Critical hits as per the book state that to make a critical hit you must roll within the crit range of your weapon. To confirm a crit you must roll within your weapon’s weapon range then then pass another attack roll. This is the official take about criticals in 3.5e. That said I have never played with a group where you had to roll to confirm a crit. In the same respect I’ve never played with a group where a natural 1 was not considered an epic failure or fumble.

These two house rules in combination add some unpredictability to the game. In any given battle there will likely be at least one critical hit or failure. A critical hit does as the book states; you apply your weapon’s critical modifier to your damage. As for a critical failure, that gets a bit more variety.

Generally speaking when you critically fail your weapon either breaks or leaves your hands and you get an attack of opportunity from any adjacent enemies. One DM recently bought a directional die, and uses that plus a d4 and your strength modifier to establish where the weapon lands. This really only works well for melee weapons. For ranged weapons a break of some sort is often the answer whether it is the entire gun or just a string. Another option is a misfire which hits a friends target if they happen to be near the intended target.

In my early days as a player, I joined a group and rolled a critical failure which hit a tentatively allied NPC who then turned on us. It essentially shifted the entire route of the campaign. While these can often shift the momentum of a battle they spice up the combat considerably, and there is no greater proof than the giddiness a player gets after hearing that he has just ruthlessly decapitated an ogre.

Session 3 saw a large decline in players due to 3 of them not being able to make it. We ended up with a druid, a paladin, a rogue, a scout, and a sorceress. It was a nice balance despite being without a healer. The makeup of 4 girls and one guy didn’t seem to factor into play much, the group worked fairly well together.

It started with the sorceress waking up from an extended nap (she missed the session prior) and meeting back with the group. They had all just finished a delivery to a small town located in the woods of an island state.  The town had approximately 80 people and was self sustaining, unfortunately for them there had been strange sounds coming from the graveyard and the townspeople had no real fighting force.

In the first session the sorceress used a Detect magic spell and saw that there was a faint glow in their cargo. After being paid the rogue and druid searched for this item but had no luck finding it. Everybody else did things like buy minor items and in one case a spear from the town store.

The mayor had invited them to a minor feast and bonfire that night and they kindly accepted. During the night nothing eventful happened, everybody investigate their own things (the paladin spoke with evil people, the rogue questioned about the item and boys, and the druid learned how to make potions from a mountain man).

The next day everybody but the druid decided to help out around town with things like chores and a bit of field work. The druid decided to create potions from plants she had found. She was able to make 2, +1hp pots as well as 1 pot that would make the person who drank it become ill. After this she joined the group until night came, when they had planned to head to the graveyard.

So here we go. This is a long time concept taking one more step to becoming a reality. This is a blog that will be about everything pen and paper, and specifically the aspects of being a Dungeon Master. This will also contain tips for players. We will be showcasing ideas that we feel add to a game as well as clever ideas we have found on the web. The components of this blog include players, DMs, and storytellers of every experience level there is. So if you are curious about playing or DMing then follow us, ask questions, and please give us any comments you feel like.

Thank you and remember, all you need are a few books and a story to tell.