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If a character with the Alert feat rolls a crit fail on their Perception check, are they surprised?

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6

$begingroup$

A Druid in my campaign has the Alert feat, which stops her from being surprised.

If she rolls a critical failure on her Perception check, would:

1. She get surprised because she crit-failed?




2. The Alert feat negate that?

I'm leaning more toward it's "up to the DM," but I wanted to get a second perspective on this.

dnd-5e feats skills critical-fail

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

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asked 5 hours ago

tbrotbro

311

New contributor

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  Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
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  – V2Blast
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Possible duplicate of Is a critical failure on a natural 1 a rule or house rule?
  $endgroup$
  – enkryptor
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  see also rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/93831 , rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/135860
  $endgroup$
  – enkryptor
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  @enkryptor Don't think it's a dupe, this one has the feat as an added consideration.
  $endgroup$
  – KorvinStarmast
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

6

$begingroup$

A Druid in my campaign has the Alert feat, which stops her from being surprised.

If she rolls a critical failure on her Perception check, would:

1. She get surprised because she crit-failed?




2. The Alert feat negate that?

I'm leaning more toward it's "up to the DM," but I wanted to get a second perspective on this.

dnd-5e feats skills critical-fail

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

asked 5 hours ago

tbrotbro

311

New contributor

tbro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
  $endgroup$
  – V2Blast
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Possible duplicate of Is a critical failure on a natural 1 a rule or house rule?
  $endgroup$
  – enkryptor
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  see also rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/93831 , rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/135860
  $endgroup$
  – enkryptor
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  @enkryptor Don't think it's a dupe, this one has the feat as an added consideration.
  $endgroup$
  – KorvinStarmast
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

$begingroup$

A Druid in my campaign has the Alert feat, which stops her from being surprised.

If she rolls a critical failure on her Perception check, would:

1. She get surprised because she crit-failed?




2. The Alert feat negate that?

I'm leaning more toward it's "up to the DM," but I wanted to get a second perspective on this.

dnd-5e feats skills critical-fail

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

asked 5 hours ago

tbrotbro

311

New contributor

tbro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

$endgroup$

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

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asked 5 hours ago

tbrotbro

311

New contributor

tbro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

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asked 5 hours ago

tbrotbro

311

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tbro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

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asked 5 hours ago

tbrotbro

311

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asked 5 hours ago

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21

$begingroup$

2. The Alert feat negates surprise

Because the Alert feat (PHB, p. 165) states:

You can't be surprised while you are conscious

A character with the Alert feat cannot be surprised while they are conscious.

"Surprised" has a clear mechanical meaning.

If a character is surprised, they cannot act on their first turn of combat, and after their first turn, they are no longer surprised.

A character with the Alert feat who rolls a low perception check can be unprepared, but never surprised. Perhaps they don't have enough time to wake all their allies before combat starts or they don't have time to get into position or take the action required to don a shield (before combat). But they can never be "surprised".

Rules as Written, critical failures are only for attack rolls.

It is a common house rule that rolling a 1 on a d20 results in a critical fail, whatever the context - but there is no rule in D&D 5e that states that is the case for anything but attack rolls, where the result is simply "you miss".

Note: The optional rule on page 242 of the DMG ("Critical Success or Failure") doesn't explicitly state that a 1 rolled on an ability check overrides a feat's features.

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747

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• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
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  Beat me to it. This is the winning comment right here.
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  – BloodySprinkles
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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21

$begingroup$

2. The Alert feat negates surprise

Because the Alert feat (PHB, p. 165) states:

You can't be surprised while you are conscious

A character with the Alert feat cannot be surprised while they are conscious.

"Surprised" has a clear mechanical meaning.

If a character is surprised, they cannot act on their first turn of combat, and after their first turn, they are no longer surprised.

A character with the Alert feat who rolls a low perception check can be unprepared, but never surprised. Perhaps they don't have enough time to wake all their allies before combat starts or they don't have time to get into position or take the action required to don a shield (before combat). But they can never be "surprised".

Rules as Written, critical failures are only for attack rolls.

It is a common house rule that rolling a 1 on a d20 results in a critical fail, whatever the context - but there is no rule in D&D 5e that states that is the case for anything but attack rolls, where the result is simply "you miss".

Note: The optional rule on page 242 of the DMG ("Critical Success or Failure") doesn't explicitly state that a 1 rolled on an ability check overrides a feat's features.

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Beat me to it. This is the winning comment right here.
  $endgroup$
  – BloodySprinkles
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

21

$begingroup$

2. The Alert feat negates surprise

Because the Alert feat (PHB, p. 165) states:

You can't be surprised while you are conscious

A character with the Alert feat cannot be surprised while they are conscious.

"Surprised" has a clear mechanical meaning.

If a character is surprised, they cannot act on their first turn of combat, and after their first turn, they are no longer surprised.

A character with the Alert feat who rolls a low perception check can be unprepared, but never surprised. Perhaps they don't have enough time to wake all their allies before combat starts or they don't have time to get into position or take the action required to don a shield (before combat). But they can never be "surprised".

Rules as Written, critical failures are only for attack rolls.

It is a common house rule that rolling a 1 on a d20 results in a critical fail, whatever the context - but there is no rule in D&D 5e that states that is the case for anything but attack rolls, where the result is simply "you miss".

Note: The optional rule on page 242 of the DMG ("Critical Success or Failure") doesn't explicitly state that a 1 rolled on an ability check overrides a feat's features.

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Beat me to it. This is the winning comment right here.
  $endgroup$
  – BloodySprinkles
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

$begingroup$

2. The Alert feat negates surprise

Because the Alert feat (PHB, p. 165) states:

You can't be surprised while you are conscious

A character with the Alert feat cannot be surprised while they are conscious.

"Surprised" has a clear mechanical meaning.

If a character is surprised, they cannot act on their first turn of combat, and after their first turn, they are no longer surprised.

A character with the Alert feat who rolls a low perception check can be unprepared, but never surprised. Perhaps they don't have enough time to wake all their allies before combat starts or they don't have time to get into position or take the action required to don a shield (before combat). But they can never be "surprised".

Rules as Written, critical failures are only for attack rolls.

It is a common house rule that rolling a 1 on a d20 results in a critical fail, whatever the context - but there is no rule in D&D 5e that states that is the case for anything but attack rolls, where the result is simply "you miss".

Note: The optional rule on page 242 of the DMG ("Critical Success or Failure") doesn't explicitly state that a 1 rolled on an ability check overrides a feat's features.

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747

$endgroup$

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

edited 1 hour ago

V2Blast

25.5k486156

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747

answered 4 hours ago

Blake SteelBlake Steel

3,7931747