Advantages / Disadvantages

[The Red King]

I like that they tried to implement an easy solution for these situations.
I don't like rolling two dice. I also don't like re-rolling a dice.
Why?
Maybe it's just me, but rolling two dice somehow interrupts my internal game flow. Because it's technical. Fate also does not roll two dices.
One Action - one roll

Fate rolls ALL of the dice. She only lets you see the ones she wants you to see.

 

[KidSnide]

But that's exactly what's great about it. By not adding to the "add up tiny modifiers to everything" machine, I predict it will make things simpler in practice. When your character sheet says you get a +6 to attack, holy crap, you actually get exactly +6 to attack! You aren't constantly adjusting that +6 by 1's and 2's during combat, thus slowing things down. It's probably just +6, except in rare cases perhaps, and all you have to remember otherwise is whether you have advantage or disadvantage.

Agreed. Adding +2 takes less than a second for some of us, but - for others - its a few seconds, and a few seconds adds up when it happens on every turn.

Plus, rolling a second die is a much bigger deal than +2 or -2. It has a greater effect on the outcome and the act of physically grabbing a second d20 adds weight to moment. This is a major improvement. One of the major flaws of 3e and 4e is that there were a huge number of small modifiers that were very important collectively, but few were significant on their own. This system provides fewer modifiers to track and makes the modifiers more important.

There is an excellent general guideline: "If the player has to think about something, it should matter." These advantage/disadvantage rules fit the bill.

-KS

P.S. The one downside of this rule is now all players need to have two d20s at the table. I predict a lot of annoying "can I borrow a d20..." until the casual players get enough dice.

 

[drothgery]

Hasn't WotC already been there and back on re-roll mechanics? They were everywhere in core SWSE, but pretty much gone in 4e and later SWSE. And there's a good reason for this. Flat bonuses are faster, and the probability math for them is much, much easier to do. It's one of those things that initially looks elegant and falls down in actual play.

 

[Stalker0]

On average it's +4.5 IIRC, if that is of any help to you.

The first sites I checked quoted an average of 13.8 on 2d20....anyone have any backup to either number?

 

[Bran Mak Morn]

Small question, in the event I have more than two conditions/circumstances/spells/features granting advantage and disadvantage, am I correct saying that is the DM ruling if the overall result is advantage, disadvantage or neutral?

Thanks guys!

 

[Stalker0]

I think this is one way in which WOTC is trying to flatten the bonuses, increasing reliability not performance.

That said, I do agree they need to commit to it more if they want to use it. Some other things that give bonuses should switch to advantage imo.

 

[Bran Mak Morn]

Small question, in the event I have more than two conditions/circumstances/spells/features granting advantage and disadvantage, am I correct saying that is the DM ruling if the overall result is advantage, disadvantage or neutral?

Thanks guys!

 

[IronWolf]

The first sites I checked quoted an average of 13.8 on 2d20....anyone have any backup to either number?

[MENTION=90804]OnlineDM[/MENTION] did a good blog post on the math:

Advantage and Disadvantage in D&D Next: The Math | Online Dungeon Master

 

[DogBackward]

In the past its given a +1 bonus or so, which has never been enough that anybody cared;

You have obviously never had to perform the "+1 Shuffle".

DM: "Ooh, sorry... just missed."
Player: "No, wait, I think I have another +1 from something... lemme check my sheet. Am I standing on the table? Didn't somebody Bless me last round?"

 

[IronWolf]

You have obviously never had to perform the "+1 Shuffle".

DM: "Ooh, sorry... just missed."
Player: "No, wait, I think I have another +1 from something... lemme check my sheet. Am I standing on the table? Didn't somebody Bless me last round?"

Oh if only it wasn't so true!