excommunicated
2017-07-09, 08:54 PM
We are playing a campaign of characters just turning level 9 and our GM allows us a reasonable amount of freedom to change characters (not too often). We are unlikely to play beyond 14th level so optimisation for level 20 is not an issue. We are playing with the Primeval Thule campaign world, but Character as written is vanilla. Party has a multi purposed Wizard, melee Fighter/Thief, Cleric, Bow Ranger and one other who's class I don't recall. There are usually at least two others in melee not counting my current Moon Druid who seems to be running out of steam.
Totem Warrior 4, Battle Master 5
Race: Human Variant.
Characteristics at level 1, point buy.
Strength 16 (15 (9 points) +1 from race)
Dexterity 14 (7 points)
Consitution 16 (15 (9 points) +1 from race)
Intelligence 8 (0 points)
Wisdom 10 (2 points)
Charisma 8 (0 points)
Background (Urchin, Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Disguise Kit, Thieve's tools)
Racial Feat: Great Weapon Master (GWM). Racial skill: Intimidate
Level 1: Barbarian 1 (skills: Athletics, Perception) Rage, Unarmored Defence.
Level 2: Barbarian 2 Reckless Attack, Danger Sense.
Level 3: Barbarian 3 Totem Warrior - Bear.
Level 4: Barbarian 4 ASI - Strength 18.
Level 5: Fighter 1 Second Wind, Fighting Style - Great Weapon Fighting
Level 6: Fighter 2 Action surge
Level 7: Fighter 3 Martial Archtype - Battle Master (Goading attack, Precision Attack, Riposte)
Level 8: Fighter 4 Feat - Lucky. Very vulnerable to a bad wisdom save without this.
Level 9: Fighter 5 2nd attack per action.
Equipment: +1 Two Handed Sword, Non Magical Maul, Halfplate (AC = 17)
I may be able to get two uncommon magic items, in which case I'd also take winged boots, providing fly 30.
My thinking is two main modes of attack:
1) Against multiple enemies, take 2 attacks per round raging with reckless attacks taking the -5 penalty
from GWM hitting AC 16 69.8% of the time for average HIT damage of 25.33 hit points per hit (2d6 with
GWF = 8.33 +2 Rage, +4 strength, +1 Magic Two Handed Sword, +10 GWM) average ATTACK damage 26.6 once you
take into account critical damage (assumes a goading attack die and bonus action attack on a critical),
using a precision attack dice where required, which brings the chance of a hit up to 88.1%. Try to hit
wounded targets or action surge to trigger the bonus action attack. If someone wants to check my math
on the GWM raging attack average damage the calculation is as follows:
(2d6 with GWF = 8.33 +2 Rage, +4 strength, +1 Magic Two Handed Sword, +10 GWM)*(.881(chance to hit with
advantage and precision*)-0.098(chance of critical with advantage))
+42.66 (critical damage as above +8.33 plus 4.5*2 for goading die)*0.098(chance of critical)
+(0.881-0.098*0.098(chance to hit on Bonus action excluding chance of second critical))*25.33*0.098(
chance of crit)
+0.098*0.098(chance of a second critical)*42.66(average critical damage)
*Calculating the chance to hit with advantage and precision (.881) required 8 matrices of 20x20,=((8*20*20
all rolls)-(3^2+4^2+5^2+6^2+7^2+8^2+9^2+10^2 miss)) divided by (8*20*20 all rolls)
2) Against solo BBEG, My analysis suggests I should only forego GWM's -5 +10 option if the target's AC is
above 23 which should be rare, or I've run out of superiority dice and it's AC is above 18.
Try to conserve superiority dice but try to get in a hit and use Goading
attack (DC 16 wisdom save) and move out of reach of mobbed BBEG with multiple melee attacks (Party has
the melee resources to deliver a hefty opportunity attack reaction if it follows). Chance to
hit AC 18 without GWM is 84%, average damage is 10 less than for using GWM (15.33) maybe + 4.5 from the
superiority die of Goading (19.83).
