D&D 5E Cinematic Advantage

[Puddles]

I like this rule. It's something I already try to do, put lots of fun interactive features in my encounters to encourage out of the box thinking, but seeing it formalised here with a coined term makes it easy to put at the forefront of your mind when designing encounters. Thanks for sharing!

 

[slobster]

I had a swashbuckler campaign where we did something like this, though way back in the 3.x era. It worked great!

I do think the greatest pitfall in doing something like this is that it tends to throw the spotlight on players who are already spotlight-hungry, and can make it harder for quieter or less outgoing people to break that shell. The DM has to be very careful not to 'punish' players who maybe don't have the knack for embellishing their actions, being more generous in granting advantage to them. Likewise, the DM needs to be able to subtly nudge the outgoing players off the stage if they are getting too involved in describing their next big, exciting, cinematic action if they are starting to dominate the table.

If I tried to implement this at my table, I'd also put a little thought into other ways the cinematic advantage could manifest in certain situations, to mix things up. Bonus damage instead of advantage on an attack roll? Advantage on the damage roll? Inflicting status effects on a success? Demoralizing opponents? Environmental hazards?

 

[GMMichael]

Here's a brand-new rule...

This is an old trick from Fate in which we write down aspects of the scenes characters invoke to gain a bonus on their action.

I've been using "cinematic advantage" for quite a while now...

The DM can also decide that circumstances influence a roll in one direction or the other and grant advantage or impose disadvantage as a result.

It looks like D&D has too, since at least 2018.

But why someone would want to leap off a balcony, swing on a chandelier, or jump on a monster's back (attempting to grapple it???) is well beyond me.

 

[billd91]

But why someone would want to leap off a balcony, swing on a chandelier, or jump on a monster's back (attempting to grapple it???) is well beyond me.

People often imagine their fantasy very differently. What may seem ludicrous to you may seem perfectly fine in fantasy to someone else. There's a lot that will depend on how the player approached fantasy - low fantasy, high fantasy, swords and sorcery, anime, wire fu, etc.

 

[billd91]

I also think it might also be a good idea to remove the consequences entirely. A lot of players are notoriously risk adverse. They'd likely rather not possibly incur a penalty even if they're passing up potentially gaining a benefit. All carrot, no stick. That seems to be the general trend of the game and player culture.

I think there may be too much of a tendency to remove negative consequences for fear of alienating people. But negative consequences can be fun as well as long as they're not insanely punitive like a save or die for relatively minor stuff. In the service of providing cinematic advantage, I can see something like this working:

DC of stat check	Result
>=15	Advantage free and clear
10-14	Advantage but with complications
5-9	No advantage, no penalties
<5	Disadvantage

Advantage but with complications would be some form of Fail Forward situation. You achieve your desired result, but with a cost.

 

[overgeeked]

I think there may be too much of a tendency to remove negative consequences for fear of alienating people. But negative consequences can be fun as well as long as they're not insanely punitive like a save or die for relatively minor stuff.

Try introducing a fumble mechanic. Players usually freak the hell out. Do the same thing with crtis giving you a bonus (and the enemy a bonus when they crit) and no one bats an eye. The result is the same. About 5% of the time something extra bad happens to your character. Say it’s a fumble, players freak and whine. Say it’s a bad guy crit, and players are mysteriously fine with it.

In the service of providing cinematic advantage, I can see something like this working:

DC of stat check	Result
>=15	Advantage free and clear
10-14	Advantage but with complications
5-9	No advantage, no penalties
<5	Disadvantage

Advantage but with complications would be some form of Fail Forward situation. You achieve your desired result, but with a cost.

Sure that could absolutely work. D&D doesn’t do graded success that well, so something simpler like a pass/fail or pass/fail and fumble/crit.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I remember posting something like this a few years back and people complained that it was too punishing by the numbers if the fail the check for the action and something bad happens. Still something I'll use though, gives a reason for people to play like action heroes.


Bift?

Yeah, math wise I don’t think it needs any major consequence beyond “you don’t have advantage”.