Mixing
After successfully hitting with an attack roll, when rolling for damage, if you roll a 1, is that a negative...
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Our dm is treating our "1" damage rolls as a natural 1. So when you roll a 1d4 and you do 1 dmg (after succeeding hit dice) we get an especially bad outcome. Is this normal procedure?
dnd-5e damage
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
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add a comment |
up vote
29
down vote
favorite
Our dm is treating our "1" damage rolls as a natural 1. So when you roll a 1d4 and you do 1 dmg (after succeeding hit dice) we get an especially bad outcome. Is this normal procedure?
dnd-5e damage
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Welcome to rpg.se! Have you taken the tour? It's a great place to start. This is an excellent first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming!
– linksassin
18 hours ago
4
This is a related answer about critical fails, and what's wrong with them, by @KRyan that I think is worth the time to read. I'd share it with your DM. Even though it's an answer for 3.5e, the same punishment factor on PCs (who roll dice a lot and who will thus get a lot of 1's) is worth consideration.
– KorvinStarmast
8 hours ago
2
What if there are multiple damage dice rolled? Does a rogue keep getting a higher chance of failure when they add sneak attack dice?
– Mookuh
7 hours ago
1
Does this DM also give you a critical success when you roll a 4 on your d4 damage die?
– Mark Wells
3 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
29
down vote
favorite
up vote
29
down vote
favorite
Our dm is treating our "1" damage rolls as a natural 1. So when you roll a 1d4 and you do 1 dmg (after succeeding hit dice) we get an especially bad outcome. Is this normal procedure?
dnd-5e damage
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Our dm is treating our "1" damage rolls as a natural 1. So when you roll a 1d4 and you do 1 dmg (after succeeding hit dice) we get an especially bad outcome. Is this normal procedure?
dnd-5e damage
dnd-5e damage
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
edited 17 hours ago
V2Blast
18.1k248114
18.1k248114
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
asked 18 hours ago
LarK
14923
14923
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
LarK is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Welcome to rpg.se! Have you taken the tour? It's a great place to start. This is an excellent first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming!
– linksassin
18 hours ago
4
This is a related answer about critical fails, and what's wrong with them, by @KRyan that I think is worth the time to read. I'd share it with your DM. Even though it's an answer for 3.5e, the same punishment factor on PCs (who roll dice a lot and who will thus get a lot of 1's) is worth consideration.
– KorvinStarmast
8 hours ago
2
What if there are multiple damage dice rolled? Does a rogue keep getting a higher chance of failure when they add sneak attack dice?
– Mookuh
7 hours ago
1
Does this DM also give you a critical success when you roll a 4 on your d4 damage die?
– Mark Wells
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Welcome to rpg.se! Have you taken the tour? It's a great place to start. This is an excellent first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming!
– linksassin
18 hours ago
4
This is a related answer about critical fails, and what's wrong with them, by @KRyan that I think is worth the time to read. I'd share it with your DM. Even though it's an answer for 3.5e, the same punishment factor on PCs (who roll dice a lot and who will thus get a lot of 1's) is worth consideration.
– KorvinStarmast
8 hours ago
2
What if there are multiple damage dice rolled? Does a rogue keep getting a higher chance of failure when they add sneak attack dice?
– Mookuh
7 hours ago
1
Does this DM also give you a critical success when you roll a 4 on your d4 damage die?
– Mark Wells
3 hours ago
Welcome to rpg.se! Have you taken the tour? It's a great place to start. This is an excellent first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming!
– linksassin
18 hours ago
Welcome to rpg.se! Have you taken the tour? It's a great place to start. This is an excellent first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming!
– linksassin
18 hours ago
4
4
This is a related answer about critical fails, and what's wrong with them, by @KRyan that I think is worth the time to read. I'd share it with your DM. Even though it's an answer for 3.5e, the same punishment factor on PCs (who roll dice a lot and who will thus get a lot of 1's) is worth consideration.
– KorvinStarmast
8 hours ago
This is a related answer about critical fails, and what's wrong with them, by @KRyan that I think is worth the time to read. I'd share it with your DM. Even though it's an answer for 3.5e, the same punishment factor on PCs (who roll dice a lot and who will thus get a lot of 1's) is worth consideration.
– KorvinStarmast
8 hours ago
2
2
What if there are multiple damage dice rolled? Does a rogue keep getting a higher chance of failure when they add sneak attack dice?
– Mookuh
7 hours ago
What if there are multiple damage dice rolled? Does a rogue keep getting a higher chance of failure when they add sneak attack dice?
