this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025
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Rolling a 1 on a skill check is an automatic failure at most tables I've sat at. Just like the common "Free Parking" house rule in Monopoly.
Yeah and free parking jackpots break monopoly by making the game run for hours
Failed skill checks on 1 break d&d by making skilled people fail regularly just as less skilled people do. I also play in the Palladium system where skill checks are on percentile dice and also don't fail on a minimum roll
One of the things I don't like about BG3 is that the rogue with godlike sneak can't get far with greater invisibility because everything they touch gives a 1/20 chance of being heard
When I roll a d&d skill I call out the total. A 1 might be 6 or 10. I'm not participating in rewriting the basic rules of the game
If you can't fail a skill check, there should be no roll. Same as most DMs won't make you do a skill check for "I sit down on a chair".
Rolling dice implies that there's a chance of failure.
Nope. 1/20 is much less regular than 5/20 or even 19/20. More skill doesn't mean it always works, only that your chances are higher. And if you are skilled enough that it always works, then there should be no roll.
What do you mean here? Any roll is as likely as any other
Do you mean 2-20 is more likely than rolling a 1? Of course it is, but an invisible rogue sneaking at +15 shouldn't be seen by the monster who's -4 to spot 1 in 20 events, or if 20s are also special, 1 in 10 events (one for the rogue getting a 1, one for monster getting a 20)
In that case, and I keep repeating myself: don't roll.
Don't roll for things that can't fail.
They're talking the probability of failure, not the specific number on the die. If your skill bonus meets the DC, you have a 1/20 chance of failing, assuming a natural one equates to an auto-fail. If your bonus doesn't meet the DC, you have a higher chance of failing.