Assistance Advantage

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Just a thought, while thinking about how assisted checks work in Fifth Edition: gaining advantage from assistance should take the lowest of the two characters’ bonuses, not the highest.

Using this new math, an assisted check with +0 is generally as capable as a non-assisted check with +4 (not without some nuance); though the +4 character succeeds more often with higher target numbers, while the +0 pair of characters succeeds (slightly) more with lower difficulty classes. This could represent a tradeoff between consistent, aggregate effort or raw individual ability.

Reasons why I think this would work well:

  • It is for weaker characters’ benefit to seek help at tasks they otherwise could not do.
  • It may prove more difficult for stronger characters to accept help than to do something themselves; if their bonus is +4 greater than their potential helper, they would not benefit from the help.
  • To optimize chances of success, strong characters should work together to get the highest possible roll. This facilitates the “worker placement” aspect of allocating tasks to different characters.

I don’t really have much else to say about this except that I think it’s fun when characters help each other and if they could get little friendship points for fun because of it, that would be cute but tedious. Or if your character’s relationship could improve the assistance somehow, like if you spend downtime together like in Miitopia. But that’s all kinda extra, so I’ll just leave this post at that.

As an alternative and potential middle ground, just let both characters roll. Rolling with advantage is already the same thing as getting two tries, it's just not phrased as such; so why not lean into that?

Comments

  1. Roger G-SMarch 28, 2023 at 7:09 AM

    The "advantage" solution is one I am inclined to do at times - maybe treating it as a third "super-advantage" die in cases where they already have advantage.
    Or, add the ability bonus or proficiency bonus, whichever is higher, of the helper to the helpee's roll; which more convincingly "stacks" against both ad and disad.

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  2. JoshMarch 28, 2023 at 7:21 AM

    "Have both players roll" seems particularly appealing, but there's something fuzzy about how many people can help at once - when you have one of those situations where the entire team could help, your chances of failure usually disappear.

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    Replies
    1. Marcia B.March 28, 2023 at 2:34 PM

      for sure! i'd imagine one would still keep the rule that only two people can help at a task that otherwise would take just one person to resolve, otherwise it's a too many chefs in the kitchen kind of thing :) at the same time, the number of successes required could be a variable thing in itself -- though then you're into skill challenge territory haha

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