9th Level Duskblade

[m149307]

What is the most damage you can make a duskblade do in one turn at level 9? A friend of mine has gotten it up to 32d6 so far. Can anyone do better?

[Kazudo]

Curiosity: What's their method?

[m149307]

I'll Pm it to you.

[Forrestfire]

Does Festering Anger + lesser restoration eternal wands count?

[m149307]

Explain it to me, please? What does that do?

[Coventry]

I am intentionally ignoring allies; if his buddy the 9th level dragonfire inspiration bard is in range, there is an extra 2d6 per attack.


9th level has 36,000 gp of gear. Choosing gear for "burst" damage rather than sanity:


50 gp: Potion of Enlarge (increases size to Large - 10' reach)
50 gp: Potion of Invisibility (Triggers sneak attack)
3,000 gp: Shadow Hands (Assassin's Stance)
3,000 gp: Lesser Weapon Crystal of Energy Assault (adds +d6 damage)
12,000 gp: Belt of Battle
8,350 gp: Large Spiked Chain +1, Whirlwind. 2d6+1 base damage, increases reach to 15'.


Two feats are required before level 9:


Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Spiked Chain
Martial Study - Cloak of Deception (actually, *any* low level Shadow Hand boost or maneuver will work. One of those is needed as a pre-requisite to allow the Shadow Hands to operate).


The potion of Enlarge allows him to use the large spiked chain without penalty.

The Large Spiked Chain plus Weapon Crystal does 3d6+1. Assassin's Stance adds 2d6 of sneak attack damage. The invisibility potion enables that sneak attack damage. So that's 5d6+1.

Cast Energy Surge (of an energy type that is not the same as the augment crystal), as a swift action for an extra 2d6 damage for one round. So that's 7d6+1


Once Enlarged, the character has 10x10 space, and a reach of 15. In theory, he can fit 40 medium sized creatures within the whirlwind range ... if he is in the exact middle. Let's be a bit more reasonable and say he's on the edge of a column of troops, and can only be in range of 12 of them at once.

Whirlwind allows attacking everyone in reach one time as a full round action, three times per day.

So that's 7d6+1 times 12 victims = 84d6+12 damage if they all hit.


A fully charged Belt of Battle allows a second full-round of actions one time per day. Assuming the DM rules that the victims are still flatfooted at the moment, that's another 84d6+12 damage. So, his nova is 168d6+24 at this point.


To add insult to injury, give him Cleave, and pre-cast Vampiric Touch. If even one of the minions dies, he gets that extra attack and damage against a survivor.


... and I'm sure that I missed some stuff that make that number go higher.

Edit: Corrected cost of the Large Spiked Chain +1 of Whirlwind. I forgot the base 350gp weapon cost, and overpriced the net +2 bonus as 16000 instead of 8000.

[Forrestfire]

Explain it to me, please? What does that do?

Festering Anger is a disease that grants a cumulative +2 bonus to the host's strength score while at the same time dealing 1d3 Con damage. The lesser restorations can get rid of the damage, keeping the strength for Tons of Damage™.

Assuming a base strength of 10, this hypothetical diseased angry duskblade breaks even with the 32d6 one after 128 days.

[m149307]

That... sounds so dirty :eek: I am scared to use that in fear of my DM smiting my PC. so much d6. And for the festering anger... sounds interesting, but I have a feeling that it isn't unlimited (and if sanity rules play into it, that guy will be insane as anything)

[Forrestfire]

The limit on it is the Con damage. That's why you heal yourself of the negative symptoms before you die. Also, it's a DC 22 Will save to not go be angry at whatever you're angry at, rolled at the start of the day.

It's also pretty much TO, which is why I was asking if it counted :smalltongue: please don't use it it's not worth DM ire

[m149307]

TO? What is that (forgive the noobish question.)

[Coventry]

That... sounds so dirty :eek: I am scared to use that in fear of my DM smiting my PC. so much d6. And for the festering anger... sounds interesting, but I have a feeling that it isn't unlimited (and if sanity rules play into it, that guy will be insane as anything)

Except it isn't that much different than a 9th level mage dropping a fireball on that same column of troops. That's 9 dice multiplied 12 times ... it just feels different because the 9 dice are rolled once and applied to them all.

[Forrestfire]

TO? What is that (forgive the noobish question.)

Not a problem at all. "TO" is "Theoretical Optimization," a.k.a. stuff that should almost never see use on an actual table.

[Coventry]

Oops. I just spotted an error in my post.

Both the Belt of Battle and the Energy Surge require using a Swift Action, so one of them has to go.

That drops my total down to 120 d6+24 before the cleave using the Belt of Battle.

The good news is that you have the Energy Surge (and one more Whirlwind) available for the next round, when the dead guy's buddies try to swarm you.

[Snowbluff]

I can get more with Scrolls of Twinned Celerity (Wish?).

What's the best anyone can do without magical items?