Adventure Leacgue ( Nova )

[samduke]

plain and simple using the standard rules for A.L. with current resource books available. what race / class or multi class Nova's for the most DPS at level 4, with a single stat at 19 or 20 with the ASI.
no magical items, weapons, armor ect.

Race : and why
Class or multi class: and why

[Gignere]

No way of getting 20 ability following AL at level 4. Just theorycrafting but a PAM/GWM battlemaster, action surging with precision and if you don't need to spend your BM dice for precision use it on one with damage rider should be top notch for NOVA at level 4. Probably vhuman so you can nab GWM and PAM.

[SharkForce]

No way of getting 20 ability following AL at level 4. Just theorycrafting but a PAM/GWM battlemaster, action surging with precision and if you don't need to spend your BM dice for precision use it on one with damage rider should be top notch for NOVA at level 4. Probably vhuman so you can nab GWM and PAM.

that sounds about right. top nova damage at level 4 is almost certainly a BM fighter, with the possible exception (if you count damage to all targets rather than looking for single-target burst) of an incredibly improbable shatter that hits near the maximum number of creatures possible or something.

[Gignere]

that sounds about right. top nova damage at level 4 is almost certainly a BM fighter, with the possible exception (if you count damage to all targets rather than looking for single-target burst) of an incredibly improbable shatter that hits near the maximum number of creatures possible or something.

Max AoE NOVA has to go to Tempest Cleric at level 4. Maximize shatter or maximize upcast Thunderwave followed with a bonus action hit from Spiritual Weapon would be unbeatable.

[Gurifu]

For single-target burst:

Variant Human Battlemaster fighter with the archery fighting style, Sharpshooter, and Strength as the high stat, with a one-level dip in Warlock (Chain) for Hex and a Familiar. Use hand-axes in either hand and action surge. The familiar can get you advantage on your first attack. Total damage should be 6d6+3d8+36, less if you need to use a superiority die to turn a miss into a hit, more if you get a crit.

(For a build that's not complete rubbish at higher levels, use Dex and daggers, and get 3d4+3d6+3d8+36.)

Also, your high stat is 16, not 19 or 20.

[Gignere]

For single-target burst:

Variant Human Battlemaster fighter with the archery fighting style, Sharpshooter, and Strength as the high stat, with a one-level dip in Warlock (Chain) for Hex and a Familiar. Use hand-axes in either hand and action surge. The familiar can get you advantage on your first attack. Total damage should be 6d6+3d8+36, less if you need to use a superiority die to turn a miss into a hit, more if you get a crit.

Doesn't work in AL because sharpshooter only apply to range weapons and unfortunately hand axes are not ranged weapons.

Also can't be both BM and Chain at level 4.

[Gurifu]

Also can't be both BM and Chain at level 4.

Oh, so you can't. I misread when you got your pact boon.

[Chugger]

I dunno. At lvl 4, while you'd miss that ASI, a Fi BM lvl 3 with a one dip into War Cleric could be seriously wicked.

Take GWM and use precision and bless to, on a surge, possibly land 3 maul hits. Two regular hits on the surge and a bonus action swing from the war cleric's lvl 1 ability.

If you land all 3 (and you can with bless and precision and if you don't roll horribly) that's 3 x 2d6 + (13 x 3) = 21 +39 = 60. Absurd!

Team up with a wolf totem barb (for advantage on each swing) and rock the house. On non surge rounds you could often land 2 blows, 3 after lvl 5 fi (that's 40 or 60 a round without surging, but you only have bonus action attacks = your wis mod - but that one restores after a short rest (edit I think I'm wrong, the +10 chaneled feature comes back after a shortie - I think the bonus action hits only restore after a long).

[8wGremlin]

Vhuman BM fighter, archery fighting style
Crossbow master. Sharpshooter.
It's quite high but perhaps not the highest.

