Critical Failure: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"You see, Fighter, any time you do '''any'''thing, there is [[Random Number God|a one in twenty chance that you will critically fail]]. The results of such catastrophic events [[Game Master|are up to the gods.]] Sadly for us, [[Killer Game Master|they are vindictive, and filled with bad ideas.]]"''|'''Red Mage''', ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'', "[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/06/17/episode-430-very-long-range/ Very Long Range]"}}

[[Magic Misfire]] is one possible consequence or subtype. See also [[Luck Stat]]. Can sometimes result in a [[Critical Existence Failure]] but the tropes are not directly related.

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] And [[Manga]] ==

* [[Digimon]]: War Greymon's Dramon Killers can cause this. They're especially effective against draconic digimon. War Greymon himself is a "dragon man" however, and is constantly at risk of serious, self inflicted injury as a result.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** That being said, the Critical Failure rule has been included in the Dungeon Master's Guide since 3rd edition as an example of what a house rule is. In 4th Edition, the suggested House rule format is that a player who rolls a 1 on an attack roll loses all subsequent actions this round. Rather tame and less deadly than the more classic versions.

** The 3.5 Dragon Compendium includes expanded rules for what happens when rolling a 1 or a 20 on an attack roll. The critical failures are rather amusing.

** And that quote from Red Mage at the top of the page is a very good reason to never enforce these rules. Especially the Dragon Compendium version.

** In 2nd edition there were semi-official optional rules for critical hits and misses published by Dragon magazine, where you would roll a percent and in general, the higher the number the more potent the effect. The funny thing is, both critical hits and critical failures used the same table - so it was entirely possible to decapitate yourself on a critical failure if you rolled exceptionally high on the table.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has Glitches -- rolling a one on half or more of all dice in a roll -- and critical Glitches -- a glitch that also has no successes. The former is just annoying side effects like a burst of suppressive fire hitting a steam pipe, but the latter tends to invoke the [[Chunky Salsa Rule]].

* Due to a quirk of the system (the use of 3d6 rather than a d20, and success made by rolling ''under'' a target number) ''[[GURPS]]'' reverses the normal expectations and has critical failures on an 18 and critical success on a 3. This may be due to [[Champions]]'s influence on Steve Jackson; Hero System runs the same way.

* [http://www.funnydndstories.com/apps/blog/show/3432504-sameo/ Sameo]: proof that even a critical failure can be a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* Magic in ''[[Warhammer]]'' is portrayed as an always risky affair, manipulating the spillage of raw Chaos into the material world that invites the attention of deities [[Eldritch Abomination|who are far too ugly for a mother to comprehend never mind love]]. So not only does it have the Miscast rule that automatically fails the players' attempts to cast a spell but the player must then roll again to see what happens to their mage; it ranges from a bad headache to a legion of [[Cosmic Horror|Cosmic Horrors]] invading its brain and dragging the world around him into hell.

** And don't think worshipping one of the <s>good</s> [[Black and Grey Morality|okay]] deities in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'' exempts you from this rule. The same botch rules apply, only the gods get angry with you for abusing their gifts. It's generally not as bad as the Curse of Tzeentch, however -- the gods may get angry and stun you for a round, but they won't summon hordes of demons, inflict insanity points on you or render your entire family sterile(!).

* Rolling a 20 in ''[[Paranoia]]''. Your gun can explode, your mutant power backfires horribly, and so on.

** Some GMs also invert this with a [[House Rules|house rule]] that rolling a 1 may mean you succeeded ''[[Gone Horribly Right|too]]'' [[Gone Horribly Right|well]]. Shooting a Commie mutant traitor sends their shattered remains flying backward through a wall, causing pipes to burst and release toxic chemicals... that sort of thing.

* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' D6 system has the interesting expansion of allowing a critical failure that is also a success. The classic example is a successful dodge which leaves the player standing close to [[Exploding Barrels]], or a successful attack resulting in the victim falling onto an alarm button.

* ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'' call these a "Flub". A "Flub" is a roll of 1 on a D12.

* In ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'', all rolls are on a percent die (from 00 to 99). Doubles (ie. 00, 11, etc.) are critical. Whether they're critical failures or successes is up to the parameters of the roll (so if you needed a 40 or lower to succeed a roll, 44 is a critical failure). 00 is always a critical success, and 99 is always a critical failure. Probably the most interesting critical failures in ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'' are those involving [[Psychic Powers|Psi Sleights]]. The consequences there can include [[Psychic Nosebleed|nosebleed]], [[Grand Theft Me]], or [[Your Head Asplode]].

* ''Spycraft'' has a rule where a bad roll triggers an "error", only slightly worse than a normal failure, and a true [[Critical Failure]] requires the [[Game Master|Game Control]] to spend one or more action dice, theoretically ensuring that critical failures don't disrupt the flow of the game and occur when most dramatically appropriate. A similar rule has players spend their own action dice to activate a critical success when they roll a "threat". The game also plays around with the ranges of d20 rolls that constitute an error or a threat depending on the circumstances, producing some interesting risk/reward mechanics.

