The Dice that Bind: Bounded Accuracy in D&D Next

Welcome to your doom!

Wizards of the Coast has an article up about a game mechanic/rubric/system that they are evaluating for inclusion in D&D Next. The system, called “bounded accuracy” seeks to curtail some of the negative side-effects of player advancement.

In past editions of D&D, as characters leveled up, they automatically gained numerous skills and abilities. Though this makes sense from a “practice makes perfect / what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” sort of thought line, the way it was implemented became a bit broken as characters reached higher levels.

In earlier editions of D&D, low level characters would be reasonably challenged by a hostile encounter with the city watch, or an attempt to scale a cliff. However, as they leveled, these challenges would remain challenging for some while becoming dice-negatingly easy for others, depending on where the players chose to put their points as they leveled. To keep things challenging, GMs had to scale the difficulty of such challenges along with the player’s growing power. City watch officers were laid off in droves and replaced with elite squads of psi-ninjas, and freak hurricanes would appear out of the blue sky any time the characters ventured near a mountainside or city wall... all to maintain a sense of excitement. This mutual power-escalation also often caused a fracturing of player engagement as different characters began specializing in different skills. This resulted in encounters in which the player with the skillz would be the only participant while the others adopted an “Its not even worth trying” stance, choosing instead to just sit things out and comment on their companion’s performance.

Based on my reading of the article, bounded accuracy seeks to mitigate this spreading power creep without removing the rewards gained by leveling. It doesn’t eliminate the power gains, but rather condenses them, so that small bonuses are more meaningful and so that those without bonuses can still participate with some hope of success. According to WOTC, the bounded accuracy system will allow low level characters/monsters to remain a potential threat even against much higher level opponents.

In past editions of D&D, a low level creature couldn’t even make contact in a fight with high level opponents, because the gap between attack rolls and AC made such attacks mechanically impossible. A 10th level player could reasonably decimate an entire continent of kobolds, even if they all banded together to fight back. Zombie hordes were just not that scary past the levels where just a few zombies would suffice. Bounded accuracy seeks to correct that by replacing the gains in attack and defense rolls with gains in hit points, thus allowing the little guys to get in their punches while keeping the big guy resilient. Under this system, if you got enough kobolds in on the action, it could mean death by a thousand tiny fists, even for a badass level character.

The folks over at Obsidian Portal voiced their opinion on the matter in this week’s Haste podcast. The OP guys really hone in on the bounded accuracy’s implications in combat. They raise an excellent point that such strength in numbers threats pose other problems under the D&D rules, specifically that resolving tons of little attacks takes tons of time and drags a game to a halt.

I agree that running a great orcish pigpile might not work very well. However, I think the new system presents a tantalizing opportunity for long, running-battle encounters. The heroes might not have to face a whole horde of low-level baddies at once for it to be a challenge. If the GM sends in the bad guys in waves, he/she can keep the encounter’s scope manageable while  creating a slowly building challenge for their heroes.

Play Test

Two words that seem very strange next to each other.

I signed up for Wizards of the Coast's open play test of D&D Next, a.k.a. 5th Edition, the Omni-Pleaser, Retro-trash or Nerd-rage Catalyst #5 (actually only the first alias is used by anyone but me.) Wizards is attempting a noble, if foolhardy/impossible undertaking-to please all factions of a demographic that is as diverse as it is fiercely opinionated.

Well, not only did WOTC release the proverbial Kraken, it asked the beast to sit down, try out the game-in-progress and provide feedback. Their public playtest is open to anyone willing to sign an NDA (That specifically allows public voicing of opinions on the test) and download the materials.

I downloaded my copy of the playtest materials and have been digesting them with Sarlaccian slowness amidst my increasingly frantic work schedule. Though I haven't had a chance to put the materials to work or play*, I've read through the Player's Handbook rules and am beginning to form some initial impressions.

In general, the game seems to continue a trend of streamlining begun in 4e, which also brings back an old-school vibe which eschews hard rule mechanics in favor of leaving certain calls up to the DM.

I like that Vancian magic is back, rather than the powers system of 4e, which really stripped away one of the defining characteristics of D&D. At the same time, they seem to be trying to mitigate the exponential wizard power curve of 3e by tying spell strength to ability modifiers rather than character level.

In general, it seems like they're trying to lower the big dice numbers that could result in attacks that required an accounting team to resolve.

I'm intrigued by the addition of character background bonuses to the character sheets. I think this would be especially cool if they were modular. Give a fighter, rogue or wizard the option of having grown up as a commoner with bonus to animal handling and the like... that sort of thing.

Some of the things I noticed that I wasn't too fond of are more on the nit-picky side. They include:
Listing adamantine as an armor type. "Adamantine" is a material, not a type of armor. I know Dwarf an Elf used to be classes. That was stupid too.

Calling opposed checks "Contests" They are still just a skill check, but without a fixed number to beat. Calling them contests sounds like something from a lame anime involving prepubescent androgynoids who race each other to the grocery store out of an overblown sense of competition. No need for a new word just for vocabulary's sake *cough*rituals!*cough*

I'm not sure what's going on with the skill system. Are they back? There are references in the player sheets to things they get a bonus on, but no definition of what those things entail. If it is up to the DM to determine when to apply these bonuses, it'd be nice to have a little note saying that.

Anyway, those are my first budding impressions. My 3.5e game is still very much in progress, so I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to run any 5e. I'll definitely read through the stuff and voice my opinion.


*Funny thing about timeframes, just 6 days after the public playtest opened, I received an email from WOTC with their first feedback survey. The email says, hopefully you've had a chance to read through the rules and even play a few sessions! It's been less than a week, guys! I am a volunteer with a life, not one of your employees. Quit humping my leg!