Shouldn't a Critical Success defeat a DC of 99?

[GravityWave]

So, I'm in Act 3, and got a DC99 (obviously telling), but I rolled a ♥♥♥♥♥ 20 (with Advantage), Shouldn't I succeed? I failed which isn't too surprising, but I got the roll!

[Maraxus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh HoneyDrake:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

But it did, if we are talking about this scene.

Here is the misconception:

A nat 20 does not make you magically able to do things it wasn't able to begin with.

Aka:

You can not just dominate something above your class by just having a nat 20. And the stones being there doesn't make you magically able to use them as you like.

People mistake how N20's work, this is not an BG3 related issue, it's an overall issue when it comes to P&P, DnD, etc.

Well critical success in 5e is not the default though, its homebrew, precisely because it's hard to rule. I jump to the sky Critical Success. 😂

It was homebrewed by Larian and I guess it works in the game because you can much more easily limit what is attempted in a crpg.

[Orion Invictus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Orion Invictus:

Again, because it evolved between the time the stones were separated to the time they were reunited.


Because you break its will. This is literally stated in the game.

Did you skip all the cutscenes and dialogue, by any chance?

I am reading the wiki and it says the brain was already a Netherbrain before it put things into motion(including giving the emperor the powers to access Orpheus) so that can't be the reason why it couldn't resist the others but suddenly could resist you. Unless as you state it continue evolving over time, but where in the game is that implied?

Then the wiki is wrong. The Elder Brain literally tells you it's evolving as you approach the Morphic Pool.

[Ars Nova]

It's a gimmick roll. Little more than a glorified QTE. That said I didn't think it was horrible for the game's climax.

[Maraxus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Orion Invictus:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

I am reading the wiki and it says the brain was already a Netherbrain before it put things into motion(including giving the emperor the powers to access Orpheus) so that can't be the reason why it couldn't resist the others but suddenly could resist you. Unless as you state it continue evolving over time, but where in the game is that implied?

Then the wiki is wrong. The Elder Brain literally tells you it's evolving as you approach the Morphic Pool.

But if it continued evolving(you'd have to assume it'd be aware of it's increasing powers) why would it need to continue with such a convoluted plan. At some point it could have just realized it could sit still and eventually overcome everyone. In other words it kinda makes the whole plot unnecessary.

[Orion Invictus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Orion Invictus:

Then the wiki is wrong. The Elder Brain literally tells you it's evolving as you approach the Morphic Pool.

But if it continued evolving(and if that was the case you'd have to assume it'd be aware of it's increasing powers) why would it need to continue with such a convoluted plan. At some point it could have just realized it could sit still and eventually overcome everyone.

Presumably, it calculated it'd have the greatest chance of success with this timeline, since it can calculate all possible timelines.

[Maraxus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Orion Invictus:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

But if it continued evolving(and if that was the case you'd have to assume it'd be aware of it's increasing powers) why would it need to continue with such a convoluted plan. At some point it could have just realized it could sit still and eventually overcome everyone.

Presumably, it calculated it'd have the greatest chance of success with this timeline, since it can calculate all possible timelines.

Yeah but considering laying low would have prevented you from helping Gale who had a giant bomb strapped precisely for the purpose of ending it, among other things, it starts not making much sense. I think in the end things were so convoluted that they just hand-waved everything with the gigabrain. Not bad, but one shouldn't think too hard about the plot I just realized or one will start seeing a lot of holes.

[Orion Invictus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Orion Invictus:

Presumably, it calculated it'd have the greatest chance of success with this timeline, since it can calculate all possible timelines.

Yeah but considering laying low would have prevented you from helping Gale who had a giant bomb strapped precisely for the purpose of ending it, among other things, it starts not making much sense. I think in the end things were so convoluted that they just hand-waved everything with the gigabrain. Not bad, but one shouldn't think too hard about the plot I just realized or one will start seeing a lot of holes.

You're assuming it knew about Gale, which is NOT explicitly stated.

[Maraxus]

It's hard to believe it wouldn't know about Gale if Gale is following you since the beginning, it could have easily stopped at any moment once it saw the giant bomb getting close to Moonlight Towers. It just doesn't make sense that it would increase it's chance of survival by helping you help all it's enemies. That's where all falls off.

