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The rogue in my party had a question on if he could evasion to "escape the consequences" of rolling a 1.
I'm not really sure what they mean.

They said that they can dodge an attack if it's a reaction?
Can someone just help me explain how the Rogue's evasion works?

KorvinStarmast
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Logan
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  • You seem to have two questions going on here, one about critical failures and one about the Rogue's Evasion class feature. Would you mind either clarifying which one you want answered or splitting those two questions into separate posts? – Kyle Doyle Apr 10 '19 at 17:29
  • There are several things that need to be cleared up in this post. For starters, Evasion is a feature that interacts with Saving Throws, but "Critical Failures" aren't a thing for Saving Throws. You might be thinking of the Uncanny Dodge feature, which interacts with incoming attacks, but in that case, a "Critical Failure" (which is a thing for Attack Rolls) wouldn't be something the Rogue needs to avoid. So what exactly is happening in the game? Are they being attacked and using Uncanny Dodge, or are they being hit by a spell that triggers a DEX Saving Throw and using Evasion? – Xirema Apr 10 '19 at 17:37
  • related question is here. Rules on Rogue's evasion are here – KorvinStarmast Apr 10 '19 at 17:45
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    Your title question and body are very different questions. Which one do you want answered? – Delioth Apr 10 '19 at 17:46
  • Are you using an optional rule from the Dungeon Master's Guide? – KorvinStarmast Apr 10 '19 at 17:46
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    Closed since the questions in the body and title are completely different. Titles should describe the body of the question, not introduce altogether new and different questions. Please pick just one to ask. – doppelgreener Apr 10 '19 at 19:48
  • It sounds to me like the rogue has rolled a natural 1 on something during combat that the party (including DM?) thinks may cause an attack of opportunity, and then the rogue wants to use evasion, or more likely uncanny dodge, to avoid that attack. We need some clarity though. – Aeyt Apr 11 '19 at 01:22

3 Answers3

9

That isn't how Evasion works

The Rogue Evasion feature allows two things:

  • Against Area-of-Effect spells that trigger Dexterity Saving Throws, if the Rogue fails the Saving Throw, they take half-damage (instead of taking full-damage)
  • Against those same spells, if the Rogue succeeds on the saving throw, they take no-damage (instead of half-damage)

It's possible you're thinking of the Uncanny Dodge feature, which a Rogue may use to cut incoming damage in half, using their Reaction, whenever they are hit by an attack.

These are two different features that both make up for the Rogue's lack of survivability, but have different mechanics and interactions: one (Evasion, at level 7) for spells, and one (Uncanny Dodge, at Level 5) for regular attacks.

The Uncanny Dodge feature should not be confused with the Dodge Action, which is an action that a Rogue (or any other character) may take during their turn instead of taking any other Action that confers Disadvantage on enemy attacks against them.

Community
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Xirema
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7

No, A Critical Failure on an attack roll has no negative consequence besides missing the attack.

Evasion does not interact with ones own attack rolls.

Uncanny Dodge can be used to halve the damage of an incoming attack as a reaction, but also would not interact with incoming our outgoing critical hits.

Evasion allows rogues to take half damage on dex saves where a successful save delivers half damage. The rogue instead saves to take no damage.

Sir Cinnamon
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3

No, Evasion doesn't work for that

The text of Evasion for the Rogue class says:

Beginning at 7th level, you can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as an ancient red dragon’s fiery breath or an ice storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

This has nothing to do with crit failures. It only applies to DEX saving throws as described in the feature.

Mwr247
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