Inspired post from a video the Dungeon Dudes just put out.
Calling shots, for those of you who don’t know. Before a player makes an attack roll they can claim specific attack to an area of a creature. To which the DM will have to make a snap judgement to raise the creatures AC or have the player take a penalty on the attack roll. This is depending on where the attack is taking place head, body arms legs etc. In the video the Dungeon Dudes explain there reasons behind why this way to play can bog down the combat and also create encounters that encourage 1-hit kills to main villains or just lucky rolls that end encounters abruptly and anticlimactically.
So I blended a few things together and I think this may be a solution to the problem? But I wanted your thoughts.
On natural 20 give the players a choice between a Called Shot or Doubling the dice.
Called Shot - on a natural 20 the player is allowed to specify how they make their attack. Then the DM will determine how hard of an attack that is to make. The player will reroll to see if they hit again on a successful hit the targeted action will happen and 1 or more conditions will affect the creature and normal damage will be dealt. On a miss the target has nothing happen.
Example: The party Hunter rolled a natural 20 on the Ogre and they want to make a called shot instead of rolling and doubling the dice. Hunter specifys they want to aim for the head. DM determines that hitting the head will require some precision so the DM adds +8 to the Ogres AC player rerolls and gets a hit! Target Ogre takes 15 points of piercing damage and is now Blinded and Feared for 1d4 rounds.
Would you use this in your game? Should the player still get to roll normal damage if they miss? Does it take away from the excitement of a natural 20? Let me know your thoughts or if you have questions.
Still runs afoul of why the aforementioned Dudes of a Dungeoning persuasion (god I hate their channel name...) booed the rule in the first place. Too much persnickety weirdness, too much extra math, and in this case a very real chance of losing your crit. Called shots don't work in 5e. If you want called shots? Play a Battlemaster. Battlemaster maneuvers simulate the effects of called shots pretty well, and without the rules bloat inherent to most other called-shot homebrew rules.
Remember, you want to minimize any additional rolling required for your rules. Ideally you should only ever add one additional roll to a given combat action. Even more ideally, you'd manage no additional rolls. Rolling dice is great, but it's also awful. Especially when there's a table to consult. Nobody sits down to a D&D game to consult tables.
I think a cleaner version is offer the player double damage or pick 1 from a list of options. Example head is blind x rounds, hand is disadvantage on attack rolls(lower spell DC if a caster) feet is reduced run speed and/or unable to use dash action.
How about: on a Natural 20, Player can do the extra damage or call a shot, rather than doing extra damage. DM impromptu rules on an single condition/effect that's in play for 1-2 turns for that creature: in the case of a head shot, on a helmet wearing creature, I might go for stunned for their next turn; in the case of a bludgeoning attack on a shield arm, they might drop their shield, and lose 2 on their AC or need to take a round to recover it.
The tricky part is how to balance called shots being used against the Players. Now - the rules do not need to be symmetrical ( which is why some Monsters have abilities Players cannot ever obtain ) - but some sort of in-world rationale for the asymmetry is preferable.
So - either called shots can be used against the Characters, which makes for the potential for the battle to get really erratic as Characters are incapacitated, blinded, or stunned ( although this might not be any more destabilizing than spell casting opponents ) - or you need to explain why the Monsters can't call shots on the Characters.
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Doubling the damage dice is pretty op perk. Usually its just an additional damage di on a crit hit. If its an attack that already has 3 or more damage dice then thats just straight up broken. I just make called shot roll at disadvantage. I'll only consider insta death on crit with disadvantage and only if its not a major storline boss.
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Inspired post from a video the Dungeon Dudes just put out.
Calling shots, for those of you who don’t know. Before a player makes an attack roll they can claim specific attack to an area of a creature. To which the DM will have to make a snap judgement to raise the creatures AC or have the player take a penalty on the attack roll. This is depending on where the attack is taking place head, body arms legs etc. In the video the Dungeon Dudes explain there reasons behind why this way to play can bog down the combat and also create encounters that encourage 1-hit kills to main villains or just lucky rolls that end encounters abruptly and anticlimactically.
So I blended a few things together and I think this may be a solution to the problem? But I wanted your thoughts.
On natural 20 give the players a choice between a Called Shot or Doubling the dice.
Called Shot - on a natural 20 the player is allowed to specify how they make their attack. Then the DM will determine how hard of an attack that is to make. The player will reroll to see if they hit again on a successful hit the targeted action will happen and 1 or more conditions will affect the creature and normal damage will be dealt. On a miss the target has nothing happen.
Example: The party Hunter rolled a natural 20 on the Ogre and they want to make a called shot instead of rolling and doubling the dice. Hunter specifys they want to aim for the head. DM determines that hitting the head will require some precision so the DM adds +8 to the Ogres AC player rerolls and gets a hit! Target Ogre takes 15 points of piercing damage and is now Blinded and Feared for 1d4 rounds.
Would you use this in your game? Should the player still get to roll normal damage if they miss? Does it take away from the excitement of a natural 20? Let me know your thoughts or if you have questions.
Still runs afoul of why the aforementioned Dudes of a Dungeoning persuasion (god I hate their channel name...) booed the rule in the first place. Too much persnickety weirdness, too much extra math, and in this case a very real chance of losing your crit. Called shots don't work in 5e. If you want called shots? Play a Battlemaster. Battlemaster maneuvers simulate the effects of called shots pretty well, and without the rules bloat inherent to most other called-shot homebrew rules.
Remember, you want to minimize any additional rolling required for your rules. Ideally you should only ever add one additional roll to a given combat action. Even more ideally, you'd manage no additional rolls. Rolling dice is great, but it's also awful. Especially when there's a table to consult. Nobody sits down to a D&D game to consult tables.
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I think a cleaner version is offer the player double damage or pick 1 from a list of options. Example head is blind x rounds, hand is disadvantage on attack rolls(lower spell DC if a caster) feet is reduced run speed and/or unable to use dash action.
To much math, and re-rolling should be avoided.
How about: on a Natural 20, Player can do the extra damage or call a shot, rather than doing extra damage. DM impromptu rules on an single condition/effect that's in play for 1-2 turns for that creature: in the case of a head shot, on a helmet wearing creature, I might go for stunned for their next turn; in the case of a bludgeoning attack on a shield arm, they might drop their shield, and lose 2 on their AC or need to take a round to recover it.
The tricky part is how to balance called shots being used against the Players. Now - the rules do not need to be symmetrical ( which is why some Monsters have abilities Players cannot ever obtain ) - but some sort of in-world rationale for the asymmetry is preferable.
So - either called shots can be used against the Characters, which makes for the potential for the battle to get really erratic as Characters are incapacitated, blinded, or stunned ( although this might not be any more destabilizing than spell casting opponents ) - or you need to explain why the Monsters can't call shots on the Characters.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Doubling the damage dice is pretty op perk. Usually its just an additional damage di on a crit hit. If its an attack that already has 3 or more damage dice then thats just straight up broken. I just make called shot roll at disadvantage. I'll only consider insta death on crit with disadvantage and only if its not a major storline boss.