Critical Failure (D&D)

[Draaggon]

What are the funniest moments caused by Critical Failure (natural 1's) that you've seen?

For example:
1. On a Search check looking through a chest of someone's personal belongings, crit. failure caused the searcher to hit their head on the chest.
2. Crit. Failure on a Spot check caused the victim to have flys fly into their eyes.
3. A Dragon got a nat 1 on a Listen check so its ears started bleeding.

Gaia:: The dumbest thing ever said in a DnD game...

Esgay

Dwarf fighter: i'm bored, I roll a breathing check (rolls a 1)
DM: you choke on your beard and die.

[SufferingPlanet]

I'm playing a monk, mkay? And I'm making some move silently checks on a werewolf.
I'm rolling really well as I sneak up on her, the rest of the party approaching slightly slower than I am.
I get behind her and...
STUNNING FIST!
I hit...
*rolls for damage*
One

Paul: "OH GOD YOU HEALED HER!"

[Kira Comson Barra]

Well It's not D&D, but I was playing WotC Star Wars. A "Light" Jedi (putz) was trying to infultrate a Dark Jedi base. He got ended up spying on one of the meetings and got seen. The 2 Intructors tried to See Force on him to sense wether he was Light or Dark because they had never seen him. Both roll nat 1's while he rolled a nat 20. A level 4 Jedi managed to hide his "lightness" from 2 level 16 Dark Jedi. Since he rolled so well and them so crappy, the DM had the instructors give him a mission to spy on Luke Skywalker, when it had been Skywalker who had sent him to spy on them.

[Tainted Deity]

I DMed for the first time yesterday and the playes ended up shrunken in a dwarven wizards pockets.

They did a search check because they're both theiving scoundrels and recieved a 17 and a natural 1.

The player who rolled 17 found some random spell components and the natural 1 found a shoe.

His own.

Still on his foot.

[Adult-Material]

I rolled a natural 1 on an attack roll with my greataxe... And our elf rolled a 1 on his reflex save to get out of the way... Now no one plays elves in my parties because they can't be revived. But I got another skull to attach to my armor as a plus! (I was a chaotic evil gnoll berserker who found that if he added skulls to his armor he got a better ac and if he added one that wielded any kind of magic in life, I got a stacking +1 resistance to that type of magic. I ended up murdering our necromancer and favoredsoul in a fit of rage. I would have got our halfling bard too had he not soothed me in time... the b*****d. heart He was played by my boyfriend at the time.)

[ramiel.sheep.of.lightning]

You can't technically crit fail on skill checks, but by golly, it makes the game so much more entertaining

In a campaign I was familiar with(with a house rule of crit fails on skill checks), they were tracking down some illegitimate business men to bring them to justice. They had tracked them to a hotel room and their rogue put his head against the door for a listne check. He rolled a 1. Oops. He proceeded to drive into the door far harder than he had intended, shoving a spinter into his ear, which puntured his ear drum. His head continued on, meeting with the door in a solid thud, knocking himself out and alerting the men in the room to his presence. He never gained back hearing in that ear, gave him a permanent -5 to listen check(but a +5 to resist sonic and sound based attacks).

-ramiel

[justiceavery]

I tryed to apraise a dagger and Draggons campain and nicked my self, and took 4 damge

A yuni ti abomanation rold a natrul one on it's frist attack stabed itself. then triped.....Then tryed to cast a spell....with a 10% fail (1-10). He got a 1 and Dragon had him blow up.

[Agent Sapphire]

I crit. failed on an attack roll and managed to throw my short sword through the head of an illusion that someone else in party had conjured and knock our cleric unconscious. It was, uh, special.

[Vlad2049]

Well, incase I havn't told this one, or incase you missed it, here's my buddy Jesus, and his Quest for Failure:

The quest we were on was a basic 1st lvl quest: gain entrance to a Guild and aquire info that may be useful to the Mayor(the guy who hired us) to break up the Guild for good. The guild had a pair of sentrys, and we voted that the best way past them was to talk our way in. My Sorceror has the best Cha, not to mention Diplomacy and Bluff, so I spoke with them. Made my Diplomacy check with a natural 19, and we were allowed to try for the guilds Apprenticeship. Problem is, while entering past the guards, Jesus thought it'd be a good idea for his Rogue to Pick Pocket as we passed. He gets a Natural 1. But, it gets better. The Pick Pocket provoked an Attack of Oppotuniy, so the guard punches him in the eye, dealing 6 damage on a 1d6. His Rogue is now down to 1 health, on the second action taken in the game. From then on, his luck never got any better. I have other stories, but I'll save them for later.

