Here is a house rule I thought I'd share with the community that makes the game feel more deadly...

When rolling a critical hit, if the percentage dice have the same number (11,22,33,44, etc..) The you re-roll and add the first number to the second one for the result.

For instance, a player with 2 critical injuries roles 77 for a crit, rolls again and gets 54. The final result would be 20+77+54=151, the character would be dead.

This even makes it possible for a character to receive only one crit and die (ex. 88+57=145). This isn't highly likely to happen on any given instance BUT the possibility is certainly there and it aids a little more tension and realism.

To give the player a little more control over character death, you can optionally allow the player to use an available destiny point (if one is available) to negate the additional role if a double comes up.

I've found this gives the players a much greater feel that their characters could die, but also

Ouch!

You could also just say that characters die if they hit 2x their wound threshold if lethality is all you're looking for.

Although Star Wars and Lethallity dont really go together.

I can't say I'm a fan of this idea, as the game is dangerous enough, with most PCs in the early stages dropping after a couple of decent hits from a blaster rifle, while a blaster pistol needs three or four hits to do the job.

Although Star Wars and Lethallity dont really go together.

True, but only if you've got a name, more so if you've got a full first and last name. The nameless mooks seem to die quite easily, especially once the Jedi heroes start breaking out the ever-glowin' beatsticks, as was the case with Luke vs. Jabba's thugs in RotJ.

True, but only if you've got a name, more so if you've got a full first and last name. The nameless mooks seem to die quite easily, especially once the Jedi heroes start breaking out the ever-glowin' beatsticks, as was the case with Luke vs. Jabba's thugs in RotJ.

Of course, which is why minions (can) die at their wound/stress threshold.

Which leads to wonderful things like the 'shouting stormtroopers to death' talent.

Of all the various Talents, my players love that one the most!

If you want more lethality, I'm fond of the 'rocks fall, everyone dies' method, but with more Star Wars flair. Nothing says death quite like some kind of ridiculous Imperial super weapon. If you're going to do something, might as well do it a whole lot.

Shouting minions to death is such a great power. Although my best usage wasn't minions but when I strained out a Dark Jedi slave master in front of his product. I dropped three Tirades in one turn, rolled REALLY well and he ran from the room so fast. It was glorious.

Mind you, we had to deal with his master after that - but it was still a moment to be savored.

(Also, to the topic at hand: why in the hell would you want Star Wars to be more lethal? It's not that kind of setting)

I just limit things to only 1 critical being able to be cleared per week. Also, if a character would exceed twice their wound threshold they get a critical with +50.

(Also, to the topic at hand: why in the hell would you want Star Wars to be more lethal? It's not that kind of setting)

Yeah, this isn't 'Game of Thrones'.

Death in Star Wars adventures tends to happen because of the plot, not bad dice rolls.

(Also, to the topic at hand: why in the hell would you want Star Wars to be more lethal? It's not that kind of setting)

Yeah, this isn't 'Game of Thrones'.

Death in Star Wars adventures tends to happen because of the plot, not bad dice rolls.

Unless you play Battlefront, in which case you die because you spawned in front of the enemy's gun.

I think virtually every critical response here failed to comprehend the rule. Adding the ability to use Destiny to negate the additional roll on doubles (which will only happen 10% of the time) mitigates much of the risk. The point is to add more of a sense of lethality to players, not turn the game into prior editions of Warhammer RPG.

The psychological impact of the idea that you would have likely died on double # crit if you didn't flip that Destiny point adds increases the perceived risk of combat situations. I do think GMs should be cautious of actually go through with offing player characters if the players are not on board with it (everyone should be on board with character death and it should be the epic end to that character's story—but I think this holds true in ANY RPG system).

So are PCs able to use this rule against opponents?

Unless you play Battlefront, in which case you die because you spawned in front of the enemy's gun.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, what a frustrating game. I tried to play for an afternoon, got not just schooled but thoroughly exterminated every time I set foot on the playing field. I gave up and went back to Civ V.

The point is to add more of a sense of lethality to players, not turn the game into prior editions of Warhammer RPG.

While a game shouldn't have a iddqd code, deaths should only be a factor when it serves the story and not just something random event. Captured? Sure. Knocked out? Certainly. Dead? Not so much.

So yeah, still not a fan.

I have nothing against the rule except it might make the players horde Destiny points just in case. I did a similar thing with a few changes to the critical chart, putting more lethal results further up the table that could be mitigated by flipping Destiny and that's the result I got.

If the player sits down at the game table, he's giving the GM permission to kill his character AFAIC. The character's story isn't written. He could be Luke Skywalker and save the galaxy or he could be Biggs and die to help the hero save the galaxy. You don't know which until the dice hit the table.

I'm not understanding the formula in the OP. Where does this initial 20 in the calculation come from?

I'm not understanding the formula in the OP. Where does this initial 20 in the calculation come from?

