[RPG] How do we deal with the DM’s house-rule about critical damage

critical-hitdamagednd-5ehouse-rules

In the campaign I'm playing in, our DM has set a house-rule for critical damage. So, we do

maximum damage for one set of dice, roll the second set and add modifiers at the end

instead of the typical twice-the-dice and modifiers-at-the-end rule (PHB p. 196).

Example with a L1 Guiding Bolt spell:

  • regular crit = 4d6 + 4d6, average of 28
  • house-rule crit = 4×6 + 4d6, average of 38

It is great when you land a crit on creature and it's fun and exciting. But, when a creature lands a crit with a special attack or spell on one of us. It can easily wipe one of us out in one blow. Let alone area-of-effect damage! It is exciting and nerve-wracking. I really enjoy it, but I am the main healer. So, I'm regularly thinking: "Who will be the next one to pop their clogs?!" On one occasion I had an inkling that the boss we were facing was going to have a final deadly move before dying – it did. There was a massive explosion of energy and anyone close to it got killed. Luckily I had run into a corner of the room in my turn and was just out of range. The whole party was wiped but muggins.

What I'm looking for is a way of thwarting critical damage against our party, if it exists.

I am not looking for the obvious! We are already working on increasing our HP pools, using temporary HPs, reducing overall damage, increasing AC/saves, and having emergency supplies, spells and scrolls. We are also working together better, more tactically, doing things like spreading out and not putting ourselves in a line where possible.

Is there a way to prevent a creature from causing critical damage on a natural 20? Or, is there a class feature or feat that prevents critical damage specifically?

Best Answer

Adamantine armor

It has the property:

While you're wearing it, any critical hit against you becomes a normal hit. (DMG 150)

It is only classified as uncommon, but it is still a magic item. Depending on how the DM handles that, the difficulty of acquiring one may change. You also need to be proficient in at least medium armor to properly use one.

Note

Rolls with Disadvantage have a really low chance (1/400) to be crits. So if you impose it on an attack (eg. by dodging or the blur spell), you can improve your chances significantly.

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