How to reign in your own character?

[Rhocian Xothara]

So I'm playing in a podcast D&D game and it's a lot of fun.

My character is a Dragonborn Sorcadin. 10th level, Devotion 6 Draconic Soul 4, with the GWM and Warcaster Feats.

He's the "big dumb tank" archetype, and really the only one in a party of six (we have three casters, a monk and a "Templar", which is a more magically-inclined Pally).

Last night we fought a Dragon Turtle and a horde of Sahuagin. My party fought the Sahuagin and left the Dragon Turtle to me. I killed it in two rounds.

A combination of Booming Blade (with a 3rd-level smite on top, ruled as being allowed as a melee weapon attack is made as part of the spell) and two weapon attacks, all with GWM's feature applied. One came with a 3rd-level smite; the other with a 4th-level.

Rinse and repeat for the second round, albeit with slightly lower level smites, mitigated by the fact that one of the three hits was a Critical. My average DPR over these two rounds was 150pts of damage, divided up between slashing and Radiant.

Some of the power is in the Greatsword my DM probably now regrets giving me: A Fireglass Greatsword, blessed by a God of Tyranny I literally had a fistfight with (not joking) so I get to re-roll 1s and 2s on damage rolls and crit on a 19 or 20. The DM has hinted that it may be sentient, so whilst I can probably put it down and use a different weapon, I don't trust it to not go all 'Craven Edge' on me.

I realise this all sounds like a (not so) humble brag, but I'm asking for ideas in subtly reigning my guy in because... well, I'm a DM too. My group has repeatedly reassured me that they actually kinda like being able to leave the combat to Ahkrin, because combat can take forever sometimes and we're all really engrossed in the plot.

But it's also not fair on the DM, who has to try and balance encounters. The Dragon Turtle could have killed anyone else in the party without a whole lot of trouble, but got ragdolled instead by one guy.

My view is if the group is more invested in the story than in the combat, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot, and the DM hasn't spoken to me about it (and I'd trust him to do so if he felt it was a genuine issue), but as an experienced player myself I feel I have responsibility to do what's right for the group too, and not wait for someone to say I'm ruining their fun.

What would you do in this situation?

[Silly Name]

I mean, on one hand, your character getting to stomp on a Dragon Turtle is a pretty cool and interesting thing in-itself. If the rest of the party feels overshadowed, and the DM seems to not be upset over this, do you really need to reel in your power level?

As you said, the Dragon Turtle probably could have killed the rest of the party... Which means your character actually fulfilled his combat role perfectly by tanking and defeating the monster before it could harm your buddies.

In any case, if you do want to dial back the power level of your PC, I would say it's as easy as using smites a bit less often, perhaps focusing more on the tank aspect and less on the combat machine side. Stay in the middle of the fray and draw enemies towards you, keep close enough to your party so that you can support them and stuff like that.

[da newt]

Check in with the DM, then check in with the rest of the Players. Tell them your concerns, ask for their input, let them know that if things become unbalanced you'd like them to let you know, and listen.

Adjust IF they ask you to - otherwise fight to the best of your ability every time as if it was real.

[Rhocian Xothara]

Check in with the DM, then check in with the rest of the Players. Tell them your concerns, ask for their input, let them know that if things become unbalanced you'd like them to let you know, and listen.

Adjust IF they ask you to - otherwise fight to the best of your ability every time as if it was real.

Yeah, I have asked my group a few times now, and they have all said they're happy to leave Ahkrin to it. There's certain rules, though: There's a consensus that they like having Ahkrin soften up the nastier encounters, but one or two get annoyed whenever he "steals their kill". We often fight big numbers of enemies and I have often taken the tactic of mopping up as many hostiles as I can in a turn to try and even the numbers out, without consideration for how individual party members might feel about having a kill stolen from them.

Since learning this, I have learned to focus on the "biggest guy". In boss fights the DM usually throws a boss in with a load of minions. I engage the boss whilst the party mops up the minions. I'm surprised the party is actually okay with this arrangement, but it does seem to work well for us.


The kicker about the Dragon Turtle? I say "killed in two rounds"; the reality is I spent two rounds purely negotiating with it. Ahkrin champions the lives of Dragons and dragonkind; a kind of "Dragon Lives Matter" warrior in a way that doesn't come across as tasteless. Far as he's concerned, his blade is made for *defending* dragonkind, not taking their lives, so after two rounds of failed negotiations and the Turtle trying to Steam Breath the party each time, Ahkrin wasn't left with much of a choice. The next two rounds was when combat began properly, and... yeah. He was angry that his hand was forced, and blew through six smites in two turns.

