How to Fight: Critical Hits and Misses
Critical Hits with Missile Weapons
If you are using the Pain rules, the Automatic wound notation applies there, roll regular damage and apply a wound. If you are just using this awesome chart, then make an automatic wound be regular damage but have an appropriate effect up to the DM’s discretion.
| Critical Hit Roll | What’s Hit | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 01 – 64 | Double Damage | |
| 65 – 66 | Leg Struck | Automatic wound |
| 67 | Leg Ruined | Automatic Wound; leg useless until healed |
| 68 – 69 | Shot in the Knee | Automatic Wound |
| 70 | Shot in the Knee | Automatic Wound; leg useless until healed |
| 71 – 72 | Non-Weapon Arm Hit | Arm stunned, no shield bonus for 1d3 rounds |
| 73 – 74 | Non-Weapon Arm Hit | Shield to Save vs. Blow or be destroyed |
| 75 – 76 | Weapon Arm Hit | Automatic Wound |
| 77 – 78 | Weapon Arm Hit | Weapon Save vs. Blow or be destroyed |
| 79 – 80 | Abdomen Struck | Automatic Wound: Death in 1d6 days unless healed |
| 81 – 82 | Abdomen Struck | Automatic Wound; Death in 2d6 turns unless healed |
| 83 – 84 | Abdomen Struck | Automatic Wound: Diaphragm Punctured; Death in 1d3 rounds. |
| 85 – 86 | Chest Struck | Automatic Wound: Death in 1d6 days unless healed |
| 87 – 88 | Chest Struck | Automatic Wound: Death in 2d6 turns unless healed |
| 89 – 90 | Chest Struck | Automatic Wound: artery cut, death in 1d3 rounds |
| 91-92 | Shot in the Eye | Automatic Wound: Blinded, No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 93 | Shot in the Eye | Automatic Wound: Blinded |
| 94 | Larynx Punctured | Automatic wound: Rendered Mute, No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 95 | Larynx Punctured | Automatic Wound: Rendered Mute |
| 96 | Skull Struck | Automatic Wound: Brain Damage, loose 1d3 Int, no effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 97 | Skull Struck | Automatic Wound: Brain Damage, loose 1d3 Int |
| 98 | Skull Struck | Automatic Wound: Bleeding out, Death in 1d3 rounds, no effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 99 | Skull Struck | Automatic Wound: bleeding out, Death in 1d3 rounds |
| 00 | Skull Struck | Brains outside of your skull, you are dead. |
Critical Hits with Edged Weapons
| Critical Hit Roll | What’s Hit | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 01 – 62 | Double Damage | |
| 63 – 64 | Shield Arm Struck | Automatic Wound if no shield, Shield to save vs. blow or be destroyed |
| 65 | Head Struck | Remove Helm, stunned 1d6 rounds |
| 66 | Head Struck | Stunned 1d6 rounds |
| 67 | Throat Struck | Automatic Wound, muted. No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 68 – 69 | Ear Cut Off | Automatic Wound, deafened. No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 70 | Ear Cut Off | Automatic Wound, deafened. |
| 71 – 72 | Hit in the Eye | Automatic Wound, blinded. No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 73 | Hit in the Eye | Automatic Wound, blinded. |
| 74 | Knee Split | Automatic Wound |
| 75 | Knee Split | Automatic Wound; leg useless until healed |
| 76 | Fingers Cut | Looses 1d4 fingers. Dex – 1d3 for that hand |
| 77 | Leg Cut at Calf | Automatic Wound |
| 78 | Leg Cut at Thigh | Automatic Wound |
| 79 | Leg Cut at Ankle | Automatic Wound |
| 80 | Weapon Arm Cut at Shoulder | Automatic Wound |
| 81 | Weapon Arm Cut at Forearm | Automatic Wound |
| 82 | Weapon Arm Cut at Bicep | Automatic Wound |
