D&D 3E/3.5 Natural 20 Question (3.5)

[gilthan3]

Hey guys,
Got another question for y'all. My group and I have been having a discussion on WHAT rolls a natural 20 auto-succeeds and a 1 auto fails on , and what rolls they don't.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems ONLY attack rolls, crit. conf. rolls, and saving throws are auto win on 20's and auto fails on 1's.

While every other d20 is determined by the dice: initiative, grapplechecks, disarms, sunders, dispels, spell penetrations, etc...

Thanks guys,

 

[Persiflage]

Automatic Misses and Hits: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat-a possible critical hit.

Automatic Failures and Successes: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on a saving throw is always a failure (and may cause damage to exposed items; see Items Surviving after a Saving Throw). A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a success.

These rules are specific call-outs for the "natural 20". Most of the other things you list are opposed checks, which don't have automatic successes or failures regardless of the unmodified d20 rolls. So yes, you're correct

 

[ValhallaGH]

Hey guys,
Got another question for y'all. My group and I have been having a discussion on WHAT rolls a natural 20 auto-succeeds and a 1 auto fails on , and what rolls they don't.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems ONLY attack rolls, crit. conf. rolls, and saving throws are auto win on 20's and auto fails on 1's.

While every other d20 is determined by the dice: initiative, grapplechecks, disarms, sunders, dispels, spell penetrations, etc...

Thanks guys,

You've got it.

 

[Theone0581]

You got it. A good way to remember is, whenever your are in initiative the natural 20 rule applies.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

A good way to remember is, whenever your are in initiative the natural 20 rule applies.

That's not a good way to remember it AT ALL...

Unless you never ever use skill checks in combat. Or caster level checks. Or grapple checks. Or...

Also, there are tons of times you may need to save out of combat. Traps, seconday poison damage, ongoing diseases...

 

[Theone0581]

That's not a good way to remember it AT ALL...

Unless you never ever use skill checks in combat. Or caster level checks. Or grapple checks. Or...

Also, there are tons of times you may need to save out of combat. Traps, seconday poison damage, ongoing diseases...

Well thats how I do it and I do use skill checks in combat.

As long as were in initiative or its combat related, usually if someone roles a natural 20, its an automatic success.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

"If you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all."

 

[irdeggman]

Well thats how I do it and I do use skill checks in combat.

As long as were in initiative or its combat related, usually if someone roles a natural 20, its an automatic success.

Purely a house rule and directly in conflict with the PHB.

Pg 63 under Skill Checks


"Unlike with attack rolls and saving throws, a natural roll of
20 on the d20 is not an automatic success, and a natural roll of 1 is
not an automatic failure."

 

[Theone0581]

Purely a house rule and directly in conflict with the PHB.

Pg 63 under Skill Checks


"Unlike with attack rolls and saving throws, a natural roll of
20 on the d20 is not an automatic success, and a natural roll of 1 is
not an automatic failure."

Oh okay. Then yeah, I suppose we do it through house rules after all. And here I thought it was written down that way. Well I suppose we learn something new everyday

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Again, all grapple checks, for example, are opposed checks. And while I suppose it's possible to have them out of combat / initiative order, I've never once seen that happen, and even so it's still undeniably a much rarer occurance than in combat. So your houserule turns an action that by RAW never auto fails or succeeds into an action that always is subject to the auto fail/succeed mechanic. Not to mention the "what if?" if both sides roll a nat 20 or a nat 1. There's a reason not a single opposed roll in the game uses the critical success/failure mechanic.