Critical Hit & Critical failures... Do you use them in your games?

Since the 1970's, I've used critical hit and failures tables in all of my games with great enjoyment. There are even plenty to be found online with a simple search, or one could just create their own. Of course, to make it work, imo, the baddies must also follow the critical hit and failure tables in each game. If you gotta have balance, then this is the way to go. To me, it just brings more enjoyment to the game.

What say the rest of you? Please recount any stories you may have regarding these tables.

What share you?

Thoth-Amon

I used them one time in my 1st AD&D campaign and end up with party members with eyes, nose, hands, and legs missing ran that game five years. :)

Anything that requires special tables, imo, slows down play, especially if it happens too rarely to keep the results in memory. Then again, I don't feel a "natural" anything should warrant special rules, heh, but that's most likely a wholly separate discussion. There's enough interesting things happening without worrying about whether or not the hero fumbles the sword, or the monster plays Operation blindfolded.

In the DnD game I'm playing in, a '1' on the attack roll calls for a reflex save (which, at this point, has us rolling a '1' to fail); failure on *that* roll calls for yet another roll on a table, which can have a result of "roll again" or "nothing happens." Way too many rolls and lookups slowing up the action. In the time I've been playing with them, it's happened in all of one session since September of last year. Not frequent enough to warrant tracking, if I ran things; the DM obviously thinks otherwise :P

This particular game, see below, went on for a few years too.

I had a fighter, 12th level, that lost an arm in combat. He was one of my favorite characters of all time. Even after losing his arm, at around 6th level, he still made due, retired years later as a captain of a small keep.

If you were to ask him if it was worth it, he would have say... yes! He had a successful life, after all. He saved alot of people from baddies, became kind of a hero to a small town, ended up retired with a wife and kid.

Why didn't i play him further? I would have but my brother and i moved across country, so i retired him.

I like them, because it adds a bit of flavor to the game. I don't have limbs being lost or anything of that sort, (unless it is a killing blow), and my table is simple enough that I keep it in my head.

I remember rolemaster had some crazy complicated tables for this sort of thing though.

When I'm GMing, I always use critical hit and failure rules. But here's my system.

Critical threats are followed by critical confirmation as normal.

Critical failures are followed by failure confirmation, wherin the player who rolled the natural one has a second chance to hit the target score. If he does, the initial role is treated as a simple one, and if a one+bonuses would still succeed, he still succeeds, otherwise if the faliure confirmation saves them but 1+bonuses won't succeed, its a normal miss.

On the critical failures, well, that's just a part of my style, I love the idea of bloody and gruesome battles, I've had players with arms hanging limp at their sides, etc etc. Nothing so far gone it couldn't be magically healed back in place, so far. (though if anybody ever crits on a Scythe and it doesn't kill I swear I will take an arm away lol)

One of the members of our Tsojcanath game group obtained both a deck of cards for critical hits and critical misses. We have used them when they are at the game, (which is most times now). They actually make things rather interesting. This is how the character of Hockerbrecht, in that Tsojcanth game, managed to bend his magically enchanted sword during a battle. He rolled the one and that is what the card he pulled out of the deck said happened. He has actually used it in a couple of encounters since, even thought it is bent.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Thoth-Amon

What say the rest of you? Please recount any stories you may have regarding these tables.

What share you?

Thoth-Amon

---

I use critical hits, I don't use any tables. I have found tables to be abusive at best. Stuff like cutting our own head off on an archery mischance? Oh give me a break. I'll use an improvement in damage or a some minor event if a critical miss, weapon malfunction or some such. I don't like the dice ruling too much.

Here's my thing.
I have a good bit of real life experience with hand-to-hand combat in the military. I can tell you that the most inexperienced, lowly private can lay low an experienced, well-trained platoon sergeant with a well-placed blow or lucky choke hold or armbar. Those are the real-life critical hits.
As for critical misses or failures...stuff happens. Arms twitch, people sneeze, rocks get in the way, guns jam. All of these things can spell absolute failure for a warrior.

I use them and apply them as creatively as possible. I find that the players usually think it is fun and interesting.

Never played in a game or DM'd a game without them. Adds spice.

Crits are a fun way of making a mundane roll special.

Most memorable crit was a Palidin hit an orc (twice as many hit points as a average PC). Killed that orc and the two behind that one. The players still talk about it five years later. Least memorable crit was when a PC fighter grabbed back the Paladin's sword from an invisible demon and wrestled it back with the second crit. Had to go to plan 'B".

I use them. Only when one is supposed use them, for combat/attack rolls only. Using it for saves and skills makes no sense.

I haven't used any special tables since 2.5e(Skils and Powers), as most of the ones I find are way over or under powered. I pretty use the same thing Lucien-Sunaka uses.

i use them. typically make up appropriate stuff on the fly. after all, someone who rolls 2-3 ones in a row, or 2-3 twenties in a row just deserves something special. ^^

I use them both - and they apply for both sides. It adds flavor in my opinion.

i use the critical hits but kinda make up my own fumble as i assign a % they must roll depending on the situation to determine if dropped or whatever