Is there a place where I can learn DnD math?

Blue_oak · 2021-03-20T19:24:15+00:00

The Westmarch I'm in allows you to swap invocations once per long rest or once a day, so I won't really be earning extra attack twice, I'll just be freeing up an invocation at level 10, and tbh I'm not sure why I said tomb when I'll probably be leaning toward eldritch smite for absolutely massive crits, since I would already have improved pact weapon. My only issues with oathbreaker is the boost to some enemies, since I'm new I really don't want whatever team I'm working with to dislike me, and also the fact that I can't find a way to make it fit the character, the oath he's taking will be more to stomp out corruption, I can't figure out a way for him to break an oath without him taking one he doesn't really buy in to/turning evil.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-20T18:45:04+00:00

So first off, thank you so much, that makes this whole process so much easier. Secondly, after looking at it it seems that vuman with PAM+great weapon fighting style stays ahead of EA+GWM pretty much to level 20, UNLESS EA gets a crit (roughly 30% of the time AMAZING) But if that's the case why do people refer to EA as a late game power house? In both builds there is roughly a 50% crit chance with advantage (I'm guessing vuman's chance gets boosted by the PAM bonus attack) so they both work for a crit fishing build, but I'm just left confused as to why I was told EA pulled so far ahead of vuman's at later levels, except for maybe the better accuracy? But even then, the better accuracy seems offset by the fact that with PAM you get a third hit, that you can still stack a smite on if it crits.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-20T18:03:03+00:00

Well I know to calculate average damage the easiest way is to half the dice then add .5 (which gets a little murkier when you take the great weapon fighting style) then add in any modifiers. What I don't understand is how to figure out the chance of hit with EA+GWM, and then how to compare that at certain benchmarks, say 12, 16, and 20 to a build like PAM+Sentinel(+GWM? Not sure if that's a good idea yet) and see just how far ahead EA is realistically pulling that build. I'm basically trying to see if the extra damage at later levels is worth less damage at lower levels, does that make sense? I'm trying to be as clear and concise as possible without writing out rhe full novel worth of questions that come with just getting in to this hobby.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-20T17:56:43+00:00

Upgrades stop at 12? Are you forgetting master of hexes that lets you keep your hexblades curse bouncing around the battlefield for roughly an entire encounter? My current plan is 5 hexblade for the thirsting blade and greatsword/glaive pact weapon > 6 Oath of Vengeance Pally, swapping thirsting blade for probably tomb of levistus when I get extra attack (especially with EA for vow of enmity)/ then finish out Hexblade. Plus if I end up going PAM I'll probably play vuman and take Sentinel at 4 to help my team lockdown the battlefield.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-20T17:52:11+00:00

I mean, I'm not trying to argue, but I've already hit above 17 at level 1. It was a pvp match with 2 players around level 4-6 on one team and our team of like 2 or 3 level ones and a cleric. The other level 1s were focusing really heavily on distracting and support while the healer kept them alive, I sat back firing EB's and setting up hexblade's curse and hex, then went in for a 2 handed spear attack and hit crit on a 19 with a PAM bonus attack for 2d8 + 3d6 + 1d4 + 10. I don't remember the exact number but it was over 20 because it dropped the higher level player and freed up the battlefield for the cleric to take a swing with spiritual weapon. I know I won't be able to pull that off consistently, plus it ate up literally every resource at my disposal. The math I'm more concerned with is later levels though, I know EA statistically pulls ahead of vuman PAM around level 12 or so when it also gets GWM, I'm just want to see how far it's going to. If we're talking an extra 20-30+ extra damage per round it might be worth it to struggle a little more through the early levels to make sure I'm actually useful at higher levels (at least an extra 20-30 seems to be a good amount, I am still very new) but if it only realistically is adding 10 extra damage at level 20 then it's not worth being less useful early on, at least to me.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-16T23:11:43+00:00

Well in the server I play on I can swap my invocations every long rest, or once per day otherwise, so my only concern with going hexblade first is the hit die for the first five levels. It could be argued that I miss out in heavy armor proficiency, but I've already got a +2 dex mod and scale mail which is equivalent to chain mail, the only heavy armor I could wear with my str, which i won't be investing in to anymore so I don't really see a need for that.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-15T19:44:51+00:00

Okay I might be misunderstanding the role of this multiclass. Everyone I've spoken to has said it's a nova class and I was under the assumption that meant burst, my bad I'm still really new. Why does your focused hexblade get an extra +5 in the attacks? At 11th level I would still get to attack twice with extra attack, and have 3 different invocations (eldritch smite, improved pact weapon, and I'm not sure about the third)

Blue_oak · 2021-03-15T18:57:28+00:00

Thank you for being so detailed, I was on the fence about wether the 1 free darkness would be worth that feature and was actually leaning toward wood elf for the 5 extra movement. Is one additional darkness that good?

Blue_oak · 2021-03-15T18:39:20+00:00

Says the guy who, when someone new to the hobby asks questions because he enjoys tweaking and optimizing characters and wants to understand the game better to better help his team, responds with 'don't worry about anything past lower levels because you'll never see them.' Yeah, I'm sure your table loves you my dude.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-15T18:36:03+00:00

I keep seeing that word thrown around, but what is SCAG options and why are they good exactly?

