Crits without charts

[fjw70]

I am not really a chart guy so I was thinking of a way to simplify the whole crit thing. I was thinking of just making it damage related and each chart wouled have its own die type as follows.

Chart 1: d4
Chart 2: d6
Chart 3: d8
Chart 4: d10
Chart 5: d12

Then on the crit roll for every 5 of the results (i.e. 1-5, 6-10, etc.) then you would have a cumulative +1 die (e.g. a roll of 7 on chart 3 would be +2d8 and a roll of 16 on chart 5 would +4d12). This makes the crits very brutal yet simple. The flavor text would be left for the players and DM, and it would leave the blinding disarming etc. to things like MDoA.

[abk108]

It would'nt be a bad solution.. if there were a problem
I like crit tables as they are: less math means you can play longer and even tired/no-good-at-maths players can discover the result of the crit in 2 sec.

[fjw70]

I like crit tables as they are: less math means you can play longer and even tired/no-good-at-maths players can discover the result of the crit in 2 sec.

As a former Math teacher I don't accept that.

[Troy812]

I love the crit tables.

[Aluvial]

I am not sure I understand what the extra dice for crits would play like. Have you tried this?

Aluvial

[reverenddak]

I was adverse to the Crit Charts at first, it reminded me too much of Warhammer RPG and Rolemaster. I thought that they'd be better if they were more generic. But after giving it a shot (in the spirit of the play-test) I'm actually sold on them now. There is a moment of anxiety and excitement when a CRIT or Fumble happens, everyone pauses while we "look them up". It hasn't detracted from the game, in fact it's been really fun. There will be a ton of times where you have to change things for it to make sense, but that's what our imagination is for. It's a good exercise for the GM, or players if you give them the agency (which I encourage.) It really becomes part of the game. But for an "on-the-go" kind of game, where you don't have access to the actual charts I see some sort of formula working, maybe using a simple chart related to hit locations and ability scores.