[samduke]

thanks for the input all.
seems a fighter bm gwm pam option looks the best for dps nova damage

here is a funny story that someone locally told me they were planning, but when I checks I had to laugh..
They talked about a ton o damage, with a half-orc , to gain the Savage Attacks ability: score a crit with a melee weapon, going Cleric, and then using Inflict wounds (Touch) melee spell attack to do 9d10 damage...
don't think 9d10 anything is doable at level 4
( obviously there are issues, the GM throwing the book at them is the big one I see)

[Lolzyking]

Variant human Fighter/warlock, with sharpshooter.

Get archery fighting style

Get Darts, daggers, javelins, ect you name it.

cast hex turn 1

Wield two thrown weapons, throw one, draw another, throw the other with two weapon fighting, action surge, throw another, draw another, 2 throws a turn, 3 with action surge.

damage 1d4/6/ +1d6 +10+asi.



at later levels you can pick up crossbow expert and forgo thrown weapon land, but for level 4, its surprisingly good.

Won't out do warlock/sorc with quickend Eblast+twinned spell+hex at later levels.

[Sicarius Victis]

Variant human Fighter/warlock, with sharpshooter.

Get archery fighting style

Get Darts, daggers, javelins, ect you name it.

cast hex turn 1

Wield two thrown weapons, throw one, draw another, throw the other with two weapon fighting, action surge, throw another, draw another, 2 throws a turn, 3 with action surge.

damage 1d4/6/ +1d6 +10+asi.



at later levels you can pick up crossbow expert and forgo thrown weapon land, but for level 4, its surprisingly good.

Won't out do warlock/sorc with quickend Eblast+twinned spell+hex at later levels.

As was mentioned before, SS's -5/+10 does not apply to thrown weapon attacks. In addition, if you use your action to attack, you can only draw one weapon each turn, or two with Dual Wielder.

[Chugger]

thanks for the input all.
seems a fighter bm gwm pam option looks the best for dps nova damage

here is a funny story that someone locally told me they were planning, but when I checks I had to laugh..
They talked about a ton o damage, with a half-orc , to gain the Savage Attacks ability: score a crit with a melee weapon, going Cleric, and then using Inflict wounds (Touch) melee spell attack to do 9d10 damage...
don't think 9d10 anything is doable at level 4
( obviously there are issues, the GM throwing the book at them is the big one I see)

That does sound like a bit much.

We get too obsessed with DPR sometimes. It's a losing battle. Even if we do insane damage, the DM will simply throw insane levels of monsters at us. And then we find we have no Wis ST and get taken out by a simple lvl 1 spell like Tasha's Hideous Laughter. While it is a sad thing if a party has no damage-dealing capability, there are many other things needed to stay afloat and win overall in this game.

[Lolzyking]

As was mentioned before, SS's -5/+10 does not apply to thrown weapon attacks. In addition, if you use your action to attack, you can only draw one weapon each turn, or two with Dual Wielder.


Still would apply for darts

[Sicarius Victis]

Still would apply for darts

Doesn't change my other point, so either way you'd only be able to throw one after the first turn, and you wouldn't be able to Action Surge for more attacks with it. After the first turn, there's absolutely no point in fighting that way, and you're better off just using a hand crossbow and getting Crossbow Expert at fourth level.

[8wGremlin]

Weird thought:

Bugbear Way of the 4 elements Monk 4th:



When you use the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to cause tendrils of flame to stretch out from your fists and feet. Your reach with your unarmed strikes increases by10 feet for that action, as well as the rest of the turn.
A hit with such an attack deals fire damage instead of bludgeoning damage, and if you spend 1 ki point when the attack hits, it also deals an extra 1d10 fire damage.


Attack action: Attack with unarmed strike 1d4+4 fire damage - spend 1 ki to activate Fangs of the Fire Snake
Bonus Action: spend 1 ki to Flurry of Blows - 2 unarmed strikes 1d4+4 fire damage

If any of these hit, spend a 2 ki for an extra 2d10 fire damage

Be a Bugbear and get


an additional 2d6 extra damage on a surprise round
extra 5' of reach (on your turn)


4th level ASI = +2 dex

[Deathtongue]

Probably the easiest way to get on-demand top-tier damage in AL is to play a Tempest Cleric and get a Wand of the Lightning Bolts. Two of the hardcover books drop Wand of the Lightning Bolts at fairly low levels (4-6). Cast Lightning Bolt from the wand at level 9, maximize it, enjoy your 84 lightning damage, save for half.

