{"id":2990,"date":"2022-09-15T10:58:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T17:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/?p=2990"},"modified":"2025-05-18T22:34:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T05:34:44","slug":"dd-5e-rules-advantage-and-disadvantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2022\/09\/dd-5e-rules-advantage-and-disadvantage.html","title":{"rendered":"D&#038;D 5e\/5.5e Rules &#8211; Advantage and Disadvantage!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2984\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Know-the-rules-300x196.webp\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Know-the-rules-300x196.webp 300w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Know-the-rules-650x425.webp 650w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Know-the-rules-768x502.webp 768w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Know-the-rules-1200x784.webp 1200w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Know-the-rules.webp 1300w\" alt=\"Know the Rules\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" \/><em><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2022\/09\/dd-5e-rules-a-prologue.html\">Part of an ongoing series of <strong>5e (2014)<\/strong> Rules notes.<\/a>\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #800000;\">This also covers <strong>5.5e (2024)<\/strong> rules.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the 5e design mission statements was to Keep It Simple, Stupid. This KISS principle was a response to the ultra-crunchy tactical game which was 4e. I like miniatures and tactics, so I liked 4e, but it did, by focusing on numbers and formulae so much, drain a lot of\u00a0<i>color<\/i> from the game. As I started up my 5e campaign, I constantly found myself running head-smack into things that 4e did that 5e did not, <em>by design,<\/em> and having to figure out why.<\/p>\n<h1>So what is it?<\/h1>\n<p>Rather than having players maneuver a blizzard of plusses and minutes on attacks, 5e tries to reduce it down to a simple set of questions for any Attack, Save, or Action Check roll:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Does the attacker (die roller) have, at the moment, an Advantage over the defender?<\/li>\n<li>Does the attacker have, at the moment, an Disadvantage, compared to the defender?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Then:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If there&#8217;s <strong>no Advantage nor Disadvantage<\/strong>, it&#8217;s a Normal attack &#8212; roll 1d20.<\/li>\n<li>If there is <strong>both Advantage and Disadvantage<\/strong>, it&#8217;s a Normal attack &#8212; roll 1d20.<\/li>\n<li>If there is\u00a0<u>just<\/u>\u00a0<strong>Advantage<\/strong> &#8212; roll 2d20 and take the\u00a0<u>higher<\/u> die roll.<\/li>\n<li>If there is\u00a0<u>just<\/u>\u00a0<strong>Disadvantage<\/strong> &#8212; roll 2d20 and take the\u00a0<u>lower<\/u> die roll.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that (KISS) these are\u00a0<u>not additive<\/u>. There is no &#8220;Super-Advantage,&#8221; and no &#8220;Well, you have one Advantage and two Disadvantages, so that comes out to Disadvantage.&#8221; There is either just Advantage, or just Disadvantage; otherwise it&#8217;s a Normal 1d20 roll.<\/p>\n<h1>So what impact does this have?<\/h1>\n<p>There are some fancy graphs out there, but Advantage is roughly a +4 on a d20, statistically. Or, as put another way, &#8220;Advantage is an enormous benefit that lands 13 or higher 50% of the time, is almost twice as likely to crit, and has 1\/20th times as likely to botch.&#8221; So 5e doesn&#8217;t hand out the status lightly.<\/p>\n<p>Or, put in pictures (<i>please feel free to ignore if math makes you twitchy<\/i>):<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2991\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2991\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2991 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot-650x488.png\" alt=\"Advantage and Disadvantage, plotted\" width=\"650\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot-650x488.png 650w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot-1200x900.png 1200w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/adv-disadv-plot.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2991\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What Advantage\/Disadvantage does. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cl.cam.ac.uk\/~rmk35\/dropbears.html#org1264a49\">Source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having Advantage (blue) boosts your numbers up a lot, esp. in the middle range (trying to hit at least an 8-16); having Disadvantage (green) drags your numbers way down.<\/p>\n<h1>When do you have Advantage or Disadvantage?<\/h1>\n<p>There are a\u00a0<i>lot\u00a0<\/i>of conditions that create Advantage or Disadvantage (since there are very few conditions any more, except cover, that throw <i>numbers<\/i>, not Ad\/Disad). A good survey can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/DnD\/comments\/29xk0j\/5e_summary_of_situations_causing_advantage_or\/\">here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>A few common ones for combat:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Using the\u00a0<b>Dodge\u00a0<\/b>action during combat has any attack roll against you made at a\u00a0<u>disadvantage<\/u> until the start of your next turn (if you can see the attacker). DEX saving throws while Dodging are made with <u>advantage<\/u>. (Note to GMs: bad guys should Dodge a lot more than they do.)