Critical Hits

Critical Hits/Misses

die roll	result
3,4	crit hit
5	crit hit if effective skill 15+
6	crit hit if effective skill 16+
15	crit miss if effective skill is 5 or less, ...
16	crit miss if effective skill is 6 or less
17	crit miss if effective skill <16
18	crit miss

Following the desire to reduce the number of die rolls and stil have a lot of flavor, we've added a "critical success" column to the "hit Location" table.
House Rules for Critical Hits

General notes:

Max damage a critical hit always delivers maximum damage for the weapon.
No blow through; take all damage. For example: blow through on hand goes to arm goes to body. Only use the DR of the first body part. You can think of this as the damage is following an internal path.
GM option: chink in armor. Instead of the 'Critical Success' column above, the GM may elect to say "no DR take all damage". This is particulalry relevant when am attacker with a dagger makes a critical success against a foe in platemail.

3d6	Body Part	Permissible attcks	Hit Penalty	Result of Major Damage	Critical Success
3,4	Brain	any	-7	See notes 1 and 4 pB203	no skull DR. HT rolls are at -(dam/5)
-	Eyes	M or T	-9	See note 2 pB203
-	Eyes (through helm's eyeslits)	M or T	-10	As above. Armor does not protect! See note 2 pB203.
5	Head or Face	any	-5	No DR; no special damage results. See note 4 pB203.
-	Nose	any	-6	No DR; See pCII53.	see Note 5 below
-	Jaw	any	-5	No DR; See pCII53.	see Note 6 below
-	Neck	any	-5	PD and DR or torso. pCII53.
-	Veins and Arteries	C	-4/-7	Cutting only. dam X 3. pCII53.
6	Shield (far) arm	any	-4	Damage over HT/2 cripples arm. Excess damage is lost.	crippled arm
7	Hand (roll for left or right)	any	-4	Damage over HT/3 cripples hand. Excess damage is lost.	crippled hand
-	Shield (left) hand	any	-8	As above	crippled hand
8	Weapon (near) arm	any	-2	As for shield arm.	crippled arm
9	Body	any	0	no special results	cr: roll vs HT-(dam/5). Failure = KO cut:Use 'Bleeding' rules, pB130. imp:Punctured Lung, see Note 7 below.
10,11					cr: roll vs HT-(dam/5). Failure = KO cut,imp:Internal Bleeding, see Note 8.
-	Heart	M or T	-4	(vitals) pCII53.
-	Kidneys	M or T behind	-4	(vitals) pCII53.
-	Groin	M or T	-3	(body) pCII53.
12	Far Leg	any	-2	Damage over HT/2 cripples leg. Excess damage is lost.	crippled leg
13,14	Near Leg	any	-2	As above	crippled leg
15,16	Foot (roll for left or right)	any	-4	Damage over HT/3 cripples foot. Excess damage is lost.	crippled foot
17,18	Vitals	M or T	-3	Impaling weapons that penetrate armor do triple damage, not double.	cr: roll vs. HT-(dam/5). Failure=KO cut,imp: Internal shock, see Note 9.

Permissible attacks:

M = Missile
T = Thrusting
C = Cutting

Notes (numbering continued from pB203 so that there is no ambiguity):

Nose - Roll vs HT-1 (+5 for High Pain Threshold, -1/pt dam for Low Pain Threshold). Failure = stunned
Jaw - Roll vs HT - max(2,dam). Failure = stunned
Punctured Lung - Each turn roll vs. HT. Failure = your lung collapsed, lose one (1) fatigue per turn until you pass out (see 'Holding your Breath' sidebar pB91).
Internal Bleeding - Use Bleeding rules, pB130, but a Surgery skill is needing instead of First Aid.
Internal Shock - you are stunned. 2x shock penalty the turn you recover. Recovery roll is at HT-(dam/5). High Pain Threshold does not apply.

click on CritTable.html to see it on a page by itself (for printing).

Summary of Standard Rules for Critical Success/Failure
CRITICAL SUCCESS A roll of 3 or 4 is always a critical success. ¹ Critical hits are rolled on the Critical Hit Table, above. ¹ If your effective skill is 15, 5 is a critical success. ¹ If your effective skill is 16, 6 is a critical success. ¹ Rolls of 7 or greater are never critical successes. ^2,3 *Critical hits always hit--the defender gets no defense roll.*² If the defender rolls a critical success on defense (parry, block, or dodge -- but not against a ranged attack), the defender successfully "faked out" his opponent. The attacker immediately goes to the Critical Miss Table, above. ³	CRITICAL FAILURES Rolls of 18 are always critical failures. ¹ Rolls of 17 are always failures, and are critical failures unless* your effective skill is 16 or greater.* ¹ Any roll of 10 greater than your effective skill is a critical failure (i.e. a roll of 15 with a skill of 5) ^1,4 Critical failures on attack rolls require you to immediately check on the Critical Miss Table, above. ¹ For phobias and all other mental disadvantages, any roll of 14 or greater is an automatic failure. ¹ Any defense roll of 17 or 18 is a critical failure. ⁴ In addition to failing to avoid the attack, If you tried to dodge, you fall. ⁴ If you tried to block, you lose your grip on your shield and must re-ready it before you can block (it still has a passive defense value, however). ⁴ If you tried to parry, use the Critical Miss Table, above. ⁴ ["Effective skill" means your skill, *after* including all modifiers.]

Summary of Standard Rules for Critical Success/Failure

CRITICAL SUCCESS

A roll of 3 or 4 is always a critical success. ¹
Critical hits are rolled on the Critical Hit Table, above. ¹

If your effective skill is 15, 5 is a critical success. ¹
If your effective skill is 16, 6 is a critical success. ¹
Rolls of 7 or greater are never critical successes. ^2,3

Critical hits always hit--the defender gets no defense roll.²

If the defender rolls a critical success on defense (parry, block, or dodge -- but not against a ranged attack), the defender successfully "faked out" his opponent. The attacker immediately goes to the Critical Miss Table, above. ³

CRITICAL FAILURES

Rolls of 18 are always critical failures. ¹
Rolls of 17 are always failures, and are critical failures unless your effective skill is 16 or greater. ¹
Any roll of 10 greater than your effective skill is a critical failure (i.e. a roll of 15 with a skill of 5) ^1,4
Critical failures on attack rolls require you to immediately check on the Critical Miss Table, above. ¹

For phobias and all other mental disadvantages, any roll of 14 or greater is an automatic failure. ¹

Any defense roll of 17 or 18 is a critical failure. ⁴
In addition to failing to avoid the attack,

If you tried to dodge, you fall. ⁴
If you tried to block, you lose your grip on your shield and must re-ready it before you can block (it still has a passive defense value, however). ⁴
If you tried to parry, use the Critical Miss Table, above. ⁴

["Effective skill" means your skill, after including all modifiers.]

Footnotes (page references):

¹ pB86
² pB98
³ pB109
⁴ pB110

old crit table