– Mookuh
7 hours ago
1
1
Does this DM also give you a critical success when you roll a 4 on your d4 damage die?
– Mark Wells
3 hours ago
Does this DM also give you a critical success when you roll a 4 on your d4 damage die?
– Mark Wells
3 hours ago
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
up vote
81
down vote
No, this is not normal.
By the book, critical failures only (kind of) happen on death saving throws.
Even for DMs that use crit fails on attack rolls, they are usually only on the attack roll (the d20), not the damage roll (the d4 in your example).
Having a 25% chance of a crit fail on a dagger attack is completely ridiculous!
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
7
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
8
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
13
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
4
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
3
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
up vote
12
down vote
No its not normal and its unfair to a lot of builds
Nothing in the rules calls for a critical fail on damage rolls, not even the DMG optional rule on critical failure.
Anything that rolls a lot of small dice for damage will be at a disadvantage. Beyond that, anything that isn't rolling as big a die as possible for damage is disadvantaged. This unfairness includes rogues, spells like magic missile or fireball, or cloud of daggers, or basically anything other than a 2 handed weapon focused character. A d4 damage die has 3 times as much chance to crit fail' as a d12 using this rule.
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
1
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
What? No. Stop that. A damage roll just gives you the numerical value for how many hit points a creature loses as result of a successful attack. There should be no narrative outcomes of this except things like, "they got a good scratch on the arm" or "they're limpy and coughing up blood now" to visualize how the creature's overall health is as a result of the attack. This is an incorrect use of the "critical failure" which is primarily designed as a worst-case-scenario on ability checks (when a character is doing something with risks and consequences). It really shouldn't even apply to simple tasks that a character would normally excel at (you shouldn't crit, nor even roll dice, to put on your boots). Critical failures are designed for when a character wants to sweet talk a guard into opening a protected door or swing from tree branch to tree branch like Tarzan. These actions have real consequences (both negative and positive) and so both a guaranteed success (20) and a guaranteed failure (1) are part of the game's chance systems. A d4 damage roll is not part of any chance system built into the game, other than how much damage is done (e.g. a little, some, or a lot)...plus, if a damage roll is taking place, the character has ALREADY SUCCEEDED in what they were trying to do! :)
Oh, and all that said...there is no mention of critical failures in Fifth Edition. Critical hits yes, but as far as rules go, critical misses are not even mentioned in the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide. I assume you are playing with the "house rule" of using critical failures as your DM has gone to an extreme, but the point of order discussed by others here is definitely worth noting as there are no official rules in 5e for critical failures.
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
No
I'd possibly say a natural 1 on an Attack-roll might be a critical failure
(e.g. You went to go skewer your opponent and accidentally let go of your weapon, so now you're unarmed and your weapon needs to be retrieved or re-roll an attack against another nearby target [possibly friendly] or something of that ilk, where you're now disadvantaged). I figure if there's a 5% chance of doubling damage, there's an equal 5% chance of royally flubbing it, and just to make things 'interesting'.
However, Damage rolls are NEVER treated as failures (or critical failures). Of course, resistances and hardnesses could reduce damages to zero -- i.e. you hit the target, but, failed to cause damage.
I'm not sure how/why a 1 on a damage roll would be a critical failure...I'm just trying to see/justify a rational how certain weapons would have a huge chance of failure and if so, does rolling a natural max die roll increase damage??
Personally, I can't see ANY rationalization of this.
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
2
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
81
down vote
No, this is not normal.
By the book, critical failures only (kind of) happen on death saving throws.
Even for DMs that use crit fails on attack rolls, they are usually only on the attack roll (the d20), not the damage roll (the d4 in your example).
Having a 25% chance of a crit fail on a dagger attack is completely ridiculous!
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
7
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
8
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
13
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
4
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
3
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
up vote
81
down vote
No, this is not normal.
By the book, critical failures only (kind of) happen on death saving throws.
Even for DMs that use crit fails on attack rolls, they are usually only on the attack roll (the d20), not the damage roll (the d4 in your example).
Having a 25% chance of a crit fail on a dagger attack is completely ridiculous!
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
7
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
8
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
13
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
4
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
3
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
up vote
81
down vote
up vote
81
down vote
No, this is not normal.
By the book, critical failures only (kind of) happen on death saving throws.
Even for DMs that use crit fails on attack rolls, they are usually only on the attack roll (the d20), not the damage roll (the d4 in your example).
Having a 25% chance of a crit fail on a dagger attack is completely ridiculous!
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
No, this is not normal.
By the book, critical failures only (kind of) happen on death saving throws.
Even for DMs that use crit fails on attack rolls, they are usually only on the attack roll (the d20), not the damage roll (the d4 in your example).
