Option to Remove Critical Fail on Skill Checks

[king_of_jamaica]

I've never liked the idea that I can roll a 1, still have enough "points" to pass a check, but still fail because of that roll.

And that issue came up literally right away for me. When rescuing Shadowheart, you have to do a Wisdom check to use the machine. It has a DR of 2, and I have a +1 Wisdom modifier, so I literally can't fail without the Critical Fail system.

I rolled a 1.

I would like the option to turn off that for skill checks. If my points add up to more than the DR, then let the roll succeed.

Note, this is only for skill checks. Attack rolls can still have critical fails. I haven't seen how the game handles attack roll critical fails, but as a once DM myself, they can sometimes be hilarious.

[Kefke]

Hard agree, This should never have been a thing. In the tabletop, it is not a thing. I will not give this game a positive review as long as crit fail on skills is a thing. This is a hill I am willing to die on.

[Leaf]

It's odd to me that they would enforce a homebrew rule like this but not give the option to toggle it like they do karmic dice. I hope it wouldn't be too much work to patch in that option.

[galvantua]

should def be a toggle. It's not even an actual 5e rule, they added it as part of the homebrew.

Originally posted by king_of_jamaica:

Note, this is only for skill checks. Attack rolls can still have critical fails. I haven't seen how the game handles attack roll critical fails, but as a once DM myself, they can sometimes be hilarious.

when you see "critical miss", thats an attack roll nat 1. even if you have enough + to hit to make it over their ac, you still miss anyways. that's an actual rule in 5e. IDK if they do crit fails on death saving throws though, I think i've seen it happen but not for sure

[Zymeth]

Agree. Idk 5e very well, but I also miss an option from 3.5 to take 10. I am playing a monk with acolyte backround and I fail almost all religious lore rolls. Can't even re-roll them with inspiration, as they are done automatically during dialogues (which I don't really understand why).

[iamshinyman]

Automatic fail/success on nat 1s/20s on skill checks is one of the dumbest homebrews that I have ever seen in DnD. It fundamentally undermines the idea of different characters being good at different things, and is anti-fun.

Edited in addition for clarity:
I enjoy this game (quite a lot actually), but the critical fails/successes on skill checks just take me out of the game. I don't even care about whether they're "balanced" or "fair" so much as I am bothered by how much this (combined with things like the scarcity of feats and low point cap in a point buy system) reduces the diversity you can achieve in characters. If actual player choices are reduced (or reduced in effect) too much, every character will start to feel the same after a while.

[Simpson3k]

I doesnt even make sense because a natural 20 at skill checks never has any additional result. I mean its not like the result at a 20 is like you gain double the benefit of a normal success so why is the natural 1 an everfail? If they would change the 20 to a critical success with increased effect, only then the natural 1 as always fail would reasonable.

[hannibal_pjv]

In this game natural 20 is auto succes even if the target is 100…
So they should also remove that!

[deviousity]

Add a "take 10" option. Set the die roll to 10, eliminating randomness. You can't roll low, but you can't roll high either. If you needed that chance for success, you won't make it. You can't critically fail, but you can't critically succeed either. That doesn't change the outcome anyway. The only benefit to critical success is you can succeed if you couldn't possibly succeed with your skill level, such as picking a DC 20 lock with a Dex penalty non-proficient character, and that's not going to be anybody's primary plan or play-style anyway.

With enough bonuses you can take 10 every time, no problem.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3019635028

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024396726

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024396134

[Tenacity]

Please don't add take 10. It's a rogue class feature that they get near the end of their leveling and it would invalidate potentially the biggest draw of high level rogues.
Otherwise I agree.
There is a single skill check very late in the game that relies on the skill check critical success system so for that alone I think that part should stay, but there's no reason that someone with a +10 modifier in a skill should ever, EVER fail something as simple checks for that skill. Hell, even just make a nat 1 a functional zero so it only adds your bonuses, that'd be fine.

[deviousity]

Originally posted by Tenacity:

Please don't add take 10. It's a rogue class feature that they get near the end of their leveling and it would invalidate potentially the biggest draw of high level rogues.
Otherwise I agree.
There is a single skill check very late in the game that relies on the skill check critical success system so for that alone I think that part should stay, but there's no reason that someone with a +10 modifier in a skill should ever, EVER fail something as simple checks for that skill. Hell, even just make a nat 1 a functional zero so it only adds your bonuses, that'd be fine.

Maybe make it a Feat, or like limit it to specific things per class... Wizards get Arcana, Clerics get Religion, Rangers get Survival, etc. Or both. Feats that lets you take 10 on certain skills, and specifically exclude Sleight of Hand, but include things like Persuasion and Deception (Silver Tongue), Intimidate and Animal Handling (Establish Dominance), Insight and Performance (Read the Crowd), etc.

[Tenacity]

all I can really say in response to that is that I hope there's a mod out there for you because rogues really need their take 10 feature to not be a joke.

[Simpson3k]

Originally posted by hannibal_pjv:

In this game natural 20 is auto succes even if the target is 100…
So they should also revove that!

And thats silly either. I mean such a high skillcheck is silly for its own, because nobody could ever reach it even with a 19, but i would prefer to always success in a skill i get more than 20 bonus on the dice role than to get the chance to success impossible attempts.

[Pimpin Pippin]

yea i really dislike having maxed out skill (persuasion etc) and then a phat CRIT FAIL 1 slaps me.

[Valkyrie]

Does anyone know of a mod that does this? I dont think larian will change this

[Zerd]

I've just uploaded a mod on Nexus Mods addressing this. It's called "Disable Critical Fails on Skill and Ability Checks"