We are using the Laying Waste rules for criticals.
I'm sure you've noticed that as you gain levels, criticals get less and less badass.
Oh wow, 2d6 instead of 1d6. Bask in my glory.
"Laying waste" is an alternative critical hits system. Whenever you roll a critical you don't make a 2nd roll to confirm it, it automatically does maximum damage.
After that you make a severity check to see how strong the critical was (none, light, moderate or severe). To do this roll a 1d20 + your weapon's critical mod + the amount your attack exceeded the enemy's AC + any bonuses you usally add to "confirm criticals" from the normal system. If the result exceeds a DC 20, 30 or 40, the critical becomes a light, moderate or severe critical respectfully.
For example: Lets say Vun rolls a natural 19 on his attack roll (when you add the bonus to attack that becomes a total of 24). And lets say the enemy's AC is 16. So what he does next is roll 1d20 (in this case a 13) + 0 (weapon's multiplier) + 0 (Long's bonus to confirm crits) + 8 (because his attack exceeded the enemy's AC by 8). Combine it all and you have 13+0+0+8=21! That's a medium critical. I roll on the critical generator on d20pfsrd.com and get...
quote:
Gut Slash
Target suffers maximum plus bonus damage and 1d4 bleed. Target cannot swallow whole until healed.
Save: A DC 20 Fortitude halves the bleed effect (min 1).
Heal: A DC 10 Heal check halves the bleed effect (again); a DC 20 Heal check removes the bleed effect.
That means Woren's attack did 22 damage + 1d6 bonus dmg + 1d4 bleeding. If the enemy rolls a Fort and/or a heal check it can reduce some of the effects.
However it's not all rainbows an sunshine because (Uncle Ben voice)
"With great criticals come great fumbles". For example, if Long rolls a natural 1 attack roll he could get:
quote:
Better to Give
Your attack damages you instead. Use your target's Str modifier when calculating the damage.
Save: Reflex DC 20 negates.
Special: Reroll attack to determine if you critically hit yourself. This reroll cannot miss or fumble.
That means, if Woren fails a reflex save DC 20, he'd be in deep shit.
There are 600 different types of criticals so I can list them all here (best use the laying waste critical generator on d20pfsrd
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamema...ng/tools/layingwaste
But here are the rules in a nutshell:
Roll Critical Hit Type
DC <20 Minor Critical: max damage, No Additional effect
DC 20 Light critical: max damage, Light Wound effect
DC 30 Moderate critical: max damage, Moderate Wound effect
DC 40 Severe critical: max damage, Severe Wound effect
Meaning even if you don't beat the DC 20 you still do max damage. You simply don't get an extra effect.
The severity check bonus depends on you're weapon's crit mod:
Critical
Modifier Severity Bonus
x2 +0 bonus
x3 +4 bonus
x4 +8 bonus
Bonuses to "confirm critical hit" also apply to save throws you make when you roll to avoid the effects from a Fumble.
Effects that say "take bonus damage instead" or "plus bonus damage" it refers to this chart:
Critical
Modifier Bonus
Damage
x2 1d6
x3 2d6
x4 3d6
Size between attacker and target applies a -2 or +2 penalty/bonus to severity check per size difference.
