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All this does is linearly adjust the normally-flat 5% probability for each number to occur. What results is a increased or decreased probability of any number above or below average to occur, positively for advantage and negatively for disadvantage. See this AnyDice function set, which yields the following: Black is d20, orange is highest of 2d20, blue is ...

The mean result goes from 10.5 to 7.175 for disadvantage and to 13.825 for advantage. The odds go from a flat 5% for each of 1 through 20 to (disadvantage results shown; reverse the first column for advantage results): 1 39 9.75% 2 37 9.25% 3 35 8.75% 4 33 8.25% 5 31 7.75% 6 29 7.25% 7 27 6.75% 8 25 6.25% 9 23 5.75% 10 21 5.25% 11 19 ...

Yes. The New York Times revealed on January 9, 2012 that a 5th edition of D&D was in the works for a release at Gen Con 2013. Mike Mearls confirmed it shortly thereafter. An open playtest for the game began on May 25, 2012.

Advanced D&D 1st edition: Hit points and AC ranges for "typical" 1st level PCs Fighter: 1-14 HP (1d10, max +4 for CON) AC 4 to -1 (Splinted Mail+Shield, 6-18 DEX) Thief: 1-8 HP (1d6, max +2 for CON), AC 8 to 4 (Leather, 9-18 DEX) Magic-User: 1-6 HP (1d4, max +2 for CON), AC 11 to 6 (No armor, 6-18 DEX) Then there's the Goblin: 1-7 HP, AC 6, damage 1d6 ...

In the current 5E playtest, there is no flanking. In fact, there are few rules for combat at all, and definitely no rules for grid-based combat and positioning. As stated elsewhere, the playtest doesn't represent the final ruleset, so positioning rules may be added later on, but for now, granting advantage is merely a judgement call. Personally, I would say ...

The math is straightforward With an advantage you are looking for best of two results. To figure out your odds you need to multiply the chance of FAILURE together to find out the new chance of failure. For example if you need 11+ to hit rolling two dice and taking the best means instead of a 50% of failing you have only a 25% chance of failing (.5 times ...

I'm going to cover 4e and Next in this answer. 4e first: Assumptions: For ease I will use Essentials classes. Mage HP: 23, AC: 14 (CON 13, INT 18) Surge value: 5 (28 HP) Knight HP: 31 AC: 20 (CON 16, Plate, Heavy Shield) Surge Value: 7 (38 HP) Thief HP: 25 AC: 16 (CON 13, DEX 18, Leather) Surge Value 6 (31 HP) Goblins and Kobolds (No L1 non-minion ...

4e Con is a useful stat for fighters, and as heavy armor users they can afford to grab a 14. Rogues are all about Dex, so they too can afford to diversify a little bit to get a 12 Con. Wizard1 is a staff-wielder, so he has a 14 Con. Wizard2 is going orbs, so he has a 10 Con. We'll assume each spends 1 healing surge (presumably through 2nd wind, but ...

Obviously since there's only 31 pages of D&D Next rules, these are the kinds of interpretations that have to be informed by earlier editions and DM fiat. Usually "there's a bugbear in the trees" is not sufficient to avoid a sneak attack because the others still don't know exactly where it is. It certainly might allow them a second Wisdom check to spot ...

I think its pretty clear what the intent was -- there are two effects: A -2 penalty on both rolls the stipulation that "you use only the light weapon’s damage dice to determine its damage; you add no bonuses to it" The latter can be described as a limit, but the former probably wouldn't be. Anyway, make sure to give them feedback on the wording!

3.5 (I'm adding another answer rather than editing my existing one because my existing answer is already pretty darn long). I'll be assuming the maximum value for the level 1 hit die; this was a common house rule, and I believe was also the official rule in many of the organized play leagues. Let's give the fighter a +1 Dex mod (he's going for plate), a ...

Being a playtester DM I've spent some time to make a list of all the things that grant advantage and disadvantage within the current ruleset. The following things grant advantage to an attack roll: Hidden attacker Attacker being helped† Paralyzed target Prone target (melee attacks only) Restrained target Stunned target Unconscious target Unless you ...

No, an attack is not a check. It's saying "similar to" in that intro paragraph just for total noobs to stress that you add a d20 and add an ability modifier to it. Nowhere else when it talks about attack rolls (especially in the Combat section) does it indicate that they count as a check. And damage is certainly not a check. You are wanting to read this ...

