10 BEST Critical Strike Homebrew Rules for D&D 5e

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Which Critical Strike Rule was YOUR Favorite? 🐲 Alkander’s Almanac D&D 5e Expansion: bit.ly/AlkandersAlmanac

[@vortraz2054]

Fireball is a Dex save it cant crit. Make creatures who roll 1 on dex saves take DoT instead :P

[@BestgirlJordanfish]

Favorite critical rules - Pathfinder 2E, succeed by 10+ and encourage that teamwork and magic. Hell if they beat by 20+ allow even more. Simply multiply total damage by x2 on a Crit. HOWEVER, in D&D some spice I enjoy is that Critical Hits reduce enemy Legendary Resistance, wearing them down and making them more vulnerable to future effects.

[@primarilydaniel137]

The problem with fumbles (negative effects on critical failures) is that it punishes martial characters, who get more attacks per turn, and therefore make more attack rolls per turn, therefore get more critical failures.

[@PhoenixM13]

Check out his DC20 RPG if you like using fumble tables. All attacks, spell or spells require a d20 roll. It evens that out quite a bit.

[@bryan__m]

​@@PhoenixM13but giving spellcasters d20 rolls doesn't solve the problem. IF spellcasters make the same number of spell attacks, it spreads out the misery, but it doesn't solve the problem that a 20th level monk is almost guaranteed to punch himself in the face at least once a combat while the 1st level sorcerer only rarely stabs himself in the foot when he tries to use a dagger.

[@BLynn]

So when I started playing AD&D in '86, the DM had a house rule that I always thought was part of the standard rules until much later. When you rolled a nat. 20, you would roll 1d4 if the result was a 1, multiply damage by 1.25, if it was a 2 multiply by 1.5, if a 3 multiply by 1.75 & a 4 was automatic death.

[@commonviewer2488]

I ran brutal criticals for a low-level session. Dragonborn Monk tried soloing a Mimic at Level 2, did well, avoiding all hits, even crit. Then the Mimic got a 20 and one-shot the Monk. It's fine, the rest of the party saved him.

[@iselreads2908]

Still think I prefer your Crit Insurance from your Brutal Critical option coach. Though I've tweaked it so it can only apply to weapon attacks or unarmed strikes to help boost melee units when casters are already capable of dealing a lot of damage. Casters I have a critical fail rule. The idea is that if a creature fails a saving throw against a spell by 5 or more, they take max damage and have a status alignment tagged on. Acid reduces your AC by 2 Lightning paralyzies you until the end of your next turn Cold gives enemies ADV on attack rolls and reduces your movement by 15 until the end of your next turn Fire deals an extra d6 damage until you put it out with an action or take cold damage or get doused with a liquid Radiant Blinds you til the end of your next turn Necrotic Reduces your max HP by half the damaged rolled until you finish a short or long rest Poison inflicts a -2 penalty to all ATK, ST, and Ability checks (and is stackable to a max of -10) Psychic damage Stuns you til the end of the turn. We're still messing around with these crit fails for spells, but it seems to be enjoyed so far and is encouraging a bit more variety in spell choice based on what we're fighting.

[@iselreads2908]

Oh, and if the Acid crit option reduces your AC to 10 or lower, your armor is destroyed and you'll need to either buy a new set of armor, or try to repair it. Repair rules still need tweaking, but it helps gives the artificers and crafter in your party more value since they can repair your stuff.

[@sbkp]

If the monster rolls two natural ones, then make the targeted player roll. If they roll a natural 20, they impale (or whatever) the monster and kill it. Basically like a super powered opportunity attack. Same system as you proposed, but the player has the fun of deciding the 1-in-8000 chance rather than the DM

[@ZekariusZetorian]

So, for my tabletop I've been working on since December, critical hits cause you to deal your base damage as maxed out bonus damage. So, if you're using a greatsword which has a base damage of 2d6, you'd deal an extra 12 damage on a critical hit. But, critical hits don't multiply additional sources of damage, like paladin smites or rogue sneak attacks (basically, anything that can be added after the fact.) They also don't add elemental damage, like a flametongue greatsword doesn't add any extra fire damage, just the slashing. Some weapons in my system have ways to take more time in combat, but increase their base damage, giving them a higher risk reward setup essentially. You could make more attacks (and thereby effectively increase your chances to crit) or you could make your hits harder, so that if you do crit, it REALLY hurts. (This is Luke btw. I've recently changed my channel handle cuz I'm about to start playtesting my game with friends and I might start uploading dev logs or something.) Keep up the good work Coach! Really looking forward to DC20! Seeing your work on it, and all your work in general, has been a huge inspiration for me with my own stuff!

