Paizo Inc. Critical Fumble Deck

CompatibilityI'm a D&D 4.0 DM, and I found this deck to be reasonably compatible (even though it was written for D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder).The GoodThis deck worked as intended, and adds some great flavor to encounters. I consider myself a reasonably strong mechanical DM, but a remedial "flavor" DM, and this deck helps me address my "flavor" problem.The BadThis deck can make a long encounter even longer. I've used it once, and plan to use it again, but I'm certainly not going to use it in every encounter. I'm thinking I'm going to use if for one "easy" or "medium" DC encounter per adventure: an encounter that can afford to spend a little extra time on a "flavor" mechanic. This will be often enough that the deck stays "fun," but not so often that the deck becomes an obligation or breaks up the tension during "hard" or "boss" encounters, where I expect the players to bring the flavor as the adventure hits its climax.Note: I took the fifth star off for "The Bad," not for any perceived incompatibility to D&D 4.0. This deck is perfectly clearly labeled as a "Pathfinder" product, so I knew what I was getting into there.

This, much like the critical hit deck, is just a little something extra to add to your home brew game. Instead of just missing your spell or attack when you roll a 1 this deck adds a little spice into the mix. Maybe you suffer mana burn and your spell backfires or perhaps your failing sword swing caused the blade to get lodged into the ground for x number of rounds? The options allowed by this deck liven up games and allow for added enjoyment for both the GM and the players. I didn't find anything in this deck to be out of balance or too powerful, but there are plenty of places online where you can find the "deck list" and read through them. Here is an example of a card:-Card 1. Melee: Second Thoughts. You are sickened for 1d6 rounds. 2. Ranged: Mix It Up: You are unable to make ranged attacks for the next 1d6 rounds. 3. Natural: Hangnail: If this was a claw attack, slam, or unarmed strike, you cannot use that attack for 1d6 rounds. 4. Magic: Magical Vacuum: 1d3 spell effects active on you are dispelled (determined randomly).Edit: Originally I had mistakenly placed the review for the Critical Hit Deck instead of the Critical Fumble deck. This has been corrected.

Some of the titles for the effects are absolutely hilarious. "I Meant to Do That" for a melee fighter suddenly moving ten feet further than he wants, "Stop Hitting Yourself!" for a natural attack gone hilariously wrong, "My Spleeny Bits!" for an archer poking himself in the guts on accident, and for magic users, "How Did That Happen?", which cancels your spell and plants a stinking cloud effect right at your feet.In terms of game balance, though, I recommend using these only for non-magic fumbles only. The magic ones can range from creating 3-6 mirror images of your target to replacing your original spell with a Summon Monster of the same spell level THAT ATTACKS YOU EXCLUSIVELY to forcing a double roll on the Rod of Wonder table and taking both effects. It's tilted in a way that's super-punishing for casters. Besides, an imaginative GM could find a more interesting outcome for a magical fail than "EVERYTHING SUDDENLY EXPLODES LOL".

This deck can be mean to players. Some of the penalty options, while creative, can have harsh conditions that make drawing a card from this deck a dreadful affair. Don't get me wrong, we like using it in conjunction with the Critical Hit Deck to balance the fun but I don't think my players get as worked up when the critical hit as when they crit miss. I think it has a place at my table because how many times do you want to have the "you drop your sword" situation or "the bowstring snaps". After playing for years, it is nice to have an element of randomness to these rolls that don't take consulting a table or chart. As a DM, I like that this is one less thing I have to consider when trying to run elaborate combat scenarios. "Oh, you rolled a 1? Draw a card. Done".

Bought this for our Cub Scout gaming group. The kids like to play DnD 5e, and we tend to play more action and adventure, and light on the role playing. As DM I was running out of creative ideas for when somebody rolled a natural one. This deck has added a lot of excitement to our game. When someone rolls a one, there is a lot of hooting and hollering as I draw a card and read the results. Some cards drawn won't apply to your particular situation, it's easy enough to discard that card and draw another one. I thought about buying the Critical Success deck for when you roll a natural 20, but everybody is happy enough to just do double damage.Favorite card so far - Our wizard's spell backfired, and was teleported into the middle of the melee combat. Can you say squishy wizard?

These cards have definitely added some fun to my pathfinder campaigns! I GM a few different campaigns. While it can be fun to make up what happens on a critical failure, it can get difficult in the middle of an encounter. I've also had players try to argue with me when I said something like "You drop your sword" or "Your spell hits an ally instead of you" because they said it was unfair. The cards do similar things, but now no one can argue that I'm being unfair.Overall, they're fun to play. I still make up some critical failure stuff if I'm feeling creative and the PC doesn't want to draw a card (Let me tell you, most of the time the card effect is worse than what I make up) but these cards handle most failures in my games now.

Having played Pathfinder for a couple of years now, there was only one small thing that was missing from the combats that were run. What happens when you players roll the dreaded natural one? The product provides you interesting and dramatic answers, and breaks it down to the type of weapon that was used at the time.Fantastic product, nicely packaged and delivered on time.I would heartily recommend it.

3 estrellitas!!! Baraja perfecta ... para ROL generico, cuando la pruebe del todo.... aunque espero mucho de ella... pues si tu sistema de rol usa fUMBLES esto puede ser un buen añadido, y así ver O imaginar las cosas que rodean esos mundos mágicos que se crean una vez iniciada la partida. Forma interesante de ambientar las partidas. AMBIENTADA ESTA BARAJA EN: FALLOS Y fumbles en ataque

Yo tenía la aplicación del critical fumble... y era divertida...Pero la verdad tener tarjetas es como un minijuego, y todos lo pueden leer...La verdad es una gran adicion.. y es divertido barajarlas mientras juegas...Adelante.. Lo vale...