Under what conditions would you give advantage/disadvantage?

[Kzach]

Just curious to see what people's interpretations of this mechanic is and under what circumstances they would grant advantage or disadvantage to a character.

For instance, would flanking warrant advantage? What about attacks of opportunity, since they don't currently exist in the system?

 

[Kzach]

Really? I thought a list of people's interpretations on this would be useful but no-one has bit?

 

[IronWolf]

What about attacks of opportunity, since they don't currently exist in the system?

Since they don't exist as of yet, I am not sure how I would grant advantage on an attack I don't get to make. Am I misunderstanding what you are after with this one?

 

[Tovec]

As far as I can tell the following might be responsible:

A. Giving Advantage/Disadvantage when flanking seems like a HUGE benefit. In my edition flanking is a +2 bonus when attacking the flanked creature. If it provided advantage I think we calculated that out to be the +4 or +5 effectively, which is too high just for having a friend on the other side of the creature.

B. Attacks of opportunity doesn't exist and by many accounts I have seen about actual playtesting people don't want it. So in that regard, no I wouldn't.

C. For AOO - HOW would you? Unless they provoke an attack you can't effectively roll against them so it is kind of moot. No attack means no way to use the advantage if you had it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tehnai]

I'd give it if the character was doing something awesome, as a rule, essentially using it as a reward for creative problem solving/sweet ass moves.

I'd absolutely not give advantage for flanking, for in my mind, it makes the rogue so much less interesting. I mean, he just has to stand on the other side of the bad guy. Without it, the rogue's player, in the playtest, was constantly trying to find weird and new ways to get advantage, keeping the fight engaging and interesting.

As for attacks of opportunity, I don't really care for them. I'd be fine with certain characters having it as a special ability of some sort, but as a standard mechanic, I'm not a fan.

 

[Mercule]

I gave the rogue Advantage twice. The first time was when he went down fighting the ogre and received a Cure Light immediately after. Things shifted so much that the rogue went from being right in front of the ogre to being right behind (out of sight, out of mind). Rather than standing up, announcing his return to the fight, then attacking, he decided to hamstring then stand. I applied a -2 penalty for melee from prone but also gave him Advantage.

The second time was a couple rounds later when he got sick of the three goblins lobbing arrows at him and the cleric. He spun on a dime, charged, and threw his knife. I ruled that it was such a dramatic shift in tactics that the goblins were somewhat put off by it. I may have made a Wisdom check, but I don't recall.

Overall, I really, really, freaking love the Advantage/Disadvantage system. It's a snazzy mechanic that I can freely DMO for creative players without being stuck by detailed rules that may not make sense for a given situation. It has enough potential (instant redo!) to make players feel like they got a real bonus without being powerful enough to make me worry about handing it out too often. As illustrated in my first example, you can have Advantage and a penalty, at the same time. Go ahead and be creative, guys -- if you're clever, I'll throw you a bone.

 

[Rack]

Advantage is a pretty big deal, so I'd only offer it in situations where the defender was pretty much incapable of defending himself, just one measure short of an auto-hit.

 

[Morrus]

My wish list:

- Height advantage (5' for melee adjacent, 10' for ranged)
- Formation use, possibly activated by all members being adjacent and have a given feat
- Flanking (flanked character should grant advantage to all, not just the flankers)
- The usual prone/melee advantage prone/ranged disadvantage
- Fold in the cover rules to the advantage system
- Allow stacking advantages/disadvantages

 

[Kinak]

I handed out advantage like candy for anything that sounded like a good idea. Trying to intimidate while covered in a giant bear skin? Advantage. Have the high ground? Advantage. Attacking around a corner? Disadvantage. (I didn't forget about cover on purpose, but I'd house rule this in the future.)

Our rogue ended up with advantage on attack about half the time between hiding and various good ideas. Even though they were in the kobold/rat warren and sneak attack hardly mattered, the advantage was great for securing hits.

Even with all that, though, we didn't grant advantage for flanking or attacks on fleeing enemies.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[AeroDm]

My wish list:

- Height advantage (5' for melee adjacent, 10' for ranged)
- Formation use, possibly activated by all members being adjacent and have a given feat
- Flanking (flanked character should grant advantage to all, not just the flankers)
- The usual prone/melee advantage prone/ranged disadvantage
- Fold in the cover rules to the advantage system
- Allow stacking advantages/disadvantages

In addition, I'd like concealment, invisibility, and a handful of powers (imagining the entire Warlord/Martial class type).

Quick aside--I know that adv/disad cancel out, but has it been clarified what happens if you have two advantages and one disadvantage?