RPGaDay 2019: 9 Critical

It’s impossible for me to associate anything other than grievous bodily damage to the word “critical.” In the cutthroat 1980s, there was no shortage of bloodletting. Critical hit tables proliferated and they were all designed to reward people with an instant, gory kill (or death, depending on which way the dice were rolling).

I never used them in my games, not because I didn't want to, but because no one ever wanted to play the one character class who could offset critical hit tables; the cleric. That was just NOT our group. The few times one player's character got close to death was always an area of great trauma, so I didn't feel like piling on.

Now? Nuke 'em from space. It's the only way to be sure. 

Clerics are strong, so strong, and they throw divine energy around like a toddler flings Cheerio's. Despite all of the ancillary fun stuff that clerics can do, they still have a primary purpose and that is to keep the party alive and intact. 

On the other hand...you can sometimes come off as churlish if you take delight in injuring and scarring player characters. I do think there is a middle ground, though; a place where you can make the critical hit more serious and something that has to be dealt with, but not so catastrophic (well, mostly) that there's no bouncing back. 

Here's a set of Critical Hit rules for your perusal. They are free to use if you are so inclined. Feel free to comment if you like. I wanted something that took no more than 3d6 to implement, and would be easy for a player to keep up with. I think this works well. If you try it, I'd love to hear some feedback.

Alternate Critical Hit System for 5e