At the tender age of 52, I finally ran my first ever campaign. Said campaign, The Kidnapped Child, was even one that I had written (mostly to keep it simple). I ran it for my 12 year old son. We had a blast! Anyway, as would be expected, we have some questions.
1. My son's character was able to creep up behind a duergar. He then rolled a critical roll when attacking with his battle axe. Would this kill the enemy?
2. Can creatures and/or characters be wounded, meaning that they would lose HP as rounds progress?
3. Can armor class drop with damage?
4. Can damage give advantage to attacking players?
I guess that's all for now. I'm already looking forward to writing more adventures.
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
At the tender age of 52, I finally ran my first ever campaign. Said campaign, The Kidnapped Child, was even one that I had written (mostly to keep it simple). I ran it for my 12 year old son. We had a blast! Anyway, as would be expected, we have some questions.
1. My son's character was able to creep up behind a duergar. He then rolled a critical roll when attacking with his battle axe. Would this kill the enemy?
By the rules, no. All sneaking up gets you is advantage on the attack roll, and the crit just gets you twice as many damage dice. (Which may well kill a low-level opponent outright, but it's not guaranteed.)
As the DM, you can always rule that the circumstances are such that an instant kill is possible.
However, if you do, be aware that players will keep trying to do things that worked. If you can sneak up for an insta-kill, they'll always try it.
2. Can creatures and/or characters be wounded, meaning that they would lose HP as rounds progress?
Outside of special abilities that specifically say so, no.
Hit Points are a very, very, abstract way of doing injury and death. If you think about them some, you might conclude that they don't make sense.
This is correct.
What they do do is enable combat to be a feature of the game that players will engage with regularly, without too great a fear of the consequences of it. As such, adding extra consequences to combat damage is working against the design of the game.
3. Can armor class drop with damage?
4. Can damage give advantage to attacking players?
See the answer to 2.
If you want there to be consequences for combat damage, there are other games out there that are better suited. (It can even be done while being less complicated than D&D. FATE is the first one that comes to mind for that.)
However, if D&D is meeting your needs otherwise, I suggest just accepting that D&D combat is very abstracted. You can add cosmetic detail in your narration of the results.
At the tender age of 52, I finally ran my first ever campaign. Said campaign, The Kidnapped Child, was even one that I had written (mostly to keep it simple). I ran it for my 12 year old son. We had a blast! Anyway, as would be expected, we have some questions.
1. My son's character was able to creep up behind a duergar. He then rolled a critical roll when attacking with his battle axe. Would this kill the enemy?
2. Can creatures and/or characters be wounded, meaning that they would lose HP as rounds progress?
3. Can armor class drop with damage?
4. Can damage give advantage to attacking players?
I guess that's all for now. I'm already looking forward to writing more adventures.
Somehow, I didn't see jl8e's very good answer before I wrote this. oops.
By RAW (Rules as Written)
1. It would have no additional effect beyond the standard critical hit. (Stealth 1-shot kills are not a thing in D&D. I mean, its theoretically possible that you do enough damage to kill the target, but you still need to roll the damage.)
2. There are a few spells and effects that have a persistent damage mechanic like you are describing. But in general, no, it's not a thing unless the spell or power specifically says otherwise.
3. Armor class does not change as a result of damage. (In general, equipment does not degrade or break.)
4. Damage does not typically give advantage. There are lots of things that do, but damage, generally, isn't one of them.
Just as a general tip for going forward: The rules only do what they say they do. They don't imply anything. If it isn't written down, it doesn't do it.
As the above poster said, you are free to change any and all of the rules as you like. However, first, I'd try and stick to them for a while until you get the hang of things, so you can better understand what you are changing. Also, any changes you do make kind of end up becoming permanent, new house rules. So, for example, with your first question, if it works for the players to 1-shot an enemy, it should also work for an enemy to do that to a player.
At the tender age of 52, I finally ran my first ever campaign. Said campaign, The Kidnapped Child, was even one that I had written (mostly to keep it simple). I ran it for my 12 year old son. We had a blast! Anyway, as would be expected, we have some questions.
1. My son's character was able to creep up behind a duergar. He then rolled a critical roll when attacking with his battle axe. Would this kill the enemy?
2. Can creatures and/or characters be wounded, meaning that they would lose HP as rounds progress?
3. Can armor class drop with damage?
4. Can damage give advantage to attacking players?
I guess that's all for now. I'm already looking forward to writing more adventures.
it is ENTIERLY up to you.
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
By the rules, no. All sneaking up gets you is advantage on the attack roll, and the crit just gets you twice as many damage dice. (Which may well kill a low-level opponent outright, but it's not guaranteed.)
As the DM, you can always rule that the circumstances are such that an instant kill is possible.
However, if you do, be aware that players will keep trying to do things that worked. If you can sneak up for an insta-kill, they'll always try it.
Outside of special abilities that specifically say so, no.
Hit Points are a very, very, abstract way of doing injury and death. If you think about them some, you might conclude that they don't make sense.
This is correct.
What they do do is enable combat to be a feature of the game that players will engage with regularly, without too great a fear of the consequences of it. As such, adding extra consequences to combat damage is working against the design of the game.
See the answer to 2.
If you want there to be consequences for combat damage, there are other games out there that are better suited. (It can even be done while being less complicated than D&D. FATE is the first one that comes to mind for that.)
However, if D&D is meeting your needs otherwise, I suggest just accepting that D&D combat is very abstracted. You can add cosmetic detail in your narration of the results.
Somehow, I didn't see jl8e's very good answer before I wrote this. oops.
By RAW (Rules as Written)
1. It would have no additional effect beyond the standard critical hit. (Stealth 1-shot kills are not a thing in D&D. I mean, its theoretically possible that you do enough damage to kill the target, but you still need to roll the damage.)
2. There are a few spells and effects that have a persistent damage mechanic like you are describing. But in general, no, it's not a thing unless the spell or power specifically says otherwise.
3. Armor class does not change as a result of damage. (In general, equipment does not degrade or break.)
4. Damage does not typically give advantage. There are lots of things that do, but damage, generally, isn't one of them.
Just as a general tip for going forward: The rules only do what they say they do. They don't imply anything. If it isn't written down, it doesn't do it.
As the above poster said, you are free to change any and all of the rules as you like. However, first, I'd try and stick to them for a while until you get the hang of things, so you can better understand what you are changing. Also, any changes you do make kind of end up becoming permanent, new house rules. So, for example, with your first question, if it works for the players to 1-shot an enemy, it should also work for an enemy to do that to a player.