[@zalrod]

COACH! I've heard you talk about brutal crits before, and I adopted it for my games with a couple tweaks: On a crit you roll your damage dice, add modifiers, add a second (single) maxxed die. However we also added something called "exploding dice", where if the player rolled max damage on their rolled die (IE rolled a 6 on a d6), they can roll again and add that outcome as well... and if that second roll is max, then they can roll again... etc etc this could theoretically continue, though the chances of doing that get slimmer and slimmer, and it's much harder with larger dice, so it kinda balances itself. The longest string of exploding dice I've seen was our monk roll 6 additional times! I can't remember the damage total, but he punched the baddies into a fine red mist.

[@vnavone]

How about exploding dice? Roll double the dice as usual, but any dice that come up maximum value “explode”, meaning you get to roll them yet again. Can create a fun chain reaction!

[@autographedcat]

I was going to suggest the same thing. I think you’d really get the feeling of riding a wave. Also, characters with smaller dice are more likely to explode, which is kind of exciting for them. :)

[@crunchydragontreats6692]

CoC had the exploding damage die mechanic at all times. Any time a damage die came up max, it exploded. No crit attack required. My GM eventually banned the d6 that came with the set they bought me. When it came to damage that d6 wouldn’t stop. After I rolled 7 6s in a row one night, they finally said no more. I agreed as it made encounter balance impossible and wasn’t any fun for the other players. No. It wasn’t weighted. We tested it out of game many times with multiple people rolling it. It rolled random numbers. Grab your ketchup and crunch away my friends.

[@bryan__m]

I'm really surprised that wasn't one of the ideas.

[@andrew8me]

My group uses Lancer critical rules. We call it damage advantage. If you roll a critical hit, you roll your damage twice and choose the higher of the damage rolls.

[@evanbasnaw]

I use the Alkander's Weapon attack crit style and love it. We have a archer who can impair a target and a Cleric who can knock them down.

[@trently89]

The Brutal Critical is also called the Perkins method

[@LightsongLackless]

Dungeon Coach: I got a crazy last name, I would know. Me: Coach?

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Hahahaha if you use my online name… lol yes that does sound weird lol, never thought of it like that! 😂

[@paulcave87]

Absolutely love the d4 condition add on! Totally gonna use it in my game!

[@TheOxxido]

I use double all the dice, then maximize the lowest die result of the weapon attack dice (so not any extra dice). For attacks that normally only have 1 die this functions as even better brutal criticals. For attacks that have multiple extra dice, this is less impactful, which was my aim.

[@logophilelyss4390]

This! This is awesome!

[@odinforce29]

I actually use the max damage rule on my table, combined with the condition rule, Wich depends on the weapon they use and ir works amazing. Oh, and I also use the PF2E critical hit rule, so the Crits happen more often too. I stated using this cuz I really hate the 2x dice rule, it just doesn't make sense, the weapon max damage is 10, but if you crit you do more than max, it's just weird.

[@scottdouglass2]

This reminds me of a D&D story I heard about a house cat getting 9 natural 20s in a row and killing a party of 3 third level adventurers.

[@jag519]

my favorite is just add max dice damage to the hit. That way you still roll, but if you get bad roll you still do 1 more than max damage and it isnt a feel bad, and you still could get the max roll so it's a full double.

