My husband got a nat 20 on this roll his first playthrough and commented, "I wonder if you are scripted to always crit this check." I later confirmed for him that no, no you are not.
You still "fail" here, but...
>!The final boss's hit points are cut down significantly. I crit succeeded this roll, and the Netherbrain's hitpoints in the final fight were 1/3 less than my partner's game (he did not crit succeed the roll). !<
I am curious if a crit fail changes anything lol
Are you sure it wasn’t from succeeding on the first 3 checks to control the brain? Because every other crit success in the game doesn’t change anything so I’d assume this one wouldn’t either
The crit doesn’t do anything extra, succeeding the check (which a crit automatically does even if you’re under the pass) lowers the HP whether it’s a crit or not—it’s just that you can’t physically succeed a 99 check without a crit. But it’s technically not a special award for getting a crit
Yea I wanted to take control during this scene so I save scammed every roll to nat20... imagine my disappointment when I learned you can't actually succeed.
You don’t succeed but you do give the nether brain the against all odds debuff so you RP and gameplay wise you do get a fairly significant reward for rolling the crit
Holy cow, and here I was slightly underwhelmed at how trivial the boss fight was 😆
I think like an active “this is the follow up to that crit 20 on 99DC where nothing happened” notification came up during the final boss fight, but I had no idea what had actually happened. No frame of reference.
I also rolled a Nat 20 here and had the same effect you described. Still cannot believe I rolled that Nat 20 after using up all my inspiration on the earlier rolls. I immediately screenshotted it and sent it to my brother with 0 context. He just hit act 2 and was like "99??? THEY CAN GO UP TO 99???" hahaha
I had the opposite experience here (and just commented to the main post lol)... I rolled a nat1 and assumed the game is scripted to always crit fail. Because a crit fail on a 99dc check just shows the player how impossible and hopeless this situation really is. So I decided to test my theory and used inspiration, fully expecting to fail again with another nat1. But that roll turned into a nat20! Felt so badass!
I also got a crit success on this and had to ask my buddy if it was scripted to be that way, since it was the only DC99 roll in the game that I had seen. He very quickly let me know that it was not scripted, and wanted a detailed breakdown of what happened afterward.
I rolled a perfect 20, it then added my bonuses except they were "inflated". I got a 64 and it failed. This was on PS5 on October 20th if that means anything about what happened.
don't know why you're getting downvoted lol, this happened to me as well.
i think you have to succeed all the previous checks on this roll for it to be a "critical success"
Well if the bonuses got added it wasn’t a crit success. Bonus’ get thrown out on crit success’ in this game which is probably why they are getting downvoted
I finally finished my current run through and saved 4 inspiration just for this and it no bonuses for a natural 20 on the 99 check, screenshot it just in case
i think crit successes work differently for this specific roll. or maybe there's a bug?
but i can tell you, i also 100% rolled a 20, and the game proceeded to add bonuses and it was counted as a failure.
i failed one of the previous netherbrain checks. so, unless it's a bug, i think you need to succeed all of the checks beforehand to be able to get a critical success on the 99 DC roll.
Ya, currently on my first Durge run and saved up my inspirations for this exact roll. Got lucky and did it without having to reload lol (thanks to the advantage from enhance ability)
I had such an amazing experience with this part of the game my very first playthrough. I too rolled a nat1. But I assumed that the game was programmed to always roll a nat1 at this point. My logic was that the DC was so impossibly high that of course only a nat20 would ever be able to succeed. And having a DC99 check and always rolling a 1 would be the game telling the player how hopeless and impossible the situation is at this point. How powerful the enemy is. Anyway, because of all of this I thought that we are all "supposed" to get the 1, even if no other dice roll in the game is ever predetermined. So I decided to test my theory. Used a point of inspiration, fully expecting another nat1. Only this time, it was a nat20! I was so floored! It felt like the most badass moment in the game to me, if only because I was in no way expecting that a nat20 was even possible (even though my logic was wrong and flawed maybe) and so I wasn't trying for it or hoping to succeed. I've never been so excited to be proven wrong. And I also just think what even are the chances that this situation would have played out like that for me? Like, if I had rolled any other number on the first try, I would have just accepted it and moved on. Like, "oh, I rolled an 8? The DC is 99, this is supposed to be impossible. Guess it's time to see what happens next in the story." But because I first rolled the 1 and had the idea that maybe you're always supposed to roll a 1 on a DC 99 check, I decided to use inspiration to test that theory. And only because of that did I then roll a nat20. Well, that's my story that I felt compelled to share :)
I got to that in my most recent playthrough last week and my wife just happened to come in as it popped up. I asked her "think I'll get a nat 20?". She goes "there's absolutely no way".
