Critical Hits and Fumbles

Here's another set of rules from our home games. Critical hits happen on a natural 20, and fumbles happen on a natural 1.

Fumbles are a bit simpler, so I'll describe that first. Fumbles always miss and cause you to go last in initiative in the following round while you recover. Since we use group initiative (both sides roll a d6 and the winning side acts first), this is only a real penalty if your side wins or ties in the following initiative round. If your side wins, your side goes, the bad guys go, then you go. If there is a tie, the groups act simultaneously. I usually just let the players go first. If they drop any of the monsters, the monster will still get a strike in as it dies. If you fumbled on the previous round, you lose the opportunity to get the dying strike off. A fumble also disrupts any other attack rolls a character or monster might have in the round. This is HUGE for multi-attack monsters (Claw/Claw/Bite), as all 3 dice are rolled at once. A single 1 in that handful causes a miss for the other attacks as well.

Critical hits always hit and do double dice damage, but do not double strength or other magic weapon bonuses.  When you crit, you roll another d20 to determine location and effects. One of John's old DMs originally designed the table and John modified it over the years. At first glance, it looks a bit cumbersome, but plays pretty quickly at the table.  I'll post current version, with modifications for Labyrinth Lord.

Download the Google Docs version.

The Wakulik Critical Hit Table

Labyrinth Lord revision

Roll 1d20 to determine location

1. Rt Knee/Lower Leg: -1/3 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
2. Lt Knee/Lower Leg: -1/3 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
3. Rt Leg: -1/2 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
4. Lt Leg: -1/2 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
5. Groin: -3 to hit, -2 dmg for 1d4 turns.  Males: -3/4 move & Save vs Pet or stunned 1d10 rds
6. Buttocks: -1/3 move; can’t sit down
7. Abdomen: -3 to hit, -1 dmg; instant death treated as mortal wound (see D below)
8. Rt Side(Ribs):-1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken rib (double penalties)
9. Lt Side(Ribs):-1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken rib (double penalties)
10. Rt Hand: Becomes useless; if sever indicated, roll 1d10: 1-5 lose rolled number of fingers, 6-10 lose whole hand
11. Lt Hand: Becomes useless; if sever indicated, roll 1d10: 1-5 lose rolled number of fingers, 6-10 lose whole hand
12. Rt Arm: -1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken (becomes useless until healed)
13. Lt Arm: -1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken (becomes useless until healed)
14. Chest: Save vs Death or lose 1 pt Con per 10 pts dmg (max 4 pt loss)
15. Rt Shoulder: -1 to hit, -2 dmg
16. Lt Shoulder: -1 to hit, -2 dmg
17. Neck: Save vs Poison or permanent loss of voice
18. Face: Roll 1d8: 1/2- R/L eye, 3- nose, 4- mouth, 5/6 R/L cheek, 7/8 R/L ear; lose 1 pt Cha per 10 pts dmg (max 3 pt loss)
19. Head: Roll 1d4: 1- forehead, 2- top, 3/4- R/L side; -1 to hit; save vs Pet or KO 1d10 rds
20. Death Blow(vital organs): Double damage dealt for purposes of determining chance of instant death

Notes

1. All critical hits cause a scar.
2. The GM may choose to modify the roll based on attacker/target size difference.  For each size category the attacker is larger than the defender, add +1 to the roll; subtract 1 for each size category smaller the attacker is than the defender.  In these cases, however, the modified roll may not exceed 19, and a rolled 20 should not be lowered: a death blow result can only, and will always, come from a natural 20.
3. Where “Roll vs Damage” is indicated,  roll percentile dice.  Damage is that sustained by character after all modifiers(double for critical hit, strength bonus, etc.).
4. Italics indicates a chance of instant death.  Roll vs Damage; if roll is equal to or under damage, death results.  If GM allows, a System Shock check may be made; success indicates mortal wound, with death in 1d4 minutes
5. Underlined locations are those that can be severed.  Roll vs Damage; if roll is equal to or under damage, area is severed from the body.  In the case of the groin, sever result can only be suffered by male characters.
6. Where sever and death are indicated, roll first for sever; if limb is not severed, there is no chance of instant death.  If limb is severed, make System Shock roll, with failure indicating death.  Note that severing the neck will result in instant death- no further roll is required.
7. All penalties are cumulative and will persist until wound is healed.  At GM’s discretion, a dedicated healing spell may be required to remove the penalties of any single critical hit. Note that only very powerful healing magics can repair a sever.