Critical Effects Quick Reference

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Title: Critical Effects Quick Reference

Author: Darcimer

Date Published: 2026-11-05

This page combines the fatal, knockdown and stun thresholds from all 15 critical tables into one reference, so you can see at a glance which critical rank at which hit location stuns, knocks down, or kills. It is a companion to the Status Effects and CMAN Quick Reference, which covers what those conditions do once they land.

How critical rank works

The full mechanics are on the Critical page. In short:

Base rank = truncate( ((endroll − 100) × weapon damage factor − padding + weighting) ÷ armor critical divisor ), capped at 9.

The base rank is the highest rank the hit can produce. The game then rolls the actual rank at random, with equal odds, from half the base rank (rounded up) to the full base rank.

Base rank	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Actual rank	1	1–2	2–3	2–4	3–5	3–6	4–7	4–8	5–9

This is why disabling conditions matter for kill loops. A prone or stunned target has lower DS, which raises the endroll, which raises the base rank. A finisher whose fatal threshold is rank 4 is only guaranteed once the base rank reaches 7, because a base of 7 can roll no lower than 4.

Combined critical table

Minimum critical rank that produces each effect. F = fatal, K = knockdown, S = first rank with a stun.

• 4+ means rank 4 and every rank above it. A bare number or range (7, 2–7) means the effect stops at higher ranks. Commas mark gaps; for example, puncture back knocks down at ranks 5 and 7 but not 6.
• R7 L- means the right and left sides differ.
• Stuns continue at every rank above the S value until the rank becomes fatal. Stun durations are listed on each type's own table.
• Paired locations (eye, arm, hand, leg) are grouped. Sides only differ where noted.

Type	Head			Neck			Eye			Chest			Abdomen			Back			Arm			Hand			Leg
	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S	F	K	S
ACID	6	-	2	6	-	2	6	-	2	8	-	3	8	-	3	-	9	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	4+	3
COLD	6	-	2	6	-	2	6	-	2	8	-	3	8	-	3	8	-	2	-	-	2	-	-	4	-	5+	3
CRUSH	5	-	2	5	-	2	7	-	2	9	-	3	8	-	3	8	7	3	-	R7 L-	3	-	-	4	-	4+	3
DISINTEGRATION	6	-	3	6	-	2	6	-	3	8	-	3	8	-	3	8	7	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	6+	3
DISRUPTION	6	-	2	6	-	2	6	-	2	9	-	3	8	-	3	8	7	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	4+	3
ELECTRICAL	6	-	2	6	-	2	6	-	3	9	-	3	8	-	3	8	-	2	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	6+	3
FIRE	6	-	2	6	-	2	7	-	2	8	-	3	8	-	3	8	-	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	4+	3
GRAPPLE	9	1–7	1	8	2–7	1	-	2–5,7+	1	-	3–5,7,9	2	-	3–5,7,9	2	-	3–7,9	2	-	3–7,9	2	-	4+	3	-	3+	2
IMPACT	5	-	2	5	-	2	7	-	2	9	-	3	8	-	3	8	7	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	5+	3
PLASMA	6	-	2	5	-	2	7	-	1	7	-	3	8	-	3	8	-	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	4+	3
PUNCTURE	6	-	2	6	-	2	4	-	2	8	-	3	8	-	3	8	5,7	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	2,4+	3
SLASH	6	-	2	6	-	2	5	-	2	8	-	3	8	6	3	8	6–7	3	-	-	3	-	-	4	-	4+	3
STEAM	7	-	2	7	-	2	7	-	1	8	-	3	8	-	3	8	-	3	-	-	3	-	-	3	-	R4+ L5+	3
UNBALANCE	9	2,4–8	1	9	2,4–8	2	9	2–8	2	-	2–3,5+	3	-	2–3,5+	3	-	2–3,5+	3	-	5+	3	-	5+	4	-	2,4+	3
VACUUM	6	-	2	6	-	2	7	-	2	8	-	3	8	-	3	8	7	3	-	-	3	-	-	3	-	4+	3

Notes and source-table quirks

• Electrical: criticals from non-AS sources have a 20% chance to strike the nervous system instead. Nerve criticals knock down at rank 4 and are fatal from rank 5. See Electrical critical table.
• Steam: right leg rank 4 knocks down (S1 A K) but left leg rank 4 does not (S1). The steam table notes this as a likely original coding error.
• Impact: left eye rank 8 is listed as a 16-round stun rather than fatal, while ranks 7 and 9 are fatal.
• Crush: right arm rank 7 knocks down. The left arm does not.
• Grapple: this table covers grapple flares and spells such as Tangleweed (610) and Thought Lash (1210). UCS GRAPPLE uses the Grapple critical table (UCS). The rank 1 head knockdown is unconfirmed.
• Noncorporeal creatures use the Noncorporeal critical table instead.

Key thresholds

• Cheapest fatal: puncture to the eye at rank 4, then slash to the eye at rank 5. Crush and impact are fatal at the head and neck from rank 5, and plasma at the neck from rank 5.
• Cheapest knockdown: legs. Puncture knocks down at rank 2 (but not 3), and acid, crush, disruption, fire, plasma, slash and vacuum knock down from rank 4. Cold and impact need rank 5, and electrical and disintegration need rank 6.
• Back knockdowns are narrow: crush, disintegration, disruption, impact and vacuum knock down at back rank 7 only, because rank 8 and above is fatal.
• Grapple and unbalance are control types: both knock down at almost every location from rank 2 or 3 with long stuns, but are fatal only at the head, neck or eye at rank 8 or 9.

See also

• Critical
• Critical table
• Status Effects and CMAN Quick Reference