So, you rolled a 1 on d20 attack roll. It means you categorically missed, no matter what your modifier. The opposite goes when rolling a 20 on d20 attack roll. You hit and get to roll your weapon’s damage dice twice, adding any relevant modifier after.

I’ve seen lots of items supporting Critical Fails (check out my own Critical Fumble cards as an example – Shameless Plug), but not so much with Critical Hits. This is probably because there is already a rule providing double damage when rolling the golden 20.

Be that as it may, here are some additional options for critical hits that won’t unbalance your game.

The player gets to choose to do the standard damage dice twice + modifiers, or take one of the following options:

• Instead of damage, the player gets to stun, blind or knock the opponent prone for one round.
• Instead of damage, the player is entitled to a bonus action disengage (assuming they have a bonus action available).
• Instead of damage, the player gets an additional attack action (i.e. if the player has more than one attack per action they get multiple attacks again).
• Instead of damage, the player gets 25% more experience if the monster is defeated (this can be cumulative if the option is taken again).

When all is said and done, there’s no real need to house rule Critical Hits. But it does bring a bit more variety into combat, and everyone loves that.

So, what critical hit bonuses (if any) do you use in your game?

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