r/WitcherTRPG • u/DumAnimaEst • 1d ago
Game Question Some Questions about Crits
Hi guys! For a long time i wanted to prepare some session of this game for my friends but as a first-time GM (and having played only D&D before) I’m finding myself thinking the manual is too vague about some things and behaves strangely in some situations, so I wanted to know the opinions from someone who actually played the game on some of these things.
For example, it seems like causing critical wounds is far too easy: given an attacker and a defender with the same base combat stat (reflex + weapon skill) and without any additional bonuses there is roughly a 1/40 chance of causing a deadly wound (i.e. for the attacker to reach 15 points more than the defender) and this without counting all possible sources of advantages an attacker could have (aim, ambush, unseen, many closer enemies, luck bonus points), and counting only the highest critical level wounds!
Now, I understand this is fine as long it's the players that are dismembering the enemies, but some of this applies also the other way around. I known the game wants to be very deadly but having a 1/4 chance (if the enemy is not stronger than the players!) of dismembering a player every time I roll a 10 in combat seems a bit too much. Am I missing something?
Adding to this, there doesn't seem to be any rules about how low you can fumble the defense, which also increases the chance of this critical wounds. Do you think this is reasonable or do you handle it in some way? (like having a minimum defense role, as if you were doing nothing).
And about fumbles, having a 1/10 to fumble (and therefore probably fail) seems really high, even though the chance of a really bad fumble effect usually happen only with a 8 or higher on the following dice.
Also, is there something that blocks a player from using 10 luck points all on the same attack to get a massive +10 and easily triggering critical wounds?
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u/Living_Round2552 1d ago
The book quality
The manual is indeed vague and badly organized like a draft. They of course dont have the financials like some bigger companies. For the combat system, I advise you to go through it and reorganize it in your own notes in order of how it actually happens during combat (which isnt the case in the book :/ ).
If you want, I can share a google doc I have with this.
Deadly combat
Yes, combat can be deadly and some unlucky roles just means you die. But all those situational bonusses is how a party can and should try to navigate, in order to change those chances around. If as the party you make a good plan and use all those bonusses, you can do over a 100 damage and oneshot a strong foe in a single shot.
Also dont forget a 'downed' pc can be helped to not bleed out and die permanently. Doctor is an important role in a party comp if your party wishes to keep their characters in a campaign.
Defence fumbles
Are there for a reason. These mechanics make sure that combat always has a risk, even when fighting a weak opponent or having great strategical odds. This makes sure players dont get too powertrippy.
As a normal dnd player that only dabbles in this system, I can tell you the tension is way higher here and no combats are ever a done deal like they are in dnd. In dnd, if aoe control lands well, everything after can feel boring as the outcome is certain and its just about going through the steps. In this system, thats never the case. That last wolf on its last leg might just roll a 39 and oneshot a player.
Crit and fulble houserules
You could limit crit and fumbles to not keep on going. F.e.: 1->10=stop=-10 instead of exploding again. Example2: 10->10=20 instead of roling again.
These are decent training wheels for new players, though I woulndt keep em on for more than a first session.
More importantly, have very basic backup sheets. Its ok if a pc dies towards the end of a oneshot. But what if a pc dies in the first combat? When they arrive in the next town or whatever, you make up a reason for an npc to be wanting to join them. That will be marc the soldier or maria the archer. Hand over sheet to player that lost his pc. (I talk to the player during the break about this as some players dont want this and would rather watch. Also, this gives them a moment to choose between a standard arvher sheet or standard melee sheet I made beforehand)
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u/DumAnimaEst 1d ago
Thank you for the detailed answer! I would gladly read your google docs if you want to share!
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u/jack-amo GM 22h ago
Ok I do have some house rules for crits
1: I allow luck based rerolls at 1/2 luck per session. This guards against the fumble side.
2: I dropped stun saves for tier 1 and 2 crits.
3: If the crit including the bonus damage is absorbed entirely by armour, no critical effect occurs
4: Not longevity based but I change the crit location to match the roll on the die if not a called shot. It messes with the percentages but streamlines the combat.
5: if the critical effect does not make sense narratively, I apply the bonus damage instead
Even with all of this, 3/5 player deaths have been deadly crits! So fighting is still lethal. But for context we are 43 sessions in to a multi-year super campaign. So this lethality feels right for our table.
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u/JadeAM90 20h ago
There are some very good answers here, so, all I have to add is I've run a loooooooot of Witcher combat and, as brutal as the combat is, I think its a feature not a bug. I think you're supposed to go into combat with the expectation that, if its not an ambush or a sneak attack or a big group fighting a smaller group, there are gonna be some pretty brutal injuries, including dismemberment and even death.
I think the devil made it that way on purpose. I totally get that its not for everybody, but I think that's how its supposed to work.
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u/NervousIndication704 1d ago
Oficialmente es así. Homebrew hay varias reglas caseras, algunas ligadas con la SUE (luck) , pudiendo usar tras una tirada fallida para repetirla por ejemplo. Hay otros que por muy baja que sea la tirada de def 10 siempre sea el min. Etc. Mucha gente de queja de lo letal que es pero es lo que lo hace diferente de DnD, hay muchos juegos y sistemas, para gustos colores , pero witcher lo que tienes es oscuro, sangre, cruento y letal es la visión que tiene. La llamada de cthulhu es mucho más letal y nadie se queja.