Do players use critical hits often?

By Aramur, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

15 hours ago, Genuine said:

Hands down, my favorite weapons are blaster pistols. Get them paired (or grab a laser sight, it works out the same with the free advantage), and go to town. For 5 advantage you can crit twice, once at +40 and again at +50, with a minimum result of 'crippled.' And of course hit twice with a base damage of 10.

Do you mean "disruptor pistols"? Blaster pistols don't generally grant +40 to a crit roll, I didn't think.

I've used critical hits numerous times against my players, but they have only just started using them against the NPCs. So far, while we have a few lightsabers with Vicious 2 and Crit 1 in the group, no one has gone for disruptor weapons yet. I told them they are welcome to get them - but no whining when a group of bounty hunters shows up and starts disintegrating limbs with their own disruptor weapons. :)

27 minutes ago, SJanson said:

Do you mean "disruptor pistols"? Blaster pistols don't generally grant +40 to a crit roll, I didn't think.

I've used critical hits numerous times against my players, but they have only just started using them against the NPCs. So far, while we have a few lightsabers with Vicious 2 and Crit 1 in the group, no one has gone for disruptor weapons yet. I told them they are welcome to get them - but no whining when a group of bounty hunters shows up and starts disintegrating limbs with their own disruptor weapons. :)

Lol, yes, I meant disruptor pistols.

So, funny story related to crits.

My in-person group got to meet for the first time in 2+ months on Saturday, and we had a long-awaited encounter with a pair of Inquisitors. The sides of the conflict were as follows: the party of five and their NPC (Smuggler, Spy, and Colonist without the Force, Sentinel, Guardian, Seeker with it) vs. two Inquisitors, each with their own squad of five Stormtroopers and a Stormtrooper Sergeant.

The fight was big and rough, and eight critical hits were dealt. Two were to the Stormtrooper squads, meaning all they did was bump off an additional trooper, but the other six were dealt to PCs or adversaries.

Of those six, three were Hamstrung. And of those three Hamstringings, all three were on a roll of a 73. We were laughing heartily about it.

Side note, one of the Inquisitors had Unleash, and she was good at it. Or I suppose I should say "good" at it, as she used it three times during the fight. The first time she spent a Destiny Point to upgrade her massive Discipline, thinking she could get her two Dark Side pips with no problem on with her Force Rating of 3. Nope, she rolled 4 Light Side pips. And since she'd already spent a Destiny Point to upgrade, she couldn't use one to use Light Side pips. Oops.

Second attempt later, she smartly didn't flip before the roll, which was good because she rolled six Light Side pips! Final attempt, she did flip a Destiny to upgrade, and she rolled 1 Dark Side and four Light Side pips.

She was rolling amazing! ...For a Lightsider. Which she wasn't.

38 minutes ago, Absol197 said:

So, funny story related to crits.

My in-person group got to meet for the first time in 2+ months on Saturday, and we had a long-awaited encounter with a pair of Inquisitors. The sides of the conflict were as follows: the party of five and their NPC (Smuggler, Spy, and Colonist without the Force, Sentinel, Guardian, Seeker with it) vs. two Inquisitors, each with their own squad of five Stormtroopers and a Stormtrooper Sergeant.

The fight was big and rough, and eight critical hits were dealt. Two were to the Stormtrooper squads, meaning all they did was bump off an additional trooper, but the other six were dealt to PCs or adversaries.

Of those six, three were Hamstrung. And of those three Hamstringings, all three were on a roll of a 73. We were laughing heartily about it.

Side note, one of the Inquisitors had Unleash, and she was good at it. Or I suppose I should say "good" at it, as she used it three times during the fight. The first time she spent a Destiny Point to upgrade her massive Discipline, thinking she could get her two Dark Side pips with no problem on with her Force Rating of 3. Nope, she rolled 4 Light Side pips. And since she'd already spent a Destiny Point to upgrade, she couldn't use one to use Light Side pips. Oops.

Second attempt later, she smartly didn't flip before the roll, which was good because she rolled six Light Side pips! Final attempt, she did flip a Destiny to upgrade, and she rolled 1 Dark Side and four Light Side pips.

She was rolling amazing! ...For a Lightsider. Which she wasn't.

Nice! In my players' fight, the lead Inquisitor (with FR5 - equal to the highest FR among my players) had Bind with numerous upgrades. His +70 crits were...not kind to the players. At all. (One roll hit 136, and two others went higher).

I think criticals are more important and useful if you have a party who isn't trying to actually kill everything they fight. Being able to stack critical injuries on an enemy is a great way to disable them for capture. And there are a couple of career specs that are built around the idea of giving the PC control over criticals inflicted. The Martial Artist is one, but I'm pretty sure there is at least one other out there.

Since it gives the PC control over what critical injury is inflicted, I think it makes them much more useful.

2 hours ago, Absol197 said:

She was rolling amazing! ...For a Lightsider. Which she wasn't.

Clearly she's conflicted and feeling the pull of the light.

Critical hits come up a lot in fights against harder targets in my games. Some critical results are very brutal for enemies who are intended to be long fights. If you hit Winded (81-85, don't even need any positive modifiers) on a lightsaber wielder, suddenly all their parry and reflect is gone, making them much squishier.