Having a 25% chance of a crit fail on a dagger attack is completely ridiculous!
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
edited 16 hours ago
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
answered 18 hours ago
Adeptus
20k257103
20k257103
7
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
8
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
13
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
4
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
3
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
7
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
8
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
13
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
4
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
3
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
7
7
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
Exactly what i explained to him its easier to not attack
– LarK
18 hours ago
8
8
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
Also, technically a nat. 1 even on a death save is not called a "critical failure"; it just says it counts as two failures.
– V2Blast
17 hours ago
13
13
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
I'd hate to be the guy at the table who decides to cast a high level magic missiles. "Yeah so that's... ehm... 6 1's?" - "Yeah, your magic missiles rebound off the guy's shield and strike you dead. Roll a new character."
– Theik
16 hours ago
4
4
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
Or a high-level rogue rolling all those d6s for sneak attack…
– Christopher
13 hours ago
3
3
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
Pretty ridiculous with daggers, and low level monks are screwed...
– fabian
12 hours ago
|
show 4 more comments
up vote
12
down vote
No its not normal and its unfair to a lot of builds
Nothing in the rules calls for a critical fail on damage rolls, not even the DMG optional rule on critical failure.
Anything that rolls a lot of small dice for damage will be at a disadvantage. Beyond that, anything that isn't rolling as big a die as possible for damage is disadvantaged. This unfairness includes rogues, spells like magic missile or fireball, or cloud of daggers, or basically anything other than a 2 handed weapon focused character. A d4 damage die has 3 times as much chance to crit fail' as a d12 using this rule.
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
1
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
12
down vote
No its not normal and its unfair to a lot of builds
Nothing in the rules calls for a critical fail on damage rolls, not even the DMG optional rule on critical failure.
Anything that rolls a lot of small dice for damage will be at a disadvantage. Beyond that, anything that isn't rolling as big a die as possible for damage is disadvantaged. This unfairness includes rogues, spells like magic missile or fireball, or cloud of daggers, or basically anything other than a 2 handed weapon focused character. A d4 damage die has 3 times as much chance to crit fail' as a d12 using this rule.
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
1
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
12
down vote
up vote
12
down vote
No its not normal and its unfair to a lot of builds
Nothing in the rules calls for a critical fail on damage rolls, not even the DMG optional rule on critical failure.
Anything that rolls a lot of small dice for damage will be at a disadvantage. Beyond that, anything that isn't rolling as big a die as possible for damage is disadvantaged. This unfairness includes rogues, spells like magic missile or fireball, or cloud of daggers, or basically anything other than a 2 handed weapon focused character. A d4 damage die has 3 times as much chance to crit fail' as a d12 using this rule.
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
No its not normal and its unfair to a lot of builds
Nothing in the rules calls for a critical fail on damage rolls, not even the DMG optional rule on critical failure.
Anything that rolls a lot of small dice for damage will be at a disadvantage. Beyond that, anything that isn't rolling as big a die as possible for damage is disadvantaged. This unfairness includes rogues, spells like magic missile or fireball, or cloud of daggers, or basically anything other than a 2 handed weapon focused character. A d4 damage die has 3 times as much chance to crit fail' as a d12 using this rule.
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
edited 8 hours ago
KorvinStarmast
70.9k17224391
70.9k17224391
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
answered 9 hours ago
Chris
37916
37916
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
1
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
add a comment |
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
1
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
This seems like a commentary to how the dm calls for critical fail, instead of answering "is this normal?"
– Vylix
8 hours ago
1
1
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
Ive updated my answer to more clearly say its not normal.
– Chris
8 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
What? No. Stop that. A damage roll just gives you the numerical value for how many hit points a creature loses as result of a successful attack. There should be no narrative outcomes of this except things like, "they got a good scratch on the arm" or "they're limpy and coughing up blood now" to visualize how the creature's overall health is as a result of the attack. This is an incorrect use of the "critical failure" which is primarily designed as a worst-case-scenario on ability checks (when a character is doing something with risks and consequences). It really shouldn't even apply to simple tasks that a character would normally excel at (you shouldn't crit, nor even roll dice, to put on your boots). Critical failures are designed for when a character wants to sweet talk a guard into opening a protected door or swing from tree branch to tree branch like Tarzan. These actions have real consequences (both negative and positive) and so both a guaranteed success (20) and a guaranteed failure (1) are part of the game's chance systems. A d4 damage roll is not part of any chance system built into the game, other than how much damage is done (e.g. a little, some, or a lot)...plus, if a damage roll is taking place, the character has ALREADY SUCCEEDED in what they were trying to do! :)
Oh, and all that said...there is no mention of critical failures in Fifth Edition. Critical hits yes, but as far as rules go, critical misses are not even mentioned in the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide. I assume you are playing with the "house rule" of using critical failures as your DM has gone to an extreme, but the point of order discussed by others here is definitely worth noting as there are no official rules in 5e for critical failures.
