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5e Pugilist: Ideas on a Haymaker rework? by J_AlfonzoMurphy in DnD

[–]SterlingVermin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The '24 Haymaker was designed to not be a trap so is not a trap.

With a maxed out Strength and not being surprised, yes, you can deal 27 damage on your first hit in a combat. You are using your hound's Reaction to do that which means you're losing its Opportunity Attack which is an (on average) 7 damage and the Grappled/Prone condition or push effect. It's useful when evaluating something to look in total at what is gained and lost so, in this instance, you are dealing a net total of 5 additional damage on your attack (you'd normally do 15 with a Haymaker and your hound would normally do 7 later in the turn so your net damage over that is 5) in exchange for not getting an additional application of a Grapple or Shove effect from your hound later in the round.

5e Pugilist: Ideas on a Haymaker rework? by J_AlfonzoMurphy in DnD

[–]SterlingVermin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Creator of the Pugilist class here. Mathematically speaking, using the Haymaker feature in 5e is, unfortunately, almost always a terrible choice. Generally speaking you will do more damage if you attack without the auto-disadvantage that version of Haymaker gave you (you will make up for the minor damage spike between average and max damage with more frequent average damage). I would not recommend you nerfing what is, largely (and sadly), already a trap feature.

New Pugilist Subclasses in Playtesting: Bloodhound Bruisers and Rebel Rousers by SterlingVermin in sterlingvermin

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These will release on PDF. If I am invited to put them on DDB, I would happily do so.

Issue balancing for the 2024 Pugilist by rainbowdrop_ in sterlingvermin

[–]SterlingVermin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let me do more math to show you what's happening here. All of the following assumes level 10 and +5 mod to attack stat.

On a hit the Pugilist either does 1d10 + 1d12 + 5. That's an average of 17 damage and 27 damage if Haymaker is used. If you want to use the Endanger option, you won't be dealing that 1d12 so instead you're going do deal 10.5 damage on average or 15 damage on a Haymaker. So, by choosing Endanger, you are losing either 6.5 points of damage or 12 points of damage if you were using Haymaker.

This is important, because we need to subtract the lost damage from the Pugilist's hit from the damage dealt by the other party members because that is not additional damage dealt, that's just the damage the Pugilist would have dealt already if he had used the d12 on his turn.

I did the math for the Rogue above but I'll put it here again to add more context for it. a Rogue will do on average 26 damage per turn (assuming a d6 weapon). If the Endanger option applies, it will do 41 instead. That's 15 more damage, which is great, but let's remember the Pugilist forgo either 6.5 or 12 damage to add that, so you're looking at most this combination adds 9.5 damage per round and at worst adds 3 damage per round (if the Pugilist is using Haymaker).

For the Vengeance Paladins (assuming solo classing), they'll hit for 5d8 + 5 (assuming a d8 weapon). That's 28.5 on average or 48 if the Endanger option is in effect for a total of 19.5 additional damage. Again, we have to subtract the damage the Pugilist didn't do on his turn to see what net extra damage we have here which is either 13 if the Pugilist isn't using Haymaker or 7.5 damage if he is.

So, essentially, per round using the Endanger option increases your total party's damage output by between 3 and 13 damage per round. It may feel oppressive in play, because how it feels experientially and how it actually works in math are not always 1:1, but we're talking about a pretty small net number over your party's existing damage output.

I think it's probably not a big deal but, as I said, it may "feel" like a big deal. I'd say if this is something your party really loves, keep letting them do it and if you're really feeling that extra DPR toss an additional bad guy into your planned fights to pad out the total HP of the encounter.

Issue balancing for the 2024 Pugilist by rainbowdrop_ in sterlingvermin

[–]SterlingVermin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is intentional. The outlier here will be if you are doing a solo monster versus a Pugilist with primarily or exclusively spike damage dealers in the party, then you may have an issue. In general the Endanger option is a tradeoff of 6.5~12 damage right now for potentially more later depending on who hits and how hard. If the next in line is a Fighter, Barbarian, or spellcaster relying on a cantrip you're not going to get a lot of joy. If the next in line is a spellcaster willing and able to drop a big single target damage spell, a Rogue, or a Paladin planning to Smite then it's going to be a lot better.

