Talk:Critical Hit Tables (5e Variant Rule)

So, arguments for force and poison damage not having crit effects.

Force damage, I consider to be kind of straight damage; 's not air pressure, 'cause air elementals deal bludgeoning or slashing, so it oughtn't do things to anatomy that air does. It's also the kind of damage Disintegrate does, suggesting that it's more deliberately wide-focused; it's going to do equal things to all parts of whatever it hits, which means attributing a random effect to a random body part makes less sense.

Poison damage, first off, often has another effect already that shows that it's working, and I dunno about extending that effect's duration, since that could have potentially ridiculous consequences; meanwhile, not all sources of poison damage do have durations, and thus that result would be wasted when rolled. Meanwhile, having a result that sabotages Con saves or the like does not sound inviting to me; not in favor of the idea of having an effect that any (poison) attack could potentially use that would make the victim more vulnerable to that kind of attack, whether on the player side or a monster side.

Please, though, do weigh in, especially if you're volunteering to start on those tables yourself. I'm not the king of this page any more than anyone else is of any page here. Knowlessman (talk) 22:59, 6 December 2016 (MST)

Force damage is pure magical damage. I keep seeing people interpret it as a "pushing" damage type (for concussive-type effects), which is wrong. It might be wide (disintegrate), or precise (magic missile), or anything really.

Radiant and necrotic damage can take on just as many different forms (necrotic can be anything from life drain to an antimatter rifle).

Excluding damage types from this system makes those damage types less desirable. I'm not going to pick a poison-breath dragonborn when the other dragonborns have a chance at a critical hit (however small the chance is).

What happens with beholders.

Are you aware of the lingering injuries optional rule in the DMG? Marasmusine (talk) 04:04, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Also, I don't think a creature should suffer the extra effect if they have resistance or immunity to that damage type. Marasmusine (talk) 05:08, 7 December 2016 (MST)

1. To be fair, Eldritch Blast, for example, deals force damage and can push, so there is an argument for that interpretation.

2. Lasers dealing radiant damage does make these crit effects questionable, I guess. :/ Lasers dealing radiant damage makes a lot of things weird, really.

3. IMO, force damage getting past all resistances is a good enough reason not to avoid using it, and a confirmed crit is hard enough to get that it shouldn't count against it or poison (which also does get past some resistances) that much anyway.

4. ...If it's hit by a confirmed crit, you mean? Anatomy is a variable, so the DM figures it out, probably either going for the center eye, disabling one at random, and/or rolling between whatever of that damage type's effects can affect it. Slashing, admittedly, is a weird one, but disabling an eye ray at random would make the most sense, and the DM can just roll the die they're already rolling for eye rays to see which one gets hit.

5. ...I was not. Dammit. I just looked in the appendix for "critical hits" and didn't see anything. :|

6. Berserker rage should not make you immune to getting your eye poked out by dumb luck. EDIT: Immunity is a good point though.

Knowlessman (talk) 13:29, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Also, part of my not making tables for force or poison damage is plain laziness. If you want to make some, go right ahead. Also, it doesn't say poison and force don't crit, it says they don't get extra confirmed crit effects. Eldritch Blast and Ray of Sickness can both crit, because they're attack rolls, and so can poison breath if the DM rules that a nat 1 save counts as a crit; what I put here does not contradict that. Knowlessman (talk) 13:34, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Thanks for replying.

3. Force damage wouldn't get past force resistance.

4. With the anatomy, I'm wondering if the tables should focus on the effect, then present the body part as a suggestion - to make it clear that if you get "halved speed" on a beholder, you don't ignore it just because it hasn't got legs. Marasmusine (talk) 14:29, 7 December 2016 (MST)

I keep seeing "temporary" and "HP". Temporary should list a duration, and HP should be "hit points". SirSprinkles (talk) 22:43, 7 December 2016 (MST)

@Mara: I exaggerated; most things don't resist force damage. To be honest, I'm not sure what does, if anything (aside from Bearbarians, of course). Also, I should probably either specify that it's for creatures with anatomy similar to humanoids or try and make it not assume such; the latter might get kinda long-winded, though. :/

@Sprinkles: I described how the "temporary" penalty works in one of the first paragraphs. Will change HP over to hitpoints later; getting ready to go out now. Knowlessman (talk) 17:20, 8 December 2016 (MST)