Critical Hits and Misses

Critical Hits and Misses:

A critical hit occurs under at least one of the following conditions:

1. A dodge roll of 1.
2. On a maximum-hit roll that is not dodged. (Example: A 65 on d65.)
3. When the attack rolled is in the upper 25% of the amount of hits possible (ex. A 2d60 could roll up to 20 hits, so 16 or higher is within this range), and every die rolled exceeds ((target's sides + 1) / 2) by at least 50% (ex. A 2d20 would sustain a critical hit if every die against him were a 15 or higher - not too difficult a task.)

Likewise, a critical miss occurs under at least one of the following conditions:
1. A maximum dodge roll (when not under the 5% rule).
2. When a 1 is rolled on an attack that does not hit.
3. When no hits are rolled and all dice are below 25% of maximum (must be more than 1d). (A 2d20 would have to roll both dice at below 5 - a 2d60 could roll anything as long as there are no hits involved. This does not apply on weapons that require a dodge roll even when no hits are scored.

Critical Hit Tables:

Fun Spell
Sparring Attack
Non-Attack Spell
Combat Spell
Crushing Dmg
Cutting Dmg
Impaling Dmg
Melee Critical Misses
Ranged Critical Misses

Severity (1d100):
01 - 20 No unusual effects.
21 - 30 Minor effects.
31 - 40 Grazed.
41 - 50 Struck.
51 - 60 Minor breakage.
61 - 70 Severe breakage.
71 - 80 Disabling.
81 - 90 Debilitating.
91 - 95 Possibly lethal.
96+ Almost certainly lethal.

Severity is increased by 10 if two conditions apply for the critical hit; severity is increased by 20 if all conditions apply. If condition #2 applies multiple times, add an additional +5 to severity per additional time.

For those not interested in complex rulings, it is usually simplest to declare that critical hits inflict double the damage rolled, and critical misses flub in an interesting way of the GM's choice; GM rule is final.

Sparring Attacks:
For any attack used as a sparring attack (meant to cause less damage than normal) critical hits automatically cause very real damage (but not double damage); however, severity is reduced by 25 due to the nonlethal intentions of the combat. Accidents are still known to happen...

Vehicle Weaponry:
Vehicle weaponry is -much- bigger than the average PC - for each size category by which the vehicle weapon is greater, increase severity by 10. One usually doesn't survive a direct hit from the Death Star's Supercannon; this is why one usually
doesn't try to get -hit- by said cannon.

Fun Spells:
Fun spells are any spell that really isn't meant to harm someone at all, like pillows barraging the enemy, pudding pits appearing under them, Oreos raining from the skies, and whatnot. Usually this will never be used in an actual adventure, but one never knows...

Fun spells of severity 40 or less have no additional effects aside from double 'damage'.

Fun spells of up to severity 70 cause the target to take a penalty to his next attack equal to half the hits rolled in -d#, due to being boggled by the attack. For instance, a kiss attack that scores this severity may actually stun the person significantly.

Fun spells of greater severity are actually hazardous - they inflict 1/3 of their hits (pre-doubling) in actual physical damage, and cause a penalty as above.

Critical misses on fun spells automatically backfire upon the caster for (dice)d6 temporary damage.

Non-Attack Spells:
Non-Attack spells are those such as teleports, gates, sleep spells, and other miscellaneous spells. Critical hits on these spells are reduced to anything that rolls in the upper 25% or scores a maximum roll. Generally, critical hits score double the amount of hits rolled, and may have other beneficial effects as the GM decides, whether this be longer duration, greater area of effect, or something else entirely. Critical misses imply that something bad happens, and occur on spectacularly bad rolls.

Combat Spells:
Combat spells are, basically, anything that inflict damage. Usually, these will fall under the categories of crushing, cutting, or impaling damage listed below as appropriate; crushing damage is the default. Critical hits often imply interesting side effects that relate to the spell...

Crushing Damage:
Weapons that inflict crushing damage usually cause fractures and breaks on the target. Severity 21 to 30 indicates that the target cannot use that limb to attack next turn, or is knocked back (-d5 to any melee attack next turn); severity 31 to 40 causes the target to take -d5 to use that limb to attack at all, or -d2 to any attack if no specific limb was targeted. Anything above
severity 50 indicates a broken bone (use your imagination, but any attack is probably at -d10 due to extreme pain), and anything above severity 80 indicates a shattered bone or bones (-d20 to any attack if the target somehow manages to
keep fighting, damage is tripled.)

Cutting Damage:
Weapons that inflict cutting damage are nasty on critical hits - any critical hit causes bleeding (-1 HP/round until healed/bandaged), and effects are as crushing damage except that severity 50 is enough to sever something if the damage is more than half the HP of the target, and bleeding is (-1d6 HP/round) (must roll one higher than the HP on heal/bandage attempts to stop the bleeding.) Severity 80 remains capable of severing limbs (remember damage is tripled), and
bleeding from such attacks is (-2d6 HP/round).