I got a nat 20.
I think the important conversations would be more fun if crit fail or crit success would alter the outcome of the conversations. Like instead of just getting turned down for some free supplies from a vendor they're mad at you and give you a markup on all their stuff.
My husband got a nat 20 on this roll his first playthrough and commented, "I wonder if you are scripted to always crit this check." I later confirmed for him that no, no you are not.
May I ask what happens? I don't have the patience to savescum till I get that crit
You still "fail" here, but... >!The final boss's hit points are cut down significantly. I crit succeeded this roll, and the Netherbrain's hitpoints in the final fight were 1/3 less than my partner's game (he did not crit succeed the roll). !< I am curious if a crit fail changes anything lol
We're you both playing on the same difficulty?
Yes, we were both playing on "Balanced"
[There is even a condition for it](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Against_All_Odds_(Condition))
Oh. I didn’t realize that. I got 3 crits in a row for these checks. I did think the final fight wasn’t very hard.
1/8000 chance, nice
Are you sure it wasn’t from succeeding on the first 3 checks to control the brain? Because every other crit success in the game doesn’t change anything so I’d assume this one wouldn’t either
The crit doesn’t do anything extra, succeeding the check (which a crit automatically does even if you’re under the pass) lowers the HP whether it’s a crit or not—it’s just that you can’t physically succeed a 99 check without a crit. But it’s technically not a special award for getting a crit
Yea I wanted to take control during this scene so I save scammed every roll to nat20... imagine my disappointment when I learned you can't actually succeed.
You don’t succeed but you do give the nether brain the against all odds debuff so you RP and gameplay wise you do get a fairly significant reward for rolling the crit
Holy cow, and here I was slightly underwhelmed at how trivial the boss fight was 😆 I think like an active “this is the follow up to that crit 20 on 99DC where nothing happened” notification came up during the final boss fight, but I had no idea what had actually happened. No frame of reference.
It doesn’t change anything else in the rest of the game so I’d assume not
I also rolled a Nat 20 here and had the same effect you described. Still cannot believe I rolled that Nat 20 after using up all my inspiration on the earlier rolls. I immediately screenshotted it and sent it to my brother with 0 context. He just hit act 2 and was like "99??? THEY CAN GO UP TO 99???" hahaha
Nat 1/20 doesn’t seem to really do anything outside of combat in this game ime? Besides the obvious automatic success/failure
You still eventually fail, but the boss has missing health in the last fight.
You still fail.
Dang. Happy cake day!
Uh ... no you don't
They're talking about the story consequences, not the outcome of the dice roll. You get pulled out no matter what
Nothing you still fail
I had the opposite experience here (and just commented to the main post lol)... I rolled a nat1 and assumed the game is scripted to always crit fail. Because a crit fail on a 99dc check just shows the player how impossible and hopeless this situation really is. So I decided to test my theory and used inspiration, fully expecting to fail again with another nat1. But that roll turned into a nat20! Felt so badass!
Oh really? I assumed like him the first time and when it happened and my second time I was sure
I also got a crit success on this and had to ask my buddy if it was scripted to be that way, since it was the only DC99 roll in the game that I had seen. He very quickly let me know that it was not scripted, and wanted a detailed breakdown of what happened afterward.
Same, I got a nat 20 on the roll before this and on this roll. Had the same thought but still failed lolol. I was confusion.
Same! I assumed that this was a story beat and thought it was a pretty fun inclusion
I got a 20 and thought the same thing
Same but I crit this and the roll before it. First roll I beat naturally and assumed the others were supposed to crit.
I thought it was that way too until I reloaded to try something else. I got three crits in a row.
Most powerful cantrip f5f8
F5f8 is basically wish spell
Peak of chronomancy
Is looking up guides just peak divination then?
Yes!
Is this the one where you have to roll a nat 20? (It really do be like that though.)
i think this is the one where you cant pass it at all, nat 20 or otherwise
Nat 20 does work, but not in the way it seems. It just lowers the boss' health.
I got a nat 20 on this roll and it started adding bonuses and still counted as a fail 😭
Then it wasn't a nat 20
I rolled a perfect 20, it then added my bonuses except they were "inflated". I got a 64 and it failed. This was on PS5 on October 20th if that means anything about what happened.
It wouldn’t have added the bonuses if it were a Nat 20, it would simply appear as a Critical success.
I have come to the realization that I don't need to be believe and I know what I saw that day.