[Brasten]

Adult-Material

Now no one plays elves in my parties because they can't be revived.

I hope that's a House Rule there. sad

I don't believe in Critical Miss/Fumble rolls. It's bad enough when a PC fails a Save on 1, no need to compound it. Do you lot (people who use this house rule) use a confirmation of system for the critical fumble like you do for critical hits?

I can tell you what the worst Natural 1 was in my group has been. Our Super-Tank fighter had is Fortified armor Dispelled (suppressed) and then got hit by a Devastating Critical[Epic, Feat]. He could have only failed the fortitude save on 1, and that's what he rolled. Super-Tank became Dead-and-Gone-Super-Tank in under 12 seconds of combat. He was revived later, after the much more chaotic final battle.

[Derek Alemer]

I'm DMing this game, and the party stumbles into a room of sleeping hobgoblins. They send the rogue in to smack some people around, but instead of coup de grace'ing them, he just normally attacks it. Gets a natural one on an attack roll before I say he doesnt need one. So, instead of ruining the moment, I say that he stepped on a large rat as he was aiming his short sword, making him fall prone, and creating a loud, echoing banging sound that awoke the entire room. Quite a rat.

[LordShard]

Brasten

Adult-Material

Now no one plays elves in my parties because they can't be revived.

I hope that's a House Rule there. sad

I don't believe in Critical Miss/Fumble rolls. It's bad enough when a PC fails a Save on 1, no need to compound it. Do you lot (people who use this house rule) use a confirmation of system for the critical fumble like you do for critical hits?

I can tell you what the worst Natural 1 was in my group has been. Our Super-Tank fighter had is Fortified armor Dispelled (suppressed) and then got hit by a Devastating Critical[Epic, Feat]. He could have only failed the fortitude save on 1, and that's what he rolled. Super-Tank became Dead-and-Gone-Super-Tank in under 12 seconds of combat. He was revived later, after the much more chaotic final battle.

I roll 1s MANY times more than I roll 20s. It's like my dice are loaded to loose. I've quit campaigns before on the spot when the DM out of no where makes me do a fumble roll and didn't tell us before hand it was being used.

[Reevinja]

I do critical miss/fumbles on attack rolls, when the situation might become more interesting because of it. In some games, multiple misses over a few rounds just ends up getting annoying, so when a natural 1 is rolled, I toss in something to make things a bit interesting again. Sometimes people will change up their strategies, and the low rolls work for them instead of against them (grappling with a better modifier versus trying to hit a static number).

I don't do it a whole lot though, especially if I think it might just be more annoying instead of adding something.

However...

I always do it for enemies. Or almost-always. It just leads to some humorous situations where the players get a good laugh, or even end up feeling sorry for the poor guy.

One enemy Fighter had a Longsword, and swung it at a PC. He got a 1, and it slipped from his grip and flew off into the bushes. Next round, takes out a shortsword, and swings.. It flies off into the river.. :]

[GaijinGuy36]

Reevinja

I do critical miss/fumbles on attack rolls, when the situation might become more interesting because of it. In some games, multiple misses over a few rounds just ends up getting annoying, so when a natural 1 is rolled, I toss in something to make things a bit interesting again. Sometimes people will change up their strategies, and the low rolls work for them instead of against them (grappling with a better modifier versus trying to hit a static number).

I don't do it a whole lot though, especially if I think it might just be more annoying instead of adding something.

However...

I always do it for enemies. Or almost-always. It just leads to some humorous situations where the players get a good laugh, or even end up feeling sorry for the poor guy.

One enemy Fighter had a Longsword, and swung it at a PC. He got a 1, and it slipped from his grip and flew off into the bushes. Next round, takes out a shortsword, and swings.. It flies off into the river.. :]

Worst melee luck ever.

One time, a paladin crit-failed a roll to hit a dragon with a nice, powerful sword of dragon slaying. He ended up pinning his own foot to the ground, and the dragon lunged for him and *CHOMP!* Well, at least we were able to salvage his sword and greaves...the dragon had bitten him off at the knees. Needless to say, he didn't survive. Poor Percy. crying We'll never forget ya, man.

[kupo kupo!!!]

Crit fails do not make any sense.
Think about it a lvl 1 fighter has 1 attack a round with a 5% chance to ******** up.
Now a lvl 20 fighter has 4 attacks a round with a 5% chance on each to ******** up.
kinda stupid