing - beat the creature down then deliver a coup de grace (an automatic critical hit (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm#coupdeGrace), which as a type of damage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#regeneration)that can kill the regen/critical creature would work automatically).

DR/critical would be like DR/- for the majority of attacks... it would depend heavily on the crit range of the weapon.

Nifft
2017-08-17, 07:17 PM
Zombies in 4e are instantly killed by a critical hit, regardless of their current HP. So it's similar.

Right! It was 4e zombies. Thanks.


Don't know why I'm floating this on this site, but I was thinking of giving some of my creatures weaknesses specifically to critical hits. That is, normally they have damage reduction and/or regeneration, but any and every critical hit bypasses them. Thoughts?

Thinking about this a little more...

- Crits already tend to compensate for DR, because the DR will be a much lower proportion of crit damage than regular hit damage.

- Ignoring DR on a crit will thus have a relatively low impact, since the main impact of DR is on non-crit hits.

So for the DR part: it's flavorful, but probably not powerful.


For the Regeneration part, it's powerful and flavorful.