Future plans:
Level 10: Barbarian 4, Fighter 6 ASI - Strength 20 finally
Level 11: Barbarian 4, Fighter 7 Know Your Enemy, Extra Superiority die, trip attack, Menacing Attack
Level 12: Barbarian 4, Fighter 8 Feat - Tough? Sentinal?
Level 13: Barbarian 4, Fighter 9 Indomitable, free up 'Lucky' to use to counter disadvantage on attack.
Level 14: barbarian 4, Fighter 10 Superiority dice jump to 5d10
I need help with how to optimize use of the combat superiority dice. I feel I can make a good guess of the
AC of many monsters and use them in a frugal manner, but should I throw one in when I roll a Critical?
Though it will add in an average of 9 (2*4.5) damage, there is only Goading Attack to use it with and a fair
chance of killing the target, so the Goading may be wasted. Assuming 2 encounters per short rest, I would want
to limit use to 2 superiority dice per encounter. Should I take Trip Attack rather than Riposte as the chances
of being missed when granting advantage is small. Is using one for a Riposte more effective than for a
Precision Attack? There is only a roughly 58% chance
to hit AC 18 when using GWM (without the Precision Attack), which means a higher dice burn rate, but not all
of the rolls with advantage would be worth using a superiority die on. I estimate There is a range of 5 spots
on the dice where I would use the Precision Attack if I have guessed the target's AC correctly, but with
advantage, that is not 25% of attacks, it depends on the AC of the target. For AC 16, it would only be 11%
of attacks, those that fall between 3-7, for AC 18 it would be 16% of the time that the roll with advantage results in a best number of 5-9. Using precision on every miss would use a die 30% of attacks against AC 16 or 42% of the time against AC 18. I suspect my 'burn rate' would be somewhere in between.
For Primeval Thule, there is a feat available that provides +1 CON and ability to treat effects of exhaustion as two levels lower, so exhaustion 3 would be treated as exhaustion 1. While this sounds perfect for a Berserker Fury Barbarian, you can still only get rid of one level of exhaustion per long rest and that would require dropping the 18 strength or Lucy feat which I'm not keen on.
Totem Warrior 4, Battle Master 5
Race: Human Variant.
Characteristics at level 1, point buy.
Strength 16 (15 (9 points) +1 from race)
Dexterity 14 (7 points)
Consitution 16 (15 (9 points) +1 from race)
Intelligence 8 (0 points)
Wisdom 10 (2 points)
Charisma 8 (0 points)
Background (Urchin, Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Disguise Kit, Thieve's tools)
Racial Feat: Great Weapon Master (GWM). Racial skill: Intimidate
Level 1: Barbarian 1 (skills: Athletics, Perception) Rage, Unarmored Defence.
Level 2: Barbarian 2 Reckless Attack, Danger Sense.
Level 3: Barbarian 3 Totem Warrior - Bear.
Level 4: Barbarian 4 ASI - Strength 18.
Level 5: Fighter 1 Second Wind, Fighting Style - Great Weapon Fighting
Level 6: Fighter 2 Action surge
Level 7: Fighter 3 Martial Archtype - Battle Master (Goading attack, Precision Attack, Riposte)
Level 8: Fighter 4 Feat - Lucky. Very vulnerable to a bad wisdom save without this.
Level 9: Fighter 5 2nd attack per action.
Equipment: +1 Two Handed Sword, Non Magical Maul, Halfplate (AC = 17)
I may be able to get two uncommon magic items, in which case I'd also take winged boots, providing fly 30.