He stormed back into his cabin in a foul mood for a sulk afterwards.

[OldTrees1]

Step 0: Is this a problem?

Step 1: I don't need to use everything I am given. My character's race/class/feats/skills technically include things I do not grant to my character.

Step 2: What is the core identity of the character? Hopefully the core identity is not a problem. For example consider a rogue so stealthy they can hide in plain sight to be effectively invisible. Some DMs can handle a character with that as part of their root character concept, but others would need to ask me to pick another character.

Step 3: Everything not part of the core identity is now subject to examination. What should we self nerf?



Applying to your situation (I assume there are only a few combats per long rest):
1) Let's find what we can nerf / remove.
2) You describe them as a bug dumb tank, but then start to elaborate about their spike damage. Is their high damage part of their core character concept? Or can you nerf that damage a bit?
3) You have dumped a lot of resources into damage (3 smites per turn and 2sp per turn) but are concerned about how quickly you kill things. Unless you know a good reason not to, why not nerf your damage?
3b) Assuming you are going to nerf your damage, order your damage buffs (Quicken Spell Booming Blade, High slot smites, GWM, magic Greatsword) by how much you would miss not using them. Then start cutting them.


For example let's say your Paladin wants to be a Tank and thus starts casting Aid on the party using their highest level slots. From now on the Paladin only uses 1st - 2nd level smites. Get to Paladin 9 for Aura of Vitality (also removes the Quicken). Or Sorcerer 5 to cast Fly (nice draconic wings) on people.

[Unoriginal]

So I'm playing in a podcast D&D game and it's a lot of fun.

My character is a Dragonborn Sorcadin. 10th level, Devotion 6 Draconic Soul 4, with the GWM and Warcaster Feats.

He's the "big dumb tank" archetype, and really the only one in a party of six (we have three casters, a monk and a "Templar", which is a more magically-inclined Pally).

Last night we fought a Dragon Turtle and a horde of Sahuagin. My party fought the Sahuagin and left the Dragon Turtle to me. I killed it in two rounds.

A combination of Booming Blade (with a 3rd-level smite on top, ruled as being allowed as a melee weapon attack is made as part of the spell) and two weapon attacks, all with GWM's feature applied. One came with a 3rd-level smite; the other with a 4th-level.

Rinse and repeat for the second round, albeit with slightly lower level smites, mitigated by the fact that one of the three hits was a Critical. My average DPR over these two rounds was 150pts of damage, divided up between slashing and Radiant.

Some of the power is in the Greatsword my DM probably now regrets giving me: A Fireglass Greatsword, blessed by a God of Tyranny I literally had a fistfight with (not joking) so I get to re-roll 1s and 2s on damage rolls and crit on a 19 or 20. The DM has hinted that it may be sentient, so whilst I can probably put it down and use a different weapon, I don't trust it to not go all 'Craven Edge' on me.

I realise this all sounds like a (not so) humble brag, but I'm asking for ideas in subtly reigning my guy in because... well, I'm a DM too.

Just to make sure I understand you correctly:

You have a Paladin level 6/ Sorcerer lvl 4 character, and your DM has decided to give your character three attacks per turn, one of them with Booming Blade, AND allows all three of those attacks to trigger Divine Smite.

Also, you spent all your ASIs on feats, meaning that with a STR of maximum 17 (unless you rolled your stat and rolled high than 17 for STR) and a +4 proficiency bonus, you were able to hit a target with an effective AC of 25 (20 natural armor, -5 to all attack rolls because of GWM) *six times* in two turns. That means you rolled no smaller than 18 six times in a row if your PC's STR is 17 or lower. Even if you somehow rolled a 20 for your STR score that means you rolled no lower than 16 six times in a row.

So your DM is giving your PC free power-ups and you have the Devil's own luck. If you want to reign in your character, ask your DM to stop giving you free power-ups.

[Rhocian Xothara]

Step 1: I don't need to use everything I am given. My character's race/class/feats/skills technically include things I do not grant to my character.

Step 2: What is the core identity of the character? Hopefully the core identity is not a problem. For example consider a rogue so stealthy they can hide in plain sight to be effectively invisible. Some DMs can handle a character with that as part of their root character concept, but others would need to ask me to pick another character.