| 83 | Weapon Arm Removed at Wrist | Automatic Wound |
| 84 | Weapon Arm Removed at Elbow | Automatic Wound |
| 85 | Weapon Arm Removed at Shoulder | Automatic Wound |
| 86 | Non-Weapon Arm Removed at Wrist | Automatic Wound |
| 87 | Non-Weapon Arm Removed at Elbow | Automatic Wound |
| 88 | Non-Weapon Arm Removed at Shoulder | Automatic Wound |
| 89 | Abdominal Wound | Automatic Wound; Carrying capacity at 50% |
| 90 | Abdominal Wound | Automatic Wound; Death in 1d6 days unless healed |
| 91 | Abdominal Wound | Automatic Wound; Death in 2d6 turns unless healed |
| 92 | Abdominal Wound | Guts Spill on Floor, Automatic Wound; Death in 1d3 rounds |
| 93 | Chest Wound | Automatic Wound; Carrying capacity at 50% |
| 94 | Chest Wound | Automatic Wound; Death in 1d6 days unless healed |
| 95 | Chest Wound | Automatic Wound; Death in 2d6 turns unless healed |
| 96 | Chest Wound | Heart pierced; Automatic Wound; Death in 1d3 rounds |
| 97 | Throat Cut | Death in 1d3 rounds; No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 98 | Throat Cut | Bleeding out, Death in 1d3 rounds |
| 99 | Decapitated | Death. No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 00 | Decapitated | No head? You dead! |
Critical Hit with Blunt Weapons
| Critical Hit Roll | What’s Hit | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 01 – 64 | Double Damage | |
| 65 – 68 | Shield Struck | Shield Save vs. Blow or broken, if no shield, automatic wound on non-weapon arm. |
| 69 – 70 | Non-Weapon Arm Struck | Automatic Wound |
| 71 – 72 | Non-Weapon Arm Broken | Automatic Wound, arm useless until healed |
| 73 – 74 | Weapon Arm Struck | Automatic Wound |
| 75 – 76 | Weapon Arm Struck | Automatic Wound, Weapon Dropped |
| 77 – 78 | Weapon Arm Broken | Automatic Wound, arm useless until healed |
| 79 – 82 | Hand Struck | Automatic wound, hand useless until healed |
| 83 – 85 | Chest Struck | Winded: Stunned 2d6 rounds until breath regained |
| 86 – 87 | Chest Struck | Automatic Wound: 1d3 ribs broken,movement quartered, no carrying capacity until healed |
| 88 | Chest Struck | Automatic Wound: Ribs crushed, heart pierced, death in 1d3 rounds |
| 89 – 91 | Legs Struck | Automatic wound |
| 92 – 93 | Legs struck | Automatic Wound, knocked prone |
| 94 | Legs Broken | Leg broken, leg useless until healed |
| 95 | Head Struck | Automatic wound: Lose 1d3 int, No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 96 | Head Struck | Automatic wound: Lose 1d3 int |
| 97 | Head Struck | Automatic wound: Brain Damage, lose 1d3 int, gain an Insanity. No effect and normal damage if helmed |
| 98 | Head Struck | Automatic wound: Brain Damage, lose 1d3 int, gain an Insanity. |
| 99 | Skull Crushed | Dead, Automatic wound and normal damage if helmed |
| 00 | Skull Crushed | Dead |
Critical Hits against Creatures
All is fair in the world of critical hits. Yes, this means that if you are VERY lucky, a first level PC fighter can one shot an Ancient Red Dragon, but he would have to roll a 20 to hit followed by a 01 to get the percent change of a critical followed by a 00 to kill him, which has a chance of 1 in 200,000. (I never had it happen at my table.) Since these charts are only used when the PCs are playing, I allow the small chance of super heroics. Also since the PAIN rules are not applied to monsters the Effects in this table for more strait forward. Always roll regular damage for rolls greater than 58 as well as apply the Effect rolled.