I suspect medium armour is likely to be tagged to certain class restrictions, much like pathfinder clerics. There are also numerous other reasons listed in this question: (crucially weight and RP reasons) Why would chainmail be preferred over plate

I'm not entirely sure I can legally say this in public forum, but as a participant in the playtest, the rules state you just simply take the skill of your choice in place of the duplicate. Especially with the most recent set of changes. Edit 1: I can't find it in the latest release, but it's on page one of the 10/29 Backgrounds & Skills with the ...

Basic D&D Fighter: 7.5 HP (1d8+CON), AC 2 (Plate+shield) Thief: 2.5 HP(1d4), AC 4 (Leather, -3 DEX bonus) Magic-User: 2.5 HP(1d4), AC 9 (No armor, no DEX bonus) Goblin: HD 1-1, avg. dam 3.5 Rounds to kill: Fighter: 2.14 hits, 17 to hit = 10.7 rounds Thief: 0.71 hits, 15 to hit = 2.37 rounds Magic-User: 0.71 hits, 10 to hit = 1.29 rounds

Nope, you didn't miss anything. The fact of the matter is, the current iteration of the D&D Next rule set is very light on the kind of tactical combat rules that we are used to having played previous editions (I can speak as a 4e player, what I know of 3.5 it sounds like the same story, I have no idea about previous editions). This is due to the fact ...

One very good reason is that not every character will have the strength to consistently carry heavy armor and everything else they need (for example, if Halflings have a STR penalty like in 3.X and they still want the Fighter class). Not to mention the cost factor. Each armor has quite a large jump in cost and unless you have that nice DM who gives you ...

I don't believe the intent is that flanking always grants advantage, but of course all the rules aren't out yet. It seems like it's hearkening back to 1e-2e where backstab required actual stealth or other sneakniess and the rogue wasn't a DPS machine. There's nothing to indicate you can get advantage simply by flanking (it would be way too powerful for ...

The one time I played Next, I made a fighter, but chose high elf as my race, and took the Magic-User specialty. This gave me some minor arcane abilities to complement my melee skills. It's not quite the same as full multi-classing, but it's similar in flavor. I'm not certain if the current playtest supports this style of dabbling.

You don't need a more general opportunity attack mechanic to just say "if you run off at full speed they get a hit in on you." This is how fleeing from combat worked in all D&D previous to the introduction of formalized battlemats in 3rd edition. All it gets you is one hit, though, so it's not really sovereign against fleeing. But consider adding a rule ...

The answer to all your questions starts with don't worry about your players guessing anything. I'll explain why you don't need to, and also why it will solve the rest of your problems. Really, don't worry about the players figuring it out. There are so many different possible reasons for a culture to have rituals about fire being dangerous, that it's ...

There are two references to attacks as checks in the DM Guidelines document. I can't quote them here at the moment due to NDA, but I can give approximate locations: Page 1, second column, in the Checks section. This reference states that an attack is a specialized form of a check. Page 2, first column, in the Attacks section. This reference states that an ...

No an attack is not a check. The similarity between a check and an attack is in the way that rolls are handled, bonuses are added to the rolls and advantages/disadvantages are given. I believe the developers linked them together in order to not have to explain the same thing twice. Throughout the document, the developers specifically mention checks AND ...

In his reddit AMA, Mearls discussed how themes were going to work. It sounds like "themes" were renamed specialties. If so, they (at least previously) planned on letting you choose your own feats. Remember that this is a playtest with only the default parts of the whole system. You can see this in how we've handled themes and feats. A theme is like a ...

Yeah, they've said from the beginning that the theme/specialty was simply an optional feat delivery device so that you can create a character quickly if needed, or if you don't care that much about the feat choices. The same goes for Backgrounds; the skill list can be completely chosen by you, and you can choose an available trait as well. I'm not sure ...

A specialty is a group of feats. They are listed in the "Specialties" documents with a group of related feats and some flavor text (currently no more than two as they've only defined L1-5 and feats come at 1,3,6....). Feats are granted from specialties at each level. At L1 you the L1 feat for your specialty and at L3 you get the L3 feat for the specialty. ...

OK, I'll take a stab at this. I have reservations on the "create a game plot and hope the players create characters that fit it." What if everyone creates adventurers that don't really care about gods and such? It may be difficult to get those adventurers into this particular plot. I would create a small document, basically saying, "here's a typical day ...