The critical hit is an old time house rule and favorite of many a fantasy RPG player but just what is the actual impact on combat over the course of the game and as such thousands of rounds? The following charts explore the impact of critical applied as simple multipliers to damage inflicted.
Chart 10a: x2
critical hit on a 20. No confirmation roll required.
|
Damage
Die
|
Armor Class
|
|||||||
|
9[10]
|
8[11]
|
7[12]
|
6[13]
|
5[14]
|
4[15]
|
3[16]
|
2[17]
|
|
|
d4 (2.5)
|
1.5
|
1.375
|
1.25
|
1.125
|
1.0
|
0.875
|
0.75
|
0.625
|
|
d6 (3.5)
|
2.1
|
1.925
|
1.75
|
1.575
|
1.4
|
1.225
|
1.05
|
0.875
|
|
d8 (4.5)
|
2.7
|
2.475
|
2.25
|
2.025
|
1.8
|
1.575
|
1.35
|
1.125
|
|
d10 (5.5)
|
3.3
|
3.025
|
2.75
|
2.475
|
2.2
|
1.925
|
1.65
|
1.375
|
The formula used above was (ave damage * (chance to hit - 5%))+5% of (average damage x2))
for 1d6 weapon vs AC9 that's (3.5*.5)+(0.05*7)
Chart 10b: comparing likely damage in consideration of crits
for x2 on a 20.
|
Damage
Die
|
Average Likely Damage without Critical Hit
|
Average Likely Damage with
Critical Hit
|
Damage as % of
Standard
Die Type
Compared to same
With Critical
|
Damage as % of
1d6 compared to
Die Type
With Critical Critical
|
|
d4
|
0.9375
|
1.0625
|
113%
|
81%
|
|
d6
|
1.3125
|
1.4875
|
113%
|
113%
|
|
d8
|
1.6875
|
1.9125
|
113%
|
146%
|
|
d10
|
2.0625
|
2.3375
|
113%
|
178%
|
The charts above show a d4 or 1d6 weapon scoring a critical
hit that doubles the damage on a hit roll of 20 isn’t a very substantial gain in
likely damage as both are likely to inflict less damage than a straight +1
damage bonus would (see chart 7b).
D8 and D10 weapons do a bit better with this situation
coming close to but not beating a flat bonus of +1 to damage (as per chart 7b).
Over the course of thousands of rounds of combat the
critical hit has fairly minimal impact on combat compared to a flat damage
bonus. In any given round using a x2 critical does create a bit of excitement
as there is a 5% chance of inflicting above average damage on every hit but
over the long run it just doesn’t do much at all.
Introducing a confirmation roll as 3.x D&D would have
the result of reducing the average likely damage from that shown in chart 10a resulting
in critical hits being even of less significance and a much lesser improvement
in damage with more time spent in game to calculate the damage (a time drag for
no significant overall gain).
Next let's check the results of doubling the dice roll while doubling a damage bonus
Chart 11a: likely damage by doubling of damage die + damage
bonus
|
Damage
roll
|
Armor Class
|
|||||||
|
9[10]
|
8[11]
|
7[12]
|
6[13]
|
5[14]
|
4[15]
|
3[16]
|
2[17]
|
|
|
d4
|
1.5
|
1.375
|
1.25
|
1.125
|
1.0
|
0.875
|
0.75
|
0.625
|
|
d4 +1
|
2.1
|
1.925
|
1.75
|
1.575
|
1.4
|
1.225
|
1.05
|
0.875
|
|
d4 +2
|
2.7
|
2.475
|
2.25
|
2.025
|
1.8
|
1.575
|
1.35
|
1.125
|
|
d4 +3
|
3.3
|
3.025
|
2.75
|
2.475
|
2.2
|
1.925
|
1.65
|
1.375
|
|
d4 +4
|
3.9
|
3.575
|
3.25
|
2.925
|
2.6
|
2.275
|
1.95
|
1.625
|
|
d6
|
2.1
|
1.925
|
1.75
|
1.575
|
1.4
|
1.225
|
1.05
|
0.875
|
|
d6 +1
|
2.7
|
2.475
|
2.25
|
2.025
|
1.8
|
1.575
|
1.35
|
1.125
|
|
d6 +2
|
3.3
|
3.025
|
2.75
|
2.475
|
2.2
|
1.925
|
1.65
|
1.375
|
|
d6 +3
|
3.9
|
3.575
|
3.25
|
2.925
|
2.6
|
2.275
|
1.95
|
1.625
|
|
d6 +4
|
4.5
|
4.125
|
3.75
|
3.375
|
3
|
2.625
|
2.25
|
1.875
|
|
d8
|
2.7
|
2.475
|
2.25
|
2.025
|
1.8
|
1.575
|
1.35
|
1.125
|
|
d8 +1
|
3.3
|
3.025
|
2.75
|
2.475
|
2.2
|
1.925
|
1.65
|
1.375
|
|
d8 +2
|
3.9
|
3.575
|
3.25
|
2.925
|
2.6
|
2.275
|
1.95
|
1.625
|
|
d8 +3
|
4.5
|
4.125
|
3.75
|
3.375
|
3
|
2.625
|
2.25
|
1.875
|
|
d8 +4
|
5.1
|
4.675
|
4.25
|
3.825
|
3.4
|
2.975
|
2.55
|
2.125
|
|
d10
|
3.3
|
3.025
|
2.75
|
2.475
|
2.2
|
1.925
|
1.65
|
1.375
|
|
d10 +1
|
3.9
|
3.575
|
3.25
|
2.925
|
2.6
|
2.275
|
1.95
|
1.625
|
|
d10 +2
|
4.5
|
4.125
|
3.75
|
3.375
|
3
|
2.625
|
2.25
|
1.875
|
|
d10 +3
|
5.1
|
4.675
|
4.25
|
3.825
|
3.4
|
2.975
|
2.55
|
2.125
|
|
d10 +4
|
5.7
|
5.225
|
4.75
|
4.275
|
3.8
|
3.325
|
2.85
|
2.375
|
Chart 11b: comparing average damage of doubling dice and
damage bonus
|
Base
Damage
|
Average
Likely
Damage
Inflicted
AC 9 to 2
|
Critical Damage
As %
Of standard
1d6
|
|
d4
|
1.0625
|
81%
|
|
d4 +1
1d6
|
1.4875
|
113%
|
|
d4+2
1d6+1
1d8
|
1.9125
|
146%
|
|
d4 +3
1d6+2
1d8+1
1d10
|
2.3375
|
178%
|
|
d4 +4
1d6+3
1d8+2
1d10+1
|
2.7625
|
210%
|
|
d6 +4
1d8+3
1d10+2
|
3.1875
|
243%
|
|
d8 +4
1d10+3
|
3.6125
|
275%
|
|
d10 +4
|
4.0375
|
308%
|
Chart 11a and chart 11b show multiplying the base die and
the damage bonus provides a significant boost to damage inflicted. The weight
given to bonuses when they are also multiplied is telling.
Note the same results as those shown on table 11a and 11b
would be achieved by doubling the dice rolled or by doubling the score of rolling
one die.
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