Free tables Natural 20 — skill checks

Natural 20 Table — Stealth Skill Checks, d20

A free d20 table for a natural 20 on a Stealth check in 5e. Twenty outcomes, from solid to legendary.

A natural 20 on a skill check is not a critical success in fifth edition — criticals apply to attack rolls only, and a 20 on a check is simply a 20. Which is why a legendary roll so often feels like nothing happened. This table gives it somewhere to land.

Twenty results written for Stealth specifically. A legendary Stealth roll has nothing in common with a legendary roll at anything else, which is why there are eighteen of these and not one.

Roll d20 when a player rolls a natural 20 on a skill check and succeeding quietly would be a waste.

Severity tiers

Each result names its tier, so you can see at a glance how bad a roll was without decoding a colour.

Solid 1–10 — Cleanly done, with something small to show for it.
Impressive 11–17 — Better than anyone expected. Momentum, or an obstacle gone.
Legendary 18–20 — Scene-shaping. The kind of success people repeat afterwards.

The table

20 results. Roll d20.

d20	Result	Tier	What happens
1	Not a Sound	Solid	You move perfectly quietly. No extra effect beyond going unnoticed.
2	Good Shadow	Solid	You may move 5 feet further than you intended and remain hidden.
3	Brought One	Solid	One ally moving with you shares your result on this check.
4	Left No Sign	Solid	No tracks, no disturbance. Nobody following later will know you passed.
5	Saw First	Solid	From cover you spot one detail about the area or its occupants that hadn't been offered.
6	Better Position	Solid	You end up in a spot of your choosing within 10 feet, still unseen.
7	Overheard	Solid	You catch one useful thing being said that you weren't meant to hear.
8	Patient	Solid	You have advantage on your next Stealth check this scene.
9	Counted Them	Solid	You learn exactly how many creatures are present and where each is posted.
10	Free Hand	Solid	You may take one object interaction — opening a latch, palming a key — without breaking cover.
11	Brought Everyone	Impressive	The entire party shares your result on this check, however loudly armoured they are.
12	Perfectly Placed	Impressive	You have advantage on your first attack roll from hiding, and it counts as a surprise attack if the encounter hasn't started.
13	Learned the Routine	Impressive	You work out the guard rotation, the passwords, or the patrol timing. The DM tells you enough to plan around it.
14	Still Hidden	Impressive	You remain hidden even after taking an action that would normally reveal you, once.
15	Misdirection	Impressive	A sound draws attention somewhere you aren't. One creature of your choice moves away to investigate.
16	Found the Back Way	Impressive	You discover a second route in or out that the party didn't know existed.
17	Ghost	Impressive	You may move your full speed this turn and remain hidden without rolling again.
18	Never There	Legendary	For the rest of this scene you can't be detected by non-magical means at all, and magical detection has disadvantage against you.
19	The Whole Picture	Legendary	You observe long enough to learn what's really going on here — the DM gives you one genuine secret about this place or these people.
20	The One They'll Talk About	Legendary	You walk through the entire place unseen. The party may bypass this obstacle, encounter, or gauntlet completely, and nobody will ever know you were here.

Questions

Is a natural 20 a critical success on a skill check?

Not by the rules. Criticals apply to attack rolls. A 20 on a check is a 20 — which is why a spectacular roll so often produces a shrug. This table is the house rule that fixes that.

Does a natural 20 automatically succeed?

No. On an ability check there is no automatic success — if the DC is 25 and your total is 22, you failed with a 20.