Opportune Parry and Riposte Against Natural 20

[Fallyrion Dunegrién]

How does the Swashbuckler's deed Opportune Parry and Riposte work against a natural 20 on a attack roll?

--- The attack automatically hits?
--- The Swashbuckler needs a natural 20 to parry that attack?
--- If the Swashbuckler parry's roll is higher then the natural-20 roll, the attack still misses?

[Nargemn]

I would personally go with the third choice, that the Swashbuckler needs to beat the result of the natural twenty plus the attacker's modifiers.

[Fallyrion Dunegrién]

In my game I'm using the first choice. A natural 20 is an automatic hit.

[Paladin of Baha-who?]

While either of the first two are perfectly reasonable house rules, the written text of the ability makes no distinction at all regarding a roll of 27 resulting from a natural 19 and a roll of 27 resulting from a natural 20. Both will be parried if the swashbuckler makes a successful attack roll of 27, even if she rolls a 1 to do so.

Quote:

If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses.

If I recall correctly, this issue was raised during the playtest, and they kept the original wording, indicating that this is in fact the intent of the designers.

[Taenia]

Note that this is different than some other abilities like Snake Style which set your AC. In those situation a natural 20 will always hit because it doesn't matter what your AC is. Opportune Parry and Riposte is different and can even negate a natural 20.