Has anyone gone about converting the Critical hit Deck to the 4E ruleset? i figured the easiest part would be any double or triple damage means an extra die of whatever weapon/implement you are using for the attack (ie a Magic Missile would do max damage + 1d4, a longsword max +1d8) with high crit weapons getting that (as normal) plus 2 draws from the deck and choose one.
What has me a little daunted are the effects that come with many of the cards. I figured anything that has a variable duration (1d4 rds etc) lasts until a successful save. Fortunately a lot of the other effects (blind, deafened etc) are the same. Some things, like stun, are pretty powerful in 4E so i think they would be changed to dazed or somesuch. Any thoughts? I always loved the 'swingyness' of the deck and used it a lot during the 3E era.
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Rather than use "Piercing" "Blunt" etc. I would suggest altering the cards to the power source: "Martial", "Arcane", etc. and give it appropriate fluff. 4E does away with the blunt, pierce, etc distinction, and while it's not hard to pair them up, it would be better design to switch to power source. The problem is new power sources...each card doesn't have to have all power sources. Split it up any way you want...perhaps even a critical deck for each source!
With 4E, I would avoid making each critical effect better than the standard Max damage. Most cards should be roughly equivalent, but with cool "fluff" or tweaks to make it different...like "roll damage as normal for a hit and you can push the target 2 squares and is knocked prone" or some such.
As a first approximation, 50% of the deck should be roughly "equal" to RAW crits, 25% of the deck can be slightly better (add push, slide, pull, prone, daze, etc), 12% of the deck should be clearly better (add 1[w] or 1d8 if not a weapon power and push, pull, prone, daze, etc), 7% should be much better (Stunned, immobilized, helpless, etc with added damage), and the last 6% should be over the top coolness: Insta-death, or something that effectively takes the creature out of the fight (not death, but for instance, deal damage as normal for a crit, the target is knocked unconscious (save ends)...which means a coup-de-grace can pretty much finish it.)
Rather than use "Piercing" "Blunt" etc. I would suggest altering the cards to the power source: "Martial", "Arcane", etc. and give it appropriate fluff. 4E does away with the blunt, pierce, etc distinction, and while it's not hard to pair them up, it would be better design to switch to power source. The problem is new power sources...each card doesn't have to have all power sources. Split it up any way you want...perhaps even a critical deck for each source!
With 4E, I would avoid making each critical effect better than the standard Max damage. Most cards should be roughly equivalent, but with cool "fluff" or tweaks to make it different...like "roll damage as normal for a hit and you can push the target 2 squares and is knocked prone" or some such.
As a first approximation, 50% of the deck should be roughly "equal" to RAW crits, 25% of the deck can be slightly better (add push, slide, pull, prone, daze, etc), 12% of the deck should be clearly better (add 1[w] or 1d8 if not a weapon power and push, pull, prone, daze, etc), 7% should be much better (Stunned, immobilized, helpless, etc with added damage), and the last 6% should be over the top coolness: Insta-death, or something that effectively takes the creature out of the fight (not death, but for instance, deal damage as normal for a crit, the target is knocked unconscious (save ends)...which means a coup-de-grace can pretty much finish it.)
Thanks for your input! That is probably a little more involved than I want to get as I really want to use the cards mostly 'as is' with just a few clarifications and such. I've got a fairly good grasp onit now as I have converted some of the effects that don't have counterparts in 4E (staggered, non-lethal damage, sickened etc) into 4E conditions. My current write up looks like this;
Critical Hit Deck 4E RulesNormal Damage = Normal 4E critical damage rules
Double Damage = as above + 1[W] or 1extra die of the die used for the power (i.e Magic Missle adds +1d4).
Triple Damage = as normal critical plus 2[w] or 2 extra dice of the die used for the power (ie Magic Missle adds +2d4)Bleed = ability or hp loss each round save ends. A Heal check (DC 20) may be attempted to stop the bleed. If subject to a power that allows the spending of a healing surge the PC may forgo the hp healing and stop the bleed damage instead. This applies to Second Wind as well.
Variable Round durations are instead changed to ‘save ends’.
Beneficial effects last until the end of your next turn.
Fatigued or Exhausted = Weakened
Nauseated, Stunned = Stunned
Confused, Dazed, Sickened or Staggered = Dazed
Non-Lethal Damage & all extra attacks = basic melee attack against indicated foe(s).
Ability Damage = can only be healed by an attending person who makes a DC 15 heal check and spends at least 1 hour tending the person per 24 hour period. This heals 1 point per ability per day. The attending person may take a -5 penalty to the Heal check to double the healing rate.
Poison = Disease (randomly rolled but no higher than level 9)
Entangled = Restrained
Dazzled = Blinded
Charmed = Dominated
Flat-Footed = grants combat advantage
“Maximum Effect” (spell effect) = extra damage die and it and all other extra damage dice are at maximum value.
“Decapitation” – target allowed a save to prevent. Creatures that wouldn’t be killed by the loss of their head (constructs, some undead etc) still take the extra damage.
“Elemental Call” = summons one elemental of a level equal to or lower than the spell used. It has hp equal to the caster’s level.
“Hypnotic Link” = Dominated until the start of your next turn.
“Dispelling Aura” = until the end of your next turn the target has an aura 1 in which no magical devices or spells will function.
“Olfactory Overload” – target is dazed (save ends)
I really want crits to be powerful. Only the most important NPCs and monsters get to use these on the PCs (ie some Solos, the BBEG etc) so they are mostly the domain of the PCs. There is only one 'instant death' card in the whole deck (thank goodness!) and I think people like the 'swingyness' crits can have. We certainly loved the deck back with 3E.
I would personally avoid bringing ability damage into 4e, since there is no current mechanic for it. It probably wouldn't be too hard to work with, but I would use something like -2 to attack rolls.
I second this, ability damage is an old mechanic that needs to stay out of 4E.
I would equate the die of ability damage to the actual penalty to attack rolls, and make it for the encounter.
So a crit that deals 1d4 Con damage would simply impose a -1 penalty on attack rolls for the encounter. 1d6 is -2, 1d8 is -3 etc.
Oh, and bleed damage would just be ongoing damage in 4E. That way you don't need any new mechanics for it.
I would personally avoid bringing ability damage into 4e, since there is no current mechanic for it. It probably wouldn't be too hard to work with, but I would use something like -2 to attack rolls.
Whoops! Too late! I already added ability damage back into my games to represent more long term damage PCs can suffer. The whole '6 hours of rest and your fine' thing bugged me so ability damage is how I changed it. Its worked fine so far (the ability damage has occurred through diseases only).
@ Pop n' Fresh - ongoing damage is definitely the way I handle 'bleed' it is just a different word for the same thing imo. I thought I would add in the ability to stop it another way though beyond just 'save ends' to give the PCs more options. It might be too much though.
We did try out the CHD last night and 3 valid crits were made (6 crits in total were scored but 3 of them were on Zombies). One allowed the PC in question to Dominate the Elite Deathlock Wight (that was cool), a second just resulted in lots of damage (triple) and the other resulted in the PC being vulnerable to crits on a 19-20 for a round. The extra damage was enjoyable for the PCs and did help speed up the combat (always a plus imo).