Level Up (A5E) Changes to Advantage

[Imaculata]

One of the things I dislike about the advantage system, is that the effects don't stack. If I give a party member advantage, and he already has it, it is wasted. But then again, I'm a fan of 3e. I like stacking bonusses.

Stacking bonuses is exactly one of the things that 5e intended to get away from. No more +2 and by +3, like in 3e. So if your idea is to stack advantage, I can't help but feel you are going against what the system was intended to solve in the first place; we don't want to be doing the math of counting bonuses and penalties in 5e. I think the original design philosophy should be respected and continued.

Perhaps there are other ways to make advantage more interesting, without making it stack. I like the idea of giving the player options on how to use advantage. I also like the idea of more strategic combat, and wider uses for various weapons (although beware of min maxing).

 

[ThatGuySteve]

It never maxes out. The most we've had to date was 4d20s (original d20, plus two sources of advantages, and elven accuracy adding a 4th die).

Ex. if you have three sources of advantage (not easy to get, but possible) and one disadvantage, net is "+2", so you get both d20s for advantage still (total of 3d20).

We just think of them as +1/-1 for adv/dis and add it up.

Adding up the total seems pretty straight forward. Have you had situations where someone is attacking with multiple disadvantages? I could see that as pushing players to be more creative that just attacking regardless. If you are going to roll 3d20 and keep the lowest, your more likely to look for something more useful to do, like Help, drink a potion or reposition.

Would of be to complex to add Advantage effects into the mix? Say I have three sources of Advantage, I'll keep one as an extra d20, one to use the trip effect of my flail and one to push the target 5ft from my Fighter class feature. Limit each effect to once per attack, no stacking the same effect unless the ability specifically allows it.

I could see some Advantage effects only being available in certain circumstances. Such as a dagger can use advantage to deal extra damage to targets who are restrained, paralysed or unconscious.

I would limit extra damage effects to be equal to proficiency bonus rather than use bonus dice, or a Barbarian could double their extra rage damage. It scales without becoming too powerful.

Maybe extra dice could be restricted to higher level class features, like allowing Rogues to trade any number of Advantages for +1d6 each.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I would love it if "success with a cost" or "failure with a benefit" was possible somehow. Maybe if you have both advantage and disadvantage it's still a straight roll, but the success includes a small penalty, or the reverse if you fail the roll.

 

[Nebulous]

I like Advantage/Disadvantage too, but I'm absolutely fine with adding a few more +1/-1 or +2/-2.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Advantage was my single favorite thing about 5E as opposed to earlier systems. No adding little modifiers at all - that was huge to me; it spend up combat, bonuses were not lost or forgotten about. Adding all sorts of modifiers would lessen the game to me.

 

[Garthanos]

Has anyone mentioned this thought lesser advantage or disad (+/- d4 instead of re-roll)? Two lesser add up to normal advantage.

 

[Quartz]

For example, if I'm attacking with a flail I could choose to make my attack roll twice as normal or to trip the enemy if I hit.

Be careful that you don't trip (ahem) on class features, particularly the Battlemaster's.

One thing I'd like to see is rolling damage with Advantage (& Disadvantage).

 

[Quartz]

Has anyone mentioned this thought lesser advantage or disad (+/- d4 instead of re-roll)? Two lesser add up to normal advantage.

Fails KISS. See @Lord Mhoram's post immediately above yours.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think advantage is fine as-is, and I hope Level Up doesn’t mess with it too much.

It's hard to design a game with many more meaningful decision points without each one granting something less powerful than advantage.

I would expect advantage to stay, if only to maintain compatibility with 5E.

But I would also expect the Level Up classes not to rely on it nearly to the same degree 5E does.

 

[ThatGuySteve]

Be careful that you don't trip (ahem) on class features, particularly the Battlemaster's.

One thing I'd like to see is rolling damage with Advantage (& Disadvantage).

I think restricting tripping (and similar effects) to a couple of sub classes is part of what makes 5e combat a bit stale. I've never seen any character other than a Battlemaster or a monk try to trip someone. Opening up maneuvers for others will enrich combat. Battlemaster's can still shine as they can stack an Advantage effect with their maneuvers for potentially powerful combos.