

Here's the math: (1-.85^6) * 100 = a 62% chance to crit on each turn. Assuming they have advantage on their turn they get six total rolls. Nearly half the time you will get at least one crit and potentially more.Īt 11th level, a D&D Next fighter choosing Path of the Warrior has three attacks and crits on 18 to 20. If we have advantage on those attacks? (1-.90^6) * 100 = 47%. On two attacks we use our formula (1-.90^2) * 100 or 19%. Let's extend the crit range to 19 and 20 and do the math again.Ī crit on 19 or 20 is 10% for a single attack. This is where the math starts to take a curve greater than a linear path. Now let's look at the insidiousness of extending critical hits. If we have advantage on those attacks, we get six total rolls: (1-.95^6) * 100 or 26.4%. If we have three attacks, we have (1-.95^3) * 100 or 14%. When you start looking at multiple attacks, the number continues to increase. If we fill in this equation with two rolls we get the following: Instead of using the chance to crit, you use the chance not to crit in the following formula:Ĭrit % chance = (1 - failure chance ^ number of rolls) * 100 If you get two attack rolls, the math gets a little more complicated. It's low enough that few people would bother to build a character around it. You'll see it happen, but not all that often. As most can figure out, the odds of rolling a normal critical hit on a single attack are 1 in 20, or 5%. A Look at the Mathīefore we dig in, let's take a look at some of the math behind critical hits. Why are critical hits so potentially destructive? Let's take a look. We can only hope extended critical hit ranges don't make it into the final published rules. Now we're seeing extended critical hits in the final public D&D Next playtest. We saw the damage of extending critical hits in high-level 4th Edition games. Extending critical hits turns a random bit of fun into a character-building strategy that ends up trivializing high-level combat encounters. But these are usually multipliers to total damage done, not critical hit damage.New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! The Problem with Extending Critical HitsĮxtending critical hits may not seem like a big deal but the results can unbalance an entire game system. You do see them in games, often in the form of temporary but powerful buffs. Multiplicative multipliers are generally rare in rpgs because of exponential scaling. It gets more ridiculous as you go up from there. If the crit damage were 30% per piece instead, you would be dealing 1255% crit damage. Using multiplicative bonuses you would deal 2.00*(1.15^7) times crit damage 532% total damage. Using additive bonuses you would deal 2.00*(1.15*7) times crit damage 305% total damage. For a set of seven items (helmet,chest,legs,boots,gloves,weapon1,weapon2) all having a +15% bonus to Critical Hit Damage:

To explain why crit damage is added and not multiplied, I'll use an example set of armor and weapons. I can't tell you the base critical strike damage multiplier for sure off the top of my head, but I'm extremely confident that it is 200%, as this is the current standard in rpgs (though it could be 150%, this is the second most common value). The example box shows how crit damage multipliers work in KoA.

To answer your question more directly: Critical Hit Damage bonuses are additive with each other, but multiplied to the base damage done on hit. I have not seen any flat bonuses to critical hit damage in KoA, only percentage based bonuses. Some combat systems also allow for flat bonuses on critical hit. Implementation of critical hit damage multiplier for most rpgs is as follows: Critical Hit Damage Multiplier = (Base Damage Bonus on Critical Hit + Critical Hit Bonus A + Critical Hit Bonus B +.
