Free tables Critical hits — natural 20 on an attack roll

Critical Hit Table for Players, d100

A free d100 critical hit table for 5e players — 14 results from a telling blow to a fatal strike, each with a line to read aloud.

In fifth edition a critical hit has one rule: roll the attack's damage dice twice, add them together, and add your modifiers once. It is reliable, and it is arithmetic. This table is an optional replacement for that roll — a house rule, and the DM's call like every other.

When a player scores a critical hit, roll d100 here instead of doubling the dice. "Maximum" means every damage die at its highest, plus the usual modifier. Even the lowest result beats an ordinary crit, and the bands narrow as the roll climbs: most crits change the fight a little, and a 100 ends it.

Every result has a line to read aloud for slashing, piercing, bludgeoning and spell damage — they are below the table.

Severity tiers

Each result names its tier, so you can see at a glance how bad a roll was without decoding a colour.

Telling Blow 1–56 — More damage than a normal crit, and usually something else besides.
Grievous 57–97 — A wound that stays with them for the rest of the fight.
Fatal 98–100 — The fight may be over. At 100, it is.

The table

14 results. Roll d100.

d100	Result	Tier	What happens
1–14	Well Struck	Telling Blow	Maximum damage, plus roll the damage dice again and add them.
15–26	Staggered	Telling Blow	Maximum damage plus a second roll of the dice, and the target has disadvantage on its next attack roll.
27–38	Thrown Back	Telling Blow	Maximum damage plus a second roll of the dice, and a Large or smaller target is pushed 10 feet away from you and knocked prone.
39–48	Opening	Telling Blow	Double maximum damage, and the next attack roll against the target before the start of your next turn has advantage.
49–56	Sundered	Telling Blow	Double maximum damage, and the target's AC drops by 2 until the end of the fight — armour split, hide torn, guard broken.
57–64	Bleeding Wound	Grievous	Double maximum damage, and the target loses 1d6 hit points at the start of each of its turns until it regains hit points or someone succeeds on a DC 12 Medicine check to bind it. A creature with no blood to lose takes an extra 1d6 once instead.
65–72	Leg Shot	Grievous	Double maximum damage, and the target's speed is halved until the end of the fight.
73–80	Arm Shot	Grievous	Double maximum damage, the target drops whatever it is holding, and it takes a −5 penalty to attack rolls until the end of its next turn.
81–87	Triple Maximum	Grievous	Triple maximum damage. Nothing clever — just a great deal of it.
88–93	Torso Shot	Grievous	Triple maximum damage, and the target is stunned until the end of its next turn.
94–97	Head Shot	Grievous	Quadruple maximum damage, and the target falls unconscious for 1 minute. It wakes if it takes damage or someone uses an action to shake it awake.
98	Devastating Hit	Fatal	Five times maximum damage.
99	Legendary Blow	Fatal	Five times maximum damage, and every enemy that can see the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
100	Fatal Strike	Fatal	The target dies. Whatever it is, however many hit points it had left.

Lines to read aloud

One for each kind of damage, so the sentence fits what actually hit them.

Well Struck 1–14

Slashing. A clean, deep cut — the kind that stops a fight being even.
Piercing. In and out before they see it coming, and the point found something that mattered.
Bludgeoning. The impact goes all the way through them, and they feel every inch of it.
Spell. The spell lands square and keeps on landing.

Staggered 15–26

Slashing. The blade bites and spins them half around; their next swing belongs to a stranger.
Piercing. The shot jars them off their footing, and their next move comes late.
Bludgeoning. Their ears are ringing and the world has tilted a few degrees to the left.
Spell. Light floods their eyes and they lash out at where you were a moment ago.

Thrown Back 27–38

Slashing. The cut lifts them off their feet and puts them on the floor.
Piercing. The force of it punches them backwards and down.
Bludgeoning. Like being hit by a door that's angry with you. Down they go.
Spell. The blast picks them up, carries them, and drops them hard.

Opening 39–48

Slashing. Their guard comes apart, and there's a gap anyone could walk through.
Piercing. They twist away from the wound and leave their whole side open.
Bludgeoning. They fold around the blow, and for a heartbeat they're defenceless.
Spell. The magic clings and crackles, and anyone watching can see where to strike.

Sundered 49–56

Slashing. Straps part and plates fall away; their armour is decoration now.
Piercing. The point punches through their armour and leaves a hole the next one can find.
Bludgeoning. Something in their armour buckles and won't sit right again.
Spell. Their protection blackens, warps and cracks like a dropped plate.

Bleeding Wound 57–64

Slashing. A long, ugly cut that isn't going to close on its own.
Piercing. It went deep, it's still in there, and every move makes it worse.
Bludgeoning. Bone went through skin. It isn't pretty, and it won't stop.
Spell. The wound weeps and smoulders, and it won't knit.

Leg Shot 65–72

Slashing. Hamstrung. They're still standing — just.
Piercing. Through the thigh. Every step from here is a limp.
Bludgeoning. Something in the knee goes the wrong way, loudly.
Spell. Their leg goes numb and heavy and won't answer.

Arm Shot 73–80

Slashing. The cut opens the forearm and their grip simply stops working.
Piercing. Pinned through the arm; whatever they were holding hits the floor.
Bludgeoning. Their hand opens on its own. The crunch was the wrist.
Spell. Their arm jerks and spasms, and everything in that hand is gone.

Triple Maximum 81–87

Slashing. No finesse. Just the whole edge, all the way through.
Piercing. It went in a long way. Further than seemed possible.
Bludgeoning. The sound carries across the whole battlefield.
Spell. You put everything you had into it, and then a little more.

Torso Shot 88–93

Slashing. Across the ribs, deep enough that breathing is now a decision.
Piercing. Under the ribs. All the air leaves them and doesn't come back yet.
Bludgeoning. Square in the chest. They stand there trying to remember how lungs work.
Spell. The spell hits them in the centre of the chest, and every muscle locks.

Head Shot 94–97

Slashing. A blow across the temple. Their eyes roll up and they drop.
Piercing. A glancing shot off the skull, and the lights go out.
Bludgeoning. Clean on the jaw. They're asleep before they hit the ground.
Spell. Their mind simply switches off, mid-thought.

Devastating Hit 98

Slashing. Bards will argue for years about how many pieces.
Piercing. It went through them, and through what was behind them.
Bludgeoning. The ground cracks where they land.
Spell. The spell detonates, and for a moment there are two suns.

Legendary Blow 99

Slashing. A single stroke the whole fight stops to watch.
Piercing. Everyone on the field heard that land, and everyone on their side felt it.
Bludgeoning. Their allies see it happen and quietly reconsider their careers.
Spell. The air itself recoils. Their friends start looking for the exits.

Fatal Strike 100

Slashing. One cut. They don't fall so much as stop.
Piercing. Exactly where it needed to go. They're dead before they know it.
Bludgeoning. That's that. Nobody needs to check.
Spell. There's a flash, a silence, and an outline where they stood.

Questions

How do critical hits work in 5e?

On a natural 20 the attack hits, and you roll all of the attack's damage dice twice and add them together, then add your modifiers once. Extra dice from features such as Sneak Attack are doubled too.

Does this replace the normal critical damage?

Yes. Roll d100 instead of doubling the dice. The lowest result, maximum damage plus a fresh roll, is never worse than doubling, so nobody loses out by using the table.

Isn't a 1-in-100 instant kill too strong?

It is one crit in a hundred, and a crit is one attack in twenty: about one attack in two thousand. It will happen in a long campaign, and the table will remember it. Some DMs rule that a creature with legendary actions takes five times maximum damage instead.