I haven't got the fumble deck yet. Maybe someone who has one can answer this.
I understand that critical failures are at 10 less than the AC on attacks. But on the 3rd or 4th attack, with it being at a -8 or -10, a critical miss is a lot more likely.
So, are the fumble decks supposed to just be used on a natural 1? Or are people going to be fumbling their 3rd attack all the time?
I assume that it will spell out two variants, like the critical hit deck does - only natural 1s being the default and all critical failures being an optional extreme ruleset.
If you go to the item entry in the paizo store they have examples up including the rules card. it appears to only be intended for use on natural 1's
PS: There are also examples up for the critical hit deck. of the two I'd only use the crit. hit deck but even that is only if my players demanded it. From what I can tell the critical hit deck has a lot of conditions and complications, the fumble deck can strait up kill players. Consistant bleed damage, knocked unconcious, auto fail next save, etc. not things that make me go 'oo, that will be fun for my players'
If I were to use a fumble deck (unlikely) it would only be on the first to-hit roll of a turn.
Well considering that under the normal rules there is no special effects for critical failures on attack rolls, my thought would be perhaps you shouldn't use critical failures in PF2. Is there a Paizo published critical hi/fumblet deck for PF2? Or are people trying to use the PF1 version?
If there is, then perhaps it only happens on a nat 1.
Its the new Fumble deck for 2e that people are talking about:
https://paizo.com/products/btq01zpu?Pathfinder-Critical-Fumble-Deck
There are already special deleterious results for some attacks, like crit failing a trip attempt. Why shouldn't there be some chance (however small) of having a special crit fail effect for other combat rolls?
If you want it to be less common an occurence, you could grant a special saving throw against having to draw from the crit fail deck.
I know a lot of people hate critical fumble rules of any stripe. Obviously, its use is optional. But IMHO there should be some way to integrate it into PF2 without making its use too painful. And it *is* hilarious when the adversaries get crit fumbles.
I am thinking of house ruling that fumbles only occur when it is both a Nat 1 AND 10 under - this means the big bad enemy guy who on his own is a severe threat to the party is unlikely to fumble. Sort of like how you had to confirm a crit in previous editions.