Spotlight On: Critical Hits

When I was creating my own system I had great plans for Critical Hits, including many hit locations, and effects for each of them.  Get hit in the head?  You may end up with a concussion.  Stabbed in the heart?  You’re dead.  I may one day go back to it, but I wanted something a bit simpler for this game, while not keeping the vanilla extra damage.

So I can up with the idea that a Critical Hit does damage to a physical attribute.  Instead of a Longsword doing x2 damage on the roll of a 19-20, it would instead do 1 point of damage to Strength, Dexterity or Constitution.  The higher the multiplier of the weapon, the more ability damage it would do, so a Longbow would do 2 points of ability damage, a Scythe 3 points.

A slight variation on this that I’ve been toying with is that each damage type affects a different ability.  Bludgeoning would do Strength damage, Slashing would do Dexterity damage, and Piercing would do Constituion damage.  My reasoning for these pair ups was rather arbitrary, which is why I havn’t just adopted it.  Bludgeoning damages the muscles, making it harder for them to work with the same force they normally can.  Slashing parts the ligaments needed for coordination.  Piercing goes deep into the body and hits major organs.

Bandits wielding bows, or warrior wielding axes of any kind can be the doom of a party, as a few Crits and you’re gone. I think this system will keep critical hits dangerous, without the threat of killing you outright, especially at low levels. 

Thoughts?