D&D 5E Rolling a 20 always hits

[Mirtek]

(Similarly, the 3e rule where you needed to make a Fort save if you took 50 damage with one hit - if you could take that damage and survive, you were almost certainly going to make the Fort save, too.)

Which is where the 1 always fails a save rule comes back into play. At high levels that essentially gave every hit a 5% instant kill chance

 

[Alessandro Guarita]

Does this matter?

I mean, if your target is AC19 and your attack has a -2, then ok. But doesn't it almost always hit anyway now?

Well, it's necessary. But not for the PC hit the NPC but the opposite. See, the rules was built with "bounded accuracy" with it. This means that you'll face lower levels monsters on high-level but with more quantity. It can be possible that the PCs AC go higher than a creature could hit. Maybe not now, but with future supplements. And, as someone stated: natural 1 is always a failure, this prevents "always hit" situations (this is very easy to achieve, by the way...).

 

[Alessandro Guarita]

Which is where the 1 always fails a save rule comes back into play. At high levels that essentially gave every hit a 5% instant kill chance

I DMed an adventure and the fighter took more than 50. The player said "well, I only fail with a 1". And... yes, 1.

 

[Gilwen]

I understand this. But from what we have seen even Dragons and Archdevils have ACs of 18 or 19. And attacking at range gives disadvantage, not a penalty. So a roll of 20 will hit without this rule. The rule doesn't change anything.

it may not change anything right now for the roll of a 20 (roll of 1 affects everyone regardless of skill) but we've only see the basic rules. PHB may have additional options plus we have only seen a drop in the bucket of the monsters, there may yet be monsters in the MM that have higher AC or have the ability to modify AC in some way. I like the rule because on those special moments I don't have to do anything but add up the damage.

 

[TerraDave]

Actually, isn't it a natural 20 always crits?

One implication is that that mob of kobold or commoners or whatever is all the more dangerous. That and the flatter math.

 

[Gilwen]

It is a critical but depending on class features you could be getting a critical on another number as well. I think champion archetype gets as low as 18 but 18 isn't necessarily a hit.

 

[BryonD]

I like the rule because on those special moments I don't have to do anything but add up the damage.

Well sure, but when AC is rarely a 20, then you get that special moment without this rule.

 

[Gilwen]

you are absolutely right with what we know now but we still don't have enough data to declare AC 20+ a rare thing in the long run, it may very well be the case for just the Basic game. They put the rule in there with its own subheading and not just in passing, it doesn't seem like they'd do that randomly given the impression of care the rules give me when I read them. The basic rules have a lot of setup for things that are coming down the line and I can't wait to see where the ride take me.

 

[Jhulae]

Sometimes it does.

DM: "Really? You want to cut off the dewclaw of a great red wyrm that is flying two hundred feat in the sky? Better roll..."

Player: *rolls a natural 20*

DM: "..."

Cut off with what? There is such a thing as "No, you can't do that" especially if the weapon can't reach that far.

And as there are no hit locations in D&D, its kind of moot to begin with..

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Cut off with what? There is such a thing as "No, you can't do that" especially if the weapon can't reach that far.

And as there are no hit locations in D&D, its kind of moot to begin with..

That is kinda ruining the joke...