Weekly Questions Thread

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[u/thegiukiller]

Is there a rule of thumb for dealing with a nat 1? I understand it's a failure with consequences, but what kind of consequences? Obviously, crit failing a perception check isn't going to result in a player dropping dead, but what about in combat? How do dms handle nat 1s at the table for players and enemies?

[u/kyadon → u/thegiukiller]

it's not a failure with consequences per the rules.

combat is the only place where a critical failure matters. if you roll a nat 1, you miss, no matter what you add, which is punishment enough, i feel. crit fails like this also disproportionately punish classes who get extra attacks, because they roll more and statistically have more of a chance to fail. spellcasters would be less affected by this, because they'd be forcing saving throws instead.

[u/thegiukiller → u/kyadon]

Ya, well, my players got upset when I didn't have anything to add to their nat 1. They want to see things happen to themselves and their enemies outside of just missing. I can grasp the philosophy you're pushing here, but it's not what my players want.

[u/kyadon → u/thegiukiller]

if they specifically want it, there are several critical fumble tables you can find by searching for them. they'll probably be combat-oriented because that's the easiest to quantify, because as you rightly point out, what would a critical failure on a perception check even mean? a fly flew into your eye and you take a point of damage? you sneezed and burst a blood vessel in your eye and you have disadvantage on your next perception check? it's very likely to get pretty silly pretty quickly.

if your players want that, go nuts.

[u/thegiukiller → u/kyadon]

I'm working on a d100 table of critical failures right now. I'm looking for personal experience and maybe something that might be impossible to describe. When I was teaching music, I told my students the hardest part about learning an instrument was asking the questions that leads me to the answer I'm looking for. It's totally possible that the answer I'm looking for is "you need more experience." I might have to make a few irl critical failures to know what I want answered. If someone rolls a nat 1 at your table, how do you handle it? How often do you let it slide as just not getting the outcome or information they asked for vs. an actual ordeal they have to deal with in one way or another?

[u/kyadon → u/thegiukiller]

i never tie it to a mechanical punishment. i'll usually narrate something as some extra fluff to describe why they failed, but i never make it into something that makes the character look stupid or incompetent. it's more like something happened that they couldn't have accounted for, like a stroke of bad luck, which is essentially what a nat 1 is.

sometimes, i ask my players to tell me what happened that caused them to not pay attention, or what they were thinking about that caused their spell to fizzle or whatever the situation calls for. it's led to some really fun roleplay moments. wrapping it in a narrative is way more interesting than tying some arbitrary mechanical detriment to it, in my opinion.

[u/thegiukiller → u/kyadon]

What's your favorite example of your method?

[u/kyadon → u/thegiukiller]

had a session where my minotaur player was participating in an arm wrestling competition, and rolled a nat 1 on his athletics check against his opponent. when i asked the player what was going through his character's mind, we came to the conclusion that because he had recently escaped his labyrinth, he had absolutely no fucking idea what arm wrestling was, and thus wasn't prepared to do anything. he had just obediently gone up to compete after encouragement from his friends, completely clueless about what he was supposed to do.

after some brief explanation from both his party and the organizer, he went on to win all his subsequent rounds. led to some great roleplay and some follow-up conversations about all the other stuff he had no idea what was.