In the Bard College of Valor, there is a feat called Combat Inspiration.
The text goes something like this:
"At 3rd level you learn to inspire others in battle. A creature that has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die and add the number rolled to a weapon damage roll it just made. Alternatively when an attack roll is made against the creature, it can use its reaction to roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to its ac against that attack, after seeing the roll but before knowing whether it hits or misses."
The last part confuses me. If I grant bardic inspiration to a fellow player, he can apply the inspiration die to his ac against an attack. He can do this AFTER seeing the roll - and I assume this is the attack roll made against him - but BEFORE knowing whether it hits. How can this player see/know the roll against his ac without knowing whether it's a miss - does he have to decide whether to use his granted bardic inspiration before his mind makes the connection between the outcome of the roll and his memorized ac? Is there something I'm missing? In any case, this feature is a very badly formulated.
Best regards
- Impero
A d20 roll vs AC is an abstract game mechanicand the inspiration die is also an abstract game mechanic. The character narrative is based on the results of the abstract mechanics. The DM let's him know the die rolls and the player decides to use the inspiration die before the results of the attack are announced, so ability tends to force DM's rolling in front of players and players looking at the die, and then jumping in with "I use my bardic inspiration die" based on a guestimation. The mechanic itself has nothing to do with character perception and response; it's entirely transparent game mechanics.
Ashrym wrote:
Impero wrote:
mellored wrote:
The idea is the player will not know what the creatures attack bonus is, so if they have a 17 AC, and the bad guy rolls a 14.... they have to decide to use the die or not. Once the DM rolls the 14, adds the Attk bonus of +5 and says "you are hit", its too late.
Coredump00 wrote:
What it boils down to is that the die gets used on attacks that would otherwise have hit instead of gambled against a potential hit.
Enemy rolls a 4, sweet, I'll hold onto my die.
Enemy rolls a 15 and my AC is 17, I'm gonna use it.
Personally, in my game, I would allow a player to use the die after the math was done and the attack roll + modifier was totalled.
But, as has been stated, once I roll that max damage it's too late to change your mind.
Impero wrote:
Jay_Ibero_911 wrote:
mellored wrote:
Impero wrote:
lawrencehoy wrote:
Personally, to keep it simple (and to help it be useful/not wasted), in combat with us we say:
"Okay, 19 vs. AC, Jeff"
"Oh boy, I use Bardic Inspiration! I rolled a 4!"
"So 15 vs. AC then!"
"Miss!"
Yay! Everybody wins 
Jay_Ibero_911 wrote:
Acrilos wrote:
Jay_Ibero_911 wrote:
The die roll is not the attack roll total to hit. The choice is made after seeing the die roll before being told if the attack hit because additional modifiers have not yet been applied. If the die roll is an 11 and the PC has an AC of 16 the PC doesn't know if the 11 hits or not because the PC doesn't know the attack bonus. If the PC thinks it might be a miss then don't use the superiority die; if the PC thinks it might be a hit then consider adding the superiority die to AC.
lawrencehoy wrote:
At our table we have a check resolution methodology that prevents this issue. The Value VS Def (19 vs AC) linguistic mentioned above is a holdover from 4e where attacks were made against different defenses, but the resolution mechanism it implies is effective. The attacker tells the target a total, the target confirms a hit or a miss. At most tables, the players do this automatically to the DM, at fewer tables the DM does this to the players; but I like the symmetry of it, it's fast, it's polite, and it resolves your issue. The DM should roll, do the math and announce a total to the player exactly as the players do to check whether they hit a monster. If the players have a bard around for cutting words they might want to give him a wink before confirming the hit. If they have an inspiration die they can use it to modify their AC prior to confirming the hit.
There are multiple resolution conventions that can be used to address your issue Impero but ultimately there isnt a rulebook page you can quote to your DM to make him help your class ability work. Just discuss why you feel this is unfair, describe an alternative or two such as the one I present above, and decide on something that works for your table. Otherwise the table is going to have a lot of retcon happening, a lot of arguments happening, or a lot of unhappy missed opportunities for you to have helped but instead someone took an axe to the face.
I just let them choose to roll the die after knowing if they were hit. It's still a gamble in most cases if it will help them at all, and ontop of all that, bardic inspiration dice are a DAILY resource as it is, and the bard gets 5 at the most each day. Until much higher level obviously, but I'm not worried about that.