[@MrShdutchy]

My own critical rule is RAW, but after adding up the total you re-rolling any 1's and add that to the total. I do like the PC specific crit rule and could see myself using that. As for the last rule I like the concept, but I wouldn't use it as I don't like rules which have such a small chance of actually occurring it might not in an entire campaign

[@aqacefan]

The crit rule at our table (where I'm a PC) is like your #1 - assume max damage on the "first die", then roll the second die and add modifier.

[@SabbothArt]

The triple crit insta kill is very similar to an optional rule in DnD 3.5, back when you had to confirm crits instead of just getting your bonus damage. If you got a nat 20 on the crit confirmation, you then had to just confirm the double crit to insta kill. Actually more deadly because the third dice roll only needs to beat the AC, not be a 3rd nat 20. I once sat in just to watch a game and witnessed this exact rule instant kill a player in the literal first attack of the first round of the first combat on a brand new campaign, rolled in the open.

[@przemysawjozwiak144]

Hi Coach! About nat20 i would say that I have to situations. 1: Player roll 2xNat20 in advantage attack. 2: Player roll Nat20 on action that require save roll and GM have Nat20 too. About last system you gave us. You roll hit dice: nat20 or nat1; you roll bonus d20: 10+ you have something good, nat20 you roll another bonus dice; 9- you have something bad. Imagine the scenario: nat20, bonus nat1 and third dice nat1; nat20, bonus nat1 and third dice nat20; nat1, bonus nat20 and third dice nat1; nat1, bonus nat 1 and third dice nat20. In either situation you do not have three nat20 to kill big boss, or three nat1 to die. Or maybe last dice decide about it? In One DnD you will have special feature if you have proficiency in weapon so another dice (rule #2) is in my opinion, the simplest option and you can use it to weapons and spell as well.

[@MrJerks93]

I'm similar to Rule #2. Double dice but you get to Max out a number of dice equal to your proficiency bonus.

[@Arpi314]

I've been using the just do x2 damage forever and its great, cuze it makes crits exiting, getting an extra die or two is kind of meh but seeing someone land a hit for 25 and crit taking it to 50 is wild

[@aqacefan]

I can identify with that. My Barbarian was high enough level to qualify for the Brutal Critical class feature and had the Great Weapon Master feat; she swung her Maul against a Frost Giant Skeleton, and between rolling obscene damage to start with then doubling Blunt damage against a Skeleton, the total came out to 84 points.

[@Pootythief]

I use Cze and peku maps every week on a TV screen game board I made from a 32inch. 10/10 would recommend!

[@evanjones9602]

I was running a practice campaign where a blood sacrifice caused everyone’s stats to get hyperbuffed. Level 20 rogue did 140 damage on a single crit, one-shotting the lich they were fighting.

[@heavymetalmystic2430]

The critical hits rule I use is let’s say you have a short sword and you Crit it would be the following: 6 (max weapon damage) + 1d6 + respective modifier. That way they get that extra damage and they still get to roll.

[@crunchydragontreats6692]

Bonus: If the weapon/attack does multiple types of damage, allow the player to choose which damage type gets the max. d6 slashing + mod +d6 fire. Then let the player add either 6 slashing or 6 fire. Grab your ketchup and crunch away my friends.

[@bryan__m]

Isn't that just Brutal Criticals?

[@LuizCesarFariaLC]

On the last method, I would make the enemy roll damage as a counterattack or the player break its weapon. Player insta death fills ultra weird on 5e lol

[@ignacioalmonacid6153]

That last one was a rule from 3rd Edition, if you 20 and then 20 and then 20 it's insta-kill, that one was on the 3rd Edition manual.

[@vnavone]

Love that title image! 😉

[@TheDungeonCoach]

I knew you’d love it! 😆 if the video does good or bad now it’s all on YOU! No pressure!

[@versod6328]

Been using rule #10 for the last 20yrs. Funny that it’s always happened in those odd moments. Best was low level characters making a random attack on a passing large Scorpionfolk (3.5e) landed a nat 20 three times in a row. Table went wild! One of those unscripted unplanned events that nearly derailed the evenings events. Wasn’t planned as an encounter, more intended to make the players realize how deadly the environment was. That left a chip on the characters shoulders and fun in game chatter. However, once the players ran the probability of the rolls and the CR of the mob…my intended effect had an affect.

