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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5155722" data-attributes="member: 80487">I'm pretty sure everyone does in the original MM, PHB and DMG. That's more than one can say for damage dice in any edition except the very first, before Supplement I!I can see how it might be a confusing way to describe the advantage! Remember, though, that the default always is a roll of 1-2 (on d6).So, a swan is surprised only on a 1 in 10. A 1 in anything is 1 less than the usual 2. An invisible stalker normally surprises on 1-5. For the swan we count 1 less chance, or 1-4, and roll d10 instead of d6.It combines the simple and the subtle, the bigger dice meaning less chance of surprise while the numbers on the dice -- side A vs. side B -- indicate different degrees (numbers of segments) of surprise. Guys with high dexterity get themselves together sooner.The "Advanced" in 1st ed. AD&D was no joke! The Basic sets kept a lot of things simpler. The 2nd ed. "core" definitely benefited in consistency from being released all at once (rather than over three years of changes to systems in development). The organization is clearer, the writing more straightforward, and the editing most evidently better than that of the 1st ed. DMG!It also simplified some game-mechanical tools, which did not necessarily retain their full original power.(For a real brain-bender, try the initiative system in OD&D Supplement III. Champions later used a similar but simpler system.)</blockquote>