It’s been a while since I last played but I used to just play critical hits as double damage. Can someone explain what crit hits actually are?

Basically it is just double the damage dice rolled.

For example, you crit with a long sword.  You roll the d8 twice and apply any other non dice damage once.  Obviously the more damage dice you have from other sources (sneak attack, smites, etc) the more the critical hit damage.  Spells that require attack rolls to hit can also crit (for now) which can lead to a lot of extra damage dice as well.

Take all your damage dice (for weapon attacks, it's usually just one), roll it, roll it again, and add any relevant modifiers.

Ex: Flame Tongue shortsword with a +2 STR. That's 1d6 + 2 slashing, so make it 2d6 + 2, and 2d6 fire, so make it 4d6 fire.

Thanks for your help. This explains it.

The above is absolutely correct, RaW.  Our table opted to implement a rule where a crit means roll normal damage, then add the MAX dor the dice for the "doubled" dice.  We were finding a LOT of our crits seemed to be hitting for less than a normal hit, due to seriously crappy dice rolls.  We still have our Barbarian actually roll his Brutal Criticals, but all other damage dice we just add a "max roll" for, to ensure a crit is actually a special hit.  It felt so wrong to habe our Fighter hit normally and deal 18 damage, then follow with a crit that gave him 13.

So RaW is as listed above, and an alternate idea is what I describe.

Thanks I’ll try that and see if it works for us. I hope we won’t get crap rolls though.

Yeah, my tables both use the "max plus roll" method too. It definitely gives you some crazy numbers sometimes.

I've used one variation at the table to save a few seconds is to roll the relevant dice, then multiply them by two, then add any modifiers.  

Quote from BL4cKBE4r >>

Thanks for your help. This explains it.

When in doubt just remember: "Roll twice, add once" :)

Quote from BL4cKBE4r >>

Thanks I’ll try that and see if it works for us. I hope we won’t get crap rolls though.

You could always use the same math used to determine monster and object hit points and damage for crit dice, if your table is fast enough at arithmetic to potentially work it out on the fly. It gives you a number only slightly below average and guarantees you won't have truly bad rolls. Works like this:

• Each dX is worth X/2 base.  So a d4 is worth 2, a d6 is worth 3, and so on - a d12 is worth 6 and a d20 is worth 10.
• Every 2 dice is worth an additional +1.  So if you're rolling 5 dice, that's +2, because you have 2 whole pairs of dice.

So e.g. suppose you crit with a greataxe that's got elemental weapon on it, so your crit dice are 1d12+1d4.  That gives you a static result of 9 - 6 + 2 + 1 for a d12, a d4, and having 2 dice.  Likewise, 1d12+2d4 = 11 and 1d12+3d4 = 14.

If you do it for base damage as well, your players will deal extremely consistent (and hence potentially less exciting) damage.

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

Yeah, my tables both use the "max plus roll" method too. It definitely gives you some crazy numbers sometimes.

I used to use it but funnily enough, the players at my table asked that we stop because enemies can benefit from this crit method as well. When given the option of RAW or rolling once and doubling the result (a variant sometimes used on Critical Role), they chose RAW. I suppose the prospect of being chopped in half was unappealing to them. 

Quote from Erik_Soong >>

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

Yeah, my tables both use the "max plus roll" method too. It definitely gives you some crazy numbers sometimes.

I used to use it but funnily enough, the players at my table asked that we stop because enemies can benefit from this crit method as well. When given the option of RAW or rolling once and doubling the result (a variant sometimes used on Critical Role), they chose RAW. I suppose the prospect of being chopped in half was unappealing to them. 

 (Ah, the Critical Role critical roll?) We like to act like it makes us brave and/or tough to face possible character death more often. Different strokes, and all.

I run it exactly the same, because a crit should feel like a reward for rolling well, not a chance to roll terribly and end up with less damage then tavern brawlers improvised spoon attack...

I'm considering starting to use a new rule for crits based on this conversation. Roll as RAW, but it can't score less than average damage for the roll. So an attack of 1d8+2d6+4 that crits rolls 2d8+4d6+4 and can't roll below a total of 27. Keeps it from being totally underwhelming and doesn't make it swing too aggressively. Stuff that allows rerolls of a couple of dice would operate after the adjustment, allowing it to still stand out.

If I am using an enhanced crit house rule, I usually go with the base weapon damage being maxed and the rest rolled. So a crit with a rapier is 8+d8. A crit with a rapier + 2d6 sneak attack is 8+d8+4d6. A crit with a flametongue great sword would be 12 + 2d6 + 4d6 (fire). Basically, the weapon has scored a more effective hit, delivering its damage more effectively but not affecting  additional or extra damage delivered by the weapon.

What about damage dice do then???

Quote from bob625384642 >>

What about damage dice do then???

 Not sure what the doubt is, but this is the rule:

Critical Hit

If you roll a 20 on the d20 for an attack roll, you score a Critical Hit, and the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC. A Critical Hit lets you roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target. Roll all of the attack’s damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers. See also chapter 1 (“Damage and Healing”).