I was including 2 +10s for the 2 critical injuries the character has in the example. I was trying to demonstrate that this house rule is intended to lay over the top of the existing rules.

So for instance, if the character had no previous unhealed critical injuries the, the roll would simply be 77 (doubles!) + 54 (second roll added to first double roll) for a total of 131.

So are you allowing PCs access to this as well?

My confusion stems from the fact in your example you state a PC is suffering 2 wounds, not critical injuries.

I have nothing against the rule except it might make the players horde Destiny points just in case. I did a similar thing with a few changes to the critical chart, putting more lethal results further up the table that could be mitigated by flipping Destiny and that's the result I got.

If the player sits down at the game table, he's giving the GM permission to kill his character AFAIC. The character's story isn't written. He could be Luke Skywalker and save the galaxy or he could be Biggs and die to help the hero save the galaxy. You don't know which until the dice hit the table.

That's a good point about Destiny hoarding. If this is done right, I don't think most groups will hoard Destiny, but it does tend to make them think twice about using every single one in the pool.

I myself am pretty liberal with the use of Destiny. If a player wants to direct the story in a particular direction, as long as it doesn't break the story, I let them use Destiny. Once players get a feel for it, it's hard to resist using it. With Destiny in my games players can do things like change the weather, have help show up in various forms, and other really fun acts of "coincidence". Destiny can even replace the need to roll a skill check in some places if it really makes the story sing.

On the other hand, I tend not to use it in far less deleterious ways as a GM using Dark Side Destiny. I want players to have fun using it without thinking they are handing me their doom.

A creative use of Destiny means players have to resist the urge to use it. The Destiny mechanic is one of my favorites of this system.

I agree with the DP hoarding likely being the result.

You figure 55 is the average for a D100 roll, so on average you'll be adding +55 to a critical hit result. When you factor in multiple activations for Advantages and Triumphs, adversaries with ranks of Lethal Blows and/or weapons with Vicious, PCs already sporting critical injuries, I think what you're left with is not just raising the chance of death, you're more or less guaranteeing it on a doubles roll.

How about something like you can bump the result up or down a slot on a doubles roll? Some of even the -100 crit results are awful and if you increase your ability to use them it certainly makes criticals uglier.

My confusion stems from the fact in your example you state a PC is suffering 2 wounds, not critical injuries.

My bad...I meant "critical injuries". I just edited my posts.

So are you allowing PCs access to this as well?

Yes. I follow the same rules for crits on rivals and nemeses. I however can use Dark Side destiny to save them from this.

As with the amped up feeling regarding the possibility of player death on a single crit, this presents the possibility that a single crit can take out even a nemesis.

It's not very likely though, as rolling doubles on a crit has only a 10% chance of occurring, and then the second number rolled added to the first has to exceed 140 to kill (If the target has no critical injuries, )...and then I can always spend a Dark Side Destiny point to simply stick with the first number rolled.

I think with the ranks of Lethal Blows available to the applicable specs, Vicious, Jury Rigging down crit costs, or just using low crit cost weapons, by the time PCs are toeing up with Nemeses they have plenty of options to be lethal enough on a single hit.

I agree with the DP hoarding likely being the result.

You figure 55 is the average for a D100 roll, so on average you'll be adding +55 to a critical hit result. When you factor in multiple activations for Advantages and Triumphs, adversaries with ranks of Lethal Blows and/or weapons with Vicious, PCs already sporting critical injuries, I think what you're left with is not just raising the chance of death, you're more or less guaranteeing it on a doubles roll.

How about something like you can bump the result up or down a slot on a doubles roll? Some of even the -100 crit results are awful and if you increase your ability to use them it certainly makes criticals uglier.

Actually...the probability of a single crit killing someone off under this house rule is very very low even without the use of Destiny to reverse it.

The player has a 10% chance to roll a double, and then the next roll has to make the total add up to 141 has a 24.5% of happening (if there are no other critical injuries boosting the figure). Here is what this looks like mathematically using conditional probabilities...

10% * 24.5% = 2.450%

So...this house rule creates roughly a 2.5% chance that a character can die on a single crit.

Running the math out, here is what it looks like with additional critical injuries...

Crit with doubles that kills while having 1 existing critical injury = 3%

Crit with doubles that kills while having 2 existing critical injuries = 3.5%

Crit with doubles that kills while having 3 existing critical injuries = 4%

Crit with doubles that kills while having 4 existing critical injuries = 4.5%

Crit with doubles that kills while having 4 existing critical injuries = 5%

So as you can see, this house rule actually has very little chance to actually roll up a kill (based on this house rule). It does create some tension when the crits are rolled though and that's the element I'm going for.

So if I told you when you walk out your door everyday you have a 2.5% chance of having your head chopped off unless you flipped a token everyday, would you use those tokens for anything else?