What happens when you roll. . . a zero?

[FireLance]

"Whoa! I've got TWO feet?!"

No, that happens on the next round, when he rolls a Spot check of 1.

 

[sniffles]

(crude digging noises) "Yum, I love magic nose goblins..."

 

[Enamel_32]

My dm would say: You notice your shoes are untied.

 

[smilinggm]

My dm would say: You notice your shoes are untied.

I dont even think that he even saw the shoes with that check

 

[Umbran]

One as fumble is, in some ways, kind of unfair to the PCs, since each PC rolls many times in their life, but each NPC/critter rolls only a few before they leave the scene. So, Irarely do it. Usually, the failure itself is enough punishment.

 

[Aaron L]

we had a dwarven fighter with a 9 dex in a game once, and he consistently rolled ones on initiative. seriously had a zero initiative more often than i can count. not that it mattered much, he still destroyed everything. made my bladesinger look really sad in comparison (who says prstige classes are overpowered! hehe)

 

[der_kluge]

I suppose one could just be bland about it and just say, "you notice absolutely nothing", which I guess is the outcome. It would really be the same as if you needed a 15 and got a 14.

It was like the game last Friday where the party needed a 19 to save against the Banshee's wail, and my cleric got an 18. He still died.

There was a great quote from Gen Con where Pielerinho made some sort of skill check and he said, "I roll a 5... and get a 3" (he had a -2 to the ability).

 

[genshou]

With a check of 0, you notice stuff that's totally obvious, like the fact that there are spiders crawling all over the walls of the room (so many you can clearly see them at any distance). You notice that there is a man standing out in the open (I've always ruled that Spot checks to notice someone not attempting to hide are at DC -10, so you can see someone quite a ways away with the -1 check penalty per 10 feet rule).

However, with a check of 0, you will not see:
A rogue with a Hide of +0 or greater, even if they roll a natural 1.
A rogue 10 feet away with a Hide of -1 or greater, even if they roll a natural 1.
A rogue 20 feet away with a Hide of -2 or greater, even if they roll a natural 1.
And so on.

Instead of saying your character became temporarily blind, perhaps he/she was just horribly distracted by something?

 

[tetsujin28]

I know 3rd edition officially does away with the one as a critical fumble rule, but doesn't a zero deserve something special?

No.

Anyone still use the "one as a fumble" mechanic?

I've never used fumble rules in D&D, and never plan on doing so. They're just a way to screw PCs over. And that's not what the game's about.

 

[Bagpuss]

No.I've never used fumble rules in D&D, and never plan on doing so. They're just a way to screw PCs over. And that's what the game's about.

Are you missing a 'not' in that last sentence?