D&D General 1s and 20s: D&D's Narrative Mechanics

[Maxperson]

Players can do whatever they want IF the GM gives them the space to do it. Which is why I suggest rolling a "1" or a "20" should be nothing special. Or if those rolls are defined as "crits", what happens should be clearly determined during Session 0

I don't personally see an issue with the bolded statement. If the players want to do that and the DM is okay with it, why shouldn't a 1 or 20 allow players to do stuff like that? I wouldn't play that way, even though 1s and 20s are special in my game, but a group that is more narrative oriented and enjoys players coming up with stuff when a 1 or 20 is rolled seems fine by me. The important part is for the group to be having fun.

I'm posting exclusively for the novice GMs who could run into issues. Experienced GMs will probably have a handle on this. Maybe.

I learned the hard way as a 13 year old learning 1e without help. I think running into issues is fine. You learn from the mistake and come up with something better for you and your group. Either by dropping whatever it is that created the issue, or tweaking the house rule into something that better fits the DM/Group vision. I'm not really a fan of rules designed to keep mistakes from being made. Mistakes aren't usually a serious issue.

 

[AlViking]

What does?

If you say that a die roll of 5 or lower fails and 15 or better always works, then for half the rolls proficiency is not counted. Take the example of an athletics check Bobby the Barbarian has a +8 to his athletics, he should never fail a DC 5 check even on a 1. Presto the Wizard has a -1 to his athletics so if the DC is 15 they would fail an athletics check by 1 when they roll a 15 if you are following the rules. Meanwhile for some truly difficult tasks of say a 20 or or higher, some people simply shouldn't be able to accomplish it. When the characters are higher levels, sometimes you can have DCs of 25 or higher so you need to be highly skilled and a bit lucky to succeed.

It's a significant difference to whether or not proficiency matters. It's fine if it works for you I would just disagree that it's a good house rule.

 

[MGibster]

For 5th Part Deux: Electric Boogaloo, I use critical rolls as written. If you roll a 20 during a fight you score a critical hit. Roll double your damage dice and let's get on with the show! I natural 20 rolled on a skill check is not an automatic success nor is rolling a 1 a critical failure. I'll use critical failures in other games, but it's been decades since I used them in D&D. Like I think it was during the first Bush administration.

 

[Flights of Fancy]

If you say that a die roll of 5 or lower fails and 15 or better always works, then for half the rolls proficiency is not counted. Take the example of an athletics check Bobby the Barbarian has a +8 to his athletics, he should never fail a DC 5 check even on a 1. Presto the Wizard has a -1 to his athletics so if the DC is 15 they would fail an athletics check by 1 when they roll a 15 if you are following the rules. Meanwhile for some truly difficult tasks of say a 20 or or higher, some people simply shouldn't be able to accomplish it. When the characters are higher levels, sometimes you can have DCs of 25 or higher so you need to be highly skilled and a bit lucky to succeed.

It's a significant difference to whether or not proficiency matters. It's fine if it works for you I would just disagree that it's a good house rule.

I thought you were talking about that part, but wanted to make certain.

The bonuses (i.e. proficiency+) are assumed. We don't use this if you aren't proficient or have a +5 ability. The way it came into being was through attacking. At 1st level, most PCs are +5, so if they roll 15, they hit AC 20. Very few games are going to have AC over 21, so it is a very safe bet that if you roll 15, you're gonna hit. At the other end, since the minimum AC is often 10 (often higher), a roll below 5 means you missed. So, it is also a safe bet that rolling 5 or lower fails.

Since most skill checks run in the 10-20 range as well, it works for those, too. In your example, Bobby at +8 cannot fail a DC 5 check so the DM would never even call for a roll--it would be pointless and a waste of time.

And to be clear, it is a "general rule of thumb" sort of houserule. Sure, sometimes it might mean someone makes a roll when technically they should have failed by 1, or fails a roll technically they should have made, but frankly it speeds up the game A LOT for our group--its purpose for being--so is actually a really good house rule.