Memorable Critical Hits

One of the oldest house rules in D&D has been the critical hit. That is, on a “natural” 20 not only does the character hit but does additional damage and/or some type of maiming. Current research shows that it was in the Empire of the Petal Throne (1975) that on a natural 20, the combatant does double damage. Earlier in the year there was a set of rules for hit location in the Blackmoor supplement but that was clumsy and lacked the elegance of double damage on a natural 20. Starting in 1976 or ’77 we start to see the marriage of hit location and extra damage. So when D&D was but one year old there was a double damage on a natural 20 and by it’s second or third year was the addition of aggravated damage.

However, Gary Gygax was opposed to using critical hits and thus kept them out of the official rules. His vision of combat was much more cinematic, that is more like the fight between Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1938 classic Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone respectively.

In 1989 with the publishing of the AD&D 2nd Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide, there is an optional rule for critical hits with two methods — double damage on a natural 20 or an additional attack on a natural 20. Note that this was an optional rule and Zeb Cook recommended against using it.

In Grymurld,™ I tried out the hit location rules from Blackmoor and soon the players and I came to dislike them quite a bit. It was too easy to kill monsters and characters with head shots (15% chance of a success hit going to the head which had 15% of the total hit points). Inspired by the AD&D Monster Manual Giant Lizard which would bite for double damage on a natural 20, I allowed both PCs and monsters to do the same.

The players loved it! In spite of the risk of being on the receiving end of a critical hit, the players enjoyed the chance of scoring a critical hit. Even though it was only a matter of luck to roll a 20, the players felt a keen sense of satisfaction when doing so. Did this violate the spirit if not the letter of Gygax & Arneson’s D&D? Who cares?!? If players and the GM alike enjoy the rule then by all means “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

And so I present to you, memorable critical hits:

Exploding Dice = Exploding Undead

Once upon a time there was a knyghte who tried to be a conventional paladin but just could not quite pull it off who was known as Syr Stephen d’Essexe. One of the many things that Syr Stephen was reputed for was always giving first strike to his opponents as well as never striking an opponent who was disadvantaged (stunned, prone, helpless, &c.). Now he could get away with this because the player rolled so well. Syr Stephen’s player rolled better than anyone I have ever seen in 30+ years of gaming. In the particular campaign that Syr Stephen was in, the rules I used for critical hits were borrowed from MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) — upon rolling a natural 20, roll again. A result of 1–19 meant double damage while a natural 20 meant roll again. The third result would be triple damage or roll again and so on ad infinitum. Given Syr Stephen’s reputation, it was not surprising that he scored critical hits often and usually did triple damage (two natural 20s) with the occasional quadruple damage (three natural 20s).

One day Syr Stephen and his fellows encountered a powerful spectre (drain 2 life levels on a successful hit!). Syr Stephen was nervous but his sword was enchaunted versus the undead (more so v. incorporeal). I reminded the player that only the magical bonus of the weapon would damage the spectre and the not the physical part nor the strength or skill bonus. I think the sword was +12 versus incorporeal which meant that each hit would do 12 points of damage. At this point you are no doubt wondering why I give a combat with incorporeal undead as an example of critical hits when the rules clearly state that undead, especially incoporeal undead have no vital organs thus are immune to critical hits. In Grymwurld,™ I allow critical hits against the undead because it is fun! However, the undead in Grymwurld are stronger than standard D&D (AD&D was only a d8 whereas I used a d12). At any rate, as you might have guessed by now, Syr Stephen allowed the spectre to take a swing at him first. The spectre punched right through Syr Stephen’s shield and armour taking two energy levels away. The other players howled at Syr Stephen for being “chivalrous” but the good knyghte was not daunted. He responded by rolling a natural 20, followed by a natural 20, and then a third natural 20, and then a fourth natural 20, and then a fifth natural 20, and then… a 4. Still, five natural 20s in a row which gave him sextuple (6×) damage or 72 points of damage! The spectre had 52 hit points and went to -20 in one shot. All of us at the table were aghast (pun intended) at what Syr Stephen had wrought!

And just to complete the story, once the spectre was destroyed, all of the life levels it had drained returned to their owners. “There can only be one!”

