Why Critical Hits Kinda Suck (And How To Make Them AWESOME)

Critical Hits are awesome, but they're also kind of lame when they don't do much! Here's a personal favourite homebrew rule that leads to great roleplay, tactics, and exciting combat in Dungeons and Dragons 5e!

I've been told to use keywords in video descriptions, but I don't know what I'm doing. I stole these tags from MonkeyDM and Adan, both of whom seems on top of this type of thing when we chat.

How to play Dungeons and Dragons Beginners Guide What class to play in dungeons and dragons best class in D&D best subclass most powerful optimised monk build DandD Warlock Bard Dungeon Master, Fighter, Ranger, Artificer, Cleric, Barbarian, Wizard, Sorcerer, Monk, Paladin, Rogue, Adan, DnD Shorts D&D Shorts TikTok Dungeons and Dragons XP to level 3 with Davvychappy potentially a bit a Critical Role with dungeoneering tabletop community next to tabletop RPG dungeons and dragons Fjord Beau Jester Yasha Caleb Nott 5th edition dragons 3.5e dungeon dudes DM GM dungeon master game master tips sprinkle a bit of Caduceus Mollymauk in the Mighty Nein Matt Mercer Crap guide to dnd shorts tiktok

[hexbox]

I’ve done this. My favorite time was when I crit and poked a guys eyes out as a monk.

[Rwnds]

"Ok, you got a crit. Describe what happened. But remember there's lots of other options, you don't need to hit them in the balls every time you-"
"I hit him in the balls again!"
"C'mon, MAAN!"

[Outlawzero]

When we crit at our table we play it as if the extra dice rolls max every time.

[LithKast]

I just maximize their first damage dice and let them roll an extra damage dice. This ensures a crit can never be less than a normal hit

[DnDShorts]

*Another* *bonus:* This rule helps shift the balance of power so martial classes get a lot better! By making more attack rolls, and giving them access to certain conditions with creative thinking, suddenly Fighters, Barbarians, and Monks aren't so hopelessly outclassed by magic users as the game goes on!

[TheMrMcCrazy]

"Now every crit feels awesome" My thoughts: Not for the troll who got his balls smashed in

[GrahamBayes]

whelp, thats going in tthe rule rotation for sure! genius idea!

[supershinystar]

“Critical hits suck.”
Yeah I lost my character to one.

[MafiaCow]

What we do at my table is all crits do max damage plus the normal damage die. Basically it guarantees the hit is going to really hurt, but also has the potential of doing double damage.

[Magikarp_With_Dragonrage]

We just double the damage, and remove one of the targets actions for the next round

[vloverOO]

Players: this is awsome
Dm: until it happens to you muahahhaha

[flameofmage]

My DM uses a crit effect table they've found, along with instead of rolling double dice you roll normally and then add max damage to the roll.

[farkasmactavish]

Kind of seems like an extension of the damage type feats.

[GeebzGBZ]

A big thing I do is pretty simple. Instead of more damage dice, your initial damage is maximized instead, then you roll additional damage as usual.

[bobshark]

This is why I use the Lingering Injuries table from the DMG pg.272

[williamheath]

Had a DM during critical hits, have us roll the dice and add the max damage of the weapon we chose to use. It was fun and unique as i have played with other DMs that have done close to the same.

[andyik]

Damn i like that idea! i'll implement that in my games aswel!

[bastien-]

My first game of D&D my Uncle was the DM and this is how he worked the Crit rolls and honestly it made my first campaign feel epic!

[deathtoexistance]

I really like this idea, and have been working on making a specific set of house rules for it myself.
It reminds me of the stunt system in the dragon age rpg, where crits gave you a choice of stuff to do.
For 5e I want to work the lingering injury rules and possibly the massive damage rules in the dmg for crits, but tailoring them a bit more to be more applicable for monsters.
I think something like having a list of things crits can inflict like blinded, prone, disarming (and making the arm unusable), move speed penalties and the like, then having a different modifier for each to balance them and have the monster make a save so there's a risk reward for the more devastating effects.

[harmonslytherin]

Yep, definitely stealing this for the Homebrew I'm writing