Critical Hit Table Question

[WitchHunterXXI]

Quick question:

If a player rolls a critical on an attack, do they get to roll 3d6 and base what happens with that critical off that table?

I had a player bring that up to me today, and I honestly had no idea. We just ran with the critical just bypassed the defense roll and they rolled dmg as usual (with modifiers for the appropriate things of course).

I really appreciate any info, thanks everyone!

[sir_pudding]

Technically the GM decides what happens on a critical success or failure. The table makes it easy though.

[WitchHunterXXI]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Technically the GM decides what happens on a critical success or failure. The table makes it easy though.

So, if I were the GM and wanted to use the table and a player I had rolled a crit, I'd have them roll again with 3d and tell them what the crit did based on that table?

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by WitchHunterXXI

So, if I were the GM and wanted to use the table and a player I had rolled a crit, I'd have them roll again with 3d and tell them what the crit did based on that table?

Yes, but it always includes the target getting no active defenses.

[WitchHunterXXI]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Yes, but it always includes the target getting no active defenses.

Ahhh, gotcha! Thanks!

[Gollum]

You've got several answers to your question, depending on which set of rules you are using - which actually depends of which kind of game you want to run!

If you want a very fast moving game, with few rules to use and, above all, few table to read during game, the GURPS Lite answer is this one:

• if a player rolls a critical success on an attack, his foe has no defense at all. Furthermore, if the attacker rolled a 3, damage is maximum (a weapon inflicting 1d+2 of damage, for instance, automatically inflicts 8 points of damage).

If your prefer more detailed rules, the Basic Set answer in this one:

• if a player rolls a critical success on an attack, his foe has no defense at all. Furthermore, roll what happens on the appropriate Critical Hit Table (Critical Hit Table or Critical Head Blow Table page 556). You roll 3d6 and consult one of that table to read what happens

Note that a result of 9, 10 and 11 means "normal damage only". The critical attack does nothing more ... than preventing the defender to defend (which is already a huge advantage, especially if the defender has high defense scores).

And as Sir Pudding said it very well, it's up to the GM to decide what happens. So, if you don't like the tables, or if you roll the same result for the third time in a raw (dice are occasionally capricious), you can decide for yourself.

The main point is no defense for the defender: the attack automatically strikes its target - as noted by Bruno.

[(E)]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Yes, but it always includes the target getting no active defenses.

I've house ruled in the past that a critical roll on defense stops a critical attack, probably works best at low power levels though.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by (E)

I've house ruled in the past that a critical roll on defense stops a critical attack, probably works best at low power levels though.

Why "in the past"? It sounds to be a good house rule (one which doesn't unbalance the game).

[weby]

Originally Posted by (E)

I've house ruled in the past that a critical roll on defense stops a critical attack, probably works best at low power levels though.

In my house rules a critical hit only causes -10 extra deceptive attack instead of not giving a defense.

The problem with no defense at criticals is that at higher skill levels, unless your skill is a LOT better than the opponent defense you never try hard deceptive attacks as you want to keep the attack skill at 16 to get the critical opportunity. So against any worthy opponent making a dual or rapid strike is so much better than making a single precision strike as you get a second 9.25% critical chance.

At lower skill levels the no defense woks fine.


As example lets take two fencers with skill 20, combat reflexes and weapon master, and nothing else defensive/offensive. Thus both have parry 17 with retreat.

Fighter 1 does rapid strike attacks and hits on 16- with a critical on 6- thus gets though the defense about 9.25%(first strike crit)+9.25%(second strike crit)+0.4%(normal hit+opponent failed defense first strike)+0.4%(second trike normal through) or about a total of just over 19% to get through with at least one strike.

Fighter 2 goes for a single deceptive strike.
Option 1: skill drop to 14: he crits 1.8% of the time and gets a normal hit 88.9% of the time. The 3 deceptive drops the opponent defense to 14, so the opponents defends 90.7% of the time. Thus he gets though the defense: 1.8%(crit)+8.3%(normal hit+failed defense) or just over 10% of the time.
Option 2: skill drop to 12: he crits 1.8% of the time and gets a normal hit 77.2% of the time. The 4 deceptive drops the opponent defense to 13, so the opponents defends 83.8% of the time. Thus he gets though the defense: 1.8%(crit)+11.6%(normal hit+failed defense) or just over 13% of the time.
Option 3: skill drop to 10: he crits 1.8% of the time and gets a normal hit 48.2% of the time. The 5 deceptive drops the opponent defense to 12, so the opponents defends 74.1% of the time. Thus he gets though the defense: 1.8%(crit)+12.5%(normal hit+failed defense) or just over 14% of the time.

So in all above cases attacking more is better. Also with the higher critical probability you have the extra critical effects like more damage or less armor and you have a fairly high probability for a second critical effect for even more fun.