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UE Critical Hit & Fumble Decks (PF1)

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UE Critical Hit & Fumble Decks (PF1)

Unread postby icycalm » 24 Jun 2021 02:52

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Critical hit is a natural 20, and critical miss/fumble is a natural 1 (on the attack roll, meaning the d20).

Ever since 2E, there have been packs of cards released for subsequent D&D and PF editions that produce cool and varied effects on 1 and 20, instead of merely breaking your weapon/tripping you up or doubling your damage. You draw a card, and you apply its effect.

Here is a discussion on the relative benefits and drawbacks of these cards: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43bft?Crit ... Miss-Decks

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It's a brief but interesting discussion. I recommend reading it if you're interested in how these decks might affect the game. In short, they make it more fun, but they may also break it unless they are applied sensibly. Which is what I plan to do.

What I haven't yet decided is how to introduce them to the tech tree. Like all rules outside of the core ones, these will be unlockable, and the players/groups will have to either unlock them through play, or purchase them by spending EP. Generally, the approach I favor is for the first group that unlocks them to get them for free, and for other groups to have to spend EP in the "EP metagame shop" later. Like for example how group D&D1 unlocked the Harrow Deck because they participated in a Harrow reading, and then the other groups need to pay for the deck in EP if they want to unlock it in their game. This is what I'd like to do here, ideally. I just haven't found an appropriate trigger event like the Harrow reading. The best I can come up with is that we wait to see which group will first reach the first "boss fight" for their current adventure, and then that boss will be using the Critical Hit deck on them while THEY use only the Critical Fumble deck—which will be a major disadvantage for them—and if they win the fight (not merely survive but win) then they unlock those decks for themselves, and other groups have to pay when they have the EP, if they want. And if the first group fails, then the second group to face a boss gets the same deal, and so on, until someone unlocks this.

Another option would be to leave the unlocking to individual players. In that case, a player would have to seek out a master teacher in his class—master warrior, wizard, whatever—and spend money or convince him to teach him the Critical Hit moves. This would unlock FOR HIM, both decks: Hit and Fumble. It doesn't make much sense though why getting better in your class would also make you fumble more... But this way of doing it eschews entirely the EP system, and handles the issue IN the game, where you spend in-game currency and time to learn the Hit moves. As for the Fumble moves, I guess if we go this route we could make the Fumble moves mandatory for ALL players from the START of the game, and then by training with the master you GET RID of the Fumble deck FOR THAT PARTICULAR CHARACTER, and you acquire the Hit deck for that character.

The main difference between the two options is that, in the first, once a player has unlocked the decks, he has them forever, for all his subsequent characters, while in the second case EVERY new character of his needs to train with a master to get the Hit deck and get rid of the Fumble deck.

I just started thinking about this, so I haven't yet reached a decision. And perhaps there are other ways of doing this. Feel free to state your preference, or to suggest more ways of doing this, if you have any ideas or feel strongly about this.

One additional concern is that these decks are not yet available as extensions for Fantasy Grounds like the Harrow Deck is (which I've already purchased and which is fantastic). However, they ARE being worked on. Here are two relevant threads I found:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/s ... itical-Hit
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/s ... l-hit-deck

I think the first thread says that you can make the decks yourself by modifying decks for a previous edition of the game (maybe 2E or 3E), and the second thread says that the PF2 decks are under development, but not the PF1 (but we might again be able to modify the former into the latter, once they are released). That's what I think these threads say, after a quick skim, but maybe I am mistaken and need to read more closely.

The easiest and fastest solution would be for me to order the physical decks, and just have them on my desk and draw the cards for the players as we play. Maybe I could set up a little web camera for the players and/or the stream. But of course having a Fantasy Grounds extension would be smoother. Either way, this won't be a problem, and won't delay us at all. It's just a footnote. Most likely we'll start using the physical cards, and transition to an extension at some point.

And, to conclude this opening post, here are the decks for PF1 that we'll be using:

https://paizo.com/products/btpy8ysr?Gam ... l-Hit-Deck

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Paizo wrote:Tired of the same old double damage? Wouldn’t you rather chop off your opponent’s head in one clean swing or put an arrow in his heart? Paizo Publishing presents the GameMastery Critical Hit Deck!

Rolled a critical hit? Draw a card and apply the result. Each of the Critical Hit cards in this 52-card deck has four different results based on weapon type, all of which are compatible with the 3.5 rules set and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Crushing your enemy’s skull has never been this much fun.

Useable by experienced GMs and novices alike, this product fits perfectly into any Game Master's arsenal.


https://paizo.com/products/btpy8qf5?Gam ... ck-NonMint

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Paizo wrote:Add a little mayhem to your game.

The Critical Fumble Deck is a sequel to our extremely popular Critical Hit Deck and is designed to balance out the system, allowing both minor and major mishaps to occur during combat. The Critical Fumble Deck consists of 52 full-color standard-sized cards, ready to use out of the box with the enclosed rules.
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icycalm
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Unread postby icycalm » 24 Jun 2021 03:12

So it looks like Paizo released smartphone apps of these at some point!

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That was way back a decade ago though. I can't seem to find them in the Apple store on my phone right now, and this seems to be the reason:

ICrit and iFumble apps ... will they be updated?
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uk15?ICri ... be-updated

William Sinclair wrote:Boo. I really liked them. They no longer work as of iOS 11, just as an FYI to anybody who wants to use them. If you update, you won't be allowed to use them anymore.


They seem to be available on Android though:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... l=en&gl=US
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... l=en&gl=US

In the comments however people are saying that the fonts are screwed up on newer phones, and the apps are no longer updated. So maybe if you have an older phone you might want to take a look, they are only two dollars.

Paizo also has pages on them in its own store, but you have to log in to see them for some reason:

https://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/St ... wf%3FiCrit
https://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/St ... %3FiFumble

Either way, I don't see how the apps might be a significant upgrade from the physical cards. Neither of the two options can be shared within Fantasy Grounds, so what difference does it make if I am drawing cards on my desk or clicking on my phone? Maybe my phone's screen could be streamed easier? I don't even know if it's easy to stream a phone's screen, or how.
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icycalm
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Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands


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