Quote Originally Posted by icefractal View Post
Ok, fine ... that doesn't answer why fumbles would be a desirable thing. Because it's definitely not for realism, and apparently it's not for genre-emulation either, so what beneficial thing do they do?
Sometimes I find the concept of fumbles amusing... a bit of slapstick. Other times I like the added tension and drama that it brings to a story... that "oh crap" moment.

I play games for the story more than for combat simulation, and I've never had a DM that's out to kill the PCs. So fumbles don't really have any negative impact on the game for me.

But I have never been a fan of a 1/20 chance of fumbling. It would have to be more rare than that, otherwise it would just get annoying.