D&D 5E Sometimes, the dice gods let one roll determine the outcome of an entire campaign

[Helldritch]

Well... There are requirements to let you make that roll in the first place.
Lulu must be there.
Her memory must have been restored.
Did you have Zariel's sword?
And a few other options.

But, yep, ending a whole campaign with one skill roll is just about meh...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Spoilers for Descent into Avernus to follow****

After several months of this campaign, we finally had confronted Zariel. We were 11th level (so slightly behind recommendations), and fairly low on resources since we had just had a battle. Deciding that there is no way we could survive a conflict with her, we decided to try to redeem her.

Make a persuasion check.

the fighter swallowed, did a brief prayer to the dice gods, and rolled.

A nat 20.

And that's how the campaign ended.

The good: Having a campaign come down to a single die roll, which was a nat 20, was pretty epic.

The bad: Designing a game so that the final end game, after months of playing, comes down to a single roll that either means you "won", or you TPK, is bad game design in my opinion. If that die roll failed, and we got wiped out, I'd be disappointed.

I think the campaign ending on the single d20 is great. I can imagine the yells around the table at the outcome. It's a moment I'm sure the players will remember for a long time. That's why I roleplay.

I disagree about it coming down to a single roll as being bad game design. There were a whole bunch of rolls and decisions by both the players and the GM along the way that led them to being underpowered at L11; low on HP and low on spell slots and deciding to beard the BBE in her den. That's on the players, and maybe a bit on you too... I don't think it has much to do with the game as written as much as it has to do with how they got there over the last several months.

The adventure has plenty of ways/encounters/side quests that they could have gotten to be the right level. You could have even given it to them, depending on the advancement method you are using. You can also have foreshadowed that going against Zariel now might be a bad idea what with them being low on HP and slots; and also leading up to this point foreshadowing that she's a bad mofo and maybe they should be at full strength when they decide to take her on. Then if they decide to go for it anyway? Well, that's on them the players, not the game design.

 

[Marc_C]

Yes and it is awesome!

In one campaign all characters are unconscious (dying) except one. The last standing fighter (very few hps left) must kill the evil cleric cult leader or it is the end with a TPK. He rolls a 20 to hit ! It's a vorpal blade (1e). The player rolls % and gets decapitation! WE WIN!!! We all stand up and shout our joy, doing high fives. The leader of the evil cult is dead after months of play. Great way to end a campaign!

 

[M_Natas]

It depends how you phrase it ... One roll does never determine the outcome of a campaign, but one roll can end it. Because usually the player (sometimes the DM Choices, but that would be bad) choices lead to a situation where it all hinges on one roll of the die. It's usally when everything else failed or the players made stupid decisions or just had really bad luck in their previous rolls that one role will be the determing factor for a campaign. But all other player choices and rolls before have lead to this one roll. So saying that one roll determines the outcome of a campaign is ignoring everything that came before.

 

[GMMichael]

Last I checked, 20 is only an automatic hit on attack rolls. That being said, it's a good number to roll if it's going to be the last roll of the campaign.

Well... There are requirements to let you make that roll in the first place.
Lulu must be there.
Her memory must have been restored.
Did you have Zariel's sword?
And a few other options.

But, yep, ending a whole campaign with one skill roll is just about meh...

When I read the thread title, I thought, "cool, the DM let each PC make one roll, and then played an entire campaign based on those rolls."

Not so much. But what the heck, it is the year of the 20.