Best Instance of the Triple Nat 20

[Vexao]

What is the most epic instance where the "triple nat 20 insta-kill" rule has aided you.


mine would have to be at the start of a new campaign, i was a drow scout (ecl 3) and we had a party size of four (all ecl 3) and our GM threw a Dryder at us. we rolled initiatives and i came out on top. On the very first turn of the battle when all of us thought we were totally and royally boned, i got the triple 20 on an arrow to the face. we were all stunned, the GM more so than the rest of us.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

This "triple nat 20 insta-kill" is a house rule, isn't it?

It does seem to be commonly mentioned, but I've not seen it published...

[dsmiles]

It is a houserule, albeit a very common one, AFAIK.

[Violet Octopus]

Nat 20 to hit and nat 20 to confirm, what's the third roll?

[dsmiles]

Nat 20 to hit and nat 20 to confirm, what's the third roll?

Check for the Insta-kill. The second Nat 20 threatens an insta-kill, but the third confirms it.

[Violet Octopus]

Ah. I've never heard of this houserule before, but it sounds like a fun one, and 1/8000 isn't that uncommon over many years of D&D...

[PersonMan]

Once it worked against my party-5 CR 4 things and a CR 15 thing against a level 15 party. 1st Round, one of the CR 4s insta-kills the fighter. Luckily, this was a one-off offshoot from the main game.

In my recent games, a triple 20 isn't an instant-kill, every 20 above the first is +x2, which I think works better.

[PopcornMage]

I don't use that rule, but I have had three different nat 20s come up at once.

And one 4.

[Tengu_temp]

A warrior, wearing a helmet, is standing under a tree. Every second an acorn falls from the tree and hits him on the head. After two hours of this, there's almost 60% chance that one of these acorns has killed him.

Doubles as an example why this houserule makes no sense.

[Telonius]

I honestly can't remember what the creature was that we were fighting, only that it was Huge, had lots of tentacles, and had just risen up from a large watery area in the dungeon right in front of us. I suspect it was an Aboleth Mage, but we never had the chance to find out. The first action in combat was by the party Wizard. He let fly with a ranged touch spell (I believe it was a maximized empowered scorching ray). Triple-20.

The DM described it as having "gone up like the Death Star."

[dsmiles]

Doubles as an example why this houserule makes no sense.

To you. Makes no sense to you.

I, and my players, happen to enjoy "triple 20 shenanigans." :smallbiggrin:

[PopcornMage]

Don't you need a houserule for falling acorns first, or is it in some book I've never heard about?

What is the name of this book, and how quickly can I ban it?

ETA:

:durkon: I told you they were dangerous!

:roy: Why do I never wear a helmet??

[Tengu_temp]

To you. Makes no sense to you.

I, and my players, happen to enjoy "triple 20 shenanigans." :smallbiggrin:

Enjoyment is not the same as making sense. Also, this houserule works against the players in the long run - the longer the campaign the higher the odds someone died from a lowly mook rolling three 20s.

Also, it's my personal pet peeve when people treat this houserule as an official rule that everyone uses, but that's just me.

[Zaydos]

My house rule was 2 nat 20s threatened auto-kill a third roll that hit succeeded. I stopped this after by all rights a dragon killed two PCs with it in one round :smallsigh: (I fudged the dice pretty heavily there and they knew it). Then they killed the dragon with it 2 rounds later... that was the last session I ever used that rule for (I have contemplated putting it back as a Coup de Grace, though).

[Comet]

I, as the DM, was giving a long-winded monologue as a demon prince who had assumed a somewhat human form with fancy clothing and a sweet hat. Y'know, typical devil poshery.

After the monologue and some witty retorts from the PC's, it was time for the villain to rise from his terrible throne and declare, in my best Castlevania imitation: "Enough talk, have at you!"

At which point the party magician raises his pre-readied hand crossbow, aims for a split second and drops the supernatural king of pestilence and horror with a single, non magical bolt to the face. Cue an overly dramatic backflip of death and a round of applause. And then they took his hat, because it was way cool.

Yeah, Triple Nat 20 cuts through anything, magical or otherwise. Such is the power of the will of Man and the fortune that pushes us towards victory.

[Morph Bark]

A warrior, wearing a helmet, is standing under a tree. Every second an acorn falls from the tree and hits him on the head. After two hours of this, there's almost 60% chance that one of these acorns has killed him.

Doubles as an example why this houserule makes no sense.

Trees that aren't animated making attack rolls? Now that's just silly. :smallwink: This example is more to the effect of something require a Reflex save, which the warrior apparently doesn't bother to make and thus automatically fails every time.

And since when do non-magical acorns deal lethal damage, anyway?

