Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MindFlayer1 Jan 23, 2015 12:34:06	I have a question about rolling a 20 in combat. The Player's Handbook says that a naturally rolled 20 always hits to allow for unlikely successus. Does this mean that the hit would count even if the character hit a monster that is only vulnerable to magic weapons and the character was using an non-magical weapon? My instinct says no, but I was wondering how other players handle this. Thanks!
#2 Saelorn Jan 23, 2015 12:57:18	It would hit, but deal no damage.
#3 Tempest_Stormwind Jan 23, 2015 13:52:53	Such a monster has no specific immunity against being hit by magical weapons. Instead, they are immune (or resistant; you didn't specify which) to the damage dealt by nonmagical weapons.   Some monsters describe that immunity as a rapid regeneration (werewolves, for instance), others as a ridiculously tough skin (tarrasque), others as their "magical" nature (advanced demons). And then there's the myriad ways to describe hit point damage (I'm particularly popular of cinematically describing attacks that don't kill the character or leave some other lingering effect as actually missing, although they had to put some effort into avoiding the attack, which is measured as a reduced HP total and thus a decreased ability to "avoid" further attacks before one of them gets through). How you describe the results of that impact are up to you, but the numeric effect is pretty clear: reduced or no damage, despite the hit.   The idea of a monster that is "hit only by magic weapons" hasn't existed in the game since the end of 2e. It's been a modifier on the damage roll (sometimes, I admit, outright negating it, but still) since the dawn of 3e.
#4 MindFlayer1 Jan 23, 2015 22:49:28	Thanks for the answers!
#5 Enevhar_Aldarion Jan 25, 2015 0:00:25	Think about it this way too, so long as what I am about to say it not negated somewhere in the rules that I did not see. You hit a creature on a natural 20 with an attack that cannot normally hurt it, so you do no damage. So a normal sword could hit and even stab into or cut a creature if your DM decides so, but not harm it. But what if you are using a poisoned blade and the creature can be hurt by poison? Or the good old standard from previous editions of delivering a shocking grasp through your sword and into the target. So being able to hit can deliver secondary attacks and damage, even if the weapon being used cannot harm the target.
#6 BRJN Jan 31, 2015 17:31:36	By the Rule of Cool (but not RAW), I would allow the only-on-nat20 hit to do 1 HP damage, even if the monster usually wouldn't suffer anything at all.  (Or perhaps grant the PC a free Prone or something else disadvantageous but not damaging to the monster.)   Never force a '20' to go to waste (that fate is reserved for '1's).