Quote Originally Posted by Khedrac View Post
Q358 (I think) - Re: A swashbuckler's Opportune Parry and Riposte - what happens with Natural 20s?


And attack rolls automatically hit on a natural 20. So what happens in the following three scenarios?

i) The attacker's roll is a natural 20 but the swashbuckler's parrying roll has a higher total though not a natural 20.
ii) The attacker's roll is not a 20 but the swashbuckler's parrying roll has a lower total but is a natural 20.
iii) Both rolls are natural 20s.
A358: There's a FAQ that applies to this:

Natural 20 and Natural 1: On attack rolls and saving throws, a natural 20 is an automatic success and a natural 1 is an automatic failure. But should I treat them differently than other results when deciding if a roll succeeded or failed by 5 or more, when comparing two opposed attack rolls to see which is a higher result, or other similar situations?
No, unless a specific rule tells you otherwise, treat a natural 20 or natural 1 result on an attack roll or saving throw the same as any other result when comparing the total result to other numbers. For example, if a fighter rolls a natural 1 for a total of 31 against the wizard’s AC of 33, the attack misses by 5 or less and destroys one of the wizard’s mirror images.