From: sgibson@cs1.uct.ac.za (S GIBSON)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Critical Hits ... again (sorry)
Date: 15 Oct 92 10:47:18 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs1.sgibson.1.719146037
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town

Well, this being my first post to this group let me first introduce 
myself ...

My name is Shaun and i come from South Africa (this means that I am not up 
to date with the latest releases). AD&D is more than a hobby (shit, man you 
should see the prices of the stuff here ... PHB is the equivalent of about 
US$50.00 *grimace*) here in SA.

Ok, let's cut the crap and get on with the juicey stuff ...

Personally I feel that the critical hit system is a necessity, it must be 
used to maintain game balance. The fact that someone can get lucky must be 
incorporated into the workings of a gaming system.

Let's take the typical hackin' und shlain' idea to the full...

The scenario : two warriors with huge two-handed swords battling it out (
levels and other details are irrelevant at this point).

The normal system is hit,miss,hit,miss .... (ad nauseum). Other's use 
critical hits, but let me stress this they are not by any means realistic (
please, no flames, only constructive comment). The pages and pages of 
tables, the endless dice rolls ... all they do is slow down the combat and 
produce unrealistic results ( a friend of mine took a giant's head off with 
a sling bullet .. it was legally rolled up on the tables!!). Then we have 
the few that bravely make their own systems, but unfortunately they get 
bogged down in dice rolls or unrealistic simplicity. My systems are no 
different, but I feel that I might've got some insight that might help us 
all design a workable system.

Firstly, let us look at the actual weapon ... (in this case the 2-handed 
sword). It is large, sharp, long, heavy and very very mean (when wielded 
correctly), the actual physics of the weapon lend to the quick and bloody 
demise of one ( or both ) of the opponents, right? If you look at the 
medival knightly combat this will become plainly evident.

So here we have two warriors intent on hackin' each other into little 
pieces with their huge 2-handed swords. This should happen in a round or 
three, one hit and this other guy should be BADLY wounded ... right?

But the system says that a man size creature should take 1d10 + whatever 
bonuses damage... unrealistic? Definitely! This is just the normal, non-
critical, hit being done here. Then the critical hit comes along on the 
roll of a 20 ... the players face lights up ... the whoops of delight echo 
through the playing area (damn right!). Now what? The DM rolls on a table 
and sees that the critical strike disabled the opponents arm ... WOW big 
deal! The player feels hard done by .. and rightly so.

What now?

Well, here's a suggestion : make the critical strike such that, due to it 
being a rare occurence, it will surely kill, instantly or over no more 
than a handfull of rounds. This sounds more realistic, doesn't it?

Ok, now that we have the basis of a critical hit let us get into the nitty 
gritty part of game mechanics...

Should the critical strike cause damage or just a nasty, messy effect?
My vote goes for the effect, because it's gonna kill the other combatant 
anyway so you might as well make it descriptive and above all REAL. So, we 
now have a system that causes major wounds without the necessity for 
rolling damage, this makes the game more appealing to the senses, right?

Now we must decide on how the effects should be generated....
Tables are usefull, and provide the DM with a quick result, unless the 
situation is such that a completely unique description of the event is, 
without a doubt, neccesitated.

I feel that the tables should be such that a critical strike will almost 
without a shadow of a doubt kill the opponent (you win some, you lose 
some ... that's the way life is!). This means that the monsters AND the 
players run the risk of being killed in a combat no matter how easy it may 
seem.

Now to return to the weapon itself ...

A mace works on different principles to a sword, and similarly a sword 
works differently to an arrow. Let us use categorise the weapons into the 
type of damage they do (like in Rolemaster).

So now we have a 2-handed sword that does slahing and piercing type of 
damage (back to the example). A result of 'you crush his skull' is not in 
character with the weapon, right? so those sort of resluts are moved up or 
down the table until the DM finds a satisfactory result.

Bingo! We have a fight that lasts a few rounds and is in sync with the 
descriptive narrative that the game should be...

The one problem is compiling these tables ... I have tried and it is 
blooody difficult! But after a while the bugs seem to surface and the 
system gains in simplicity and above all REALISM.

What have we got far you may ask? 1: A system that is easy to use
                                  2: A system that doesn't hinder game flow
                                  3: A system that makes combat what it 
                                     should be ... DANGEROUS
                                  4: A system that doesn't give crappy 
                                     results
                                  5: A system that works for both monsters 
                                     and players (hehe!)

Now all we have to do is decide if the level/hit dice of an opponent makes a 
difference to the result ... I haven't really decided myself yet.

How about some suggestions there folks ... ? I can't do this all by myself, 
then it means that everyone will have something to add, etc. So let's do 
this together and finally put this question out of the spotlight so we can 
discuss other stuff ... like beafing up combat. (My group has come up with a 
really cool system, so I'd like to get some comment on it).

Sorry about the length ;-}

Shaun (alias The unwary and unprepared player's WORST Nightmare)