Theory-crafting a max damage melee character...

[samcifer]

So I wanted to compare melee damage to spell damage to see which can do more damage and what the max damage could be, I came up with the following lv. 20 build using only class abilities, feats and a basic +3 magic weapon...

Eldritch Knight Fighter 11
Vengenace Paladin 7
Barbarian 1
Hexblade Warlock 1

Race: Half-Orc (for the extra crit damage)

Weapon: +3 Glaive or Halberd (I admitedly am unfamiliar with magic weapons that can do more damage)

Feats: Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master

Main (attacking) Stat: 20 Strength (+5 mod)

Spell slots: Lv. 1: 5, Lv. 2: 3, Lv. 3: 3

Activate Barbarian Rage and Hexblade Curse on target foe. Optional: Use Vow of Enmity for advantage. (Unlikely and hard to pull all of this off I know, but this is about max possible damage without assistance from any other players or npcs.)

Attack 3 times using the +5 to hit for +10 damage per hit. Use Polearm Master's Bonus attack combined with GWM for another +10. Use max level smites on hits as much as possible. After all 4 attacks, activate Action Surge for 3 more attacks with GWM.

Total: 6d10 + 1d4 + 5x7 (STR dmg. 35) + 42 (Hexblade Curse dmg) + 14 (Rage Dmg.) + 23d8 (3 x lv. 3 smite + 3 x lv. 2 smites + 1 lv. 1 smite- 88 dmg.) + 7d6 Hunter's Mark Dmg. + 21 (+3 magic weapon x 7) = average dmg = 235 if everything hits (not counting crits.) - 355 max possible damage before crits.

Did I miss anything? Is anything off in my calculations? (math isn't my strongest suit.)

[JNAProductions]

How did you get +14 from Rage with four attacks?

In addition, there's something that can do even more damage...

Quivering Palm. That can one-shot the Tarrasque.

[samcifer]

How did you get +14 from Rage with four attacks?

+2 times 7 attacks: 3 (lv. 11 fighter can attack 3 times) x 2 + 1 Bonus action attack from Polearm Master for a 1d4 + bonuses attack. Can only be done once as even with Action Surge you only get 1 bonus action per turn.

[JNAProductions]

+2 times 7 attacks: 3 (lv. 11 fighter can attack 3 times) x 2 + 1 Bonus action attack from Polearm Master for a 1d4 + bonuses attack. Can only be done once as even with Action Surge you only get 1 bonus action per turn.

Action Surge, duh.

Okay, that's me being stupid.

[samcifer]

I had to make a few edits because I had forgotten...

A: Hunter's Mark requires concentration, but Rage makes the player unable to cast or concentrate on already active spells.

and B: I forgot to add the +3 dmg. per hit from the +3 weapon.

[Corran]

How about a singleclass vengeance paly?

Soul of vengeance (oath feature, lvl 15) is a reliable enough way to utilize your reaction in a damaging way, against your VoE target. Bonus action gets taken care of by PAM. You have advantage from VoE to mitigate the loss of accuracy from GWM. Extra source of dpr in IDS. Haste for concentration. And smites if you need to burst. Better slot progression than an EK multiclass as well.

So, from round 2, that would be a total of 5 attacks (2 from extra attack, 1 from PAM, 1 from haste, 1 from SoV), all of them profiting from advantage, GWM and IDS.

As for the first round of combat, its action economy would look like this:
Bonus action -> VoE
Action -> Haste
Haste action -> make one attack
Reaction -> one attack, either from PAM or from SoV

[samcifer]

How about a singleclass vengeance paly?

Soul of vengeance (oath feature, lvl 15) is a reliable enough way to utilize your reaction in a damaging way, against your VoE target. Bonus action gets taken care of by PAM. You have advantage from VoE to mitigate the loss of accuracy from GWM. Extra source of dpr in IDS. Haste for concentration. And smites if you need to burst. Better slot progression than an EK multiclass as well.

So, from round 2, that would be a total of 5 attacks (2 from extra attack, 1 from PAM, 1 from haste, 1 from SoV), all of them profiting from advantage, GWM and IDS.

As for the first round of combat, its action economy would look like this:
Bonus action -> VoE
Action -> Haste
Haste action -> make one attack
Reaction -> one attack, either from PAM or from SoV

IDS? Not sure what that is.

Also, part of taking fighter is for Action Surge. It's still possible to do so in your build, but you lose a lot of damage without it. Also, Fighter 11 AS means 3 extra attacks rather than 2. True you'd still get 7 attacks and the bonus action attack would be a 1d10 instead of a 1d4, but the one extra attack would be circumstantial. Yes, the enemy would most likely attack, but without them attacking while within your reach, you'd lose out on a good chunk of damage. Your idea also scraps the Barbarian mc because Rage and spellcasting/concentrating on a spell don't mix. Not a bad alternative, but it has a bit more dependence on cooperation from the targeted enemy.

But there are other things to consider with your build. We'd lose out on 14 damage from the loss of Rage dmg, but gain 7d8 extra dmg. from Improved Smite adding +1d8 to every attack roll for an average of 14 again. Still, we'd lose out on dmg per turn as because the vow's extra attack is only made when the targeted foe makes an attack roll of their own, so in your case, it'd be dmg. per round instead of dmg per turn. Still, your build woud allow for a higher total damage as the extra 1d8 dmg. could go as high as 56 dmg, while Rage dmg. is fixed at only 14 per turn.

[Kadesh]

IDS? Not sure what that is.
At a guess, Improved Divine Smite.

[samcifer]

At a guess, Improved Divine Smite.

Oh, duh... That's what I get for not waking up fully for the day yet, huh? :P

[Vorpalchicken]

I thought it stood for irritable duel syndrome

[samcifer]

I thought it stood for irritable duel syndrome

laughing out loud

Good one. :D