If you don’t want to read this update, check out the video below, where Chris Doyle, Director of 5E Development and Design, discusses Advanced Advantage. Or, read on!

(Plus make sure to vote in the latest trivia challenge, linked at bottom of update!)

Advanced Advantage is coming! And as backers of the Terror from the UnderDeep campaign, you get a sneak peak at what we have distilling the Goodman Games 5E Design Labs. Not only do you get a sneak peak, backers have an opportunity to playtest these new rules and provide us feedback so they can be the best possible.

We have been getting some questions about what this playtest packet is (and what its not). Advanced Advantage is an enhancement to the 5E rules set. Let’s face it, 5E is the most popular edition of D&D. It would be silly to replace it. But we’ve been playing and designing games for decades, so its natural to want to tinker around with the rules. Every GM house rules their own campaign, so you could think of Advanced Advantage as Goodman Games house ruling bits and pieces of 5E. 

We are using the four planned Advanced Advantage playtest packets released in 2025 to reveal one or two rules we are tinkering with at a time. In the first packet, we tackle changes to the advantage/disadvantage system. Advantage and disadvantage are quite possibly 5E’s most innovative rules. Simple to explain, they seamlessly fit in with established rules, plus add excitement every time its used. But its limited to d20 checks, and it doesn’t stack. We have thoughts on how to enhance this rule, and maybe even make it more cinematic. 

In Advanced Advantage, all dice can be granted advantage or disadvantage. Imagine all your role-playing dice lined up, from the lowly d4 to the mighty d20, increasing based on the number of faces on the die. In instead of rolling two dice and taking the higher number, in our system you increase (for advantage) one size of the die, or decrease (for disadvantage) one size of the die. So, if you have advantage on healing with a cure wounds spell (granted by your deity) you roll d10 to determine how many hit points you heal. Maybe your mace has been damaged following a rust monster blow, and the GM rules you have disadvantage on all damage dice using it. That mace now does 1d4 bludgeoning damage. Do you get advantage on an attack or saving throw? Now roll a d24!

We can hear the naysayers already. But increasing from a d20 to a d24 is not statistically the same as rolling 2d20 and taking the higher number. We agree, and in playtest packet #1, we show you the math! But, recall we mentioned that advantage now stacks? If you can get advantage twice on that d20 roll, you now roll a d30! And don’t worry, there will be plenty of chances to stack advantage!

Wait a minute? A d24? A d30? I don’t have those dice! Fear not. During this campaign, you can get a d24, either as a first 48-hour backer (for free) or as an add-on. As for the d30? Don’t worry, its coming later this year in another crowdfunding campaign. By the time the 4th packet is released, you will have all the nonstandard dice you will need to play in the Advanced Advantage sandbox. Or there are several dice rolling Apps (many of them free) that allow you to roll custom dice. Same with most VTT platforms.

We hope that clears up some of the mystique about what we are doing in the 5E Design Labs. But we really hope you will join us at the Game Table to play some Advanced Advantage soon!

If you have any questions on Advanced Advantage, leave them in the comments below!

(Plus make sure to vote in the latest trivia challenge, linked at bottom of update!)