critical miss on an opposed check?

[LobsterJ]

Could be a dumb question, but on an opposed check (for instance disarm) does a natural 1 always result in failure?

[Boci]

No, the rule only applies to attack rolls and saves.

[Curmudgeon]

No, the rule only applies to attack rolls and saves.
Not even all of those. Disarm attempts uses opposed attack rolls, but natural 1s and natural 20s have no special significance there.

[LaughingRogue]

yeah 1s and 20s have no significance in these cases.

[Groverfield]

For combat maneuvers there are three rolls, the touch attack or attack roll, which is affected by natural 1's and 20's

Then there are two opposed rolls, which are not affected by natural 1's or 20's. The chance to automatically fail as a tripper/grappler has already gone out the window Think of it like this: 9.75% chance that a gnat would trip a storm giant (5% chance that the gnat rolled a 20 + 4.75% chance that the giant rolled 1 and the gnat didn't roll a 20) that's just short of 10% chance either way on any combat maneuver.