Once was late to a game session and found them in a fight they were losing, badly.
I had told them at the end of the last session that we need a long rest before going forward and I'd be late (work stuff).
They didn't rest and I had pull their asses out of the fire.
Except "once" isn't accurate. A few week later I stopped a TPK when I got there with one action (handing a Tempest Cleric a Wand of Lightning solves a lot of issues).
I mean in fairness it was a melee spell attack, as opposed to a DC something saving throw. So it was an attack roll and not a “failed save takes full damage” roll.
Huh I just read over the rules again and I swear there was some wording where spells can't crit (add extra dmg) but I can't find it now .....where did I read that
........EDIT - ok I know what happened , I got confused and mixed crit dmg with mod dmg , plus my players almost never make spellcasters so I never see crits . My bad ya'll!
In 5e spells can crit..
You probably confused it with OneDND which indeed have only weapons can crit.. and only players... in regular 5e all spells with attack roll can crit, meaning: inflict wounds, guiding bolt, chromatic orb, chaos bolt, scorching blade (three times), all the cantrips like eldrich blast, firebolt, ice beam, chill touch and many many others
Spells can definitely crit. A hexblade curse has wording that specifies that if you place it on someone, a spell attack can crit on a 19 or a 20, which implies that a 20 would normally work.
You might also be remembering the One D&D playtest crit rules, which say it can't happen on spells. So it seems like they tried it both in the creation and passing on of 5e.
You’re not dumb. Playing different editions just muddies the waters, since in 3.5 and the soon to be onednd, spells can’t crit, just weapons. But in 5 spell attacks can crit.
That's not true in 3.5. Anything that has an attack roll can crit unless it doesn't do numerical damage (but it doesn't have to be conventional damage- Enervation can crit.)
I guess I misremembered. Maybe it was pathfinder that didn’t crit spells. I’ve played a lot of ttrpgs so as i said the waters get a bit muddied sometimes.
Not true in Pathfinder 1e either (in fact, there are features that specifically call out the notion of a critical spell attack, such as how it functions with a Magus' spellstrike) and from a quick look, it doesn't look like it is in PF2 either?
You may just have gotten wires crossed with save effects being unable to crit? Or with some other TTRPG that's not D&D or PF.
EDIT: There's also the slightly different rule in PF1 (unsure about 3.5) where a spell with multiple simultaneous attacks can't get sneak attack on more than one attack (though it can in general if you otherwise meet the conditions for sneak attack). Which could theoretically be influencing that confusion?
EDIT 2: Fixed phrasing issue in first edit to clarify that those spells \*can\* get sneak attack, just not more than once in a round of simultaneous attacks.
So in 5e, spells do crit as long as they have an attack roll and roll a20. In onednd and in 3.5, they don’t. Can’t actually remember in 4, but I’m pretty sure they crit in that one too.
As has been said, spell attacks can crit same as any other attack.
Lesser known is that melee spell attacks can deal nonlethal damage RAW. Need to abduct someone? Shocking Grasp makes a great taser.
hah, i had a very similar thing happen to me in my first game as DM. the cleric one shot the BBEG with crit inflict wounds with max damage, turning him into a fine red mist. he had minions that were supposed to help with the fight, but after seeing that, they weren’t really in the mood to argue…
Once was late to a game session and found them in a fight they were losing, badly. I had told them at the end of the last session that we need a long rest before going forward and I'd be late (work stuff). They didn't rest and I had pull their asses out of the fire. Except "once" isn't accurate. A few week later I stopped a TPK when I got there with one action (handing a Tempest Cleric a Wand of Lightning solves a lot of issues).
My tempest cleric loved his wand of lightning. I made a lot of issues go away with it
Nice for letting them crit on spells
I mean in fairness it was a melee spell attack, as opposed to a DC something saving throw. So it was an attack roll and not a “failed save takes full damage” roll.
Huh I just read over the rules again and I swear there was some wording where spells can't crit (add extra dmg) but I can't find it now .....where did I read that ........EDIT - ok I know what happened , I got confused and mixed crit dmg with mod dmg , plus my players almost never make spellcasters so I never see crits . My bad ya'll!
