Both the champion fighter's Improved Critical and the rule for death saving throws refer to "the roll." But I understand that death saving throws benefit from bonuses like the artificer's Flash of Genius, meaning "the roll" is the d20 result plus modifiers. But I also understand that the fighter's Improved Critical refers to just the natural rolls, meaning "the roll" is the d20 result alone. Which is it?
It refers to the result of the 20 roll alone,this the case for any time "the roll" is used.If it was the check total it would use "the result","The result of X",Or confusingly "the total roll".
After checking the rules you mentioned, it seems context is important.
For death saves, it usually has no modifier, so "the roll" is also "the result," so that is the way they wrote it. When they actually cared about the number on the d20 (1s and 20s), they said "d20."
Improved critical is modifying general critical rules, so apply in context to the critical rules, and the critical rules also say "d20."
5e isn't very consistent with wording, and the same word or phrase can have different meaning in different rules.
Both the champion fighter's Improved Critical and the rule for death saving throws refer to "the roll." But I understand that death saving throws benefit from bonuses like the artificer's Flash of Genius, meaning "the roll" is the d20 result plus modifiers. But I also understand that the fighter's Improved Critical refers to just the natural rolls, meaning "the roll" is the d20 result alone. Which is it?
It refers to the result of the 20 roll alone,this the case for any time "the roll" is used.If it was the check total it would use "the result","The result of X",Or confusingly "the total roll".
Check out my homebrew subclasses spells magic items feats monsters races
i am a sauce priest
help create a world here
So then Flash of Genius doesn't work on death saves? I think Jeremy Crawford tweeted that it did.
It does death saves mention "the roll" when you nat 20.Otherwise yes they apply.
Also jeremy crawford is not authority over the text rules for dicing ruling in several books.
Check out my homebrew subclasses spells magic items feats monsters races
i am a sauce priest
help create a world here
The rule for death saves also refers to "the roll" to see if it's 10 or higher
After checking the rules you mentioned, it seems context is important.
For death saves, it usually has no modifier, so "the roll" is also "the result," so that is the way they wrote it. When they actually cared about the number on the d20 (1s and 20s), they said "d20."
Improved critical is modifying general critical rules, so apply in context to the critical rules, and the critical rules also say "d20."
5e isn't very consistent with wording, and the same word or phrase can have different meaning in different rules.