The Art of the Fumble – Alternate Critical Miss Rule for D&D

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DM's are always looking for new ways to spice up their game, and one of the most popular (and infamous) techniques is to introduce some sort of “critical miss” houserule. Normally, this is a bad idea, as the consequence of rolling a '1' is bad enough (ie, you miss no matter how skilled your character is), and anything else just adds insult to injury.

While going over the Dark Sun campaign guide, however, I was inspired by an optional rule in that book regarding weapon breakage (a common theme in a setting where weapons are not often made from metal).

So, without further ado, I present an optional rule you may wish to try out (or not)!

If, once per round, when making an attack roll, a player rolls a 1, they have the following option. They may simply accept the attack as an automatic miss, without further penalty. Alternately, they may re-roll the attack, but must accept the new roll, regardless of any ability or effect. Should the die come up as a 5 or less, however, once the attack is resolved, their character suffers a minor setback.

Fumble Results Table (roll 1d6):

1. The character drops the weapon/implement that was used to make the attack, which falls in their space. They must use a minor action to retrieve the item. If the attack was not made with either a weapon or an implement, nothing happens.
2. The character is slowed until the end of their next turn.
3. The character grants combat advantage to the enemy they attacked until the end of the enemy's next turn.
4. The character falls prone.
5. If the character's next attack hits, it inflicts half damage. If the attack misses, it cannot deal damage or an effect that would occur on a miss.
6. The character provokes an opportunity attack from the enemy they attacked.

The once per round limitation is there to keep characters who can attack multiple times per round from being unfairly punished by this optional rule. While it does penalize players, each player can decide to simply accept that they missed and be done, so it is completely optional. Allowing players a chance to recover from a bad roll, even if it can potentially disadvantage them, can make the characters feel more heroic.

Thought it may seem like a good idea to use this same rule for monsters, I personally advise against it- the PC's opponents may be quite powerful, but they aren't the stars of the show, and such feats as falling flat on your face while getting in a lucky hit should be reserved for the heroes.

Also, you should consider the fact that this rule can add additional time to an encounter, so you may not want to have the possibility of a fumble each turn! I tried to keep the penalties imposed reasonable, and it's entirely possible that a penalty may not apply to a character- if so, good for them!

Related articles

• Reconsidering combat fumbles from Geek Ken (geekken.blogspot.com)
• When Good Dice Turn Bad: A Lesson In The Improbable (campaignmastery.com)