# Degrees of Success ## At a Glance ### In 5e/5.5e Normally, in D&D, there are no degrees of success–as written. The Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) includes some optional rules for this, however. - - - ### In OTM5e In OTM5e, I’ve opted to take a few mechanics from Pf2e, namely their *Degrees of Success* mechanics, and tweak them a bit. > [!info]+ Pathfinder 2e > Normally, there are 4 degrees of success, as follows: > > > | Roll | Result | > | ------------- | ---------------- | > | ≥ 10 Above DC | Critical Success | > | Above DC, <10 | Success | > | Below DC, <10 | Failure | > | ≥ 10 Below DC | Critical Failure | > ^pf2e-degrees-of-success > > With a roll of a Natural 20 or Natural 1 increasing or decreasing the degree of success by 1, respectively. In this edition, we take a similar approach, with the threshold for the degrees of success being within *bounds of 12*, and a Nat 20/1 changing the result to a critical success or critical failure, respectively, as normal. This marries the slightly more diverse outcomes with the exciting (or dreadful) feeling of rolling those numbers. A threshold of 12 was chosen as the bounds because that is the max Proficiency Bonus x 2. In Pathfinder 2e, *everything* is almost always scaling, whereas in D&D we have **bounded accuracy**. In order to implement this safely, a more conservative approach was needed. Therefore, the degrees of success table is as follows: | Roll | Result | | ------------------------------- | ---------------- | | ≥ 12 Above DC OR **Natural 20** | Critical Success | | Above DC, <12 | Success | | Below DC, <12 | Failure | | ≥ 12 Below DC OR **Natural 1** | Critical Failure | ^degrees-of-success **THESE DO NOT APPLY TO ATTACK ROLLS, YOU STILL ONLY CRIT ON NATURAL 20 AS NORMAL** ## Mechanics ### Spells & Exploits Now, with degrees of success, we can introduce alternate or additional effects (or the lack thereof) based on the result. In order to preserve balance, **we will not be doing a “double damage on spells” for crit fails on saves**. Spells are already very powerful, and without a much larger and in-depth system rework, that would increase the potency of many abilities beyond reproach. However, what we *can* do, is introduce some of the new [[Compendium/📝 - Rules & Mechanics/conditions]] we’ve created/implemented as effects on critical failures or successes.