I have been playing D&D for more than 30 years and one of the greater mechanics I use is the critical success/fail where a natural one in battle, saves, or skill checks is always a critical fail and a natural 20 is always a critical success. I find this is a great way to keep the players engaged and allow them to be creative in their own right. The problem is you can't have an Elminster or Drizzt DoUrden flubbing up once in every twenty tries (avg) Here is my solution.
Luckrepresents a characters innate ability to seemingly be in the right place at the right time or avoid scenarios others would have encountered. This trait attempts to offset the 1 in 20 chance of a critical failure roll in Dungeons and Dragons which is ironically just as likely at level one as it is at level 30. Here is how it works with over 25 years of play testing...
New characters roll 4d4 at character creation and re-roll ones so they start with an 8-16 luck score. With each new level they will add a d4 to their luck score. In addition during game play, for all Attack rolls, Skill checks and Saving throws, each 20 adds a luck percentage point and each 1 deducts a luck from their score. If rolling with Advantage or Disadvantage you simply count all dice towards the luck feature. For example if I rolled with advantage and got 1 and a 20, my luck would be unchanged. If I rolled a 1 and an 18, I play the 18 but still must deduct 1 from my luck for the alternate dice. If you do not do this the luck will increase too rapidly.
The character uses luck to potentially counter the negative effects of a critical fail. However, the character must petition the DM with an in game scenario and explanation of how they were LUCKY. Once the DM accepts the scenario, the player rolls d100 and is successful if they roll their LUCK roll or less on the die.
Note: My veteran players use their preferred range. For example one always rolls high so if his luck is 20, he will say "I am choosing high" meaning his roll must be 81-100 in order to be successful. Others say, 51-70 and try to predict the range they roll in.
A few classic examples:
During a battle a character fires an arrow and misses. Later in the battle a character throws a dagger at a target 30 ft away and rolls a 1 on the d20. (Critical Fail) The player has a 19 luck, so he deducts one from his luck making it 18 and then the player says, :I want to make a luck roll." DM says, "Ok, tell us what happened." The player says, " As I chucked the dagger across the battlefield, it collided mid-air with the arrow fired by the teammate earlier in the round and both fell to the ground harmlessly." After the DM accept this as a possible "LUCKY" event. The player now rolls the d100 and needs to get an 18 or less for the lucky event to actually happen. If he fails, the dagger flew off into the underbrush never to be found again, or missed and was picked up by a foe or simply hit a tree or other object oddly and snapped the blade
During a guild invasion the rogue fails a stealth check with roll of 1 on the d20. (Critical Fail) as he creeps along the roof eave. After petitioning the DM for a luck roll, The Player says, " The shingle I stepped on made an audible squeak or cracking sound. However, someone in the room below dropped a glass and shattered it at same moment and the sound was not heard. The DM says, "No" (Because he knows no one is in the room below) So the player says," Then the shingle slid off the roof and would have been heard by the guard standing near but it landed in hay right as the guard coughed out loud, thereby going unnoticed. The DM accepts the scenario and the player rolls. The player fails the luck roll. The shingle falls and lands on the guards shoulder, he looks up immediately and runs into the building.
As you can see, early in the game it will not affect much and will rarely be successful but when it is, the party will cheer the lucky happenstance and move on. However, later in the game when a 15th level character rolls a critical fail in battle, he/she will be able to counter most of these with the use of luck. This is a great tool to ensure the players are in character and paying attention and they own the individual situations.
Notes:
One thing we have never allowed is for a successful luck roll to cause a failed hit to actually hit the original target. It merely avoids the negative effects of the critical fail.
The DM always maintains control on whether the luck request is allowed before the roll is attempted. As the players, get familiar with using the luck score the scenarios will become quite creative.
You may also decide to allow the appropriate score modifier to be added to the luck roll attempt. So in the second scenario, you may add the Dex bonus since stealth relies on it. Players luck is 14 and dex bonus is +2 so he must roll a 16 or less to be successful. This will really stretch some personality types to actually be creative in coming up with some way to avoid a critical fail.
I have been playing D&D for more than 30 years and one of the greater mechanics I use is the critical success/fail where a natural one in battle, saves, or skill checks is always a critical fail and a natural 20 is always a critical success. I find this is a great way to keep the players engaged and allow them to be creative in their own right. The problem is you can't have an Elminster or Drizzt DoUrden flubbing up once in every twenty tries (avg) Here is my solution.
Luck represents a characters innate ability to seemingly be in the right place at the right time or avoid scenarios others would have encountered. This trait attempts to offset the 1 in 20 chance of a critical failure roll in Dungeons and Dragons which is ironically just as likely at level one as it is at level 30. Here is how it works with over 25 years of play testing...
New characters roll 4d4 at character creation and re-roll ones so they start with an 8-16 luck score. With each new level they will add a d4 to their luck score. In addition during game play, for all Attack rolls, Skill checks and Saving throws, each 20 adds a luck percentage point and each 1 deducts a luck from their score. If rolling with Advantage or Disadvantage you simply count all dice towards the luck feature. For example if I rolled with advantage and got 1 and a 20, my luck would be unchanged. If I rolled a 1 and an 18, I play the 18 but still must deduct 1 from my luck for the alternate dice. If you do not do this the luck will increase too rapidly.
The character uses luck to potentially counter the negative effects of a critical fail. However, the character must petition the DM with an in game scenario and explanation of how they were LUCKY. Once the DM accepts the scenario, the player rolls d100 and is successful if they roll their LUCK roll or less on the die.
Note: My veteran players use their preferred range. For example one always rolls high so if his luck is 20, he will say "I am choosing high" meaning his roll must be 81-100 in order to be successful. Others say, 51-70 and try to predict the range they roll in.
A few classic examples:
During a battle a character fires an arrow and misses. Later in the battle a character throws a dagger at a target 30 ft away and rolls a 1 on the d20. (Critical Fail) The player has a 19 luck, so he deducts one from his luck making it 18 and then the player says, :I want to make a luck roll." DM says, "Ok, tell us what happened." The player says, " As I chucked the dagger across the battlefield, it collided mid-air with the arrow fired by the teammate earlier in the round and both fell to the ground harmlessly." After the DM accept this as a possible "LUCKY" event. The player now rolls the d100 and needs to get an 18 or less for the lucky event to actually happen. If he fails, the dagger flew off into the underbrush never to be found again, or missed and was picked up by a foe or simply hit a tree or other object oddly and snapped the blade
During a guild invasion the rogue fails a stealth check with roll of 1 on the d20. (Critical Fail) as he creeps along the roof eave. After petitioning the DM for a luck roll, The Player says, " The shingle I stepped on made an audible squeak or cracking sound. However, someone in the room below dropped a glass and shattered it at same moment and the sound was not heard. The DM says, "No" (Because he knows no one is in the room below) So the player says," Then the shingle slid off the roof and would have been heard by the guard standing near but it landed in hay right as the guard coughed out loud, thereby going unnoticed. The DM accepts the scenario and the player rolls. The player fails the luck roll. The shingle falls and lands on the guards shoulder, he looks up immediately and runs into the building.
As you can see, early in the game it will not affect much and will rarely be successful but when it is, the party will cheer the lucky happenstance and move on. However, later in the game when a 15th level character rolls a critical fail in battle, he/she will be able to counter most of these with the use of luck. This is a great tool to ensure the players are in character and paying attention and they own the individual situations.
Notes:
Does your luck percentage reset at a long rest, or can your luck permanently shrink to 0, or even grow to 100 if you're lucky? (punintended)
You are winning the game. Good job! Oh wait...