<\/li>\n<li>Using the\u00a0<b>Help\u00a0<\/b>action during combat can give an ally <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">advantage<\/span> in one of their own ability checks before the start of your next turn (see &#8220;working together&#8221;). Alternatively, it can provide <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">advantage<\/span> on the first of an ally&#8217;s attack rolls against a monster.<\/li>\n<li>Attacking an enemy while\u00a0<b>hidden\u00a0<\/b>(if they don&#8217;t detect you approaching) or otherwise\u00a0<b>unseen\u00a0<\/b>grants you\u00a0<u>advantage<\/u> on attack rolls. Conversely, attacking an enemy you can&#8217;t see has you making the roll with <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">disadvantage<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li>Ranged attacks whose target is within a weapon&#8217;s\u00a0<b>long range<\/b>\u00a0(but not within normal range) have a\u00a0<u>disadvantage<\/u>\u00a0on the attack roll.<\/li>\n<li>Ranged attacks (including rolled spell attacks) in\u00a0<b>close combat<\/b>\u00a0(within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and isn&#8217;t incapacitated) have a\u00a0<u>disadvantage<\/u> on the attack roll. (Spells that require a Saving Throw don&#8217;t have this problem because <em>they have no attack roll<\/em>.)<\/li>\n<li>Attacks made while\u00a0<b>prone<\/b>\u00a0are at a\u00a0<u>disadvantage<\/u>.\u00a0 Attacks at 5&#8242; made on someone who is prone are at an\u00a0<u>advantage<\/u>, but attacks beyond that are at a\u00a0<u>disadvantage<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>You can spend a your point of <b>Inspiration\u00a0<\/b>to make an attack, save, or action check at\u00a0<u>advantage<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Advantage also shows up as a balancer. Kobolds, for example, have a <em>Mob Tactics<\/em> ability; if a kobold is next to an ally in combat, they each get Advantage on their attack roll. Thugs and Wolves have analogous abilities. That makes them more of a threat than you might think.<\/p>\n<h1>How do I roll Ad\/Disad?<\/h1>\n<p>Normal physical tabletop, just roll two D20s and pick the higher (or lower) one as need be.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Roll20<\/em> VTT standard 5e character sheet provides multiple ways to roll advantage, set through the Settings (gear icon) on the sheet toggle (CORE|BIO|SPELL|cog):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Advantage Toggle<\/u>\u00a0&#8212; You&#8217;ll see a ADVANTAGE | NORMAL | DISADVANTAGE toggle at the top of the character sheet which you can adjust for each roll. [This is what I do, because I like to be sure I have all my settings right and am not throwing more dice than needed.]<\/li>\n<li><u>Advantage Query<\/u> &#8212; For each Attack\/Save\/Action Check roll, you&#8217;ll get as pop up window asking if you have Advantage or Disadvantage. [I find this annoying, myself &#8212; though in higher level campaigns it becomes more convenient, given the number of spells, buffs, and situations that impose ADV\/DISAD]<\/li>\n<li><u>Always Roll Advantage<\/u>\u00a0&#8212; This will roll 2d20 on everything, then you can apply the roll (higher number for Advantage, lower number for Disadvantage, left-hand number for Normal). [This is a very common way people do this, and for the DM the monsters are all done this way.]<\/li>\n<li><u>Never Throw Advantage<\/u>\u00a0&#8212; Always just roll 1d20; if you need to roll a second die, do it again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dnd-55-2024-logo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4197\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dnd-55-2024-logo-208x300.png\" alt=\"dnd 5.5\/2024\" width=\"208\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dnd-55-2024-logo-208x300.png 208w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dnd-55-2024-logo.png 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 208px) 85vw, 208px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #800000;\">So how does this change in 5.5e?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">The Advantage\/Disadvantage mechanic is the same in 5.5e (2024).\u00a0 This is the most persuasive (though not dispositive) argument that 5.5e is fundamentally the same as 5e.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Most of the changes here are about when ADV\/DISAD are used (e.g., when <a style=\"color: #800000;\" href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2025\/04\/dd-5e-rules-surprise.html\">Surprise<\/a> occurs in a 5.5e game, the Surprised folk roll their Init at Disadvantage).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gone are the days of juggling a dozen plusses and minuses to a roll. And good riddance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,44,78],"tags":[47,50],"class_list":["post-2990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-onedd","category-dd","category-dd-5e-rules","tag-dnd5e","tag-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2990"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4252,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990\/revisions\/4252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}