Best Nova Build I could come up with

[Dualswinger]

**DISCLAIMER** I am fully aware that this is far from the spirit of the game, that this class is probably unplayable before level 20 and that I'm using material from the widely derided Unearthed Arcana series. Please be aware that this is purely an experiment in squeezing out the maximum possible damage while not breaking any rules. So hopefully with that in mind let's get rolling on this trainwreck.

The character is presented as thus:

Half Orc, Fighter (BM) 3 / Rogue (Assassin) 3 / Ranger (Deep Stalker) 3 / Paladin (Treachery) 3 / Sorcerer (Favoured Soul) 8

Due to the obscene multi-class tax, his stats (along with his solitary ASI) breakdown to:

Str: 17+1
Dex: 13
Con: 11+1
Int: 8
Wis: 13
Cha: 13

He has an ECL (Would that be the right thing to call it this edition?) of 11, giving him the spell slots of:

Level 1. 4
Level 2. 3
Level 3. 3
Level 4. 3
Level 5. 2
Level 6. 1

Fighter: Great Weapon Fighting Style, Battlemaster Maneuvers, Precision Attack, Menacing Attack,
Rogue: Stealth Expertise, Assassinate, Sneak Attack
Ranger: Natural Explorer, Favored Enemy, Underdark Scout
Paladin: Defense Fighting Style, CD Poison Strike, Divine Strike
Sorcerer: Extra Attack, Metamagic Quicken spell, Empower Spell, Sorcery points, Haste Spell, Green Flame Blade Spell
Feat: Great Weapon Mastery.

Before I write up the damage breakdown, we need to make five assumptions.

1. The Character has converted his Sorcery points from his level 1 and 2 slots and used them to create 2 extra level 4 slots, with 5 sorcery points left over.
2. Our character has had time to prepare and sneak up on his quarry.
3. He has had a full turn to prepare BEFORE initiative is rolled, using his action to cast Haste and a bonus action to use his Channel Divinity to poison his weapon.
4. This character lives in magical happy land where all his attacks actually land despite having an Attack bonus of only +5 with Advantage.
5. The character is battling a favored enemy.

As battle begins, he makes his initiative with advantage (Ranger Feature), and charges in with 80ft of movement (30 base + 10 from Ranger then doubled from Haste).

He gains 8 attacks, calculated here:

(1 Base attack, + 1 Extra Attack (Favoured Soul 6) + 1 Extra Attack (Deep Stalker 3, first turn only)) * 2 (Action Surge) + 1 Attack (Haste extra Attack) + 1 Booming blade (Bonus action, Quicken spell Metamagic).


1. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + Superiority die 2d8 + Treachery Poison 24 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured enemy 2 = Total Damage of 3d12 + 12d8 + 41 = Average 113.5

2. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + Superiority die 2d8 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 12d8 = 89.5

3. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + Superiority die 2d8 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 12d8 = 89.5 (Extra Attack from Deep Stalker)

4. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + Superiority die 2d8 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 12d8 = 89.5

5. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 10d8 = 80.5

6. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 10d8 = 80.5

7. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 10d8 = 80.5 (Extra attack from Haste)

8. Greataxe 3d12 + Str mod 4 + Great Weapon Mastery 10 + 4th level smite 10d8 + Favoured Enemy 2 + Booming Blade 6d8 (Reroll a single die) = Total damage of 3d12 + 17 + 16d8 = 107.5 (Quickened Booming Blade)

Total average damage = 731.

We can add 8d8 onto the damage if the target of attack 8 moves after Booming blade, though is unlikely.

It's possible to make a few changes here and there to build that won't impact the damage output too much, for example, taking the Monster Hunter instead of Battlemaster for the Fighter would give the character some more skills.

There's no difference to a single target whether the character uses GF Blade or Booming Blade, since there's no guarantee that the target of the attack would move, though more enemies have fire immunity.

I now invite the Playgroud to poke all of the holes in this build and to tell me what a terrible person I am for creating it :smalltongue:

Edit: Removed Sneak Attack. Reworded Attack Breakdown to make action economy clearer.

[Specter]

Just so you know, you can't apply Sneak Attack using a greataxe.

[Dualswinger]

Just so you know, you can't apply Sneak Attack using a greataxe.

Ah-ha! Mistake No.1! Thank you! Will adjust.

[Socratov]

So, that is an awful lot of assumptions:

basically you either roll all crits or you get 1 full round of buffing before launching a an attack on a traget that stays completely unaware of you (and thus can be treated as having the surprised condition).

however, please note that haste grants an extra action as does the Fighter Action Surge. They don't grant additional bonus actions (even if the wording on that in Action surge could be misconstrued towards an extra bonus action). So you get 3 actions worth 2 attacks each, with the option of gaining an extra bonus action attack. This will take your actions and bonus action.

Then there is the booming blade stuff: please note that using booming blade (like Green Flame Blade) is casting a spell. Not employing the attack action. You make a weapon attack as part of the spell, even specifically called out as adding your weapon damage die on a hit to the spell damage, but it precludes you from using extra attack and the like.

Also, while you're at it, you might want to use booming blade quickened and attack like normal (as the bonus damage from booming blade is pretty sweet). and You might want to read the entries for battlemaster's maneuvers if they work on any given attack, or when taking the attack action. Beucase of Booming blade and Green flame blade the two are not equivalent: making a weapon attack is not taking the attack action.

And while the assassing thing is fun, it is pretty much DM dependant and this build has a really rotten chance to hit.

At lvl 20 you could encounter a Great red dragon with an AC of 22. Try matching your calculations to that AC. Then you could really calculate the expected damage by adding [chance to hit& not crit]*dmg+[chance to crit]*crit dmg.

then you calculate that for every action taken (please specifiy it by round and action type so : bonus action, regular action, action surge action, haste action) and then you can really discuss it and its tradeoffs.

[Dualswinger]

Thanks for replying :smallsmile:

Yeah, an awful lot of assumptions, but that's where the fun is. I COULD not use GWM for the usual +11 to hit, plus it would free up an extra ASI, but the object was maximized damage, not playability.

The idea the buffing takes place out of combat, so the buffs are applied BEFORE initiative is rolled, to ensure that I still get the Assassinate bonuses (Auto advantage + Auto crit) on turn 1.

I am aware as the rule of haste, but the 3rd attack that gets doubled from the Fighter's Action Surge comes from the Deep stalker conclave, not the haste bonus, that's where Attack 7 comes from.

Attack 8, the booming blade, is being used as a quickened spell through metamagic, I'll be altering my original post to try and make that clearer.

A +5 to hit IS pretty pants I won't lie, but this build is just for fun. AO knows what a nightmare it would be to try and level this through campaign play to 20.

Thanks again