* [[Ars Magica]]. Currently, you might botch if you roll a ten on an ability check while under stress. Previous editions had a critical failure table with increasingly-horrific results -- the worst results kill you instantly, with helpful descriptive text such as:

{{quote| "Rising after yet another resounding exchange of blows, you look to your weapon and realize it's broken short, the lethal end impaling you from abdomen to spine. For a moment you feel the sinews of your back slide from their moorings before you fall lifeless to the ground."}}

* The [[Knights of the Old Republic]] do model critical failures -- for example, if you're disarming a mine then a 'failure' just means failure to disarm the mine (i.e: nothing happens), but a ''critical'' failure means the mine blows up on you at point-blank range.

** The chances of a critical failure are often tied to the character's skill level in the respective task -- if you're too unskilled to reliably disarm a mine, you're likely to accidentally set if off in the process, whereas if you have better than even odds for disarming it, you likely won't ever have a mine blow up on you.

* The series ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' has the Devil Axe, a weapon that is rather powerful but can potentially injure (or kill) the user when used. It has spawned a number of videos where characters kill themselves by attacking a wall or a tree with it.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', engineer-made gadgets have a slim chance of critically malfunctioning whenever they are used. This ranges from not working, to doing the opposite result expected, to outright [[Made of Explodium|exploding on the spot]]. Anything with the words 'Safe' or (worse) [[Blatant Lies|'Ultrasafe']] in its name is all the more likely to do so.

* Every weapon has a chance of critical failure in [[Kingdom of Loathing]], which it calls a Fumble. Some weapons, such as the [[Awesome but Impractical]] [http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Ridiculously_overelaborate_ninja_weapon Ridiculously overelaborate ninja weapon] has a 3x chance of [[Critical Hit]] but a 3x chance of fumble. If you assemble the Cyborg Armor, made of ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'''s coat, pants, and fedora, fumbles become positive side effects.

* ''[[Arcanum]]'' has a wide range of critical failures, such as breaking your own weapon, breaking your own armour, knocking yourself out, dropping your weapon, dealing heavy damage to yourself, semi-permanent disfigurement and injury... and it's not unusual for several effects to happen at once, which is hilarious when it happens to an enemy and incredibly frustrating when it happens to you. (And it will happen to you A LOT when starting out. Expect the words "Are you blind? What in the gods-er, better luck next time!" to be burned into your mind.) There's also a trait that makes critical hits and misses less common, but more spectacular. Oh, and the critical failure chance of technological weapons [[Magic Versus Science|is increased in the hands of a magic user]], and vice versa.

* The map-based operation-level war game ''The Ardennes Offensive'' incorporated the element of chance into its battles by listing six possible outcomes, ranging from worst to best, and rolling a die. Basically, the greater your numerical and tactical superiority, the better the six possible outcomes would be - but no matter how [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|completely]] you dominated the battlefield, rolling a 1 would always mean losing more than you gained. Yes, even when chasing stragglers with [[No Kill Like Overkill|entire armoured divisions.]]

* Similarly to ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' makes traps go off in your face if you fail badly enough at disarming them. However, since you are allowed to 'take 20' when out of combat (in other words, being able to devote your full attention to it rather than to avoiding a severe stabbing), this only applies if someone gives you a nasty shock or otherwise tries to beat on you while you're distracted.

* In ''PangYa'', there are two versions of the Lucky Pangya and Control Pill items. One version requires currency that is bought with real money, and is guaranteed to work. The other version, which costs Pang (a currency that can be obtained through playing the game), has a 30% chance of failing. And no, you can't simply use another of the same item; you can only use one item per shot.

** Missing Pangya while using super shot (Tomahawk, Cobra, Spike) used to make the super shot fail to activate, now it causes the shot to arc wildly (and randomly). With a Tomahawk or Cobra, the shot generally lands close to the target anyhow, with a spike however, expect 30-70 yards of deviation, usually OB and in All cases there's a good chance that any [[PPI Ced]] power shot will hit a tree trunk or other impassable obstacle on the way to the target.

** Players often find that those 90% accuracy moves are just inaccurate enough to [[Random Number God|only miss when it would screw you over the most]].

** Funnily enough, the Jump Kick family was changed to specifically reflect this change. Although it has gotten better, most pokemon that use it will often end up killing themselves because they are JUST THAT STRONG.

* Just try to do anything in ''[[Nethack]]'' with your luck negative, your alignment negative, and your god furious at you.

* Enemies with high speed/agility stats in the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series can dodge critical attacks. "Excellent move... It is dodging!" Or even block them. "Thy attack failed and there was no loss of hit points!"

== [[Web Original]] ==