Scaling Crits.

[Aussiehams]

G'day all.

It seems to me that crits become very weak the higher level you are. I know their are exceptions like rogues and paladins, but in most cases at high level a crit is not a big deal. Eg. An extra d12 can kill at level 1, but at level 10 it's generally not a big deal.

Am I missing something, or should they scale/double all damage/something else?

[LudicSavant]

G'day all.

It seems to me that crits become very weak the higher level you are. I know their are exceptions like rogues and paladins, but in most cases at high level a crit is not a big deal. Eg. An extra d12 can kill at level 1, but at level 10 it's generally not a big deal.

Am I missing something, or should they scale/double all damage/something else?

A Fighter's attacks aren't individually deadly at higher levels, they're collectively deadly. That's not a crit thing, that's just how they work in general. Fighters scale their attacks primarily by getting more of them.

As for other classes, Barbarians already have scaling crits, and you already mentioned Rogues and Paladins.

[rlc]

And magic users don't need to be better than they already are, either

[MrStabby]

They do stay pretty significant in most cases. Casters tend to move more to spells that need saves rather than attacks, so we are really looking at the Stabby end of the scale.

Paladin and Rogue you commented on already.

Monk, Ranger, Fighter, Barbarian are really those less casting focused classes. Throw in Warlock as well.

Fighter and Warlock basically make more attacks to Crit on. Total %increase in damage on an attack doesn't shift that much. For a warlock you are more likely to still have hex up at higher levels so that is an extra d6.

Barbarian has a boost, as noted.

Monk scales with the damage die of the monk weapons.

Ranger doesn't scale much but has hunter's mark around more at higher levels.



Crits do scale although you are right that they become a bit less important as you level up for a few reasons.

1) Feats like great weapon master and Sharpshooter come into play. A bigger part of the damage is a flat bonus.
2) Magic weapons come into play. A +2 weapon hits more AND raises the static part of the damage
3) Stats get maxed. You go from Str 18 to Str 20... similar to magic weapons
4) You hit more. At low levels you can face low level stuff. At higher levels you face high level stuff but also crowds of lower level stuff. The easier it is to hit the smaller fraction of your hits are criticals.

[beargryllz]

Crits scale in that you should be unlocking 19-20 crit range as you level up and gain features from crit-based builds

Crits scale in that ALL the dice you roll are increasing in number (hex, smite, superiority dice, sneak attack, etc) relatively rapidly as you level up

Crits scale in that you might have 4 or 8 chances to generate a critical in a single round as opposed to only 1 chance at lvl 1

Crits scale in that generating advantage and thus doubling your odds of critting becomes easier as your party begins to synergize with new features like knocking everyone prone, coordinating an ambush with magical trickery, or debuffing a group of foes to make them easier to engage or hit

[Theodoxus]

I've done two things to mitigate crits.

The first was stealing crits from Pathfinder 2, where hitting 10+ over the AC equals a crit, this dramatically increased the number of crits at the table - which is more fun for the players.

I've also stolen the crits from 4th Edition, where instead of adding additional dice, it just maximizes the damage. This allows for speeding up of gameplay as the players have learned to write down their max damage.

Then again, since I've also incorporated 4th Eds defenses instead of using saving throws, any attack, from fireballs to swords can crit - so maximizing seemed the better option.

The damage doesn't technically scale any better than before, but since to hit bonuses rise faster than defenses, a "+10" crit happens more often as they level up.

[olskool]

I've done two things to mitigate crits.

The first was stealing crits from Pathfinder 2, where hitting 10+ over the AC equals a crit, this dramatically increased the number of crits at the table - which is more fun for the players.

I've also stolen the crits from 4th Edition, where instead of adding additional dice, it just maximizes the damage. This allows for speeding up of gameplay as the players have learned to write down their max damage.

Then again, since I've also incorporated 4th Eds defenses instead of using saving throws, any attack, from fireballs to swords can crit - so maximizing seemed the better option.

The damage doesn't technically scale any better than before, but since to hit bonuses rise faster than defenses, a "+10" crit happens more often as they level up.

We use a scaling Crit resolution too. But we add Special Effects based on weapon type into the mix. If you want that extra die of damage, go right ahead. However, we add ADDTIONAL effects based on weapon types which can be taken in lieu of that extra die of damage. We also allow the weapon to do maximum damage in addition to the Special Effect (which often has a Save). Some examples of these Special Effects include...

Finesse Weapons; Optionally, these can Disarm an opponent if a save versus DEX is failed.
Whips and Flails; These can entangle (whips, chains & nets) or trip (flails), if a save versus DEX, is failed.
Crushing/Bludgeoning Weapons; These can temporarily Stun or Knock Prone an opponent who fails a CON or STR save.
Polearms; These can Trip or Unhorse an opponent who fails a DEX save.

These are just a few of the optional Special Effects we allow on a Crit that I can remember off the top of my head.