Smart D&D Players, Stupid Actions

I first started playing Dungeons & Dragons in 1977 and took on the mantle of the Dungeon Master in 1978. In that time, I have seen some really stupid and oftentimes hilarious actions by otherwise smart players. In this edition of the Hall of the Grymlorde,™ here are three examples of foolish actions.

Ivar the Boneless

During a “Viking” themed campaign that I ran, the party chanced to meet a fellow named Ivar the Boneless. Now before you start snickering, do note that there really was a Viking by that name quite active in the 9th Century. So here’s the setup: The PCs go into a mead hall and notice a big tough looking guy drinking by himself. They ask the nearest guy who the big guy is and find out he’s called ‘Ivar the Boneless’ — but don’t call him that to his face. Now most of you reading this have already figured out what’s going to happen, and indeed it does. What could possibly be the dumbest thing the PCs could do right now? Call Ivar “boneless” to his face? Right. And that is exactly what they did. Smart-arse PC taunts Ivar and Ivar punches PC in the face. The Jarl’s men break up the fight and Ivar challenges the PC to a holmgang, that is to say a duel. Next day they meet on a small island in the river, stripped to the waist and armed only with a dagger in hand. What the PCs didn’t know is that A) Ivar is a higher level warrior, B) he uses a magical dueling dagger, and C) he is specialized in dagger fighting. Long story short, Ivar kills the PC. Second PC jumps onto the island to avenge his “brother.” Ivar kills him. Third PC jumps onto the island and promptly dies. Fourth PC apologizes, offers up all the possessions of the first three PCs (as is custom) and leaves while the three players roll up new characters.

One of the players starting going on about how I screwed them and set them up to die. I pointed out that they were the ones foolish enough to provoke Ivar. I learned my craft from OD&D (c.1974) — stupid actions bring stupid deaths. The other players suddenly understood and joked about how they did act foolish and deserved it. The first player refused to take responsibility and that was not the first nor the last that he acted foolishly and denied it but that is another story.

Lambda the Lawful/Good Ranger

In the fall of 1978, the party was returning to town after a harrowing adventure in a dungeon when they met a man wearing plate mail, carrying a flail, no helmet, no shield (sounds like a cleric, right?) mounted on a red dragon. He hailed the party and introduced himself as Nommis-En. The party caller introduced himself as ‘Lambda the Lawful Good Ranger.’ You should have seen the look on the other player’s faces! A weird mixture of horror and laughter! I rolled for Nommis-En’s reaction and … well, he laughed so hard, he fell off the dragon! The party seized this good fortune and doubled-timed it out of there!

Always carry a Hold Portal spell

OD&D and AD&D Ghouls can be devastating to an unlucky party. Every hit with a claw will cause paralyzation unless a saving throw is made. Each ghoul gets two claw attacks per round plus a bite. During one dungeon adventure the party was massively unlucky. The cleric rolled poorly on his attempt to turn the ghouls and got paralyzed. Then the fighter and the ranger got paralyzed. And then the dwarven fighter and the hobbit thief were hit and failed their saving throws. Only the magic-user was unscathed because he was in the back rank. The M-U ran at the nearest opportunity and the ghouls chased him. I rolled to see which ones stayed behind to feast on the paralyzed victims but most decided to give chase. Now the magic-user’s base movement was 12" while the ghould only move at 9," which gave him a speed advantage. However, the ghouls knew the layout of the dungeon much better than the magic-user and herded him into a blind corridor. The other players kept telling the M-U to cast a Hold Portal spell. But he could not. He had not memorized that spell nor Wizard Lock for that matter. He did not have those spells on scrolls either. Nor did he have a potion of speed. I will grant him this — he managed to kill on of the ghouls with his dagger before the other two paralyzed him and literally ate him alive. TPK for want of a Hold Portal.

Return of The Grymlorde™

Back in black
I hit the sack
It’s been too long I’m glad to be back
Yes I’m, let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging around
I keep looking at the sky
’Cause it's gettin’ me high
Forget the hearse ’cause I’ll never die
I got nine lives
Cats eyes
Usin' every one of them and running wild
’Cause I'm back

— from Back in Black, written by Angus Young, Malcom Young, and Brian Johnson

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange æons even death may die.

— from The Call of Cthulhu (1926) by H.P. Lovecraft