Critical Failures and Critical Successes on Skill Rolls
Critical Failures and Critical Successes on Skill Rolls
Excerpt from the new D&D 2024 Players Handbook (p. 9):
"Interpreting dice rolls: Part of the fun of D&D is interpreting what die rolls mean in the story. The randomness that dice brings often introduces the unexpected: an expert fails, a novice succeeds, or any number of other twists. When a D20 Test or another roll produces a surprise, the Dungeon Master often gives a fun description of what happened. If you’re a player, look for opportunities to interpret your character’s dice rolls and describe why things unfolded unexpectedly or even humorously."
As veteran players and Game Masters, we thrive on these unexpected outcomes; they often lead to bursts of laughter, cheering, or take the adventure in unexpected directions as the player or GM narrates the results. However, creating and narrating these outcomes on the fly, just seconds after the die lands on a natural 1 or 20, can be challenging. That's why we've developed the Tome of Skills.
We've worked through all 18 skills in the game and collaborated with several gaming groups to brainstorm different categories of situations where each skill might be applied. Let's take the Athletics skill as an example: This skill is commonly used for jumping, landing, climbing, hanging from ceilings, swimming, or underwater activities. In the Tome of Skills, we've crafted a variety of outcomes for each of these scenarios when a natural 1 or a natural 20 is rolled.
These outcomes are concise—one or two sentences long—and easy to read and apply. Our goal has been to create outcomes that are fun to use. For instance, if you roll a natural 20 on a climbing check, one possible outcome might be: “In a crack, you discover a gem or jewel worth your level × 30 gp.” A small victory and a little reward for rolling that 20. On the other hand, if you fail by rolling a 1 on a swimming check, a potential outcome could be: “Parasites in the water give you diarrhea; all your rolls have disadvantage for the next 1d6 hours.”
The idea of using natural 1s and 20s in this way isn’t new; we’re inspired by the 5e edition of D&D (Dungeon Master's Guide p. 242):
"Critical Success or Failure: Rolling a 20 or a 1 on an ability check or a saving throw doesn't normally have any special effect. However, you can choose to take such an exceptional roll into account when adjudicating the outcome. It's up to you to determine how this manifests in the game. An easy approach is to increase the impact of the success or failure. For example, rolling a 1 on a failed attempt to pick a lock might break the thieves' tools being used, and rolling a 20 on a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check might reveal an extra clue."
All we’ve done is to help players and Game Masters quickly apply cool effects to skill rolls of 1s and 20s, ensuring the game doesn’t stall while someone tries to interpret and apply the outcome if inspiration is lacking. Of course, our Tome of Skills might not be for everyone, but the rules allow for such interpretations. We at Two Starving Gnolls aim to enrich gaming experiences for those who want to enhance their sessions with hundreds of creative outcomes, covering all skills.
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