Is it normal for a DM to treat a non-natural twenty differently than a natural 20?
By the rules, a "Natural 20" on an Attack roll is a critical hit - it automatically hits and all damage dice are rolled twice. On a Death save, a natural 20 automatically recovers 1 hp and stabilizes you.
Rolling a 20 on any other roll, by the rules, has no special effect. However, it seems to me that it is common for DMs to take that into account and narrate a "critical success" if such a thing is possible on that roll. I don't have a sense of how common this is, though.
Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.
In my experience it is traditional to treat natural 1s and natural 20s as special, even outside of combat. It is not RAW in 5e, but it was in older editions and many older players choose to keep the tradition alive to some extent or other. (Not in AL though!)
Is it normal for a DM to treat a non-natural twenty differently than a natural 20?
Yes
Blank
By the rules, a "Natural 20" on an Attack roll is a critical hit - it automatically hits and all damage dice are rolled twice. On a Death save, a natural 20 automatically recovers 1 hp and stabilizes you.
Rolling a 20 on any other roll, by the rules, has no special effect. However, it seems to me that it is common for DMs to take that into account and narrate a "critical success" if such a thing is possible on that roll. I don't have a sense of how common this is, though.
Natural 20's on death saving throws just give you 2 successes. It's a little lame.That's actually not true, right? Don't natural 20s on death saves restore 1 hit point?
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In my experience it is traditional to treat natural 1s and natural 20s as special, even outside of combat. It is not RAW in 5e, but it was in older editions and many older players choose to keep the tradition alive to some extent or other. (Not in AL though!)
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting