I looked in the 5E PHB, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, the only time a natural 1 or natural 20 is an automatic success or failure is on an attack roll or a death saving throw correct? This is not the case for any other d20 roll in the game, am I right?
What you're describing is accurate for 5e.
I know 3.xE did address explicitly what was an auto success/failure, while 5E seems to imply it. I bring it up as at about the 12 min mark of the Web DM video on dice rolling they broach the subject but never really come out and say it. Figured it was worth pointing out as it can be overlooked or misinterpreted.
Matt Collville's videos are superb for DMs. His actual play videos are also really instructive, as they're much more realistic to games than things like Critical Role, but also show what limits you can push with the game to make it very fun for everyone.
Just watched a few minutes of his Making Characters, Running the Game #4 video. Wow he talks fast and is hard to follow, its like hes got an IV drip of Folgers. Good stuff if you can keep up.
I just looked at the posted videos and going by their tittles looks like they are filling a needed gap. I miss the older editions because as you said there were way more lore books compared to 5E. Heres to hoping with the restructuring we'll get more in the future. The upcoming Ravenloft book is a good move in the right direction, but I'd actually prefer them zoom in even closer and release more localized books, for say Barovia, Sharn or Shadowdale as an example.
