I'm a new DM, and I'm running through the Starter Set adventure (Lost Mine of Phandelver). At one point, there was an opposed skill check for one of the PC's trying to sneak — Stealth vs Perception. The player rolled a 20, and there was a bit of discussion about whether that was an automatic success — similar to Critical Hits.
So, I'm wondering:
- Do all opposed skill checks automatically succeed on a natural 20
(unless there's a tie)? - If not all opposed skill checks automatically succeed on a natural
20, do any of them? If so, which ones? - Besides saves & attack rolls, when are natural 20s treated as an
automatic success?
Best Answer
No, but it's pretty hard for an opponent to beat a natural 20. The opposing roll only ever wins if its total check is higher despite the natural 20. This may happen, say, when a player has a negative modifier to a roll and the opponent rolls high and/or has high scores in the opposing roll.
In one of our games, my 8 strength Lore Bard beat our 18 strength fighter in an arm-wrestling, basically a Strength(Athletics) contest, by picking up Expertise in Athletics, throwing insults at him (Cutting Words Lore Bard feature), and cheating (casting Enhance Ability on myself).
Ability Checks don't have critical success unless house-ruled into your game but I'd be wary of this and that's another topic entirely.
Only Attack Rolls treats a natural 20 as a critical hit, even if you roll a natural 20 on a Wisdom Saving Throw, you're still going to be frightened of that dragon if the total doesn't equal or surpass the Save DC.