Step 3: Everything not part of the core identity is now subject to examination. What should we self nerf?



Applying to your situation (I assume there are only a few combats per long rest):
1) Let's find what we can nerf / remove.
2) You describe them as a bug dumb tank, but then start to elaborate about their spike damage. Is their high damage part of their core character concept? Or can you nerf that damage a bit?
3) You have dumped a lot of resources into damage (3 smites per turn and 2sp per turn) but are concerned about how quickly you kill things. Unless you know a good reason not to, why not nerf your damage?
3b) Assuming you are going to nerf your damage, order your damage buffs (Quicken Spell Booming Blade, High slot smites, GWM, magic Greatsword) by how much you would miss not using them. Then start cutting them.


For example let's say your Paladin wants to be a Tank and thus starts casting Aid on the party using their highest level slots. From now on the Paladin only uses 1st - 2nd level smites. Get to Paladin 9 for Aura of Vitality (also removes the Quicken). Or Sorcerer 5 to cast Fly (nice draconic wings) on people.

This helps a lot.

I think the DM has been subtly trying to encourage this, too. A few sessions ago was the first time Ahkrin ever actually used his 'Breath Weapon'. He was rewarded by his mother's Dragon Scale (his keepsake/memento) glowing white and my Breath Weapon dealing an extra damage die, albeit in Radiant damage rather than fire. Something I would never have discovered had I not kept the sword sheathed and resorted to firebreathing.

Ahkrin's dogma is to champion the lives of dragons. Of the four dragons we've combat-encountered thus far, the Dragon Turtle was the only one he ever had to actually fight. He stalwartly refused to take his blade to the others, and the dragons respected that and were becalmed by that. I usually deliberately fail saving throws against their breath weapons to tank them full-on, to demonstrate that I'm *also* not exactly prey, either.

So I think my DM drops subtle rewards for fighting in a way befitting that of a "dragon warrior".

On the flipside, we've been adventuring for over a year together now and Ahkrin is very much typecasted as "go hit that thing for a million damage, please". It's weird whenever he *doesn't* do it.

My damage output is greatly reduced during "normal" combat encounters; I always tend to reserve my true strength for encounters that merits it. I suppose I could lean into the old weeb trope of the old "This isn't even my final form", or "be proud; I might actually have to get serious!"

TL;DR: I could probably just try treating boss fights as normal encounters, and hope it doesn't come across as too much like fighting with one hand behind my back.

[Rhocian Xothara]

Just to make sure I understand you correctly:

You have a Paladin level 6/ Sorcerer lvl 4 character, and your DM has decided to give your character three attacks per turn, one of them with Booming Blade, AND allows all three of those attacks to trigger Divine Smite.

Also, you spent all your ASIs on feats, meaning that with a STR of maximum 17 (unless you rolled your stat and rolled high than 17 for STR) and a +4 proficiency bonus, you were able to hit a target with an effective AC of 25 (20 natural armor, -5 to all attack rolls because of GWM) *six times* in two turns. That means you rolled no smaller than 18 six times in a row if your PC's STR is 17 or lower. Even if you somehow rolled a 20 for your STR score that means you rolled no lower than 16 six times in a row.

So your DM is giving your PC free power-ups and you have the Devil's own luck. If you want to reign in your character, ask your DM to stop giving you free power-ups.

Kinda?

I have a strength of 16. My Fireglass is a +1 weapon dealing 2D6+4 damage, with re-rolls on 1s and 2s on the damage die, and crits on a 19 or 20. The weapon is admittedly OP; I got it very early in the campaign (it was since blessed (read: buffed) by a literal God), and I think the DM has been kicking himself for a long time over it since.

With GWM, I effectively still get a +3 to D20 rolls. And yes, I did roll 17s and higher six times, which is why the fight against the Dragon Turtle was exceptional. I have never consistently hit for more than 100pts until last night.

Beyond the sword itself, I'm not sure where the "free power-ups" are coming from. Booming Blade specifies a Melee Weapon attack being made as part of the spell, and Smites can be applied to melee weapon attacks. Granted, he could table-rule that Smites can no longer be added onto melee weapon attacks made as part of spells, but in any case I don't see how he's giving me freebies beyond a rather broken sword.

[TyGuy]

I would just roleplay in combat more. Do things that aren't optimal in the meta, but make for a cooler story.