[SharkForce]

thanks for the input all.
seems a fighter bm gwm pam option looks the best for dps nova damage

here is a funny story that someone locally told me they were planning, but when I checks I had to laugh..
They talked about a ton o damage, with a half-orc , to gain the Savage Attacks ability: score a crit with a melee weapon, going Cleric, and then using Inflict wounds (Touch) melee spell attack to do 9d10 damage...
don't think 9d10 anything is doable at level 4
( obviously there are issues, the GM throwing the book at them is the big one I see)

can't use savage attacks with inflict wounds. savage attacks is for melee weapon attacks. inflict wounds is not a weapon, it is a spell, and you use it with a melee spell attack. it's still good for 8d10 damage (assuming you meant inflict wounds in a level 2 slot), which is nothing to sneeze at, but hardly something you can plan around.

[PeteNutButter]

Doesn't change my other point, so either way you'd only be able to throw one after the first turn, and you wouldn't be able to Action Surge for more attacks with it. After the first turn, there's absolutely no point in fighting that way, and you're better off just using a hand crossbow and getting Crossbow Expert at fourth level.

Also darts are ranged weapons meaning they are not light melee weapons meaning you can't TWF with them anyways...

Everyone is throwing out these builds, but there is no consensus on how to judge them. I vote you put them against an AC target (say 15?) and see what their actual DPR is.

So for a PAM, GWM, variant human Battle Master Fighter. He hits 30% of the time or 52.5% if he uses precision attack. His attacks deal 21 and 15.5 damage for a total of 36.5 damage 52.5% of the time. That's a DPR of 19.1625.

The proposed Monk build hits 60% of the time doing 1d8+4 (staff) and 1d10+4 punches for a total damage of 27.5 * 60% hit chance is 16.5 DPR. On the off chance he manages a surprise round, he jumps it up to 20.7 DPR.

I'd propose just a paladin 2/any caster 2. Using PAM he can deal 1d10+3d8(smite)+4, and 1d4+3d8(smite)+4 for a total of 43 damage 55% of the time. That's 23.65 DPR. Given time, the paladin can also self buff for a bless to add another 12.5% hit chance, making the DPR 29.025. If the target is a fiend or undead, it'd be another 2d8 damage.

My point is GWM/SS aren't all that great at such low levels. The lack of consistency makes them pretty weak at low levels.

[8wGremlin]

The proposed Monk build hits 60% of the time doing 1d8+4 (staff) and 1d10+4 punches for a total damage of 27.5 * 60% hit chance is 16.5 DPR. On the off chance he manages a surprise round, he jumps it up to 20.7 DPR.

The monk damage is 1d4+4 (unarmed strike) * 3 plus +1d10 fire damage if they hit

NB: need to check the wording and errata on the Fangs of the Fire Snake because I think it's +1d10 per ki point spent if they hit (and we have 2 ki left)

Does that change the DPR?

plus 2d6 if on surprise round (which is very debatable)

[Chugger]

Also darts are ranged weapons meaning they are not light melee weapons meaning you can't TWF with them anyways...

Everyone is throwing out these builds, but there is no consensus on how to judge them. I vote you put them against an AC target (say 15?) and see what their actual DPR is.

So for a PAM, GWM, variant human Battle Master Fighter. He hits 30% of the time or 52.5% if he uses precision attack. His attacks deal 21 and 15.5 damage for a total of 36.5 damage 52.5% of the time. That's a DPR of 19.1625.

The proposed Monk build hits 60% of the time doing 1d8+4 (staff) and 1d10+4 punches for a total damage of 27.5 * 60% hit chance is 16.5 DPR. On the off chance he manages a surprise round, he jumps it up to 20.7 DPR.

