D&D 5E Advantage / Disadvantage in 5e

Nebulous

Legend

• Jul 2, 2014

• #1

As this is probably the largest new "defining" addition to 5th edition, I would like to know more about it. I've read over much of the most recent material but i'm not sure if anything will change before the official rules come out. My understanding is that Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other out, even if, say, you have 3 Advantages vs. 1 Disadvantage. It is probably too earlier to be thinking about house rules before even testing this myself, but i was wondering if anyone else has tinkered with the A/D rules yet?

For example, after canceling each other out, maybe additional advantages or disadvantages levy a cumulative +/- 1 to the d20 roll?

 

log in or register to remove this ad

Agamon

Adventurer

• Jul 2, 2014

• #2

Nope, I like the simplicity better than the granularity of counting X Advantage - Y Disadvantage. That's really the point of the mechanic. Make modifiers in combat quick and easy.

That said, it would be easy to implement if that's what you wanted.

 

X

Xodis

First Post

• Jul 2, 2014

• #3

I thought that if you had equal advantages and disadvantages they cancel, but if you have a majority of either then that is what you roll. Having 4 advantages and 1 disadvantage doesnt give you 3 advantages or 3 extra dice with your roll, you only ever get 1 dice to roll regardless of how many advantages/disadvantages you may have. Could be wrong, cant wait to see the rules myself.

 

Agamon

Adventurer

• Jul 2, 2014

• #4

No, that's how it's worked since the first playtest and it hasn't changed, according to an L&L a few months back. Like I say, it's purpose would no longer be served if you had to count up all the advantages and disadvantages for every attack. Might as well go back to regular +/- modifiers.

 

Nebulous

Legend

• Jul 2, 2014

• #5

Agamon said:

No, that's how it's worked since the first playtest and it hasn't changed, according to an L&L a few months back. Like I say, it's purpose would no longer be served if you had to count up all the advantages and disadvantages for every attack. Might as well go back to regular +/- modifiers.

Click to expand...

Fortunately it is a very easy house rule. I guess I can foresee situations where a large number of bonuses would be offset by a single penalty, and vice versa, multiple penalties negated by a single advantage. And while certainly simpler, i don't personally mind adding/subtracting here and there. I don't even think it would come up that often. Again, i have not playtested the rules as written yet, so i'm not changing anything until i see how it pans out.

 

thalmin

Retired game store owner

• Jul 2, 2014

• #6

As a retailer who wants to sell more dice:
Simultaneously roll an extra d20 for each advantage and disadvantage that applies. Remove the highest die for each disadvantage, remove the lowest die for each advantage. Your roll is the remaining die. $$$

I think it's going to be determined by each gaming group. RAW is far simpler. I think we will simply go with whether advantage or disadvantage has majority.

 

Last edited: Jul 3, 2014

X

Xodis

First Post

• Jul 2, 2014

• #7

Ah, well that kinda makes sense. I might just house rule that though (after giving it a try on regular mode). I don't see Advan/Disadvan sources being as frequent as the 3x +/- bonuses that come from every which direction.

 

Obryn

Hero

• Jul 2, 2014

• #8

It's this way for simplicity.

You already need to track +/- numbers for your d20 rolls. Also tracking +/- advantage adds a lot of complexity.

Also, you can stop counting as soon as you hit 1 each of advantage or disadvantage. That's much faster than the alternative.

 

Nebulous

Legend

• Jul 2, 2014

• #9

thalmin said:

As a retailer who wants to sell more dice:
Simultaneously roll an extra d20 for each advantage and disadvantage that applies. Remove the highest die for each disadvantage, remove the lowest die for each advantage. You roll is the remaining die. $$$

I think it's going to be determined by each gaming group. RAW is far simpler. I think we will simply go with whether advantage or disadvantage has majority.

Click to expand...

 

G

Gadget

Adventurer

• Jul 2, 2014

• #10

I believe the whole point of the rule is quickly and simply give someone a bonus / penalty to and attack or action quickly and simply, thereby simplifying the book keeping of tracking myriad +/-.

I see others have already pointed this out, so, if one wants to get more granular and since this edition puts more emphasis on DM rulings, it seems it would be a simple matter for the DM to take into account all the mitigating factors in a situation and rule whether the final result should be an advantage/disadvantage/no bonus situation without having to formalize a bunch of house rules and institute a lot of book keeping.