3e Extended Critical in 4e - what would break?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Calliban

In 3e's Martial Arts and Compendium II, there was a rule for extended critical hits for high skill levels. 3-7 at 20+, 3-8 at 25+, 3-9 at 30+, and 3-10 at 35+.

I was thinking on initially only allowing it for a TbaM/WM character fighting a non TbaM/WM character at first. What would be the implications of using this Extended Critical table in our game? Are there any issues I'm failing to see?

If you have skill 20, and TbaM, you can make two attacks at 17, getting a critical on a 6 or less. Your chance of getting at least one critical is 17.7%. That is better than your odds of getting a critical on a 7 or less with a single attack, which is 16.2%. You're also imposing penalties to block/parry by using multiple attacks.

If you have skill 25 and TbaM, you can make four attacks at 16, with a 32.3% chance of getting a critical, much better than the 25.9% chance of rolling 8- on a single attack.

If you want to get criticals in combat, making as many attacks as possible at 16 is the way to do it.

I created a different house rule for skill rolls. You get to critical on a 6 with skill 16, a 7 with skill 27, a 8 with skill 38, and a 9 with skill 49. That's reasonably easy to remember and costs [44] for each increment to critical chances. Effective skill 27 is a level that gifted semi-realistic humans can reach, with the right talents and careful collection of conditional bonuses. 38 is the province of demi-gods.