History Main / CriticalFailure

** During the Kamino arc, Corey makes the near-fatal mistake of trying to ''quick''-draw his lightsaber instead of just pulling it out like normal. Quick-drawing has different, more complex rules from the normal way, with a correspondingly higher chance of failure... meaning, [[MurphysLaw naturally]], that Corey rolls a 1 and the DM rules that Luke accidentally ''left his lightsaber back on the ship''.

"Critical Miss" redirects here. Click [[WebComic/CriticalMiss here]] for the webcomic ''Webcomic/CriticalMiss'' and [[WebComic/ParadoxSpace here]] for the ''WebComic/ParadoxSpace'' comic. Not to be confused with CriticalDissonance, which is when critics' opinions on a work fail to match the general public's, and CriticalResearchFailure, which is when a factual mistake is made.

*** VATS itself (and the TurnBasedCombat system from older ''Fallout'' titles) has a form of CriticalMiss in that accuracy using it is capped at 95%, so you will have at least a 5% chance of missing any attack with VATS even ''[[ATeamFiring at point blank range]]''. Probably not a coincidence that 5% is also the same chance you have of rolling a 1 on a 20-sided die.

* Elly from ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' has a 1 in 5 chance of having her ether spells fail. She is the only character whose ether attacks have such a property, which would make her a bit of a TierInducedScrappy... if it weren't for the fact that she's arguably already the game's biggest Game-Breaker[[spoiler:at least while you have her.]]

* Elly from ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' has a 1 in 5 chance of having her ether spells fail. She is the only character whose ether attacks have such a property, making her a bit of a TierInducedScrappy.

* One of the main points of ''Roleplay/RollToDodge'' is that everything is determined by the RandomNumberGod -- rolling a [[InstantWinCondition 6 or a 12 makes the Universe bend to your will]], whereas a 1 can result in EpicFail or [[CriticalExistenceFailure worse]].

* Syrg, the DM of ''LetsPlay/SomethingAwfulDungeonsAndDragons'' podcast, plays by the "roll a 1 and terrible things happen" rule. For example, a failed arcana check turns apparently magical jewels into sugar. The results of bad rolls in combat tend to be even more disastrous for the party. That's not to say it's never worked in their favor though. Several enemies have hurt themselves or their allies after Syrg rolled a 1.
* ''WebVideo/{{Aventures}}'' uses a D100 for checks, with anything between 96 and 100 being a Critical Fail (so the odds are still 1 out of 20). While the results vary (losing all one's mana while failing to cast a spell, losing one's eye, killing a little girl by {{Shield Bash}}ing her [[note]][[RunningGag "She's not dead!"]] claims the one responsible[[/note]], etc.), they are rarely lasting consequences to rolling one.

* ''WebVideo/TFSAtTheTable'''s main party came to be known as The Natural One-ders for their high propensity of these. Worth noting, Game Master Chris Zito had an additional layer to this: if a player rolled a Natural 1, they would then have to roll percentile dice to determine the severity of their failure. However, this came back to bite Zito in one particular episode where he kicked off a boss battle by rolling two Natural 1s followed by a 1 for severity, which lead to the boss slipping on ball bearings, breaking through the bottom of the ship, and sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', a D&D series, the DM Matt Mercer has used critical failures on occasion, such as making a character drop her weapon on a roll of 1.
* A discussion that occasionally surfaces on tabletop gaming forums is an ''[[InvertedTrope inversion]]'' of this in the form of "Bad 20s", essentially making it where rolling a 20 makes something [[GoneHorriblyRight go horribly right.]] For example, rolling a 20 when attempting to jump over a fence causes you to ''launch yourself into the stratosphere'' by mistake.

* [[http://www.funnydndstories.com/apps/blog/show/3432504-sameo/ Sameo]]: proof that even a critical failure can be a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

** Earlier, when [[RulesLawyer Cass's]] [[{{Munchkin}} character]] falls under a demon's compulsion spell, [[TemptingFate he insists on making a role to resist]], as a natural 20 would automatically succeed at the otherwise impossible roll. Lodge begrudgingly allows it...and Cass rolls a 1.

** Getting a Goldeen from a Pokeball, as all it does is flop around uselessly.

** In the Fifth Edition, this is partially inverted by Halflings. Their Halfling Luck racial feature allows them to reroll any 1 on any D20 they roll (unless they roll a second 1 on the reroll). This means that rolling a 1 can be more beneficial to Halflings than rolling other "automatic" failure rolls like 2s, 3s, or 4s. This is particularly helpful if a given DM enforces critical failures.

** Some [=GMs=] also invert this with a [[HouseRules house rule]] that rolling a 1 may mean you succeeded ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]]. Shooting a Commie mutant traitor sends their shattered remains flying backward through a wall, causing pipes to burst and release toxic chemicals... that sort of thing.