[Unoriginal]

Beyond the sword itself, I'm not sure where the "free power-ups" are coming from. Booming Blade specifies a Melee Weapon attack being made as part of the spell, and Smites can be applied to melee weapon attacks. Granted, he could table-rule that Smites can no longer be added onto melee weapon attacks made as part of spells, but in any case I don't see how he's giving me freebies beyond a rather broken sword.

You cannot do 3 attacks a turn as a lvl 6 Paladin using a greatsword, and you can only use the Extra Attack feature with the Attack action, not with Booming Blade.

So you could have either used Booming Blade and made one attack, or made 2 attacks with your Attack action.

With GWM, I effectively still get a +3 to D20 rolls. And yes, I did roll 17s and higher six times, which is why the fight against the Dragon Turtle was exceptional. I have never consistently hit for more than 100pts until last night.

If it was just an exceptional moment that never happened before, what makes you want to reign your PC in?

[OldTrees1]

You cannot do 3 attacks a turn as a lvl 6 Paladin using a greatsword, and you can only use the Extra Attack feature with the Attack action, not with Booming Blade.

So you could have either used Booming Blade and made one attack, or made 2 attacks with your Attack action.

Double checking:
Bonus Action: Quicken Spell Booming Blade
Action: Attack Action (Extra Attack for 2 normal attacks)

[Unoriginal]

Double checking:
Bonus Action: Quicken Spell Booming Blade
Action: Attack Action (Extra Attack for 2 normal attacks)

It seems I misread/misrememberd Booming Blade, then.

I apologize for the "free power-ups" comment.


In that case, OP's PC blew up all their Sorcery Points and a large number of spell slots, plus got extremely lucky on the dice, and managed to take down a boss quickly because of it. That's perfectly reasonable. Especialyl considering the kind of damage a Dragon Turtle could have inflicted to the PC during that timeframe.

Rhocian Xothara, was this the only tough fight of the day/long rest?

[LumenPlacidum]

Level 10 total? Attack and quickened booming blade?

Greatsword +3 (2d6+5d8+14), twice,
plus Booming Greatsword +3 (2d6+5d8+2d8+14)

Against a dragon turtle, AC 20 with 341 hp...

You have a 10% chance of getting a regular hit and a 10% chance of getting a crit. You have an expected damage per round of 37.65. I did not account for the benefit of rerolling low damage dice.
You are holding yourself back simply by virtue of using Great Weapon Master. If you simply didn't use it, you'd have a 35% chance of getting a regular hit and a 10% chance of getting a crit. This would bump your expected damage per round to 59.025. For the resource expenditure that you're talking about, I wouldn't be worried about the damage.

Frankly, I'm stunned that you managed to kill it in two turns. Even accounting for a crit and five hits, you're talking about hugely lucky damage rolls.

Call it a statistical anomaly.

I made a champion fighter build that dealt about 250 damage in a single turn with action surge at level 7 because he crit a bunch of times with a likewise-powerful weapon (and the DM uses crit-enhancing random tables when you roll a crit). Anomalies happen.

[Sigreid]

I would suggest that when you're participating in fighting the masses of mobs, you always attack a fresh target and not "help" with one that someone else has already engaged unless they call for assistance. That will help highlight that they're doing their part even if it isn't as big as yours. Similarly, if your DM decides there is a problem, all he has to do really is present a situation where you have spent your smite resources a few times to get you to self regulate.

[Guy Lombard-O]

OP's PC blew up all their Sorcery Points and a large number of spell slots, plus got extremely lucky on the dice, and managed to take down a boss quickly because of it. That's perfectly reasonable. Especialyl considering the kind of damage a Dragon Turtle could have inflicted to the PC during that timeframe.

An extremely good point. I don't get why the OP feels he needs to be reigned in, unless he can regularly count on extreme luck like this (obviously, he cannot).

I once had a (point-buy, 1 free feat - PAM) 5th level vengeance paladin somehow end up in hand to hand combat with what actually turned out to be a lich (which is insane and inane on a number of fronts). He used his first round to Dash into position and Vow of Emnity this thing. For whatever DM reason, it didn't flee or destroy me (some spell did bounce off from him, no idea what). The next round, I rolled three crits in a row and Smited him as hard as I could, killing it in one round.

So, yeah, that happened.

But I didn't chalk it up as the PC being a problem. It was just a fluke, an extreme explosion of odd-defying luck that made the PC do insane damage - one time. But every other time he fought, he was good for maybe 25 HP per round total.

