I'm pretty new to the game and can't find this question answered anywhere. I'm looking at the feat sharpshooter and I saw that you can take a -5 to the attack roll for a +10 damage. I'm curious if you can still crit if you roll a natural 20 after you've chosen to take the -5 hit to the attack roll.
2 Answers
Yes, if you roll a natural 20, it will be a critical hit despite your -5 penalty.
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 chapter.
When you roll a 20 on an attack, it is always considered a critical and successful hit.
So yes, whatever the penalty you might have, it works.
Actually, if you do 15 + 5, it is not a critical hit. It has to be a natural 20. (Although there are some class abilities that allow a natural 19 to be a critical hit as well, such as the Champion Fighter Archetypes, PHB p. 72, it's still the natural roll that matters.)
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\$\begingroup\$ @Miniman Perhaps the last fragment of the sentence. I know that certain weapons have increased crit ranges. I'm almost certain that sneak attacks don't affect crit range, though. \$\endgroup\$ Dec 16, 2015 at 13:59
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1\$\begingroup\$ @Miniman I am! Thank you! I totally forgot that they removed crit range because they also removed threat/confirm! \$\endgroup\$ Dec 16, 2015 at 14:04
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\$\begingroup\$ @KorvinStarmast, sorry, yes indeed,,, I was mixing up critical hit and advantage on the Rogue. I added a reference with the page number. \$\endgroup\$ Dec 16, 2015 at 22:50
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\$\begingroup\$ @AlexisWilke Improved the answer, previous comment removed. \$\endgroup\$ Dec 16, 2015 at 22:55