Max Damage Criticals - A Cindralis House Rule

A clean, dramatic way to speed up critical hits in 5e.

Critical hits shouldn't slow down the game. They should feel excited!

Try our favorite house rule, used across all Cindralis Games tables:

When a player rolls a natural 20 on an attack, roll the standard damage dice once. Then add the maximum possible result of that same roll as bonus damage.

Example: If your weapon does 2d10 damage, a crit would normally then be 4d10. With our house rule, you would roll your 2d10 +20(max damage for 2d10).

Why we love it:

It's fast and easy to remember
Keeps the math simple without losing impact
Gives players a consistent feeling of power on crits

We call this the Cindralis Criticals rule, but you can name it whatever feels right at your table.

Download the PDF below to print and use at your table.

Enjoy, and may your dice always land true.

Note: Variations of this rule have been around since the early 90s. Although this is not where were first heard of this idea, the earliest documented version we found appears in Rack & Rune #3 (1991) RuneQuest fanzine, describing max+roll impale damage.