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And the word of the month for February 2008 is dumbed down!!!

Xaielao2 and AriaSilverhands: What, do you guys own a book store overstocked with 3.5 material or something??

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As for crit mechanics, I hate two things about the 3.5 system, the let down of failing the confermation roll, and the ridiculous damage spikes that can occur. The system seems to fix both, so count me in.

I don't know why everyone getting so upset over a simple word (or compound word to be more accurate). I don't know what was originally intended by it on this thread but Dumb down means to simplify. Just that. Don't let the word "dumb" scare you.

Xaielao2 wrote:

Case you haven't read it (it's a bit over a month old, but I just read it.) Heres the writeup

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20080104


I realize this may be a dead horse but I haven't been on the forum for a while so it's news to me, but I really dislike the new mechanics. I like that you crit on a simple D20 roll, and if Keen and similar bonuses are in, that makes them even more powerful. The Confirmation Roll was an interesting mechanic, added tension and it wasn't often 'that' difficult to succeed, but it always sucked when you missed on the Confirmation.

Now the part I dislike is that your crit is always the same. It's the maximum damage you do with a weapon. So using just weapon damage, a longsword always crits for 8. A two-hander always crits for 12, and so on. Now this can be changed with a magical weapon that has bonus damage. So an Icy Longsword does 1d8+1d6, and a crit does 8+1d6. Wow thats incredible ah?

Yea.. are you thinking the same as me? This saps all the fun, all the suspense, surprise and excitement out of crits. It's a simple 'max damage' hit now. You can do that on a normal every day role. At level 1 with a dagger you have a 1 in 4 chance of doing as much damage with every single attack, but a 1 in 20 of doing the same amount. BORING!

Am I alone in this? I cant believe they thought this was a cool idea. It's a needless Dumbing-Down change. Sure previously crits could be wildly different based on chance, but that was the fun. Sure it could hurt.. BAD if you got critted by a tough high end monster. But players almost always crit for more in 3.5 accept vs the most physically powerful of monsters, so it generally isn't a powerful.

We don't know all the games mechanics yet, and of course the game is still playtesting, but if this sticks, and if it sucks as bad as it appears to, my very first house rule will be to revert to the old critical hit style.

I like it. Still usefull and powerfull, but now simpler and it speeds up gameplay.
No more advantage to the monsters, who threw virtue of superior numbers and/or higher base damage are more likely to spike.
Over the course of long battles it actually does more damage then the old crit system, rewarding PCs for using tactics.
No more rollercoaster of emotions [yes a crit, no not confirmed: ( ], which frequently leads to apathy over all.

Have any of you tried playing without increased damage crits? Try natural 20 = automatic hit without the extra damage. It works.

It makes it actually mean something when you roll max damage on dice. This actually adds excitement in my opinion (Man, that was a great shot Elf!).

The only problem I can see with this in 3e (I wouldn't know for sure because I don't play 3e), is that weapons become pretty much equal to one another without a threat range as a "stat."