[@ThorneMD]

Hey Coach Been using the triple 20 and triple 1 rule for, well ahem, 20 years Only had 2-3 triple 20s come up ever. And as you said, it’s crazy 😎

[@crunchydragontreats6692]

Roll crit damage as normal. The player then gets to choose one damage type die, max and add that damage. Example: rogue with a +1 dagger of flaming. 1d4 piercing+dex mod+2d6 piercing sneak attack+1d6 fire all rolled normal as a crit. Then the player gets to add either +4 or +6 piercing or +6 fire. This gives the player an opportunity to describe how the attack does extra damage. A flash of fire. Deeper stab. Piercing into a vital area. Etc. This also allows a character to do extra damage to a creature they know is vulnerable to a particular damage type. I only allow named characters to do this extra damage on crits. Grab your ketchup and crunch away my friends.

[@GrandOldDwarf]

For the longest time we've doubled the whole damage done (dice plus modifiers). Over the last several years though, we've used the Crit Cards from Nord Games.

[@Barrlounge]

I use Rule One for players and their crits then I use Rule 6 for my monsters. If I'm using Avg Damage for monsters then it's just easier for me to double that number as the damage a crit does. The players still know that it's a shit ton of damage AND for crits, I allow recharge abilities to come back online (or give them a 2nd "one time free use") or a use of a Legendary Action at the end of its turn opposed to the player's turns. Whatever feels right in that moment.

[@zendikarisparkmage2938]

In my current game, we're doing Max Damage times 1d4. If you roll a 1, you get Max Damage. If you roll a 2, you take the Max Damage and Double It, and so on. It can get really ridiculous.

[@dane3038]

Something I get a lot of pushback for and you side with my opponents on is the idea that the Monsters should have the same crit advantage. Why? Their not supposed to be evenly matched and these kinds of hits are rare enough to only mildly swing things in the players direction. And their are infinite ways to challenge players. They are the "Heroes" at least in a manor of speaking, so they should have the super cinematic moments of just reaching the dragons heart with the tip of their sword or cutting the head off the jabbawoky. I use exploding dice for players and max damage for monsters and it's caused a couple of black-flip moments in the clutch round. It's super fun! The players can have access to advantages that the monsters don't and the monsters can have abilities that the players can't imitate. It's ok.

[@evanjones9602]

When I played 1e at home, we played critical role crits. I prefer it. I play double dice, including modifiers.

[@danellsworth1534]

My group uses exploding dice for criticals. I have you roll twice the dice but if any come up with the max damage for that di you get another di to roll.

[@logophilelyss4390]

Also? Perhaps weapons-wielders add their proficiency bonus to damage on a crit? I don't think there's any other mechanic that adds proficiency bonus to damage, and it would likely be an easier thing to remember than "oh double or max this one specific die" or "double your ability score modifier" or the like.

[@flikersprigs5641]

how do I handle crits? make them cheaper I stole pf2e's +10/-10 crit rules but I keep the regular 5e roll double the dice rule cause I like it, that said if a player wanted to do a called shot I'd tell him he needs to crit for it

[@donaldcrankshaw1627]

I use #1 for the players. Since I use average damage for the monsters, I basically use #5 (double everything) for them.

[@CaseyWilkesmusic]

DCC has tables of effects. The type of die you roll increases with higher levels and unlocks more wild effects. Highly recommend swiping that and using it 1-to-1 in any d20 style game

[@claudiaborges8406]

I like the Lancer rpg crits, any end sum above 20 on the roll is a crit. Roll twice as many dice and pick the best half: 2d6 crit -> 4d6 (1, 3, 6, 2) = 3 + 6 I also like the accuracy and difficulty rules, they’re my substitute for advantage and disadvantage

[@LoneWolfZA]

We use things like a critical hit/fumble table where we roll a d100 and based upon that determines what happens

[@fanboykc9140]

We use a version of brutal crits. Basically the same as 1, but when we nat fail, it opens the attacker to AoO. But 10 is just insane...I LOVE IT! We need PC death back in DnD anyway. Imo, we treat 5e too much like a video game. Just too many opportunities to "hit the reset button". On the one hand it does kinda feel bad losing a character you possibly spent years with and multiple levels, but on the other hand there are some many classes and cool builds to choose from. And if a PC dies, make it an important moment in the campaign. Did she make a sacrifice to save a comrade? Was his death a turning point in which everyone rallies against the BBEG? Erect a statue of them in the village they died saving.

