Doug [he/him]

d% is what I usually see

I always divide by two and round up for d3

Been a while since I saw a reference to exceptional strength

Not enough robot arms to be Magnus Burnsides

Not to just keep replying to you but it’s also very doable online if you can’t find players where you are

You can’t. You can do better sometimes but there will still be hiccups. As far as I’m aware the groups most likely to be actually consistent have been playing together since they were in school.

This isn’t meant to be discouraging at all! The opposite in fact. Don’t let those hiccups, common or rare, stop you. Just be aware of their possibility and ready to adapt. Ability to adapt is the most useful tool in the GM toolbox at the table and approaching it.

While reading this comment I had the thought of a stoic warrior type that was very much an outsider to the society he was mostly operating in but very open to learning about the things that are new to him. Occasionally he would really embrace some part of that culture and make his own references to it.

I’d probably call him Jaxson and get away with it until he said indeed.

Sorry if it came off like I thought it was your first time. We all screw up sometimes, like I did with that comment lol

I’ve been playing since 2e as well. I took it that the rest of the table had different ideas and goals than you did. That’s almost never fun as I’m sure you know.

I’m glad there were some good times

Maybe!

Well that sounds like a great reason to look at Pathfinder 2e

That sounds like a few problems and there should at least be a discussion with the group about expectations before future campaigns.

But the inverse of a skill based build getting a lot of lucky combat rolls and outdoing the combat character is possible in the book. A good DM can and should mitigate skill crits but is kinda stuck on combat ones.

Regardless, I’m sorry you had a crap time.

Does a crit on an attack automatically kill the attacked thing? Of course not, that would be absurd. Depending on the rules you’re using it either does max damage, or bonus damage. It also often is a successful hit even if the attacker would not successfully hit. It is the best outcome the attacker could hope to accomplish.

A crit success at a skill check is no different. You can not expect to convince the Dwarven kingdom that you, a human, are the long lost prince with a deception check any more than you can expect a first level rogue to sneak attack any noticable damage onto the Tarrasque. But you can score a hit, or convince them you believe you are the long lost prince and that maybe they need to find out why.

It sounds like what you think a crit anything is is pretty dumb. Success doesn’t begin and end at accomplishing the entirety of your goal with a thing. If it did we’re still going to have to make every combat crit a kill shot.

Not at all. A crit is never doing the impossible, it’s doing the best possible. A crit at first level isn’t going to one shot an elder dragon, but you’ll hit it and do some damage.

A crit trying to lift the castle’s giant, wrought iron portcullis isn’t going to lift it, but it just might help you realize one of the bars isn’t as firmly connected as it ought to be…

In other words of what others have already said, a crit skill check isn’t making the impossible possible, it’s the best possible outcome you could hope for. Just like how a crit on a thing you can’t hit is the best you could hope for. You don’t instantly kill it, you just get a very good shot in.

You don’t convince the guard to let you go free, but maybe you manage to get him to believe you’re inept enough that he can go to the other room and have a nap.

There’s no crits on skill checks in the book. Play how you want

I made a villain probably more than 15 years ago at this point that, to this day, any player who was in that campaign will promptly tell me “fuck you” if I mention him or do a little flourish with my finger.

Philip the Brigand! He was born of several suggestions for memorability. A title, not just a name. Personality flair (such as, but not limited to, the flourish), and a knack for escape being the three I remember. Not plot armor, for sure. A great eye for knowing when the battle wasn’t going his way though, which was usually shortly after ruining the party’s day. Like when he loosed a rust monster that destroyed the fighter’s treasured sword and also broke the monk’s arm.

Mostly they pictured an incredibly annoying version of Autolycus from Xena/Hercules. Not unfair.

What kind of backwards, boring ass DM does that?

Did y’all form up another group without them?

Your spells are dadisms

“Walk it off” - cure light wounds

“If I told you once I told you a thousand times…” - command

“Great job, kiddo” - bless

“What you’re gonna wanna do is…” - guidance

You get the idea

I don’t know how anyone but Frakes could be Xanatos

The situation will almost always call for it.

And the rules, as Barbossa would tell you, are more like guidelines. Throw out the ones that hamper fun but take the time to understand which ones those are and why they do.

But no one here can tell you which those will be. They can be different at every table