* ''TabletopGame/TheOneRing'': All rolls are made with a twelve-sided Fate Die, plus a number of six-sided Success Dice representing the character's level of skill in the relevant ability. The Fate Die has an "Eye of Sauron" icon that not only causes the roll to fail but also draws Sauron's attention; once enough Eyes are accumulated, something goes awfully wrong at the worst possible time.

If being used on everything from swordplay to rock climbing, it may be a game mechanic meant to show the inherent danger in messing about with such dangerous things. Perhaps it's described as the unseen weak chink in the armour or the sudden gust of wind or [[JerkassGods the gods just being dicks]] that day. When used only on particular items or actions, it could be used to show how they are the riskier choice or contain some particular special power that must be paid off for with a special risk (see AwesomeButImpractical).

No matter how small or large the chance of their randomly cropping up in a given system may be, critical failures will almost inevitably have more of an adverse effect on the ''[[PlayerCharacter player]]'' [[PlayerCharacter characters]] than they will on the {{NPC}}s. After all, the [=PCs=] are the characters for whom the dice get rolled by far the most often -- and as the main protagonists, anything bad that happens to ''them'' will also likely impact the game itself and the associated experience far more than just [[{{Mook}} random anonymous orc #7]] fumbling and dropping his sword.

* ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' is a CampaignComic covering ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', and the EndlessWinter is due to Adriana rolling a 1 when she tries to melt the ice bridge she made to cross the fjord.

* ''WebVideo/TFSAtTheTable'''s main party came to be known as The Natural One-ders for their high propensity of these. Possibly the most {{JustForFun/egregious}} example is in Chapter 2, when a boss monster raised itself to begin the battle - and, due to three successive 1's, fell underneath its own weapon and crashed through the floor and into the ocean.

* [[http://biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=605 The cops find]] Thanatos in ''Webcomic/BiggerThanCheeses'' with a red smear of chunky slops all over his face and hands, elbow deep in a used tampon dispenser. "Critical" fumble indeed.

** The ''M.E.R.P (TabletopGame/MiddleEarthRolePlaying)'' game is a variation of TabletopGame/RoleMaster, and has some interesting ones for critical failures covering everything from simply inconvenient, to embarrassing, to downright deadly, depending on actions taken and roll made on fumble chart. These can include dropping or breaking your weapon or failing to move, causing a critical strike to yourself, biting off your own tongue and swallowing it, tripping up and landing in an embarrassing position, shooting yourself in the foot, or falling and crushing your own skull and dying, and my personal favourite, for those fighting from a mount: “you drive the point of your weapon into the ground, pole vault 30 feet, and take a 'C' crush critical to yourself”.

** M.E.R.P (Middle Earth Role Playing) game was a variation of TabletopGame/RoleMaster, and has some interesting ones for critical failures covering everything from simply inconvenient, to embarrassing, to downright deadly, depending on actions taken and roll made on fumble chart. These can include dropping or breaking your weapon or failing to move, causing a critical strike to yourself, biting off your own tongue and swallowing it, tripping up and landing in an embarrassing position, shooting yourself in the foot, or falling and crushing your own skull and dying, and my personal favourite, for those fighting from a mount: “you drive the point of your weapon into the ground, pole vault 30 feet, and take a 'C' crush critical to yourself”.

"Critical Miss" redirects here. Click [[WebComic/CriticalMiss here]] for the webcomic ''Webcomic/CriticalMiss'' and [[WebComic/ParadoxSpace here]] for the ''WebComic/ParadoxSpace'' comic. Not to be confused with CriticalDissonance, which is when critics' opinions on a work fail to match the general public's.

* In ''VideoGame/AIDungeon2'', putting in the preface 'attempt to' can result in this; the most common result being [[RocksFallEveryoneDies the player characters death]]. [[AllJustADream Rarely]] [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle does it ever]] [[MindScre actually end the story though.]]

* While no "general-purpose" critical failure rules exist for ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', specific pieces of equipment have their own individual failure chances if used to full effect or sometimes even at all. The classic examples are ultra and rotary autocannons fired more than once in a turn, which can cause them to jam and become useless for the rest of the fight on a natural 2 on the attack roll, and MASC ("myomer accelerator signal circuitry"), which adds to running speed, but with a chance of causing critical hits to the legs that goes up if used on multiple turns in a row. [[GoombaStomp Death From Above]] attacks have a very large chance of dumping the attacking mech on its ass, missing the target entirely, or landing on the target and ''then'' face-planting into the ground, taking heavy damage. It's possible to get a critical failure on ''movement'' as well; turning on roads and crossing roads (which speed up movement for some vehicle types) require a roll for Battlemechs -- failing the roll causes the battlemech to slip and fall onto its face or its back, which can lead to an entire squad of battlemechs slipping over a road like it's made of ice.