[@foxunix101]

I use max dice for the extra. Never looked back. Players fucking love it.

[@KingZNIN]

The massive oath breaker paladin turned vampire lifts their great sword over their head and strikes! nat1 critical failure roll for severity Nat 20 max severity roll a D10 for the large boat that you're on natural 1... The paladin stumbles on loose debri and falls and the weight of him and the large great sword breaks the wood flooring and then he breaks through the bottom of the boat sinking the cursed ship, and killing the paladin. TFS at the table

[@Tysto]

I say a critical hit is just max damage, but i also have a hero die, & that gets maxed too. So crits scale with the character but aren’t ridiculously swingy.

[@Castheknotted]

Let me tell ya about exploding dice

[@sharkyshark1]

Players or enemies dying on their own turn feels bad. Taking major damage sure, and if that major damage happens to kill them then yeah, but straight off death feels very unfair on a triple 1, and it also feels anticlimactic with a boss. Another thing you could do is on a crit players reroll all low dice, IE a 1 on a dice 4 or a 1 and 2 on a d6 etc and then double everything modifier included. Just to lock out bad rolls pre doubling, but also not making it too OP. A little bonus you could do is if someone rolls and no dice are low enough to reroll, they can reroll their lowest and take the highest between those.

[@jamesrizza2640]

I like rule 3 Conditions on crits because its flexible and the PC gets to choose unless you want to make a table for it. I like rule 4 as well but I would make that a part of rule 3, player chooses to either apply a condition or make another attack against the same opponent. I also like the max damage rule 6. I cannot tell you how many times PC have TPK'd over a bad crit roll for damage or just relying on that one roll and failing. A critical should be special for the players so max it out. Here is another idea you could use as well. Exploding dice. Whenever a player rolls a critical and it's confirmed, if you're using that rule, the player rolls the die if they roll max number on the die they roll again and continue until they don't roll max number. This doesn't work however if your using rule 6, maxing the damage die automatically. As a side note, I do not use critical hits against the PC's. I feel as a DM, that I don't need to use them since I am in total control of the combat anyways. I prefer players to have an advantage in this respect. I do, however, use critical fumbles on both players and NPC's. This adds an element of uncertainty, however, when a PC rolls a one, I have them confirm like a critical but using 1,2 or 3. If they roll any of those numbers then they do indeed fumble tough luck for them. NPC's do not get this advantage, however, you could do so if you so choose. Great video and subject matter.

[@Trenty_Boi]

What's a critical strike vs a critical attack though? I have this class that says it does stuff for "critical strikes" but I can't find anything on if that's just a critical hit or if it's different?

[@airdragon11studios]

Yes!!!! Hype!!!

[@DiamondWolfX]

Brutal criticals could be interesting to implement as a feat rather than a base mechanic

[@hansmuller8762]

I on vtt use advantage on crit damage rolls . Just press that roll damage button twice when you crit and take the higher total. Its impractical in person with rogues and palladins. Adding that many is too long

[@foxunix101]

I would add to the last rule that each time you roll another d20 you add a d20 to the roll. So 1 d20 then 2 d20 then 3d20. I like that.

[@bryan__m]

The problem with crit fumbles is it's not actually a 1 in 8,000 chance, it's a 1 in 8,000 chance *per roll*. Over a typical 3 round combat, your sorcerer spamming fireball or slow or fly has a 0% chance of blowing themselves up, but the hardened warrior monk who is at the pinnacle of martial prowess has a 46% chance of at least one crit fumble and the chance of one-hit-punching himself to death is a whopping *three percent*! The poor 20th level fighter who uses all his action surges has nearly a 1 in 20 chance to slice his head off. That's the same as rolling a single d20 at the start or end of combat to determine if he lives or dies! a 4-round boss battle jumps to almost 6%, not counting haste or two weapon fighting or any other extra ways of attacking.

