The most important part of Dungeons & Dragons, and other tabletop games, are dice. Anytime you want to do anything in the game, your DM will make roll a die. Want to charm a guard so your party can sneak past? Charisma check. Trying to pick pockets at the local fair? Roll Sleight of hand. So all of your successes, failures, attempts to attack, or desperate tries to save yourself are going to depend on how lucky you are at rolling the dice. At least it seems that way at first, but that would mean reducing this incredibly complex game to just being a lucky roller. Things are not quite so simple, though.

In some situations, the DM might decide that the circumstances your character is in can also affect their chances of completing the task. That’s where the circumstantial bonuses and penalties or in simpler terms – advantage and disadvantage, come into play. These are some of the most useful tools a DM can use during the campaign and in this blog post, I’m going to explain why that is and give you examples of when to use them.

Advantage

Advantages can come from a bunch of different sources – you might be granted one as a part of your class or background choice, and they can be a result of a special ability, spell, or a consequence of an action your character took. But the most interesting and common advantages are the circumstantial ones that are a direct result of the situation you are in. Sometimes you obviously have an upper hand on your opponent, maybe you quite literally have the higher ground like Obi-Wan on Anakin, or are simply attacking the enemy from behind while they are engaged in combat with somebody else. In these cases, your DM might grant you an advantage which means you’ll be able to roll a d20 twice and use the higher number as your score.

When To Give a Player an Advantage?

There are many situations where your players might be eligible for an advantage. Being a generous DM is always appreciated by the players and can make the game infinitely more fun. If you don’t know when to give out the blessing of an advantage, I got you. These are some of the examples when it makes sense, at least in my opinion.

Inspiration = Advantage

The nifty little concept of Inspiration was introduced in DnD 5e as a means to encourage players to really immerse themselves in the game and truly try to understand their characters. A DM should typically grant some Inspiration to a player who stays true to the personality trait, bond, ideal, and flaw they chose for their character. And then, the player can use it to gain advantage on an important ability check, saving throw, or an attack roll.

The Advantage for Ability Checks and Saving Throws

The most common roll players are going to make during a campaign are for ability checks, so it’s super important for both players and the DM to know when they should (and shouldn’t) get an advantage. I’ll give you some examples of situations when I would give somebody an advantage – some are based on official rules from the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and other examples are ones where you can use your own judgment.

Strength

• A Large creature is trying to shove or grapple a smaller creature
• A strong and big character is trying to break through a door
• A character is using a crowbar or trying to do some heavy lifting using a lever (since this makes it way easier and you need way less force to do it)
• A Barbarian in Rage has an advantage on all Strength checks

Dexterity

• A player is trying to use Sleight of Hand while somebody is clearly distracted or even sleeping
• Thief Rogues have an advantage on Dexterity, specifically Stealth from 9th level on
• If a player was hit by Haste, they would get an advantage on Dexterity saving throws

Constitution

• The War Caster feat gives you an advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration

Intelligence

Wisdom

• The Beacon of Hope spells gives players an advantage on Wisdom checks and saving throws
• A player who consumed food created by Heroes’ Feast gets an advantage on all Wisdom saving throws for the next 24 hours

Charisma

• The Actor feat gets an advantage on Charisma checks

Advantage on Attack Rolls

These are just some of the situations when I suggest giving your players an advantage on attack rolls:

• If the enemy is blinded, unconscious, paralyzed, restrained, or stunned
• When a player is invisible or hidden from the enemy
• If the creature the player wants to attack is already engaged in combat with someone else
• If you have the higher ground – are above the opponent or even levitating next to them

Other Sources of Advantage

• Drinking an antitoxin will give you an advantage on saving throws against poison for 1 hour

Disadvantage

When To Give a Player a Disadvantage?

Dexterity check disadvantages can be a result of:

• Trying to sneak around in some armor types (Heavy Armor, Half-Plate, Scale-Mail, etc.) because they give you an automatic disadvantage on Stealth

Wisdom

• If your player is in a lightly obscured area, they will have a disadvantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks that require using your sight

Disadvantage on Attack Rolls

• When using a weapon that is too large or heavy for a character
• If somebody is using a ranged weapon to attack an opponent that is too close e.g. a lance or crossbow when a target is 5ft away
• Your vision is obstructed – by fog, magical or nonmagical darkness
• An opponent is invisible or hidden
• If your character is blinded, frightened, restrained, prone, or poisoned
• The Blur spell gives opponents a disadvantage on attack rolls against a player if they have to use their vision

The Encumbrance Rule

Sometimes, your backpack or satchel in DnD can seem like Hermione’s bottomless bag from the Deathly Hallows movies. There are a bunch of players who like to loot and pick up everything they see because it just might come in handy sometimes. But if a real person actually picked up 10 swords, 15 daggers, and three different sets of armor, there’s no way they could be able to move, let alone fight a creature carrying all that around. That’s why DMs sometimes use a carrying capacity rule or even encumbrance in their campaigns. Characters experience encumbrance if they’re carrying a weight that’s more than five times their Strength score. If they do this, their movement speed will be decreased by 10 ft and you might get a disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.