[Morithias]

I've only heard the story but apparently in one of my friend's former Epic Geslalt (Yes we've played that) campaign. One of them was playing an angel, and was around level 30. He got into a bar fight in a non-epic area, (so like level 1-4 commoners). A commoner sneaks up behind him, rolls 3 20's and kills the Epic angel with a beer bottle over the head.

Needless to say it was quickly retconned. Whenever we DO use the 3 20's rule, we tend to look at it each occurrence. A merchant killing a barbarian 3 level's higher than him with a lucky dagger shot? Possible. A commoner killing an angel with a beer bottle? A bit too extreme.

[Comet]

Also, this houserule works against the players in the long run - the longer the campaign the higher the odds someone died from a lowly mook rolling three 20s.


Which is why I ruled that the Triple Nat 20 rule applies only when the Player Characters are the ones making the attack. Sure, it might not be realistic, but D&D never was much of a simulation to begin with!

[Tengu_temp]

And since when do non-magical acorns deal lethal damage, anyway?

They don't, it's an attack that deals 0 damage. A lot of things attack you for 0 damage in real life, constantly. When TV Tropes said "everything is trying to kill you", it wasn't lying.

[Skorj]

I have to agree that it's a houserule that makes no sense, which is not to say that a group shouldn't use it or that it wouldn't be fun!

My college group used a homebrewed d30 crit system (I had bought a d30 and was looking for some use for it), and a d20 followed by a d30 was insta-kill. The rolling of the d30, by players or by the DM, was a ceremonial occasion where the whole group awaited the outcome. Fun, but still quite silly.

[lsfreak]

I do 1st threatens crit, 2nd threatens max damage on all dice, 3rd threatens kill. That reduces it to 1/8000+confirm to one-kill something, instead of the 'normal' 1/400, which is far too often. After the first one it also still needs to hit; I use Nat20 as a roll of 30, rather than autohit, and thus you can't count on Nat20's to autohit. Combined they drastically decrease inane things like a group of thrallherds, counting on natural 20's, from zergrushing the god of war for the lulz.

I've had instakills happen a few times, always on mooks. It's far more common that a full attack routine simply drops someone.

[Tyndmyr]

They don't, it's an attack that deals 0 damage. A lot of things attack you for 0 damage in real life, constantly. When TV Tropes said "everything is trying to kill you", it wasn't lying.

By raw, it's a falling object, no? Yay, falling damage rules are generic!

[Reverent-One]

They don't, it's an attack that deals 0 damage. A lot of things attack you for 0 damage in real life, constantly. When TV Tropes said "everything is trying to kill you", it wasn't lying.

It's not an attack though.

[PopcornMage]

:durkon: That's what they want you to think. How many hundreds of acorns can they attack you with?

[MarkusWolfe]

I don't know if my group uses this rule, but just this Sunday, a Sabretooth Tiger hit my Barbarian with a critical hit from each of his natural weapons. IN THE SAME ROUND. It almost killed me. Glad that match ended quickly.

[dsmiles]

Which is why I ruled that the Triple Nat 20 rule applies only when the Player Characters are the ones making the attack. Sure, it might not be realistic, but D&D never was much of a simulation to begin with!

Nope, we use it for everybody. We also have a higher mortality rate than most groups. To each their own, though.

[Comet]

Nope, we use it for everybody. We also have a higher mortality rate than most groups. To each their own, though.

That works too, for sure. In fact, we had a game that worked like that once. Lots of fun. The needs of our group vary a lot between games and the houserules have to change accordingly. Whatever it takes to tell a good story and have fun while doing it, right?

[dsmiles]

The needs of our group vary a lot between games and the houserules have to change accordingly. Whatever it takes to tell a good story and have fun while doing it, right?

Exactly. Though, admittedly, my group hasn't changed much over the last few years, so not a lot of houserule changes. I did have the opportunity to homebrew some PrCs for a druid that wanted to focus on her wild-shape (sneaky aspect not combat aspect), however. That was fun for both of us.

[Jayabalard]

A warrior, wearing a helmet, is standing under a tree. Every second an acorn falls from the tree and hits him on the head. After two hours of this, there's almost 60% chance that one of these acorns has killed him.

Doubles as an example why this houserule makes no sense.Your My math is not correct... it's a 1.49% 59.35% chance.

Formula = 1-((1-x)n)

where
x = the probability of a success in any particualr try = 1/8000
n = the number of tries = 120 7200

so 0.0148889840159239 0.593453211065612000

[Ravens_cry]

By RAW, an object (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm) under 1 pounds doesn't do ANY damage no matter how far it falls.
Still, I agree in principle. DM's roll a lot more dice then the players, so this is going to come up that much more often. How anti-climactic for that pud to kill a character who has survived an excursion to the bowels of hell and returned to tell the tale? Contrariwise, how anti-climactic for the big boss of all bosses, the big bad evil dude of all evil dudes, to die from that one nick in the surprise round.

