House Rules: Critical Failures

I’ve always been a fan of the idea of critical failures in tabletop roleplaying games. That being said, a 5% chance of critical failure on every attack is far too high, and it disproportionately impacts the PC’s. So, if you’re interested in allowing for a chance of critical failure, consider the following.

Variant One

When a 1 is rolled on an attack roll, roll an additional 1d20 to determine the severity of the failure.

  • 11 - 20 : The attack misses. [2.5% chance on every attack]

  • 6 - 10 : The attack misses and there is a minor fumble. [1.25% chance]

  • 2 - 5 : The attack misses and there is a moderate fumble. [1% chance]

  • 1 : The attack misses and there is a major fumble. [0.25% chance]

Using these rules, if you attack 1,000 times you should still automatically miss about 50 times. Of those 50 misses, you should have a minor fumble about 12 or 13 times, a moderate fumble about 10 times, and a major fumble about 2 or 3 times.

Personally, I like to give players the option to pitch what the fumble will look like depending on what we agree makes sense for the situation. Maybe a minor fumble is something that is mechanically irrelevant but funny or embarrassing. Maybe a moderate fumble is a mechanical disadvantage or a narrative setback. A major fumble should probably be something considerable, but it’s up to you to determine what that looks like. Some classic major fumbles could include attacking the wrong target, losing your weapon, giving an enemy advantage, giving yourself disadvantage, etc. But, at the end of the day, go with whatever makes the game more fun for you and your group.

If you like the concept but you don’t like the odds, feel free to alter them to your taste. Here’s two additional examples:

Variant Two - Fewer Fumbles

  • 6 - 20 : The attack misses. [3.75% chance on every attack]

  • 2 - 5 : The attack misses and there is a minor fumble. [1% chance]

  • 1 : The attack misses and there is a major fumble. [0.25% chance]

Using this variant, if you attack 1,000 times you should still automatically miss about 50 times. Of those 50 misses, you should have a minor fumble about 10 times and a major fumble about 2 or 3 times.

Variant Three - Very Few Fumbles (d100)

  • 11 - 100 : The attack misses. [4.5% chance on every attack]

  • 6 - 10 : The attack misses and there is a minor fumble. [0.25% chance]

  • 2 - 5 : The attack misses and there is a moderate fumble. [0.20% chance]

  • 1 : The attack misses and there is a major fumble. [0.05% chance]

Using this variant, if you attack 1,000 times you should still automatically miss about 50 times. Of those 50 misses, you should have a minor fumble about 2 or 3 times, a moderate fumble about 2 times, and maybe one major fumble.

D.G. Barrett