1 in 8,000? It happens.

So tonight I got the chance to run a one-shot D&D game with the guys I used to play every weekend with. Had a blast, and they learned that a dragon can easily rip apart a group that has members scattering when most of them fail a save vs. dragon fear.

Before that dragon encounter though, something happened that I didn't think I'd ever actually see.

The guys had long ago come up with a "super critical" house rule for critical hits. It goes like this:
Roll a natural 20...normal chance for a critical hit.
Roll again to confirm. If it's another natural 20, the "critical" damage gets rolled a second time and there's one more roll.
If the 3rd roll is also a natural 20, it's an instant kill.

So let's see...1 in 20 x 1 in 20 x 1 in 20 = 1 in 8,000.

Tonight it happened in the very first attack of an encounter...pinning one player's poor halfling rogue to a tree by his head, with an arrow through it...dead. The orcs involved in the ambush didn't survive the other PCs' attacks.

That's awesome! I have nothing but respect for house rules concerning critical hits and fumbles!

Yikes! LOL.

I had a halfling monk who used a blowgun to kill a dragon sort of like that... rolled two natural 20s in a row when the dragon was at low hps. Blow dart in the eye = dead dragon. I had various gamer snacks chucked at me for 'stealing the kill'.

Wowza! Ouch.

In the long run, Crit's and Fumbles work against the players, but man they're fun/maddening to experience. That sort of risk can certainly spice up a game :-)

And more importantly, congrats on getting the 'ol gang' together. I know (at least for my old group) it gets harder to do as the years roll by.

Yes, it would be nice to get everyone together for a game or so ...

Nothing of that scale, but I was given a 1/100 chance of surving a DM pseudo-trap scenario, and I had to use his die. Rolled 00! BAZINGA!