Cutting words... seeing the rolled attack number or knowing it and the modifier?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Here is a link to the sage advice: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/07/bard-cutting-words/

So the mechanic is pretty obviously the DM rolls and says something. But does he say "I rolled a 15", or does he say, " i rolled a 15+7 modifier, does a 22 hit you?" before I decide if I wanna use Cutting Words?

And I can use CW against attacks in general, not just against me, right?

[lilika]

depends on the gm mostly my gm always said the final result making cutting words better, also after the first attack you probably know anyways.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Here is a link to the sage advice: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/07/bard-cutting-words/

So the mechanic is pretty obviously the DM rolls and says something. But does he say "I rolled a 15", or does he say, " i rolled a 15+7 modifier, does a 22 hit you?" before I decide if I wanna use Cutting Words?

And I can use CW against attacks in general, not just against me, right?

Yes, against attacks in general.

In principle, you use Cutting Words after the roll has been made and totalled, but before its success or failure is determined.

In practice at my table, this is a tough needle to thread. DMs do not often simply announce what they've rolled or what the modifiers are. The time you're most likely to use it appropriately according to the rules is when the DM asks "what's your AC?". Then you can get in and interrupt his procession to determining hit/miss. When the DM knows the AC of the target, they're often likely to proceed straight from rolling to declaring hit or miss, which closes the Cutting Words window. As a bard, you either need to remind your DM when you can and cannot use CW to make sure they don't skip that phase, or get your DM's approval to use CW fully reactively to hits or misses if the DM skips the interrupt phase.

At my table, it's the bard player's responsibility to declare a set of circumstances in which he might use CW - "remember, I can use CW to make attacks miss, so I might do that if the wizard or I get attacked or someone is below 50%". Then, if the DM does not properly give the bard a chance to CW before declaring success or failure, the bard gets to use it after success/failure is determined. This is a purely ad hoc solution to a problem that may only exist at my table.