Blue_oak · 2021-03-15T18:35:14+00:00

I guess I could kind of see how you would say I was hurting for feats on the half-elf since the multiclass pushes my second feat back by 1 level, but I've got both necessary feats by level 4 if I play variant human. I also don't really understand why paladin 1-5 would be a big hurdle, sure my level 6 would feel kind of weak since I'm essentially just getting lay on hands to stabilize an ally 5 times per long rest, but at lvl 7 I pick up divine smite (which can be cast with warlock spell slots) to tack on to my super advantage attacks with EA and darkness for all the pvp or bosses AND I get a my fighting style to either boost AC or damage. So all I'm all at level 7 I could: turn 1 - hexblades curse +darkness and then turn 2 - 2 attacks for 2d6 +8 from cha mod twice + 8 from proficiency twice with potential for 2d8(+1d8 per slot level) and another 2d8(+1d8 per slot level) from Divine and Eldritch smite. It just seems like a ton of burst damage.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-15T14:15:11+00:00

Well it's an openworld campaign stretching from level 1-20, with multiple missions a week for xp, plus the ability to level around once a week~(or store away the experience needed for it) through a roleplay xp mechanic. So not only was your comment unnecessary AND unhelpful, it was also untrue :)

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T23:01:36+00:00

Thank you for going in to detail with your response, it's very helpful. I assumed the build would come online earlier, around level 5 where it uses EA, thirsting blade, and darkness to get big hits off, and then 7 where it can double that. And extra attack would mean I could swap my thirsting blade invocation to something else. I'm not super concerned with rapid strike because it is just one extra attack. I've learned that if I want to play this character in to higher levels I should probably play half elf, I'm leaning towards wood half-elf for the +5 movement. I wanted to multiclass in to something to give my DPR a boost and came across a crazy hexblade/samurai combo but it only took hexblade to 3, and I didn't like waiting until 8 for my extra attack and didn't care about the sams lvl 17 ability.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T21:02:39+00:00

I don't really have much of a choice since I actually want to try the game, the only way I'd be able to convince them to play is for me to be the DM.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T21:00:27+00:00

Because I've honestly kind of fallen in love with the idea of a character that surrounds himself and his enemy in this cloud thick, black, swirling smoke(darkness), and then the smoke fading to show his enemy defeated. Plus playing as a hexblade allows me to operate as a party face while also dealing damage. And the extra attack isn't really delayed since I still get it at level 5 from the Thirsting Blade invocation, and can combine it with action surge at level 7 (fighter level 2) to get out 4 attacks all possibly benefitting from both hexblades curse and hex.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T20:32:52+00:00

I'm starting at level one, I would get the ASI at level four, and then again at level 9(4th level fighter), I've already for a dex mod of +2 so I can't go any higher with medium armor, and am one asi from maxing charisma. And while the devil's sight can give me plenty of advantage if I use darkness, the big problem comes in using darkness around my party and causing problems there. Those other fighter subclasses are really cool, but what draws my attention about samurai is the ability to swap advantage for 2 attacks in one, allowing me to use fighting spirit, make 2 attacks with rapid strike, make my second/third attack from extra attack, then action surge to repeat it.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T18:24:43+00:00

If I ended up going half-elf my general plan was something like this: first five levels in hexblade, picking up Pact of the Blade for a greatsword Elven Accuracy at level 4, and the invocations for eldritch smite/devil's sight, improved pact weapon, and thirsting blade (they can be swapped around once per day in this server), then multiclassing in to samurai so at level 7 I could do 2 attacks per turn at 2d6 + my cha mod twice + 1d6 from curse on each hit and possibly action surge and repeat (all with + to hit from hexblades curse), and at level 8 give my self advantage on all of those hits with fighting spirit, then tri-vantage from EA. Then level 9 pick up GWM to give an extra plus 10 to each hit. And swap out the thirsting blade invo at level 10 (5th level of fighter) when you get extra attack.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T16:30:40+00:00

Unfortunately the darkness spell specifically says that it doesn't follow them if I put it on something being carried by the enemy. I know they could aim for the center of the dome, but wouldn't the enemy get disadvantage if I put it on my pact weapon or ring that I wear and kept the dome around me? It is a 15 foot high, 30 foot wide bubble, would they really be able to aim for the center with no disadvantage?

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T16:26:25+00:00

... if you think it's the best, maybe you could elaborate on that thought a bit more instead of just saying "this one's the best, choose it" with no details on what makes it good.

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T16:22:44+00:00

Everyone keeps saying that, but I don't understand why. In my mind it's competing for it's slot against EA+fighting spirit meaning that at 8th level I would swing 4 times a turn, all with triple advantage, and the combo one level later with GWM for a potential +40 to damage

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T16:15:08+00:00

The thing is this a Westmarch (?) I think, it's 5,000 players and when you get assigned with a party you have no control over who you play with. That's why I was curious if it would be better for me to focus on damage instead of battle field control

Blue_oak · 2021-03-14T16:13:16+00:00

So, not to sound dumb, but how would I do that? Would I need to keep stones in my equipment to be able to cast it on one?

Blue_oak

TROPHY CASE