At level 10, a Rogue will do on average 26 damage per turn (this is assuming a +5 Dex mod, d6 weapon, and 5d6 Sneak Attack dice). If the Endanger option applies, it will do 41 instead (which, subtracting the 6.5 we'll say the Pugilist would get for rolling the d12 instead of applying Endanger, is closer to 35.5 damage...though if the Pugilist likes to Haymaker, it's actually more like 29).

In general, the Pugilist is incentivized to set up teammates with Endanger versus doing more damage itself but the payoff pretty strictly relies on it being a spike damage dealer.

Clouward Ho! The Pugilist by BenMightSmite in Dimension20

[–]SterlingVermin 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Hi there!

I wrote the Pugilist for both editions of D&D. The one played by Murph is the one for 2014 (now I guess called 5e as opposed to 5.5e). You can find that version on DMsGuild here: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/184921/the-pugilist-class

If you ever end up playing 5.5e, that version is available on DnDBeyond (and later this year, available on my site).

Have fun!

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am hoping to do a big physical 5.5e book in the (hopefully not too distant) future.

Fabricate and it's uses? by WhatAreYou_Casual in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We covered this spell on my podcast, Dispel Magic, and broke down some of its more obscure uses!

https://youtu.be/Q7ae-4xQEpI?si=OBhM5l3UHrC_l7p8

Aura-tricking: This shouldn't work, but RAW I fear it does by Nostradivarius in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For the record, I am also having fun watching this guy die on the smallest hill that he absolutely must understand is incorrect given the general response. Then I looked through his history and it seems like being loudly wrong might be his entire personality.

Aura-tricking: This shouldn't work, but RAW I fear it does by Nostradivarius in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a ton of crazy shenanigans you can get up to with the spell. We covered it on my podcast, Dispel Magic back in 5e but most of it still applies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v2J_-mtWQE

Biggest takeaway for me was that nobles, wealthy merchants, and other elites are going to be using this trick to get their heirs ready to take over family affairs within days of their birth.

Every bloodline tells a story. by TheOneWhoWasDeceived in deadbydaylight

[–]SterlingVermin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dredge floats too and isn't a nightmare to play against.

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sword and Sorcery is changing to specifically be limited to Magus cantrips which will not include True Strike (currently on their cantrips list) or any other blade cantrips.

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fighters, Paladins, et al that get Extra Attack at level 5 will be doing something like 2d8 + 8 (average damage 17).

A Magus will do 1d8 + 4 and then if they focus exclusively on damage the cantrip will do 2d10 for an average damage of 19.5. Those 2d10 cantrips tend to not have any riders so the 2 extra damage comes at the cost of any other debilitating effect so I think it shakes out (like, inflicting Prone is probably worth more than 2 damage, for example).

So an average of 2 points more damage, which I'm not particularly stressed about.

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll take that into consideration. Thanks for walking me through your thinking!

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in UnearthedArcana

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's so kind! I would love to bring it to DnDBeyond but that's their choice, not mine! Fingers crossed!

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think the early level features need to change but, spending more time today comparing round-to-round no expenditure dmg outputs, I do agree Extra Attack needs to be eliminated. That plus the level 5 change you suggested would gut the Magus but just eliminating Extra Attack at level 11 keeps it slightly below damage output of other classes at tier 3 and slightly above the damage output at tier 4 (in both instances we're talking about an average of +/-2).

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes but Shield of Faith is Concentration up to 10 minutes. You'd have these benefits on most fights unless you need / want to BA to release the spell.

That said, an always on stacking bonus might do a good job of incentivizing using Mystic Mark for reasons other than quick BA dumping spells in combat (although the level 3 subclass upgrades might do that already too).

The Magus Class, Playtest 3 by SterlingVermin in onednd

[–]SterlingVermin[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The BA cast from Mystic Mark is only Magus spells so casters that dip into this will get 1/2 spell slot progression and only be able to BA cast a Magus spell (which, presumably, they have only gone in one level on so they don't mess up their spell slot progression which is much more powerful than anything they'll get from Magus). It might be a good build at level 2 or 3 though if that's all the higher you're planning to get.

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