Enchanted Realms Rulebook

Advantage

There are skills, magical effects and environmental circumstances which gives a character or monster a superior position or tactical dominance, which in game terms is called “advantage.” Likewise, the converse can occur where one is at “disadvantage.” When this happens for skill actions, unless stated otherwise, a being with advantage is granted an extra die for the roll. The default for disadvantage removes a die.

For example, if a character has melee fighting, granting the PC 1d20 for an attack, but circumstances are such that he or she has advantage, then that attack would be made with 1d20. Contrarily, if that same PC were at disadvantage, then the loss of a die would drop his or her attack to 0d20; so, how would that work? When the applicable dice fall to zero, then two dice are rolled using the worse score of the two.

However, in cases of physical combat, melee or range attacks, then there is another bonus or penalty to advantage/disadvantage. If at advantage when successfully striking an opponent, then an additional advantage crit is added, which means an additional 1 to 3 points of damage. This bonus or penalty of damage applies only to the primary attack. This crit is “non-exploding” so it cannot generate another crit. When at disadvantage, a “negative crit” applies, meaning 1 to 3 points are removed from the damage. If zero or a negative number occurs, then the attack acts as a miss, not allowing any other special powers or properties to transfer to the victim, such as infusion of ice. These special crits can only apply if one of the attack dice from one of the die pools successfully hit the target. Finally, on the damage component, it is applied by target, not by strike, meaning if multiple targets can be attacked at advantage, then those separate targets could each be inflicted with bonus damage. These details will become more clear in later.

For other scenarios, where damage is not a component and an extra die for advantage has no meaning, such as on a save, then two d20s are rolled, taking the better of the two scores. Two dice are also used for disadvantage, again using the worst of the two scores. Of course, remember competitions use d12s rather than d20s.

Advantages and disadvantages do not stack. If a creature has gained two advantages from multiple effects, the general rule is that creature is still only “at advantage” and rolls one extra die. The same is true for multiple disadvantages. However, if the circumstances and effects are such that a creature gains both advantage and disadvantage, then neither apply and the normal amount of dice are rolled. This is true even if multiple disadvantages apply while only one advantage occurs – and vice versa.

When having advantage or disadvantage along with another circumstance, such as a nhoblit’s chance trait, which allows a re-roll, then only one-die may be re-rolled. Even if both d20s score natural 1s, the player chooses only one dice to re-roll.

Final note: when at disadvantage, the character can only move half of his or her normal rate for the round.