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Quick Note: After a long hiatus due to the BBEG that is 2020, I am back and rededicated to regular blog postings on this site. I hope you enjoy.
If you haven't read my original post about Crit Fails and Successes, I recommend you do so as I'm not regurgitating those thoughts here, just expanding on them. My views on Crit Fails and Successes have evolved since that original post. Initially, I suggested throwing caution to the wind and using all threat levels of cards regardless of the level of your party. After seeing my players straight up annihilate some bosses and mini-bosses, I've reassessed. The Crit Hit Deck for Players and the Crit Fail Deck for Players each have four tiers of severity. The lowest tier is recommended for first level players, with the second tier suggested at level 5. The lower tier cards still offer plenty of flavor and dramatic moments for your game without totally breaking it early on. I've also recently added the Critical Hit Deck for GMs to my arsenal. With this, it is definitely important to stick to the recommended threat levels since low level characters are so squishy to begin with. This crit hit deck replaces my previous house rule of calling for a DC 12 Con Save when a player is nat 20'd by a monster (suffering a level of exhaustion on a failed save). I've learned that exhaustion is hard to track and doesn't really offer a great dramatic flair. There is no critical fail deck for GMs, so I still use my rule of the monster automatically granting advantage for the next attack against it. And since so many of us are playing online these days, I recommend turning off the feature in your virtual tabletop (VTT) that auto rolls crit damage. My groups use Roll20 and having that crit damage auto roll causes unnecessary confusion when using these crit decks. The decks are designed to replace normal crit rules, not lay on top of them. For example, if a card says to triple damage, you are tripling the damage of a normal hit, not tripling the damage of what would have been the regular crit. Lastly, each of these decks (when used in their entirety) provide 208 outcomes. Mechanics aside, the vibrancy they bring to your story and combat narration is enriching. I, personally, sometimes struggle with combat narration as a DM (and as a player for that matter). This is skill I'm working on and these decks help develop that vocabulary and flow. Instead some simply stating, "Your 12 misses the orc." I can more naturally say, "Your blade strikes the orc's hide armor and slides off without harm." Thank you for your time and hit me up on Twitter (@rjquestgiver) if you have questions, comments, or would like to further the conversation.
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AuthorD&D 5e enthusiast. Creator on DMsguild. Supporter of creators, content and good times. Follow me on Twitter @rjquestgiver Archives
July 2021
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