[@Tusitala1967]

With that purple and gold d20 I'm wondering if Coach was a coach at ECU.

[@dane3038]

Back when we confirmed them, if the player rolled a 20 while confirming a nat 20 ( in 3.5 you could crit with less than a 20 and we did that normal ) You've switch multiplier to total damage at max, BUT you still had to confirm again by hitting normally. If a third nat20 was rolled... 3 202's only happened once and it was maybe a CR2 monster. But if that would have happened on a demon Lord with my DM's Screen laying flat on the table...

[@dungeonscrew491]

Hot take, but I played a game where I did a double crit. DM said I auto killed it. Felt REALLY bad. I was excited for that fight, I was excited to roll all my battlemaster dice, crit dice, and damage, but...he just died. I was gonna deal so much damage and I REALLY REALLY wanted to do it. I was disengaged the rest of the game, but it was cool I guess, so I didn't complain, I was just like "oh...okay." I told them how I felt and we agreed not to let that happen again. This taught me something as a DM tho. Even if you believe an auto kill is warranted, or would be cool, just let them roll, mark down the damage, and if it's REALLY CLOSE to dying, who cares about the last fee hit points if the moment is perfect. Let that player tell you how they kill it and make it epic. But if your players really like the nitty gritty, and numbers, do not cheat them out of those last few hit points. I'm not advocating for DM cheating, or fudging, this is just for a scenario where it truly feels warranted and it would feel worse if the monster DIDNT die. We've all been there. It's effectively giving them more damage. OR, EVEN BETTER, let them do triple damage dice, or quadruple, instead of double.

[@KarnakZMZM]

In my mind, crits should feel really brutal. If you roll a critical, you don’t roll damage dice. You do double the max damage of your attack. Same applies to enemies.

[@peterclose1545]

The most common critical/fumble rules from D&D1e were d20 tables. If you got a critical or fumble you rolled again and consulted a table. Surprised you didn't include such tables, as they were more common than the rules your forwarded.

[@kahlinwhatley8640]

Pesonally, I think some of these are just too many rolls for my table. What we do is add a d12 to all crit damage. If the sum of your regular damage die and the d12 is not greater than max of the regular damage die (ex 6 on a d6), then narratively the opponent has sacrificed their positioning to avoid critical damage so the next attack on them is with advantage.

[@multiversedm]

Damage, Damage, Damage!

[@NomNom1970]

What happens with greatswords 2d6, would the crit max out one of the d6s?

[@flikersprigs5641]

should be maxing out both of the d6s since thats the weapon's damage die

[@TheDungeonCoach]

@@flikersprigs5641correct!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

So that is a great question. Since the weapons BASE dice are 2d6, then I max both of them.

[@soldierbreed]

We do double damage (post modifier) but can re roll a 1

[@Exaltable]

Why yes I would love to double my gwm or sharpshooter damage and have those feats be even more broken

[@crowgoblin]

Brutal Criticals = The Chris Perkins Rule

[@storytime7408]

1:8,000 chance that they die to a housecat. sounds about right hahaha

[@logophilelyss4390]

I'm obsessed with all these options! Absolutely obsessed. I'm a lot more creative with Nat 1s than Nat 20s. I've done critical fumbles in combat for my entire DMing career. My last one-shot with a mix of old and new players made me laugh because the first natural 1 in combat resulted in a comments to the effect of "Welcome to her table, feast on the spicey nat 1 rules buffet" Most of these fumbles don't lead to the players' downfall, but the fun part is that ANYTHING can happen, and the same goes for the monsters. Often, it translates to damage, but it can also mean dropping weapons, slipping prone, etc. I haven't asked them for feedback directly in a while, but they seem to be on the edge of their seats every time someone announces a natural 1, so I think it's going over pretty well. One of the first instances over two years ago is still joked about to this day both in role play and in meta.