Can a Swashbuckler Parry a Natural 20?

[Soul Thief]

So I looked this up and found a bunch of posts from 2014 arguing back and forth on this topic. What happens when the swashbuckler'a enemy rolls a natural 20 vs a parry? What happens when the swashbuckler rolls a natural 20 to parry? What happens when they both roll natural 20s?

Thanks Bunches

[johnlocke90]

Unfortunately, the rules just flat out contradict on this. There is no RAW answer. Which leaves with trying to determine intent. I think that it can be parried. Two reasons.

1. Under critical hits, it says "When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target's Armor Class". This suggests that the autosuccess is targeted at AC specifically.

2. The natural 20 doesn't allow you to overcome concealment, so its not a "you hit regardless of circumstance" thing. This backs up that autohit is aimed at AC.

[TriOmegaZero]

I have run it as being able to parry, since the only requirement for parry is that the defenders roll is higher than the attackers. No exception is made for natural 20s.

[Tyinyk]

I'd day you can parry it so long as your parry roll was also a natural 20, and your attack bonus is higher than theirs. Otherwise, their brute force or skill is just too much for you to parry.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

TOZ has the right of it.

Either way, it's safe to say that if both rolls are a Nat 20, then whichever one is normally higher would take the cake.

[vhok]

yes. specific vs general rule.

[zainale]

wouldn't rolling a natural twenty against another natural twenty cause you to roll again higher roll wins?

[Darksol the Painbringer]

zainale wrote:

wouldn't rolling a natural twenty against another natural twenty cause you to roll again higher roll wins?

No, because such rules don't exist in the ability description.

If you want to be pedantic like that, Nat 20 would be a critical threat, but clearly those rules don't apply to things like Parry/Riposte, so people saying you critically hit (similar to automatically hitting) don't apply.

[Vidmaster7]

Yeah I personally rule if you can still add up your to hit roll past what the nat 20 adds up to you can parry it (screw that kobolds lucky roll i should be able to parry a 24.)

[CWheezy]

Yes, they can parry a nat 20.

It even makes more sense thematically, that the swashbuckling God can party a level 1 commoner Yolo swinging.

[vhok]

Critical Hits: When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target's Armor Class

A natural 20 is a hit, regardless of armor class. If your attack bonus is +1 and you attack a creature with an AC of 99, you still hit on a nat 20 even though the result of your attack roll is a 21 and that did not equal or beat the targets AC.

Opportune Parry and Riposte: The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity... If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses.

A miss from Parry is not a miss from armor class. Therefore a nat 20 is not an automatic hit regardless of Parry. So if your enemy rolls a nat 20, you can still cause the attack to miss if the result of your attack roll is higher. If the orc has an attack bonus of +3, and rolls a nat 20, the result of his attack roll is 23. If your attack bonus if +8, and you roll a 16, the result of your attack roll is 24. Since your roll is greater, the orc misses.

However, your attack roll is not opposed by armor class, so a nat 20 doesn't cause you to auto-parry or anything. If the ogre's attack bonus is +15, and he rolls a 14, the result of his attack roll is a 29. If your attack bonus is +8, and you roll a nat 20, the result of your attack roll is 28. In this case, you fail to parry.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

vhok wrote:

Critical Hits: When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target's Armor Class

A natural 20 is a hit, regardless of armor class. If your attack bonus is +1 and you attack a creature with an AC of 99, you still hit on a nat 20 even though the result of your attack roll is a 21 and that did not equal or beat the targets AC.

Opportune Parry and Riposte: The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity... If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses.

A miss from Parry is not a miss from armor class. Therefore a nat 20 is not an automatic hit regardless of Parry. So if your enemy rolls a nat 20, you can still cause the attack to miss if the result of your attack roll is higher. If the orc has an attack bonus of +3, and rolls a nat 20, the result of his attack roll is 23. If your attack bonus if +8, and you roll a 16, the result of your attack roll is 24. Since your roll is greater, the orc misses.

However, your attack roll is not opposed by armor class, so a nat 20 doesn't cause you to auto-parry or anything. If the ogre's attack bonus is +15, and he rolls a 14, the result of his attack roll is a 29. If your attack bonus is +8, and you roll a nat 20, the result of your attack roll is 28. In this case, you fail to parry.

/thread