Impaling Damage:
Impaling weapons, such as spears, are often considered the worst of all - they are in general considered as the most nasty result of either of the above, usually cause bleeding, and are at +10 to severity. Lasers tend to be considered impaling weapons except that they rarely cause bleeding (cauterization and all, you know...) Bullets, however, do cause bleeding and take all the fun out of your day.

Melee Critical Misses:
Most critical misses when you are sword to sword with your foe are a bad thing; just how bad is determined by the severity of your flub. The following is a sample table only - GMs may use their own results and are encouraged to be creative. Remember, this applies to the bad guys -and- good guys; if a bad guy flubs it, it should be as disastrous as when a good guy does.
(Brilliant, Boss, throw the Atom Blaster at 'em, I'm sure -that- scared 'em off.)

01 - 30 Just a really bad miss...

31 - 40 Wide open for a hit; no defenses against next attack if you have them, double damage from next attack if not.

41 - 50 Unfriendly fire. Random target near you is hit for (dice)d6 damage - he can defend normally if he sees it coming. Dodge is considered against a roll of 20.

51 - 60 Throw your weapon. If you are using a throwable weapon, it flies out of your hand; you must spend a turn recovering it or making it return to you. If anyone is in that direction, friend or foe, they are attacked as if by unfriendly fire (above), for half
damage. If you are not using a throwable weapon, it risks breakage - roll above 10 on d20 (or the crafter's skill) or the weapon breaks. Shatterproof 1 will prevent this.

61 - 70 If any companion is next to you, he gets hit automatically - roll (dice)d6 for damage, and if any 6 is rolled, the attack is a critical hit. If no companions are near, you manage to injure yourself for (dice/2)d4 damage, and are wide open for a hit as above.

71 - 80 If you're wearing a helm, it shifts to the point where you cannot see; if in heavy armor, one of the joints locks up; if you're not wearing anything heavy, you strain something. -(1d4)*d5 to any action until your predicament is fixed.

81 - 90 You hit yourself, strain yourself, or otherwise find some way to cause yourself injury; (dice)d6 damage, rolling any six counts the attack as a critical hit.

91 - 95 If something in range absolutely should not be hit by this character's attack, it is. Whatever the character ends up hitting gets critically hit automatically, and is chosen as whoever the worst target to be would be. (Ex: A demon using fire spells to eliminate everyone ends up targeting just Shidi, or Terrin accidentally fires Burr's freeze power at Shidi rather than said demon.)
96+ Hooboy... something -bad- happens. Exactly what it is is determined by the GM; however, it will be memorably bad and will probably appear in the worst possible light. An example would be Chomp accidentally eating a companion who was about to fire a rocket launcher... Think -really bad-.

Ranged Critical Misses:
Ranged critical misses, simply put, are those made when you are -not- sword to sword with your target, whether it be casting a spell, firing a machine gun, throwing daggers, or otherwise creating havoc.

01 - 30 Just a really bad miss...
31 - 40 Not aiming at the right target - roll a random die to see who you were really aiming at, and roll again.
41 - 50 Unfriendly fire. Roll a random die as above, except that your companions are considered twice for purposes of being a target (Shidi would be 1-2 instead of 1, etc.)
51 - 60 If your weapon/spell/etc. is a thrown type, you drop it - consider yourself the target, and roll for damage. If your weapon is not a thrown type, you still drop it, but at least it probably won't hurt you... Roll 1d4. On a 1, you manage to shoot at yourself anyways. (Very uncool when using that bazooka...)
61 - 70 Very unfriendly fire - nearest companion is considered the target of your attack.
71 - 80 If using a weapon that requires loading, it jams, the string breaks, or otherwise the weapon is removed from service. Fixing it takes however long the GM mandates. If using a spell, you burn yourself out - lose 3d6 EP plus the EP of the spell, and nothing happens. In other cases, the attack is made against a random companion, and ignores armor entirely.
81 - 90 Major foulup; weapon breaks, explodes, backfires, or otherwise is rendered useless. The holder automatically takes damage as if hit twice by the weapon, if possible; archers and knifetossers merely lose their weapons, while spellcasters suffer burnout as above and must reroll - they then take whatever is rolled in hits as damage.
91 - 95 If something in range absolutely should not be hit by this character's attack, it is. Whatever the character ends up hitting gets critically hit automatically, and is chosen as whoever the worst target to be would be. (Ex: A bad guy accidentally hits one of the ropes that holds his platform up, or a good guy clobbers Shidi as she is trying to cast, making her screw up the spell...)
96+ Hooboy... something -bad- happens. Exactly what it is is determined by the GM; however, it will be memorably bad and will probably appear in the worst possible light. An example would be Herb aiming at and shooting Shidi in the back of the neck, for a critical hit. Think -really bad-.