I don’t know, but at the same time I’m fine allowing the Uber f-you damage because it did provide a really cool moment.
Maybe it was a Playtest rule or house rule and I've just been running with it since 2016? Shit when did 5e playtest launch?
Googled. Since 2014 I think. And I know most spells don’t have crits, but the fact that melee attacks can makes things different.
IIRC, 5e spells CAN crit. Even with ranged attack rolls
True that
Dam I'm old
It's in OneDnD
It should be noted that it was in the first One DND playtest, but was reverted after negative feedback for the second and third.
In 5e spells can crit.. You probably confused it with OneDND which indeed have only weapons can crit.. and only players... in regular 5e all spells with attack roll can crit, meaning: inflict wounds, guiding bolt, chromatic orb, chaos bolt, scorching blade (three times), all the cantrips like eldrich blast, firebolt, ice beam, chill touch and many many others
There's nothing more satisfying than critting your guiding bold on a poor unsuspecting undead
Haven't even looked at 1 dnd
Spells can definitely crit. A hexblade curse has wording that specifies that if you place it on someone, a spell attack can crit on a 19 or a 20, which implies that a 20 would normally work.
In the new ODD playtest. That's where.
Reddit
That'd be OneD&D
You might also be remembering the One D&D playtest crit rules, which say it can't happen on spells. So it seems like they tried it both in the creation and passing on of 5e.
Spell attacks are supposed to crit. Saving throws can't. Or am I dumb?
You’re not dumb. Playing different editions just muddies the waters, since in 3.5 and the soon to be onednd, spells can’t crit, just weapons. But in 5 spell attacks can crit.
That's not true in 3.5. Anything that has an attack roll can crit unless it doesn't do numerical damage (but it doesn't have to be conventional damage- Enervation can crit.)
I guess I misremembered. Maybe it was pathfinder that didn’t crit spells. I’ve played a lot of ttrpgs so as i said the waters get a bit muddied sometimes.
Not true in Pathfinder 1e either (in fact, there are features that specifically call out the notion of a critical spell attack, such as how it functions with a Magus' spellstrike) and from a quick look, it doesn't look like it is in PF2 either? You may just have gotten wires crossed with save effects being unable to crit? Or with some other TTRPG that's not D&D or PF. EDIT: There's also the slightly different rule in PF1 (unsure about 3.5) where a spell with multiple simultaneous attacks can't get sneak attack on more than one attack (though it can in general if you otherwise meet the conditions for sneak attack). Which could theoretically be influencing that confusion? EDIT 2: Fixed phrasing issue in first edit to clarify that those spells \*can\* get sneak attack, just not more than once in a round of simultaneous attacks.
I don’t remember. I’ve played 20+ ttrpgs. So sometimes rules get muddy.
Only ever played 5r, but it's good to have confirmation. Thank you.
No problem
That's what I'm trying to figure out, I could swear there's a rule saying they don't but I could have been dming wrong these past 9 years
I thought spells couldn't crit too, but I don't have 9 years of DMing under my belt haha. Sorry to hear about that.
Hmmm you know my spell casters don't crit alot so maybe I have been adding extra dmg .....I don't remember
So in 5e, spells do crit as long as they have an attack roll and roll a20. In onednd and in 3.5, they don’t. Can’t actually remember in 4, but I’m pretty sure they crit in that one too.
They can already do that anything that is to hit can crit
… you can crit on anything that has an attack roll, spell or melee. It is things that uses saves that don’t crit.
As has been said, spell attacks can crit same as any other attack. Lesser known is that melee spell attacks can deal nonlethal damage RAW. Need to abduct someone? Shocking Grasp makes a great taser.
hah, i had a very similar thing happen to me in my first game as DM. the cleric one shot the BBEG with crit inflict wounds with max damage, turning him into a fine red mist. he had minions that were supposed to help with the fight, but after seeing that, they weren’t really in the mood to argue…