In another campaign I played an ancients paladin who was second fiddle to a GWM barbarian. The barbarian routinely left me in the dust damage-wise, and that was just fine with me. That paladin just focused on casting Aid, Bless (always including the barbarian) and moving his aura around to best cover his party. When that barbarian later left the party when his player moved, my paladin was frankly sort of lost as the party's round-to-round DPR tanked.

Your play style can greatly effect how much direct impact your PC (including paladins) has upon the party's DPR. No need to actually nerf anything on the sheet itself.

[Keravath]

I'm with everyone else in having difficulty in figuring out how this happened.

You are a level 10 - 6 paladin/4 sorcerer - a level 7 spell caster - with one 4th level slot, 3 third, 3 second and 4 first.

Your weapon is +1 to hit doing 2d6, and critting on 19-20

You used GWM on each attack for -5 to hit and +10 damage

Proficiency at level 10 is +4, your strength is 16 for +3 to hit

Total to hit modifier is +3

Each attack needs to roll 17 or more to hit - this is a 20% chance on each - for all 6 to hit is a chance of 0.000064 = 0.0064% or just over 6 times in 100,000 (0.2 ^ 6). Odds of that happening are extremely small as shown.

You quicken booming blade as a bonus action - you have four sorcery points so you can do this for two combat rounds before having to use a bonus action to burn spell slots for more sorcery points. At level 10, booming blade adds just 1d8 to the damage.

Base weapon damage is 2d6+14 = 22.33 average x 6 = 134 (12 dice) (d6 reroll 1,2 average = 4.17

Smite damage - 1 level 4, 3 level 3, 2 level 2.

5d8 , 3 X 4d8 , 2 x 3d8 = 22.5 + 3 x 18 + 2 x 13.5 = 103.5 (23 dice)

Booming blade = 2 x d8 = 9 (2 dice)

Total average damage = 246.5

Critical damage.

2d6 + 5d8 + d8 (assuming crit on booming blade with maximum level smite - unlikely) = 8.33 + 22.5 + 4.5 = 35.33 (8 dice)

Total average with maximum damage crit = 281.83

This is still less than a Dragon Turtles 341 hit points. However, when rolling so many dice the result will usually be close to the average. The more dice you roll, the more peaked the distribution around the average value. In this case, you rolled 45 dice and yet did 59.2 points of damage beyond the average.

However, maybe the sword lets you re-roll any 1,2 for damage even from smite and booming blade. How much more damage is that?

31 d8s were rolled - average damage on a d8 re-rolling 1,2 is 5.25 - an increase of 0.75/die = 31 x 0.75 = 23.25

Total revised average damage re-rolling all 1,2 is 305 which is still 36 points short of the hit points of a Dragon Turtle.

45 dice are rolled - what are the odds of rolling 36 points of damage above the average. Doesn't sound like much does it?

However, if you honestly rolled these 45 dice, re-rolling all 1,2 on all dice then the odds of rolling over 341 are just 2e-3 = 0.002 or 2 chances in 1000.

This makes the actual probability of the entire story come out at about 1 in 10,000,000. You should be buying lottery tickets (though you still have a smaller chance of winning that :) ).

-------------------

So although you have a bit OP weapon (especially if the DM allows you to re-roll all 1,2 rather than just weapon 1,2 - your ability to defeat a dragon turtle in 2 rounds is solely due to an extreme of probability in this case. You should not have hit 6 times and should not have done enough damage to defeat a dragon turtle. You also used all your sorcery points as well as your 6 highest spell slots out 11 total - leaving only 1 2nd and 4 first level slots. Basically, after these two combat rounds you are out for the day - if you have another fight or two then your character won't be contributing much but it could be your DM runs a one/day hard fight type of campaign where you can blow all your resources at once.

[ZRN]

Kinda?
With GWM, I effectively still get a +3 to D20 rolls. And yes, I did roll 17s and higher six times, which is why the fight against the Dragon Turtle was exceptional. I have never consistently hit for more than 100pts until last night.

Okay, so it's clearer now what's going on, and I think we can recontextualize the OP's question.

Effectively, the OP is the guy who sat down on Friends Poker Night, got the table to go all in on the first hand despite having mediocre cards, and got really lucky and won the round - then came online and asked, "Poker Night was over super quick! Maybe next time I should intentionally lose a few rounds, just to make sure everyone has fun?"

