Naanomi
2017-03-08, 12:36 AM
I think we had a thread on this before somewhere but I can't locate it now so...
What is the most damage you can do to a single target in a single hit using only your own resources (IE: no spells cast by others, no magic items or exotic equipment)? Also, with no assumptions about resistance/vulnerability/etc of the target.
Volo's Aasimar seems to change the math on this quite a bit, so lets start there. I'll go with Fallen Aasimar.
My guess is it is hard to compete with Assassin's level 17 'double the damage' ability, which makes us heavily invested in Sneak Attack as well. I could go ranged (Heavy Xbow), but Booming Blade does a better job of adding to the damage, so the Rapier has the highest base damage of a melee weapon that is sneak-attack ready.
*Technically* Colossus slayer could add more damage for those last three levels than more sneak attack does, but I don't want to make assumptions about the target in that way; so I'll chase the easy sneak attack dice for Rogue 19, and sneak a level of Fighter in for Duelist and +2 more.
Max out my attack stat, obviously, and take Magic Initiate for Booming Blade and Hex... but nothing else seems to really boost damage directly I can find (Savage Attacker and Elemental Adept: Thunder would slightly boost *average* damage). Assassins can use poison, but again I don't want to rely on exotic equipment so...
So... ignoring the secondary effect of booming blade, and assuming a Critical + Doubling from Assassin we are looking at...
(8d8+22d6)X2 + 54
Does a big paladin smite or something more exotic with all the fixings beat that?
What is the most damage you can do to a single target in a single hit using only your own resources (IE: no spells cast by others, no magic items or exotic equipment)? Also, with no assumptions about resistance/vulnerability/etc of the target.
Volo's Aasimar seems to change the math on this quite a bit, so lets start there. I'll go with Fallen Aasimar.
My guess is it is hard to compete with Assassin's level 17 'double the damage' ability, which makes us heavily invested in Sneak Attack as well. I could go ranged (Heavy Xbow), but Booming Blade does a better job of adding to the damage, so the Rapier has the highest base damage of a melee weapon that is sneak-attack ready.
*Technically* Colossus slayer could add more damage for those last three levels than more sneak attack does, but I don't want to make assumptions about the target in that way; so I'll chase the easy sneak attack dice for Rogue 19, and sneak a level of Fighter in for Duelist and +2 more.
Max out my attack stat, obviously, and take Magic Initiate for Booming Blade and Hex... but nothing else seems to really boost damage directly I can find (Savage Attacker and Elemental Adept: Thunder would slightly boost *average* damage). Assassins can use poison, but again I don't want to rely on exotic equipment so...
So... ignoring the secondary effect of booming blade, and assuming a Critical + Doubling from Assassin we are looking at...
(8d8+22d6)X2 + 54
Does a big paladin smite or something more exotic with all the fixings beat that?