[Kallisti]

A lowly mephit triple-20's our Warforged Barbarian. Warforged are normally immune to crits, so the DM's houserule was that a triple-20 deals critical damage to things immune to crits.

He (the Mephit, not the barbarian) then rolls three nat 1s in a row. Which the DM rules means he manages to deal himself a mortal wound.

The odds of getting three nat-20's in a row are low. The odds of that, and then immediately rolling three subsequent natural 1s...I was pretty impressed by that little mephit's dice witchery.

[Gametime]

It's an optional rule, but it's published in the DMG. I think the reason it's given so much respect is that it's an official optional rule, rather than an individual optional rule, and that carries weight in a lot of groups.

(Why optional rules like that are almost universally disregarded in optimization-heavy communities, while optional rules like half of Unearthed Arcana are taken for granted, is an interesting question.)

At any rate, this isn't strictly related to the rule, but it is related to a triple natural 20. My friends and I were playing with the Star Wars miniatures combat rules, but as a roleplaying campaign (long before we had ever heard of Saga edition). Under those rules, you do a set amount of damage and a 20 is an automatic critical, no confirmation necessary.

So we're traveling along and get ambushed by three giant crab droids, which proceed to win initiative. Giant crab droids aren't the most dangerous enemies, but they can dish out a lot of hurt. Anyway, all three charge the closest of us and our GM makes all three attack rolls at once, using 3d20... and all three land on twenty.

We couldn't stop laughing over how thoroughly dominated our friend was by the giant, surprisingly stealthy, ambushing crabs.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Triple 20 houserule just means everyone in the party has a pressing reason to get crit-immune, especially once you might face lots of low level enemies. Heart of [Element] line and fortification armor come to mind.

Oddly enough, it seems that triple crits are tolerated by DMs much more than SoD spells as far as anticlimactic villain death goes. Is this just because the triple crit is less likely?

[Ashram]

My then-character, a cleric/Radiant Servant of Pelor, and an adventuring group were going through 3.5 Tomb of Horrors. Got to the room with all of the colored circles, whereupon the rogue decides to check one and determines it to be "safe". My cleric walked up, activated the magical spear trap, and my DM rolled once... then twice... I could see the growing glee on his face as I heard the third dice roll.

"So Ashram, I'll give you a choice. Either you die outright, or I permanently take an eye of your choice." (Redcloak-style, no Regeneration or anything). As the DM had decided to spring a "Lives limit" without telling us from the beginning, I chose to lose my left eye.

As for a player getting three 20s in a row, I really don't remember the last time someone in my group did that.

[dsmiles]

Oddly enough, it seems that triple crits are tolerated by DMs much more than SoD spells as far as anticlimactic villain death goes. Is this just because the triple crit is less likely?

Some of us tolerate them both the same. I fully support my players' attempt to slay the BBEG. Once had a halfling monk Quivering Palm the BBEG, and the BBEG rolled a nat 1 on the save. First round. Sad, but life goes on.

[Ferreon]

My most hilarious experience with it was a game of d20 future that I was covering for a missing player. The group were, if i remember correctly, anthropomorphic animals, 1 dolphin, 1 rat, 1 dog, and something else. The group were a special ops type team, with guns, explosives and similarly useful stuff in a post-apocalyptic world. Regardless, the group had located it's mission objective, investigated the place, and been spotted by the enemy. The Dragon (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon) of the bad guys was following us through underground corridors, and eventually caught us at a sealed door. at this point we were warned that he was capable of wiping the group.

Remember I mentioned explosives earlier?

My character was carrying a gun with an auxiliary grenade launcher. I thought, "Why the hell not" and pulled the trigger. 20. Ooh, this ought to really smart. 20 to confirm.

"DM, that's a twenty to confirm." "Roll again" 20

"Ok. As he starts to rant you take careful aim, and fire the grenade at him. By some fluke of chance your aim is good enough to get it into his mouth as he berates you. He looks confused for a second or two then the grenade goes off. Roll reflex."

Only one of us was covered in his remains.

[KellKheraptis]

I had a triple-20 rolled on one of my Anima Mages after getting my trusty Elemental Body dispelled. I just smiled at the DM (who knew I wasn't flat footed but had forgotten the immediate action capstone of AM) and proceeded to put another one up as an interrupt. No crits=no autokill. Sorry Mr. Ur-Vindicator :)