Yes, any attack roll can critically fail (natural 1) or critically succeed (natural 20).
Nothing special happens, by the rules, on a result of 1 for either a spell or weapon attack other than it is a miss no matter the modifiers you add to the attack.
Attack Rolls
When you make an attack, your attack roll determines whether the attack hits or misses. To make an attack roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate modifiers. If the total of the roll plus modifiers equals or exceeds the target's Armor Class (AC), the attack hits. The AC of a character is determined at character creation, whereas the AC of a monster is in its stat block.
Ability Modifier. The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.
Some spells also require an attack roll. The ability modifier used for a spell attack depends on the spellcasting ability of the spellcaster.
Rolling 1 or 20
Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit and the veteran to miss.
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this section.
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC.
As basically stated above, there is no such thing as a 'critical miss', meaning 'not only did you miss, something stupid happens like throwing your weapon across the room'. There are automatic misses, on a 1, but that ONLY applies to attack rolls, NOT saving throws or ability/skill checks. Similarly, a natural 20 is only an automatic success on attack rolls, not saving throws or skill/ability checks.
(Death saving throws have their own rules on 1s and 20s.)
Can a spell attack "crit fail" in the same way a weapon attack can? Is there any difference in the outcome?
It can "crit fail" in the sense that a natural 1 on an attack roll is an automatic miss. That rule applies to both weapon and spell attacks. But by RAW, automatically missing is the only thing that happens. Lots of people houserule things like 1) the nat1/nat20 rule applying to skill checks and saving throws, or 2) nat1's having an additional negative effect. Those are all unofficial, so check with your DM.
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Can a spell attack "crit fail" in the same way a weapon attack can? Is there any difference in the outcome?
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Yes, any attack roll can critically fail (natural 1) or critically succeed (natural 20).
Nothing special happens, by the rules, on a result of 1 for either a spell or weapon attack other than it is a miss no matter the modifiers you add to the attack.
A 1 is an automatic miss on an attack roll whether that roll is for a weapon or spell attack. However, that is all that happens.
As basically stated above, there is no such thing as a 'critical miss', meaning 'not only did you miss, something stupid happens like throwing your weapon across the room'. There are automatic misses, on a 1, but that ONLY applies to attack rolls, NOT saving throws or ability/skill checks. Similarly, a natural 20 is only an automatic success on attack rolls, not saving throws or skill/ability checks.
(Death saving throws have their own rules on 1s and 20s.)
It can "crit fail" in the sense that a natural 1 on an attack roll is an automatic miss. That rule applies to both weapon and spell attacks. But by RAW, automatically missing is the only thing that happens. Lots of people houserule things like 1) the nat1/nat20 rule applying to skill checks and saving throws, or 2) nat1's having an additional negative effect. Those are all unofficial, so check with your DM.