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Pathfinder Unchained / Spell Alterations / Active Spellcasting

Spell Critical Hits

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 149
Spells that require attack rolls follow the standard critical hit rules as described in the Core Rulebook. With this variant, spells that require a saving throw gain the same benefit. If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its saving throw, the spell threatens a critical hit. That creature rolls the save again, and if it fails on this second roll, the critical hit is confirmed, and any numeric effect of the spell is doubled. For spells that lack a direct numeric effect, such as charm person, the duration is doubled instead. A spell that requires both an attack roll and a saving throw (such as ray of enfeeblement) can threaten a critical hit only on the attack roll.

The GM is encouraged to apply other types of doubling where appropriate. For instance, a poison spell might afflict a target with 2 doses of poison on a critical hit instead of doubling the effect of the poison.

With Spell Attack Rolls: This rule combines well with the spell attack roll rule. If you roll a natural 20 on your spell attack roll, you threaten a critical hit, then roll the attack roll again to confirm the critical. Avoid the faster variant of spell attack rolls if you’re also using spell critical hits, or at the very least roll to confirm each one separately.

With Spell Fumbles: This system is meant to be used in a campaign alongside the spell fumbles variant, though the two can be used separately.

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Spell Critical Hits