D&D 5E What Exactly is Bounded Accuracy?

[Syntallah]

My group is making the transition from 4E to 5E in the next week or so, and I have been slowly dropping bits of information to those who have not downloaded the Basic Rules yet. Now, mind you, these guys have been playing D&D for over thirty years each; from the Blue Box with the B1 in it all the through each edition.

When I mentioned that the cap for stats is 20, and that you can't buy anything over a 15, there was a collective gasp of panic, a cry for "house rule", a torch or two, and at least one pitchfork that I saw... I tried to tell them that it is all balanced by bounded accuracy, but in all honesty, I simply don't know what that is, and thus, could not really articulate any decent discussion on the matter.

So: can someone explain what Bounded Accuracy is, and how it is balancing things out?

 

[Gargoyle]

Here is the official explanation. It's old, but the basic ideas are there.

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20120604

And here's an updated third party blog post that does a good job of explaining it in the context of the new rules:

http://dmdavid.com/tag/proficiency-and-bounded-accuracy-in-dd-next/

 

[n00bdragon]

The concept of bounded accuracy, in an academic sense at least, is the idea that player rolls must stay largely within defined minimum and maximum values. So, for example, you could make the minimums and maximums say... 0 and 30, so knowing that no player can possibly in any way roll higher than a 30 means that no AC or any other value a player needs to roll can be higher than that. It allows you, in theory, to assign a given challenge to a wider range of characters because it's possible for them to roll it. The much vaunted advantage and disadvantage mechanic is a way of adding some sort of bonus or penalty in the system without altering the theoretical maximum or minimum values that can be rolled.

 

[Agamon]

Put very simply, the +1's aren't handed out like candy anymore.

The max 15 for buying stats makes rolling more attractive. Now instead of buying automatically, rolling is an interesting option (but not recommended for anyone that "needs" excellent stats).

 

[TerraDave]

For your players, practical implications is that even a mid-higher level monster may only have an AC of 15 and a hit + of 5 or 6. Its very different then 4E, where basically the PCs need a de-facto +1 each level to each major check and defense (half coming directly from level, and the other half from stats, items, and feats.). They are off the escalator.

Another implication, more for you, is that while monsters should still be user friendly, the way they are used is a little more traditional. There are no minions, but low level humaniods can be dropped with a hit, and somewhat stronger ones (bugbears, troglydytes, ect) dropped with a hit by a higher level character. No elites or solos, but, for example, an ogre is now basically a solo or elite vs level 2 charecters, part of a small group at somewhat higher levels, and still a threat, with allies, at pretty high levels. And its the same ogre (though you can still customize the ogre if you want to).

 

[Grazzt]

My group is making the transition from 4E to 5E in the next week or so, and I have been slowly dropping bits of information to those who have not downloaded the Basic Rules yet. Now, mind you, these guys have been playing D&D for over thirty years each; from the Blue Box with the B1 in it all the through each edition.

When I mentioned that the cap for stats is 20, and that you can't buy anything over a 15, there was a collective gasp of panic, a cry for "house rule", a torch or two, and at least one pitchfork that I saw... I tried to tell them that it is all balanced by bounded accuracy, but in all honesty, I simply don't know what that is, and thus, could not really articulate any decent discussion on the matter.

So: can someone explain what Bounded Accuracy is, and how it is balancing things out?

The guys that have been playing for over 30 years should be used to an ability score cap. It was 25 in AD&D (18 or 19 without magic).

 

[Umbran]

As others have noted - "Bounded accuracy" means rather what it says. There is a bound on how large net modifiers are going to be. There's a limit on how good your character will be at a given thing.

This means that the GM *knows* you aren't going to have huge bonuses on the die roll, and can design accordingly.

 

[Minigiant]

Is easiest terms, bounded accuracy is just putting bonuses and DCs in a certain range in order to make ability checks and attack rolls almost always matter.

D&D had this thing traditionally where you could get to a point a roll of a D20 was iti see it you rolled a 1 or 2.

 

[fba827]

As others have noted - "Bounded accuracy" means rather what it says. There is a bound on how large net modifiers are going to be. There's a limit on how good your character will be at a given thing.

This means that the GM *knows* you aren't going to have huge bonuses on the die roll, and can design accordingly.

Or to say it from the players perspective, it means that enemy defenses and task DCs will stay within certain ranges, not continue to increase with levels, allowing players to better ballpark what they are and aren't capable of.

The game system math has to make assumptions about what range if numbers the PC stats are in.

Re cap of 20: If it makes the players feel better you can mention that it's just the limits of the body and mind but that there is potential magic that increases beyond the limit ( for instance
gauntlets of giant strength were already shown somewhere as granting the wearer a strength above 20).and the chart with ability score bonuses goes higher than 20 for a reason ;-)

Re point buy cap of 15: if they want a starting score above 15 then they could roll rather than point buy.


Frankly, I ( personally ) don't find it a big deal since it's a basic assumption that the game system was built around for attempted balance and assumptions rather than an arbitrary limit put on.
though if it got presented to me at the get go that I am limited[\i] then
I would have concerns. Else I really wouldn't have given it much thought at all

 

[Syntallah]

The guys that have been playing for over 30 years should be used to an ability score cap. It was 25 in AD&D (18 or 19 without magic).

Lol, too true. The ONLY time I ever rolled an 18/00 strength score was for a male dwarf fighter that was limited to 18/99.....

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And thanks gang, for all the replies!