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
What? No. Stop that. A damage roll just gives you the numerical value for how many hit points a creature loses as result of a successful attack. There should be no narrative outcomes of this except things like, "they got a good scratch on the arm" or "they're limpy and coughing up blood now" to visualize how the creature's overall health is as a result of the attack. This is an incorrect use of the "critical failure" which is primarily designed as a worst-case-scenario on ability checks (when a character is doing something with risks and consequences). It really shouldn't even apply to simple tasks that a character would normally excel at (you shouldn't crit, nor even roll dice, to put on your boots). Critical failures are designed for when a character wants to sweet talk a guard into opening a protected door or swing from tree branch to tree branch like Tarzan. These actions have real consequences (both negative and positive) and so both a guaranteed success (20) and a guaranteed failure (1) are part of the game's chance systems. A d4 damage roll is not part of any chance system built into the game, other than how much damage is done (e.g. a little, some, or a lot)...plus, if a damage roll is taking place, the character has ALREADY SUCCEEDED in what they were trying to do! :)
Oh, and all that said...there is no mention of critical failures in Fifth Edition. Critical hits yes, but as far as rules go, critical misses are not even mentioned in the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide. I assume you are playing with the "house rule" of using critical failures as your DM has gone to an extreme, but the point of order discussed by others here is definitely worth noting as there are no official rules in 5e for critical failures.
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
What? No. Stop that. A damage roll just gives you the numerical value for how many hit points a creature loses as result of a successful attack. There should be no narrative outcomes of this except things like, "they got a good scratch on the arm" or "they're limpy and coughing up blood now" to visualize how the creature's overall health is as a result of the attack. This is an incorrect use of the "critical failure" which is primarily designed as a worst-case-scenario on ability checks (when a character is doing something with risks and consequences). It really shouldn't even apply to simple tasks that a character would normally excel at (you shouldn't crit, nor even roll dice, to put on your boots). Critical failures are designed for when a character wants to sweet talk a guard into opening a protected door or swing from tree branch to tree branch like Tarzan. These actions have real consequences (both negative and positive) and so both a guaranteed success (20) and a guaranteed failure (1) are part of the game's chance systems. A d4 damage roll is not part of any chance system built into the game, other than how much damage is done (e.g. a little, some, or a lot)...plus, if a damage roll is taking place, the character has ALREADY SUCCEEDED in what they were trying to do! :)
Oh, and all that said...there is no mention of critical failures in Fifth Edition. Critical hits yes, but as far as rules go, critical misses are not even mentioned in the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide. I assume you are playing with the "house rule" of using critical failures as your DM has gone to an extreme, but the point of order discussed by others here is definitely worth noting as there are no official rules in 5e for critical failures.
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
What? No. Stop that. A damage roll just gives you the numerical value for how many hit points a creature loses as result of a successful attack. There should be no narrative outcomes of this except things like, "they got a good scratch on the arm" or "they're limpy and coughing up blood now" to visualize how the creature's overall health is as a result of the attack. This is an incorrect use of the "critical failure" which is primarily designed as a worst-case-scenario on ability checks (when a character is doing something with risks and consequences). It really shouldn't even apply to simple tasks that a character would normally excel at (you shouldn't crit, nor even roll dice, to put on your boots). Critical failures are designed for when a character wants to sweet talk a guard into opening a protected door or swing from tree branch to tree branch like Tarzan. These actions have real consequences (both negative and positive) and so both a guaranteed success (20) and a guaranteed failure (1) are part of the game's chance systems. A d4 damage roll is not part of any chance system built into the game, other than how much damage is done (e.g. a little, some, or a lot)...plus, if a damage roll is taking place, the character has ALREADY SUCCEEDED in what they were trying to do! :)
Oh, and all that said...there is no mention of critical failures in Fifth Edition. Critical hits yes, but as far as rules go, critical misses are not even mentioned in the Player's Handbook or the Dungeon Master's Guide. I assume you are playing with the "house rule" of using critical failures as your DM has gone to an extreme, but the point of order discussed by others here is definitely worth noting as there are no official rules in 5e for critical failures.
