D&D 4E Is "Natural 20" an auto-hit in 4e?

[Just Another User]

Something I was wondering and was never really addressed by the previews, if you roll a 20 an an attacks do you hit whatever high is the defense you are aiming for, like in previous editions?

 

[D'karr]

Something I was wondering and was never really addressed by the previews, if you roll a 20 an an attacks do you hit whatever high is the defense you are aiming for, like in previous editions?

Yes, a Natural 20 on an Attack roll is an Automatic Hit. It is also a Critical Hit, which means that it does Maximum Damage. A Natural 1 on an Attack roll is also an auto miss.

 

[SuperJosh]

I believe that even though a nat 20 always hits it only crits if the total of die roll+ mods would have hit.

EI the enemy has an AC of 30, you roll nat 20+6=26. You still hit, even though your roll was less than the enemies AC, but you do not crit.

If the creatures AC had been 26 or less you would have hit and crited

 

[Kzach]

A Natural 1 on an Attack roll is also an auto miss.

Really? I can't remember seeing that in any of the previews so far.

 

[Cirex]

I believe that even though a nat 20 always hits it only crits if the total of die roll+ mods would have hit.

EI the enemy has an AC of 30, you roll nat 20+6=26. You still hit, even though your roll was less than the enemies AC, but you do not crit.

If the creatures AC had been 26 or less you would have hit and crited

We need the entire text block of critical strikes to confirm that.

 

[psionotic]

I believe that even though a nat 20 always hits it only crits if the total of die roll+ mods would have hit.

EI the enemy has an AC of 30, you roll nat 20+6=26. You still hit, even though your roll was less than the enemies AC, but you do not crit.

If the creatures AC had been 26 or less you would have hit and crited

I really hope that this is the case...

 

[MindWanderer]

I really hope that this is the case...

It's what I was told at DDXP. Of course, different DMs told me different things on other matters, so who knows?

 

[Tao]

I really hope that this is the case...

To my knowledge, this is the correct interpretation according to the demo that I played though I cannot specifically remember reading it anywhere.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I really hope that this is the case...

Why? It hardly seems like something likely to come up enough to be worth worrying about.

 

[psionotic]

Why? It hardly seems like something likely to come up enough to be worth worrying about.

No, it doesn't come up often. That said, doing it this way isn't hard to remember, adds a bit more versimilitude, and makes the game slightly less 'swingy;' a stated design goal of 4e.