Changing Criticals

One thing that I don’t like about the newer takes on the d20 system are how they handle critical hits. Never cared for the way the old system did either. It is dangerous as it can get out of control when a player can improve both the damage multiplier and the chance of it happening. Actually anything that can multiply anything one has to be very careful with if they don’t want it to get out of control. But the new systems take all the fun out of critical hits so that’s no good either.

An MMO that I have been playing, Star Trek Online, has an interesting mechanic in ground combat. Some things have a chance to ‘expose’ an enemy. Others ‘exploit’ an exposed enemy and deal bonus damage. This makes you try to balance out a team so the enemy is exposed often enough for the bonus damage, but also that you have the exploit abilities to take advantage. Anything that encourages synergy between characters is a good thing in my book so I’m going to steal it.

Some weapons and abilities will have an ‘expose’ number typically 19 or 20. That will work just like the old critical threat range. If you roll that number or higher on your attack you just might expose the enemy. You make a second attack roll to confirm and if successful the enemy(s) is exposed until the beginning of your next turn. Others will have an ‘exploit’ number and that is how many bonus D6 dice of damage they will do against an enemy who is exposed.

This gives me more options when designing abilities and items. It also gives players more choices on customizing their character and to focus on this mechanic if they so choose with feats and such while being difficult to abuse. Or at least being more fun to abuse as it will be the team doing so and not just one character.