Epic Fail; Arguments For and Against the Critical Miss

One issue that I’ve commonly run across is the debate for and against the critical miss. For those of us who agree with the idea, it really does make sense. If a character can, five percent of the time, make an amazing, battle changing action, doesn’t it stand to reason that he could just as easily ruin the day with a truly epic fail? For the others, the argument usually goes along the lines of, “I’ve never seen a critical miss system that worked… ever. They offer either too much punishment or have so many safeguards against that punishment that we’d all be better off without the critical miss even existing in the first place.” Clearly, both sides have valid points.

In my honest opinion, I enjoy the idea. It’s interesting to watch players start to sweat when they realize that the all important d20 just landed on its lowest possible outcome, and why not? Why shouldn’t they have just as much to worry about as they do to pray for? And so, since I created my own rule about three years ago, I’ve always utilized the same exact homebrew rule for critical misses in every campaign I’ve run. Is it complicated? A tad. So complicated that the whole thing might as well not be there? Some might say so. But for anyone and everyone interested, I give you my homebrew rule for critical misses:

The Natural 1 – On a natural 1 attack roll, the attack automatically misses and the player must roll another d20. If that subsequent roll is a 20, the player takes no additional penalty. If the subsequent roll lands between 2 and 19, the player takes a -1 penalty to her next attack. If the subsequent roll is another 1, the player critically misses and is punished with a -3 penalty to her next attack.

Clause 1: At 21st level, players no longer critically miss. Therefore, on a natural 1 roll, they simply take a base -1 penalty to their next attack.

Clause 2: This rule, in all forms, applies to both enemies and player characters.

And there you have it. That’s the rule that I and my players have always agreed upon. We find that it not only offers a fair punishment, but one that is, rightly, more hindering at lower levels when the idea of a devastating miss is more likely. In addition, it doesn’t deliver ridiculous negatives that most people dislike (like dropping weapons or attacking allies).