| Critical Hit Roll | What’s Hit | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 01 – 58 | Double Damage | |
| 59 – 62 | Limb Injured | -2 to hit rolls for that limb for d3 rounds |
| 63 – 65 | Limb Injured | -4 to hit rolls for 2d6 turns |
| 66 – 67 | Limb Injured | Limb Broken, limb useless until healed |
| 68 | Limb Severed | Limb removed at body |
| 69 | Limb Severed | Limb removed at midpoint |
| 70 | Limb Severed | Limb removed and hand/paw/claw |
| 71 – 72 | Throat Cut | 1d6 extra HP damage per round until healed |
| 73 – 74 | Head Struck | Stunned for 1d6 rounds |
| 75 – 76 | Abdominal Injuries | death in 1d3 rounds |
| 77 – 78 | Abdominal Injuries | death in 2d6 turns |
| 79 – 80 | Abdominal Injuries | death in 1d6 days |
| 81 – 82 | Chest Injury | death in 1d3 rounds |
| 83 – 84 | Chest injury | death in 2d6 turns |
| 85 – 86 | Chest Injury | death in 1d6 days |
| 87 – 90 | Snout Struck | immediate morale failure |
| 91 – 94 | Snout Struck | -2 to hit for 1d4 rounds |
| 95 – 98 | Snout Struck | -4 to hit for 2d6 rounds |
| 99 | Head Struck | -4 to hit for 2d6 rounds |
| 00 | Head Struck | Dead! |
Critical Misses
There are a lot of Dex checks in this table. I hold to the conclusion that the highly nimble fall over less often.
| Critical Miss Roll | What Happened | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 01 – 33 | Off Balance | Cannot attack next round |
| 34 – 39 | Hit a Solid Object | Weapon save vs. Blow or weapon takes damage equal to it’s damage capacity |
| 40 – 44 | Hit a Solid Object | Weapon save vs. Blow or THAC0 at -1 until repaired |
| 45 – 49 | Stumble/ Fall Over | Dex Check or stunned for 1d4 rounds |
| 50 – 54 | Lose Weapon Grip | Dex Check or no action for 1d4 rounds |
| 55 – 59 | Lose Weapon Grip | Dex Check or Drop Weapon |
| 60 – 61 | Lose Weapon Grip | Drop Weapon |
| 62 – 63 | Shield Tangled with Opponent | Cannot attack next round, no Shield Bonus either, same effect if there’s no shield. |
| 64 – 65 | Shield Tangled with Opponent | Completely tangled up. Both you and opponent cannot attack next round. No shield bonus. |
| 66 – 69 | Weapon Tangled with Opponent | Cannot attack for 1d4 rounds. Can drop weapon to remove entanglement |
| 70 – 74 | Weapon Knocked Away | 1d8 direction with 1 being North, 1d10 feet away. |
| 75 – 77 | Weapon Breaks | Weapon save vs. Blow. Success = -2 to THAC0 and failure = weapon destroyed. |
| 78 – 79 | Hit Self | 25% damage |
| 80 | Hit Self | Double Damage and Automatic Wound |
| 81 – 83 | Hit Person on Own Side | 25% damage |
| 84 – 85 | Hit Person on Own Side | 50% damage |
| 86 | Hit Person on Own Side | Max Damage! |
| 87 – 88 | Weapon Slips | 1d20 feet away in direction of attack |
| 89 – 90 | Weapon Slips | weapon dropped, but hit opponent anyway, roll normal damage |
| 91 – 92 | Twist Ankle | Dex check or attacker falls and limps, 50% movement rate until healed |
| 93 – 95 | Headgear Slips | Vision blocked, blinded until a round is taken to clear vision |
| 96 – 97 | Gear tangled up | Roll on Partial Armour Damage table (Orcs of Thar) |
| 98 | Distracted | Opponent’s next attack is at +3 to hit |
| 99 | Weapon Disassembles | Weapon useless until repaired |
| 00 | Roll twice |