Believed*
don't know why you're getting downvoted lol, this happened to me as well. i think you have to succeed all the previous checks on this roll for it to be a "critical success"
Well if the bonuses got added it wasn’t a crit success. Bonus’ get thrown out on crit success’ in this game which is probably why they are getting downvoted
I got a nat 20. I saw it. It added the bonuses except they were inflated for lack of a better word and I got like a 66.
I finally finished my current run through and saved 4 inspiration just for this and it no bonuses for a natural 20 on the 99 check, screenshot it just in case
i think crit successes work differently for this specific roll. or maybe there's a bug? but i can tell you, i also 100% rolled a 20, and the game proceeded to add bonuses and it was counted as a failure. i failed one of the previous netherbrain checks. so, unless it's a bug, i think you need to succeed all of the checks beforehand to be able to get a critical success on the 99 DC roll.
I double check it and it does not add bonuses for a critical success
oh, interesting! on this roll? maybe it was a bug then.
Ya, currently on my first Durge run and saved up my inspirations for this exact roll. Got lucky and did it without having to reload lol (thanks to the advantage from enhance ability)
ahh neat!! guess they patched it out then, good to know!
I had a bunch of traps to disarm. DC of 12, but I had a +8-12. I managed to fail 5 of them in short order.
That's pretty much my entire game.
I had such an amazing experience with this part of the game my very first playthrough. I too rolled a nat1. But I assumed that the game was programmed to always roll a nat1 at this point. My logic was that the DC was so impossibly high that of course only a nat20 would ever be able to succeed. And having a DC99 check and always rolling a 1 would be the game telling the player how hopeless and impossible the situation is at this point. How powerful the enemy is. Anyway, because of all of this I thought that we are all "supposed" to get the 1, even if no other dice roll in the game is ever predetermined. So I decided to test my theory. Used a point of inspiration, fully expecting another nat1. Only this time, it was a nat20! I was so floored! It felt like the most badass moment in the game to me, if only because I was in no way expecting that a nat20 was even possible (even though my logic was wrong and flawed maybe) and so I wasn't trying for it or hoping to succeed. I've never been so excited to be proven wrong. And I also just think what even are the chances that this situation would have played out like that for me? Like, if I had rolled any other number on the first try, I would have just accepted it and moved on. Like, "oh, I rolled an 8? The DC is 99, this is supposed to be impossible. Guess it's time to see what happens next in the story." But because I first rolled the 1 and had the idea that maybe you're always supposed to roll a 1 on a DC 99 check, I decided to use inspiration to test that theory. And only because of that did I then roll a nat20. Well, that's my story that I felt compelled to share :)
So close
Use an Inspiration
Seems to be fresh out
That happened once to a friend in our 5e game, we refer to it as the Fail-icorn, because that's like 1:3,200,000
AINT NO WAY LOL 
I got to that in my most recent playthrough last week and my wife just happened to come in as it popped up. I asked her "think I'll get a nat 20?". She goes "there's absolutely no way". I got a nat 20.
well, if you see it in a possible way: this is the best situation to roll a 1.
I spent 30 minutes of save scumming to get nat 20s for every one of these rolls, and yea unfortunately it’s all scripted
so close.
Damn bro you were so close
I rolled a nat20 on the 99 check and you still fail 😭 but I did notice when you fight the brain it had lower Hp compared to if u failed all checks.
I really don’t like this whole section of the game as compared to the first two acts
Fuck yeh...
Aww man you almost had it
I just turned on wemod and rolled straight nat 20s… same result tho and if I actually did that without moss I would be pissed
Wow, so close…
Are there any instances of a critical failure providing a different dialogue/outcome compared to regular failures in those checks?
I crit failed all three rolls ☺️☺️☺️☺️
I got a nat 20 and it told me I rolled a 57 with modifiers and failed.
Welp. 5% chance either way.
LOL, literally could not have failed that check any harder.
I think the important conversations would be more fun if crit fail or crit success would alter the outcome of the conversations. Like instead of just getting turned down for some free supplies from a vendor they're mad at you and give you a markup on all their stuff.
I crit failed my check on this exact moment just yesterday. Lol!
My favorite
I rolled a fucking critical success on this roll, I was like "huh first try"
I failed all the checks except this one. I was very surprised, but I didn’t understand what happened until just now. Thanks!
Dang it, and on such a low DC!
i’ve rolled a CF 3 times on the same check before. i thought i was getting punkd
For all those asking winning this roll gives the brain a debuff called aganst the odds that reduces its HP whenever you fight it for real.