nat 20 fallacy

[geonova]

me and my brother were having an argument and i found the part of the players handbook that states that, unlike an attack roll, a nat 20 on a skill check is not an auto-success, but he brought up the taking 20 option for skill checks that states that; if you have enough time you can take a nat 20 and auto-succeed, which he believes means that all nat 20s auto succeed. is this true, or just the world's most common houserule?

[Psyren]

Taking 20 on a skill does not guarantee success any more than rolling a natural 20 does. If you take 20 to Open an Arcane Lock for instance, you will take 20 times as long as a regular check and still fail.

[TiaC]

Taking 20 on a skill check does not auto-succeed. If it did, then your character could make an infinite amount of money given 20 weeks with the profession skill, jump to the moon, disguise himself as a Brontosaurus, hear a conversation 1,000 miles away or train the Taurasque.

[molten_dragon]

me and my brother were having an argument and i found the part of the players handbook that states that, unlike an attack roll, a nat 20 on a skill check is not an auto-success, but he brought up the taking 20 option for skill checks that states that; if you have enough time you can take a nat 20 and auto-succeed, which he believes means that all nat 20s auto succeed. is this true, or just the world's most common houserule?

As has already been pointed out, taking 20 does not guarantee success, it just gives you whatever the result would be if you rolled a 20. If that still fails, then it still fails, and you can't succeed on that skill check.

Making 20 auto-succeed for skills can lead to some really ridiculous stuff when you combine it with epic skill usage.

For example, your average commoner could do the following things 1 in 20 times he tried them:

Walk through a wall of force
Squeeze through a 2 inch square hole
Walk on water
Walk on a cloud
Climb a glass wall
Climb across a glass ceiling
Accurately disguise himself as a halfling
Train the tarrasque to obey commands in 1 minute
Read people's minds
Swim up a waterfall

[TiaC]

Train the tarrasque to obey commands in 1 minute

If I meet a DM who uses this houserule, I'm going to Dominate masses of commoners and throw them at the tarrasque until I get a new pet.

[Just to Browse]

If I meet a DM who uses this houserule, I'm going to Dominate masses of commoners and throw them at the tarrasque until I get a new pet.

Make sure to take 20 on dodging flying rulebooks.

Yes I know it doesn't work like that. He'd get hit by 19 at a time.

[TiaC]

Make sure to take 20 on dodging flying rulebooks.

Yes I know it doesn't work like that. He'd get hit by 19 at a time.

I just need to take 20 on my profession (politician) check first and get elected Supreme World Ruler for Life.

If he's smart he'll just have NPCs start giving it (Does it have a gender?) commands too.