Assuming it's a gigabrain it would be able to adapt it's plans according to unfolding events I imagine.

[Orion Invictus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

It's hard to believe it wouldn't know about Gale if Gale is following you since the beginning, it could have easily stopped at any moment once it saw the giant bomb getting close to Moonlight Towers. It just doesn't make sense that it would increase it's chance of survival by helping you help all it's enemies. That's where all falls off.

Assuming it's a gigabrain it would be able to adapt it's plans according to unfolding events I imagine.

Sorry, let me correct my statement: you're assuming it knew about Gale's Orb. Even if it DID know about Gale's Orb, it would've calculated Gale wouldn't use it (which he didn't, or the Elder Brain wouldn't still exist in Act 3).

[Maraxus]

If it's able to see that far into the future(of you beating the Absolute and taking the stones, etc) since before it even crafts it's plan, it should have been able to see that you were bringing Gale(or he himself was going ) to Moonrise and that Elminster would show up to help and explain the whole thing. So just as easily as it manipulated the Emperor into helping you, at that point, it could have easily manipulated him into manipulating you(or Gale) into doing something else. Assuming it was trying to maximize it's chances of course.

You can use the orb in both act 2 and before the final fight. :D

The brain being able to see far beyond and maximizing it's chances just introduces a lot of inconsistencies since there are a lot places were it could have corrected course but it didn't.

[Orion Invictus]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Maraxus:

If it's able to see that far into the future(of you beating the Absolute and taking the stones, etc) since before it even crafts it's plan, it should have been able to see that you were bringing Gale(or he himself was going ) to Moonrise and that Elminster would show up to help and explain the whole thing. So just as easily as it manipulated the Emperor into helping you, at that point, it could have easily manipulated him into manipulating you(or Gale) into doing something else. Assuming it was trying to maximize it's chances of course.

You can use the orb in both act 2 and before the final fight. :D

The brain being able to see far beyond and maximizing it's chances just introduces a lot of inconsistencies since there are a lot places were it could have corrected course but it didn't.

The problem is that you and I can't see all possibilities. The Elder Brain can. So your ideas of how to "course correct" would've ended up worse than its current situation. This isn't explicitly stated, but implied, since the Elder Brain would obviously be taking what it calculated to be the best course of action to achieve its goal.

[Maraxus]

Didn't you just say that maybe the elder brain can't see all possibilities? If it can it surely would have tried to stop Gale once he knew about him, certainly way before he got to MT. There is a non trivial chance that he blows himself.

For all this to make sense we have to accept the least likely explanations, like maybe helping us stopped a butterfly from causing a hurricane that would wreck the brain's location. It's not a satisfying explanation.

I think my brained turned off on purpose to ignore all these inconsistencies and better enjoy the story lol.

[GrandMajora]

In Japan, the 'Dark' type category for pokemon is known as the 'Evil' type.

The Japanese name for the move 'Night Slash' is 'Crossroad Killing.'

The Japanese name for the move 'Sand Tomb' is 'Sand Hell.'

The Japanese name for Pikachu's Z-move is 'Certain-Kill Pikachoot.'

The Japanese name for Mimikyu's Z-move is 'Bip Bop Friend Time.'

[Maraxus]

I mean if you show an omnipresent gigabrain and it acts in a completely opposite manner, then hand-wave all the head-scratching decisions as "oh it just knows more things and can see farther than you", that's not that interesting.

Like alright, they pulled a Dr. Strange...

It was a decent attempt at handling all the different possibilities but yeah now I can't unsee it. 😂

[GriffinPilgrim]

Worth noting here; if this was being done on the tabletop it would be a contested roll, that is the Netherbrain would also be rolling. So one could assume the brain always crits.
Notably though, in case no-one else has mentioned it, if you do crit on this roll when you get to the final, final battle with the brain inside it's mind it has a status "Against The Odds" that removes part of it's health. So a crit here does end up helping you down the line. The implication is that your crit did get you into the Netherbrain's mind but it rallied and pushed you but not before you did some damage to its psyche.