this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025
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If you can't fail a skill check, there should be no roll. Same as most DMs won't make you do a skill check for "I sit down on a chair".
Rolling dice implies that there's a chance of failure.
Nope. 1/20 is much less regular than 5/20 or even 19/20. More skill doesn't mean it always works, only that your chances are higher. And if you are skilled enough that it always works, then there should be no roll.
What do you mean here? Any roll is as likely as any other
Do you mean 2-20 is more likely than rolling a 1? Of course it is, but an invisible rogue sneaking at +15 shouldn't be seen by the monster who's -4 to spot 1 in 20 events, or if 20s are also special, 1 in 10 events (one for the rogue getting a 1, one for monster getting a 20)
In that case, and I keep repeating myself: don't roll.
Don't roll for things that can't fail.
They're talking the probability of failure, not the specific number on the die. If your skill bonus meets the DC, you have a 1/20 chance of failing, assuming a natural one equates to an auto-fail. If your bonus doesn't meet the DC, you have a higher chance of failing.
The problem with this argument is that first off, the GM can't know your character sheet front-to-back because they're not playing your character, so they probably don't know if even a 1 will pass the DC they've set.
It's still far more common than is reasonable.
The GM should know exceptional stats of their player. Yes, I might not know some rarely relevant stat of my players, I but surely know how well the rogue stealths, how well the elf bowman arches, how well the mage spells and how hard the barbarian hits.
And even if I don't, the players can tell me the stat before a potential check.
I just think whether or not each and every player here has an outrageously high stat and what those stats are is a bit of an unnecessary hassle to add to the already long list of things the GM needs to keep track of.
I find that not very hard to keep track, honestly. They usually don't have a lot of them.
And in any case, the player can just say when they have one.
Isn't that okay for easy stuff? Skilled characters also see harder challenges, disarming a dc20 trap for example
Why should they fail to tie a simple knot on a +5, dc5 use rope check 1 in 20 times?
Sorry, don't know if I understand what you mean with that.
Why should they roll for something as simple as tieing a simple knot? I don't make my players roll whether they manage to tie their shoes either.
A simple knot like the bowline you'd tie around a sturdy tree before descending by rope into a hole
That's exactly the sort of thing a DM would set as DC10
If your skill level would guarantee a win if you ignore the concept of a natural 1 auto-failing, then there should be no roll.
If everyone is aware. If the player knows the DC and the GM knows the players character sheet
I call it following the rules. 1 as an auto fail is a common house rule, it is not the rule in d&d
Swipe typo. Corrected now