Advantage and Disadvantage

Some features let you roll with advantage or disadvantage on an action or reaction roll.

Advantage represents an opportunity that you seize to increase your chances of success. When you roll with advantage, you add a d6 advantage die to your total.

Disadvantage represents an additional difficulty, hardship, or challenge you face when attempting an action. When you roll with disadvantage, you subtract a d6 disadvantage die from your total.

Some of your abilities might automatically grant you advantage or impose disadvantage on adversaries, but the GM can also choose to give you advantage or disadvantage on any roll when it fits the story. Unique rules for advantage come into play when an ally is helping you with a roll, so see the earlier “Help an Ally” section for more information.

Advantage and disadvantage always cancel each other out when applied to the same roll, so you’ll never roll both at the same time. For example, if the GM gives you disadvantage on a roll but you gain advantage from a domain ability, the two cancel each other out and the roll is made without a d6 advantage or disadvantage die. In this way, if you have two sources of advantage and one of disadvantage, one of the advantage dice and the disadvantage die cancel each other out, so you would have advantage on the roll.

NPCs can also roll with advantage (or disadvantage), but when they do, the GM rolls an additional d20 and picks the highest (or lowest) result (see the “Giving Advantage and Disadvantage” section in chapter 3).

Tip: Some moves or effects require you to add or subtract a d6 for reasons other than advantage or disadvantage. If you find yourself both adding and subtracting a d6 for any reason, roll neither, since they cancel each other out.