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
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edited 3 hours ago
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
answered 4 hours ago
Justin Anderson
512
512
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Justin Anderson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
No
I'd possibly say a natural 1 on an Attack-roll might be a critical failure
(e.g. You went to go skewer your opponent and accidentally let go of your weapon, so now you're unarmed and your weapon needs to be retrieved or re-roll an attack against another nearby target [possibly friendly] or something of that ilk, where you're now disadvantaged). I figure if there's a 5% chance of doubling damage, there's an equal 5% chance of royally flubbing it, and just to make things 'interesting'.
However, Damage rolls are NEVER treated as failures (or critical failures). Of course, resistances and hardnesses could reduce damages to zero -- i.e. you hit the target, but, failed to cause damage.
I'm not sure how/why a 1 on a damage roll would be a critical failure...I'm just trying to see/justify a rational how certain weapons would have a huge chance of failure and if so, does rolling a natural max die roll increase damage??
Personally, I can't see ANY rationalization of this.
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
2
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
No
I'd possibly say a natural 1 on an Attack-roll might be a critical failure
(e.g. You went to go skewer your opponent and accidentally let go of your weapon, so now you're unarmed and your weapon needs to be retrieved or re-roll an attack against another nearby target [possibly friendly] or something of that ilk, where you're now disadvantaged). I figure if there's a 5% chance of doubling damage, there's an equal 5% chance of royally flubbing it, and just to make things 'interesting'.
However, Damage rolls are NEVER treated as failures (or critical failures). Of course, resistances and hardnesses could reduce damages to zero -- i.e. you hit the target, but, failed to cause damage.
I'm not sure how/why a 1 on a damage roll would be a critical failure...I'm just trying to see/justify a rational how certain weapons would have a huge chance of failure and if so, does rolling a natural max die roll increase damage??
Personally, I can't see ANY rationalization of this.
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
2
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
up vote
4
down vote
No
I'd possibly say a natural 1 on an Attack-roll might be a critical failure
(e.g. You went to go skewer your opponent and accidentally let go of your weapon, so now you're unarmed and your weapon needs to be retrieved or re-roll an attack against another nearby target [possibly friendly] or something of that ilk, where you're now disadvantaged). I figure if there's a 5% chance of doubling damage, there's an equal 5% chance of royally flubbing it, and just to make things 'interesting'.
However, Damage rolls are NEVER treated as failures (or critical failures). Of course, resistances and hardnesses could reduce damages to zero -- i.e. you hit the target, but, failed to cause damage.
I'm not sure how/why a 1 on a damage roll would be a critical failure...I'm just trying to see/justify a rational how certain weapons would have a huge chance of failure and if so, does rolling a natural max die roll increase damage??
Personally, I can't see ANY rationalization of this.
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
No
I'd possibly say a natural 1 on an Attack-roll might be a critical failure
(e.g. You went to go skewer your opponent and accidentally let go of your weapon, so now you're unarmed and your weapon needs to be retrieved or re-roll an attack against another nearby target [possibly friendly] or something of that ilk, where you're now disadvantaged). I figure if there's a 5% chance of doubling damage, there's an equal 5% chance of royally flubbing it, and just to make things 'interesting'.
However, Damage rolls are NEVER treated as failures (or critical failures). Of course, resistances and hardnesses could reduce damages to zero -- i.e. you hit the target, but, failed to cause damage.
I'm not sure how/why a 1 on a damage roll would be a critical failure...I'm just trying to see/justify a rational how certain weapons would have a huge chance of failure and if so, does rolling a natural max die roll increase damage??
Personally, I can't see ANY rationalization of this.
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
edited 6 hours ago
Rubiksmoose
43.6k6217332
43.6k6217332
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
answered 7 hours ago
David Fass
40326
40326
2
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
add a comment |
2
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
2
2
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
I like the meat of your answer, but I would like if you made it more clear that the "critical failure" aspect is a house rule and that normal play has no such implication.
– goodguy5
6 hours ago
add a comment |
LarK is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
LarK is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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Welcome to rpg.se! Have you taken the tour? It's a great place to start. This is an excellent first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming!
– linksassin
18 hours ago
4
This is a related answer about critical fails, and what's wrong with them, by @KRyan that I think is worth the time to read. I'd share it with your DM. Even though it's an answer for 3.5e, the same punishment factor on PCs (who roll dice a lot and who will thus get a lot of 1's) is worth consideration.
– KorvinStarmast
8 hours ago
2
What if there are multiple damage dice rolled? Does a rogue keep getting a higher chance of failure when they add sneak attack dice?
– Mookuh
7 hours ago
1
Does this DM also give you a critical success when you roll a 4 on your d4 damage die?
– Mark Wells
3 hours ago