Advantage

[DogBackward]

While I have long rewarded my players for being descriptive while playing, something about the word "advantage" bugs me. It feels like the game is saying "this guy is better than you, nyyaaah!" And I usually keep these bonuses out of combat, I don't care how well someone describes how they attack. Dunno, something just rubs me wrong. Feels like the game is trying to DM for me.

If you allow such bonuses outside of combat, then it's unfair to deny them in combat. If I'm playing a hardened war veteran, I'm not likely to launch into a deep, moving speech when we're in polite company... it's just not in character. But if the Bard's player's description of his eloquent prose can get him a bonus on top of his already hefty social skills, why wouldn't my description of my skilled combat maneuvers do the same? The social guy has skill ranks just like the warrior has an attack bonus. If you allow out-of-game descriptions to affect one, you can't say that the same thing can't affect another... not without being unfair about it. (Note that I'm assuming you allow the social modifiers based on your saying that you exclude modifiers in combat specifically. Otherwise... well, my statements still stand, they'd just no longer be directed at you specifically.)

It kinda reminds me of an argument I had with an old DM who refused to allow social skills to affect anything, no matter what. "If you want to convince the guard, you have to do it in-character." So later, in a battle, I smacked him across the face with a pool noodle (lotsa junk in his garage) and said "Oh look, I hit. Twelve damage." He did not, sadly, have an epiphany as to the nature of such things... but I did get to smack him in the face without retaliation, so it's all good.

 

[Kaodi]

Opportunity.

If it is not already taken.

 

[FireLance]

Favor.

Really brings home the point that it's dependant on your ability to obtain the DM's largess.

 

[IanB]

I think it is just a genericizing of "Combat Advantage" to all situations. There's not really anything implied about competition between players IMO.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'm not quite sure what this is for. Could someone explain how this is gained?

If it's situational, then Situational modifier could work. I don't care for it to be an "I like you/dislike you" modifier.

 

[Agamon]

I think it is just a genericizing of "Combat Advantage" to all situations. There's not really anything implied about competition between players IMO.

There's a difference between a mechanical advantage and an advantage handed out by DM fiat. If someone gets +2 to hit because of flanking, it's obvious, and no one can argue it. If someone says something witty and the DM says, "Cool, have an advantage," that's less black and white.

 

[Agamon]

I'm not quite sure what this is for. Could someone explain how this is gained?

If it's situational, then Situational modifier could work. I don't care for it to be an "I like you/dislike you" modifier.

That's a good point, we don't know for sure which it is yet. It sounds more like the latter, but could be the former. I don't have a problem with the latter, but Advantage is a bad name for it. If it is situational, I guess it's an alright name.

 

[Harlander]

I'm a big fan of giving mechanical advantage to a good, inventive description of combat - or, to put it another way: "Play Fung Shui, and your combat in every RPG will be changed for the better."

 

[Blacky the Blackball]

There's a difference between a mechanical advantage and an advantage handed out by DM fiat. If someone gets +2 to hit because of flanking, it's obvious, and no one can argue it. If someone says something witty and the DM says, "Cool, have an advantage," that's less black and white.

Yes, but there's no reason why the two can't happily be used side by side.

Realistically, the DM giving out advantage for "saying something witty" is a bit of a reductio ad absurdum and isn't going to be happening in combat (unless the DM was the sort that would give arbitrary bonuses for that sort of thing anyway - in which case they'd be doing it regardless of edition). In combat, the advantage is more likely to be given for the player coming up with a surprising maneuvre or clever tactical ploy.

Where I would expect to see advantage given for "saying something witty" would be when using social skills - but then in that situation saying something witty is a clever tactical ploy.

 

[Buugipopuu]

I'm a big fan of giving mechanical advantage to a good, inventive description of combat - or, to put it another way: "Play Fung Shui, and your combat in every RPG will be changed for the better."

This is true, because after having played Feng Shui, you'll know not do do a game where you hand out bonuses for describing stupid stunts. The combat swiftly degenerates into people needlessly showboating against mooks, and after a few rounds, the whole thing is frightfully dull. What it means when you give out bonuses for describing combat, is actually you give out penalties for not making up an endless stream of tricks, because that becomes the default action in combat. Emphasise everything and you emphasise nothing. As soon as there's a rule for it, people will try to get the most they can out of it.