I'd propose just a paladin 2/any caster 2. Using PAM he can deal 1d10+3d8(smite)+4, and 1d4+3d8(smite)+4 for a total of 43 damage 55% of the time. That's 23.65 DPR. Given time, the paladin can also self buff for a bless to add another 12.5% hit chance, making the DPR 29.025. If the target is a fiend or undead, it'd be another 2d8 damage.

My point is GWM/SS aren't all that great at such low levels. The lack of consistency makes them pretty weak at low levels.

GWM is a totally different animal at low lvl - if - yes if - you can play with a friend who is a wolf tot barb - and the two of you agree to this. The OP said lvl 4, but at 5 you can be 3 BMfighter/ 2warCleric. You have adv on most attacks because of barb friend. You can surge _and_ attack on bonus rounds w/ war cleric feature. W/ war cle channel ability you can wait to see your rolls and turn a bad miss into a hit with the +10 to hit feature. And w/ war cle you got bless to further mitigate the -5 to hit.

So in general yes, gwm/ss is sucky at low lvl. There are exceptions. Even w/ adv you're still going to miss, but ... and I'm not going to attempt the math on the above right now (and the math would be the telling thing, sorry) - but the above is not nearly as sucky. And can shine.

[Gignere]

Also darts are ranged weapons meaning they are not light melee weapons meaning you can't TWF with them anyways...

Everyone is throwing out these builds, but there is no consensus on how to judge them. I vote you put them against an AC target (say 15?) and see what their actual DPR is.

So for a PAM, GWM, variant human Battle Master Fighter. He hits 30% of the time or 52.5% if he uses precision attack. His attacks deal 21 and 15.5 damage for a total of 36.5 damage 52.5% of the time. That's a DPR of 19.1625.

The proposed Monk build hits 60% of the time doing 1d8+4 (staff) and 1d10+4 punches for a total damage of 27.5 * 60% hit chance is 16.5 DPR. On the off chance he manages a surprise round, he jumps it up to 20.7 DPR.

I'd propose just a paladin 2/any caster 2. Using PAM he can deal 1d10+3d8(smite)+4, and 1d4+3d8(smite)+4 for a total of 43 damage 55% of the time. That's 23.65 DPR. Given time, the paladin can also self buff for a bless to add another 12.5% hit chance, making the DPR 29.025. If the target is a fiend or undead, it'd be another 2d8 damage.

My point is GWM/SS aren't all that great at such low levels. The lack of consistency makes them pretty weak at low levels.

Your pal 2 / caster 2 can't get +4, no ASI. You are correct for any melee but BM, GWM sucks at low levels but BM can use precision to almost negate the -5.

You also forgot to add the fighter's action surge attack.

[PeteNutButter]

The monk damage is 1d4+4 (unarmed strike) * 3 plus +1d10 fire damage if they hit

NB: need to check the wording and errata on the Fangs of the Fire Snake because I think it's +1d10 per ki point spent if they hit (and we have 2 ki left)

Does that change the DPR?

plus 2d6 if on surprise round (which is very debatable)

I factored in the surprise potential, but that is not something you can count on. I mistook the firesnake to be 1d10 instead rather than +1d10 (working off of memory). With those extra 2d4 that makes the DPR for the monk 19.5 or 23.7 if a surprise round is managed.


Your pal 2 / caster 2 can't get +4, no ASI. You are correct for any melee but BM, GWM sucks at low levels but BM can use precision to almost negate the -5.

You also forgot to add the fighter's action surge attack.

My mistake on the paladin, I edited the 18 str on the % to hit chance, but forgot to on the damage. The funny thing is if you go staff and duelist FS, you actually end up with more DPR at that level: 1d6+5 and 1d4+5 +6d8 smites still equals 43. That keeps it at 23.65 DPR or DPR 29.025 if bless is up.

I did forget the action surge attack so the fighter should win with it for 30.1875 DPR.

I would add though that that would be basically all of the fighter's resources in that one round, which may or may not miss. The paladin only expends his resources on a hit. There is some balance to it though, as the fighter's come back on a short rest.

The real question is: "why are you level 4 in AL?" Stop playing that character, downtime him to 5, and start a level one.:smalltongue: