What would a nat20 auto-success world be like?

[Just to Browse]

In a world where a natural 20 automatically makes a successful attack, automatically succeeds on saves, (houserule) automatically succeeds at skill checks... Well, what would happen? Not really on a PC-level, but on a worldwide scale?

I'm guessing the best military tactic would be hundreds of peasants armed with long-range bows with far shot (who needs proficiency?) shooting from maximum range. Regimes would topple and fall quickly because any dude with a bow and line of sight could take out someone. Mages could be raised just to cast protection from arrows and erect walls on the battlefield.

In a similar vein, what about if natural 1's automatically failed? Would that actually change anything about the world (aside from making melee even worse at everything forever :smallfrown:)

[TiaC]

In a world where a natural 20 automatically makes a successful attack, automatically succeeds on saves, (houserule) automatically succeeds at skill checks... Well, what would happen? Not really on a PC-level, but on a worldwide scale?

I'm guessing the best military tactic would be hundreds of peasants armed with long-range bows with far shot (who needs proficiency?) shooting from maximum range. Regimes would topple and fall quickly because any dude with a bow and line of sight could take out someone. Mages could be raised just to cast protection from arrows and erect walls on the battlefield.
Ridiculously finely crafted items would abound. Kids would amuse themselves by running on water and leaping mountains. Con artists wound have to be harshly punished for the attempt because 1/20 of the time they could bankrupt someone. People could make themselves look like anyone else and the disguise would hold 95% of the time. In ~70 hours you could find out anything. If you listen very hard you could hear anything. Espionage could be done by just having ~50 people listen for anything someone says. A person could only be incarcerated for a few minutes. Profession just breaks the economy.


In a similar vein, what about if natural 1's automatically failed? Would that actually change anything about the world (aside from making melee even worse at everything forever :smallfrown:) Are you talking about critical fumbles? Most things easy enough to auto-pass are resolved without a roll. Communication would be annoying, what with failing to hear 1/20th of all sound. Driving would be dangerous, as you wouldn't see 1/20th of the obstacles.

[PersonMan]

To build castles and similar, you don't require materials or skilled laborers. Just lining up hundreds of peasants to try to build it will eventually succeed.

Manpower becomes the most valuable resource around. Large families are encouraged as much as possible, and a ruler's influence is determined by how large their population is.

[TiaC]

To build castles and similar, you don't require materials or skilled laborers. Just lining up hundreds of peasants to try to build it will eventually succeed.
They'll waste a lot of materials though. It would cost 10.5 times as much.

[Bogardan_Mage]

I'm guessing the best military tactic would be hundreds of peasants armed with long-range bows with far shot (who needs proficiency?) shooting from maximum range. Regimes would topple and fall quickly because any dude with a bow and line of sight could take out someone. Mages could be raised just to cast protection from arrows and erect walls on the battlefield.
Hmm, I'm not so sure. Natural 20 just means it's a hit, not necessarily a fatal hit. As you point out, one spell effectively shuts it down. It's also a potentially expensive tactic, you have to feed your hundreds of peasants and replace 20 times as many arrows as you would for conventional archers. It might turn out to be worthwhile on balance but it doesn't seem obviously superior immediately.

Almost all jobs are unskilled. In some cases it's more cost effective to save raw materials, but in many places there are either no raw materials ruined on a failed attempt or they are simply worth the cost.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, for one thing, it becomes impossible to sneak past a group of 20+ people, at ANY distance, so long as they have line of sight / (for hearing) line of effect to you. Unless you also roll a 20, in which case I don't know what happens. In any case, you'll just fail vs. someone the next round anyway.

A regiment of guards could hear someone breaking into a house from hundreds of miles away!

Pretty much any opposed skill check becomes IMPOSSIBLE to ever use in front of or vs. a group of 20+ people. Disguise, forgery, bluff... just gather enough people around to have a look/listen, and the skill will fail.

[Bogardan_Mage]

Well, for one thing, it becomes impossible to sneak past a group of 20+ people, at ANY distance, so long as they have line of sight / (for hearing) line of effect to you. Unless you also roll a 20, in which case I don't know what happens. In any case, you'll just fail vs. someone the next round anyway.

A regiment of guards could hear someone breaking into a house from hundreds of miles away!

Pretty much any opposed skill check becomes IMPOSSIBLE to ever use in front of or vs. a group of 20+ people. Disguise, forgery, bluff... just gather enough people around to have a look/listen, and the skill will fail.
It's not impossible, because a natural 20 is not guaranteed in 20 rolls. What is true is that you have a 5% chance of being caught by any given observer, and naturally more observers give you more opportunities to be caught. It's only about a 65% chance with 20, although that's still not very good odds for hiding things.

[Grod_The_Giant]

You'd probably wind up with scifi-level technology within a generation or two, as people start critically succeeding Knowledge and Craft checks.

[bekeleven]

Walls of force become incredibly less terrifying.

[Deophaun]

Wouldn't have to go to the airport. Japan, Canada, France, Brazil, India are all just two minutes away with a good jump.

I would, however, need something to boost my speed up. Hey! Jetpacks!

[Slipperychicken]

Wouldn't have to go to the airport. Japan, Canada, France, Brazil, India are all just two minutes away with a good jump.

I would, however, need something to boost my speed up. Hey! Jetpacks!

Jumping consumes movment. If you run out of movement during a jump, you wait till the next round, keep moving, and again and again. Yes, that does break physics when you jump at 5ft/second.

Jumping in D&D is as fast as walking. People would get stuck in the air.


Edit:
5% of all trained Knowledge checks would reveal an infinite number of useful facts. Now we know everything forever. Everything useful, at least...

[StreamOfTheSky]

By the rules, they'd still get to their destination...it'd just take as long as jogging there. Of course, there's still utility in that, as you cannot simply jog across oceans or over mountains.

[Berenger]

I'm guessing the best military tactic would be hundreds of peasants armed with long-range bows with far shot (who needs proficiency?) shooting from maximum range. Regimes would topple and fall quickly because any dude with a bow and line of sight could take out someone.

Compared to D&D combat in general, this seems quite reasonable.

[Deophaun]

Jumping consumes movment. If you run out of movement during a jump, you wait till the next round, keep moving, and again and again. Yes, that does break physics when you jump at 5ft/second.

Jumping in D&D is as fast as walking. People would get stuck in the air.
Which, maybe, possibly, potentially, could, if you think about it really hard, be considered to be one of the reasons I said

I would, however, need something to boost my speed up. Hey! Jetpacks!

[TheIronGolem]

Monogamy disappears completely within a generation, as people realize that they are guaranteed eventual success in seducing absolutely anyone they want.

[Psyren]

Monogamy disappears completely within a generation, as people realize that they are guaranteed eventual success in seducing absolutely anyone they want.

On a related note, the number of Pervirtuosos skyrockets :smallbiggrin:

[Just to Browse]

Interesting to note: A group of 20 people does not guarantee a nat20 for all rolls. They actually have only a 60-70% chance of success.

A hundred people in a group will have a ~99.4% chance of at least one nat20. This is probably fine, but there's certainly room in world history for the One in a Million Battle.