Saturday, July 26, 2014

Exploring Damage and the Critical Hit



The critical hit is an old time house rule and favorite of many a fantasy RPG player but just what is the actual impact on combat over the course of the game and as such thousands of rounds? The following charts explore the impact of critical applied as simple multipliers to damage inflicted.

Chart 10a:  x2 critical hit on a 20. No confirmation roll required.
Damage
Die
Armor Class
9[10]
8[11]
7[12]
6[13]
5[14]
4[15]
3[16]
2[17]
d4 (2.5)
 1.5
 1.375
 1.25
 1.125
1.0
0.875
 0.75
0.625
d6 (3.5)
2.1
 1.925
1.75
1.575
1.4
1.225
1.05
0.875
d8 (4.5)
 2.7
2.475
2.25
2.025
1.8
1.575
1.35
1.125
d10 (5.5)
 3.3
3.025
2.75
2.475
2.2
1.925
1.65
1.375
The formula used above was  (ave damage * (chance to hit - 5%))+5% of (average damage x2)) 
for 1d6 weapon vs AC9 that's (3.5*.5)+(0.05*7)
 
Chart 10b: comparing likely damage in consideration of crits for x2 on a 20.
Damage
Die
Average Likely Damage without Critical Hit
Average Likely Damage with
Critical Hit
Damage as % of
Standard
Die Type
Compared to same
With Critical
Damage as % of
1d6 compared to
Die Type
With Critical Critical
d4
0.9375
1.0625
113%
81%
d6
1.3125
1.4875
113%
113%
d8
1.6875
1.9125
113%
146%
d10
2.0625
2.3375
113%
178%

The charts above show a d4 or 1d6 weapon scoring a critical hit that doubles the damage on a hit roll of 20 isn’t a very substantial gain in likely damage as both are likely to inflict less damage than a straight +1 damage bonus would (see chart 7b).
D8 and D10 weapons do a bit better with this situation coming close to but not beating a flat bonus of +1 to damage (as per chart 7b).  

Over the course of thousands of rounds of combat the critical hit has fairly minimal impact on combat compared to a flat damage bonus. In any given round using a x2 critical does create a bit of excitement as there is a 5% chance of inflicting above average damage on every hit but over the long run it just doesn’t do much at all. 

Introducing a confirmation roll as 3.x D&D would have the result of reducing the average likely damage from that shown in chart 10a resulting in critical hits being even of less significance and a much lesser improvement in damage with more time spent in game to calculate the damage (a time drag for no significant overall gain).

 Next let's check the results of doubling the dice roll while doubling a damage bonus

Chart 11a: likely damage by doubling of damage die + damage bonus
Damage
roll
Armor Class
9[10]
8[11]
7[12]
6[13]
5[14]
4[15]
3[16]
2[17]
d4
 1.5
 1.375
 1.25
 1.125
1.0
0.875
 0.75
0.625
d4 +1
2.1
 1.925
1.75
1.575
1.4
1.225
1.05
0.875
d4 +2
 2.7
2.475
2.25
2.025
1.8
1.575
1.35
1.125
d4 +3
 3.3
3.025
2.75
2.475
2.2
1.925
1.65
1.375
d4 +4
3.9
3.575
3.25
2.925
2.6
2.275
1.95
1.625
d6
2.1
 1.925
1.75
1.575
1.4
1.225
1.05
0.875
d6 +1
 2.7
2.475
2.25
2.025
1.8
1.575
1.35
1.125
d6 +2
 3.3
3.025
2.75
2.475
2.2
1.925
1.65
1.375
d6 +3
3.9
3.575
3.25
2.925
2.6
2.275
1.95
1.625
d6 +4
4.5
4.125
3.75
3.375
3
2.625
2.25
1.875
d8
 2.7
2.475
2.25
2.025
1.8
1.575
1.35
1.125
d8 +1
 3.3
3.025
2.75
2.475
2.2
1.925
1.65
1.375
d8 +2
3.9
3.575
3.25
2.925
2.6
2.275
1.95
1.625
d8 +3
4.5
4.125
3.75
3.375
3
2.625
2.25
1.875
d8 +4
5.1
4.675
4.25
3.825
3.4
2.975
2.55
2.125
d10
 3.3
3.025
2.75
2.475
2.2
1.925
1.65
1.375
d10 +1
3.9
3.575
3.25
2.925
2.6
2.275
1.95
1.625
d10 +2
4.5
4.125
3.75
3.375
3
2.625
2.25
1.875
d10 +3
5.1
4.675
4.25
3.825
3.4
2.975
2.55
2.125
d10 +4
5.7
5.225
4.75
4.275
3.8
3.325
2.85
2.375

Chart 11b: comparing average damage of doubling dice and damage bonus
Base
Damage
Average
Likely
Damage
Inflicted
AC 9 to 2
Critical Damage
As %
Of standard
1d6
d4
1.0625

81%
d4 +1
1d6
1.4875
113%
d4+2
1d6+1
1d8
1.9125

146%

d4 +3
1d6+2
1d8+1
1d10
2.3375

178%
d4 +4
1d6+3
1d8+2
1d10+1
2.7625

210%
d6 +4
1d8+3
1d10+2
3.1875

243%
d8 +4
1d10+3
3.6125

275%
d10 +4
4.0375

308%
Chart 11a and chart 11b show multiplying the base die and the damage bonus provides a significant boost to damage inflicted. The weight given to bonuses when they are also multiplied is telling.
Note the same results as those shown on table 11a and 11b would be achieved by doubling the dice rolled or by doubling the score of rolling one die.

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