Skill check?

[sineater]

On skill checks is a 1 always an automatic miss and is a 20 always a critical success? If not under what situations are they not?

 

[RogueJK]

By the rules, there's no such thing as a critical success or failure on skill checks. A 1 is merely a 1, and a 20 is merely a 20.

Critical successes and failures are only for attack rolls and saving throws.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Only on attack rolls and saving throws is a natural 20 always a hit/save and a natural 1 always a miss/failure. For skill checks, your final modified number is what counts, so you could roll a 1 and be successful if your modifier was high enough, or you could roll a 20 and fail if the task was too difficult and beyond your skill.

 

[Crothian]

I think Spycraft has rules for critical successes and failures if you are intyerested in such things.

 

[Artoomis]

Extraordinary Success

If the character has at least rank 10 in a skill and beats the DC by 20 or more on a normal skill check, the character has completed the task impossibly well.

That's all there is on extraordinary success - and that's not based on rolling a "20," either.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

By the rules, there's no such thing as a critical success or failure on skill checks. A 1 is merely a 1, and a 20 is merely a 20.

Critical successes and failures are only for attack rolls and saving throws.

Quite right. But there is such a thing as extraordinary success (and practically impossible tasks). You have to have a rank of 10 or more in a skill and beat the DC by 20 or more to achieve this. That is explained in the PH on page 61.

Edit: Artoomis beat me to it.

 

[Artoomis]

Drat - "quoted" instead of "edited."