Interesting Critical Hits

Introduction

Presently, critical hits in roguelikes all seem to have the same effect: increasing damage by some multiple. However, during a conversation on #rgrd, kaw, DGrey, and Gamer_2k4 came up with several additional ideas for critical hits. After all, a critical hit is just an attack that gives you some sort of unexpected advantage.

Critical Attack Effects

A good hit might deal the same amount of damage, but also cause some sort of status effect, such as:

• Stunning
• Bleeding
• Paralysis

Critical hits could also have instant effects:

• Disarm the target
• Knock the target back a tile
• Damage the target's armor
• Prevent the target from attacking next round
• Giving the attacker another action (the attack was "free")
• Swap positions with the target (for unarmed "throws")

Feel free to edit with more suggestions.