D&D 5E Bounded Accuracy in 200 Words or Less

[Tranquilis]

I've read the comments of designers, reviewers, and fellow players, and I think I understand bounded accuracy...but I'm not sure. I don't think the meaning is actually in the name; the concept could be called "square cabbage" for that matter.

Would anyone care to help this poor sod with a layman's explanation for this concept?

 

[TwoSix]

Attack bonuses, AC, and saves go up very slowly. Higher level monsters and characters simply do more damage, have more hit points, and get more special abilities.

 

[Mistwell]

http://archive.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20120604

The basic premise behind the bounded accuracy system is simple: we make no assumptions on the DM's side of the game that the player's attack and spell accuracy, or their defenses, increase as a result of gaining levels. Instead, we represent the difference in characters of various levels primarily through their hit points, the amount of damage they deal, and the various new abilities they have gained. Characters can fight tougher monsters not because they can finally hit them, but because their damage is sufficient to take a significant chunk out of the monster's hit points; likewise, the character can now stand up to a few hits from that monster without being killed easily, thanks to the character's increased hit points. Furthermore, gaining levels grants the characters new capabilities, which go much farther toward making your character feel different than simple numerical increases.

 

[Staffan]

Success/failure numbers go up slowly or not at all, allowing low-power individual threats to remain threatening in large numbers.

 

[Tormyr]

Bounded accuracy: A loose restriction on the high and low bounds of Armor Class, Difficulty Class, and proficiency (training) bonus so that almost all creatures have at least some chance of accomplishing a task.

In play, it means that most ability check DCs run 10 to 20, most armor class goes up to about 20 or a couple past that, and most saving throws go up to 19 before you hit the high CR creatures. With a 19 on a d20, an untrained commoner can achieve a DC 19 ability check or saving throw and can hit a creature with an AC of 19. A level 1 PC can generally barely hit an AC of 23 or 24, and barely make a DC of the same amount in the areas it is trained.

 

[Tranquilis]

Gold stars, all of you!! These are the best explanations I've read yet.

Thanks so much for your time.

BTW I'm a big fan of this concept!

 

[Chocolategravy]

http://archive.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20120604

Getting better at something means actually getting better at something. Since target numbers (DCs for checks, AC, and so on) and monster accuracy don't scale with level, gaining a +1 bonus means you are actually 5% better at succeeding at that task, not simply hitting some basic competence level. When a fighter gets a +1 increase to his or her attack bonus, it means he or she hits monsters across the board 5% more often. This means that characters, as they gain levels, see a tangible increase in their competence, not just in being able to accomplish more amazing things, but also in how often they succeed at tasks they perform regularly.

Thus if your character slays the dragon and low and behold finds that magical +1 longbow he always wanted in the horde but does not get 5% better to hit because he either still need a 2+ or a 20, then there is a problem.

Given the number of bonuses remaining in the game after the playtest such as +5 from paladin's devotion, +d4 from bless, +2 from archery mastery and +3 from elemental weapon, hitting on a 2+ is not at all uncommon.

Is it fixable? Oh yes, nerf Bless, remove + to hit from elemental weapon, magic weapon and from the magic item table and definitely get rid of paladin's ridiculous devotion bonus. But all of this should have been done during the playtest and never have made it to production, not when one of their claims was to have bounded accuracy because the result of all of this is it very blatantly doesn't.

 

[bganon]

Hey, you forgot the Superiority dice bonus, since that Paladin must multiclass to get archery mastery, and Fighter probably makes the most sense for a Dex/Cha build!

But really, if the character has archery mastery and the DM gave them a +3 weapon, then the whole point of bounded accuracy is that they don't need to blow their limited resources on Sacred Weapon and Precision Attack to keep up with the attack bonus/AC arms race. Their Channel Divinity and Superiority dice can be better used on other things.

"Bounded accuracy" doesn't mean "every bonus stacking exploit must be banned". It just means they're not the default expectation anymore, and characters don't need to find rules exploits just to stay relevant.

 

[The Human Target]

I think its by far and away 5e's best new idea.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Would anyone care to help this poor sod with a layman's explanation for this concept?

You get better at what you do as you level up. Just not a lot better.