My thinking is two main modes of attack:
1) Against multiple enemies, take 2 attacks per round raging with reckless attacks taking the -5 penalty
from GWM hitting AC 16 69.8% of the time for average HIT damage of 25.33 hit points per hit (2d6 with
GWF = 8.33 +2 Rage, +4 strength, +1 Magic Two Handed Sword, +10 GWM) average ATTACK damage 26.6 once you
take into account critical damage (assumes a goading attack die and bonus action attack on a critical),
using a precision attack dice where required, which brings the chance of a hit up to 88.1%. Try to hit
wounded targets or action surge to trigger the bonus action attack. If someone wants to check my math
on the GWM raging attack average damage the calculation is as follows:
(2d6 with GWF = 8.33 +2 Rage, +4 strength, +1 Magic Two Handed Sword, +10 GWM)*(.881(chance to hit with
advantage and precision*)-0.098(chance of critical with advantage))
+42.66 (critical damage as above +8.33 plus 4.5*2 for goading die)*0.098(chance of critical)
+(0.881-0.098*0.098(chance to hit on Bonus action excluding chance of second critical))*25.33*0.098(
chance of crit)
+0.098*0.098(chance of a second critical)*42.66(average critical damage)
*Calculating the chance to hit with advantage and precision (.881) required 8 matrices of 20x20,=((8*20*20
all rolls)-(3^2+4^2+5^2+6^2+7^2+8^2+9^2+10^2 miss)) divided by (8*20*20 all rolls)
2) Against solo BBEG, My analysis suggests I should only forego GWM's -5 +10 option if the target's AC is
above 23 which should be rare, or I've run out of superiority dice and it's AC is above 18.
Try to conserve superiority dice but try to get in a hit and use Goading
attack (DC 16 wisdom save) and move out of reach of mobbed BBEG with multiple melee attacks (Party has
the melee resources to deliver a hefty opportunity attack reaction if it follows). Chance to
hit AC 18 without GWM is 84%, average damage is 10 less than for using GWM (15.33) maybe + 4.5 from the
superiority die of Goading (19.83).
Future plans:
Level 10: Barbarian 4, Fighter 6 ASI - Strength 20 finally
Level 11: Barbarian 4, Fighter 7 Know Your Enemy, Extra Superiority die, trip attack, Menacing Attack
Level 12: Barbarian 4, Fighter 8 Feat - Tough? Sentinal?
Level 13: Barbarian 4, Fighter 9 Indomitable, free up 'Lucky' to use to counter disadvantage on attack.
Level 14: barbarian 4, Fighter 10 Superiority dice jump to 5d10
I need help with how to optimize use of the combat superiority dice. I feel I can make a good guess of the
AC of many monsters and use them in a frugal manner, but should I throw one in when I roll a Critical?
Though it will add in an average of 9 (2*4.5) damage, there is only Goading Attack to use it with and a fair
chance of killing the target, so the Goading may be wasted. Assuming 2 encounters per short rest, I would want
to limit use to 2 superiority dice per encounter. Should I take Trip Attack rather than Riposte as the chances
of being missed when granting advantage is small. Is using one for a Riposte more effective than for a
Precision Attack? There is only a roughly 58% chance
to hit AC 18 when using GWM (without the Precision Attack), which means a higher dice burn rate, but not all
of the rolls with advantage would be worth using a superiority die on. I estimate There is a range of 5 spots
on the dice where I would use the Precision Attack if I have guessed the target's AC correctly, but with
advantage, that is not 25% of attacks, it depends on the AC of the target. For AC 16, it would only be 11%
of attacks, those that fall between 3-7, for AC 18 it would be 16% of the time that the roll with advantage results in a best number of 5-9. Using precision on every miss would use a die 30% of attacks against AC 16 or 42% of the time against AC 18. I suspect my 'burn rate' would be somewhere in between.
For Primeval Thule, there is a feat available that provides +1 CON and ability to treat effects of exhaustion as two levels lower, so exhaustion 3 would be treated as exhaustion 1. While this sounds perfect for a Berserker Fury Barbarian, you can still only get rid of one level of exhaustion per long rest and that would require dropping the 18 strength or Lucy feat which I'm not keen on.