And the proper response would be, no, dude! You didn't win because you were better; you just took huge risks that happened to pay off. If you'd had worse luck, you'd be facing a set of different problems (e.g. "I missed the dragon turtle 6 times in a row and then we had a TPK because I was out of spells and resources.")

So the useful advice would be: take fewer risks. Don't take -5 to hit against high-AC enemies. Don't spend all your sorcery points and spell slots just to maximize your damage unless you REALLY need the enemy dead. That way, you won't steal the show as much when you get lucky, but also you'll have reserves to call on when your luck fails you.

(A caveat: any real in-game situation is complicated by other tactical and roleplay factors, and there are definitely situations where what the OP did would make perfect sense. The only reason I'd even give "advice" in this situation is because the OP specifically asks for it; if I saw another player do this in-game I'd just think it was a cool moment, which the OP's party apparently did, so that's awesome.)

[OldTrees1]

Okay, so it's clearer now what's going on, and I think we can recontextualize the OP's question.

Sure, but what about the context beyond that one extreme case?

I realise this all sounds like a (not so) humble brag, but I'm asking for ideas in subtly reigning my guy in because... well, I'm a DM too. My group has repeatedly reassured me that they actually kinda like being able to leave the combat to Ahkrin, because combat can take forever sometimes and we're all really engrossed in the plot.

But it's also not fair on the DM, who has to try and balance encounters. The Dragon Turtle could have killed anyone else in the party without a whole lot of trouble

This is not a one time event even if this was an extreme lucky case. Rather it is an extreme case that prompted the OP to seek help about what they perceived as an underlying trend (that trend being the other PCs leaving the combat to Ahkrin and the DM struggling to balance the encounters for both Ahkrin and the other PCs).

And yes, the Sorcadin can do big novas and fast damage output. Especially with the 2 combat feats and the powerful magic item.

So the OP was wondering, assuming this is a problem, how could I reign it in?

[ZRN]

Sure, but what about the context beyond that one extreme case?

This is not a one time event even if this was an extreme lucky case. Rather it is an extreme case that prompted the OP to seek help about what they perceived as an underlying trend (that trend being the other PCs leaving the combat to Ahkrin and the DM struggling to balance the encounters for both Ahkrin and the other PCs).

And yes, the Sorcadin can do big novas and fast damage output. Especially with the 2 combat feats and the powerful magic item.

So the OP was wondering, assuming this is a problem, how could I reign it in?

I'm sorry if my analogy was unhelpful.

What I'm saying is that the overall context is that the sorcadin build ALLOWS you to bet big and win (or lose) big by piling a lot of risk and resources into a couple rounds, but it certainly doesn't REQUIRE that, and over the long run it doesn't even necessarily REWARD that. It's often better to play it safe, don't go for the +10 damage, don't use your slots and/or sorcery points for extra hits and damage unless it's really necessary. That will have two positive effects in Ahkrin's situation: it'll put that character closer to par with the rest of the party by leveling out his nova damage over a longer period, and it'll make sure he has something left in the tank when things look bad.

[Keravath]

Sure, but what about the context beyond that one extreme case?



This is not a one time event even if this was an extreme lucky case. Rather it is an extreme case that prompted the OP to seek help about what they perceived as an underlying trend (that trend being the other PCs leaving the combat to Ahkrin and the DM struggling to balance the encounters for both Ahkrin and the other PCs).

And yes, the Sorcadin can do big novas and fast damage output. Especially with the 2 combat feats and the powerful magic item.

So the OP was wondering, assuming this is a problem, how could I reign it in?

The problem is that a paladin/sorcerer multiclass that blows all their resources on two quickened cantrips and 6 smites in two rounds of combat using a particularly powerful magic sword combined with GWM and EXTREME luck is going to do a lot of damage - it is the nature of all paladins and is only made a bit stronger by adding the sorcerer.

However, they can only do this for two or three combat rounds and they are out of long rest resources for the entire day.

If the DM wants to balance encounters for everyone then they need to get away from a one and done adventuring day where the paladin/sorcerer feels like they can freely use resources and won't need any for the rest of the day. In this case, the character was very effective against a dragon turtle. They might have been more effective if one of their team mates used some form of crowd control on the turtle while everyone focused down other targets and then everyone turned their attention to the turtle. This would have allowed the paladin/sorcerer to contribute a lot as well as conserve some resources for the next challenging fight.

However, it seems the OP doesn't ever expect another challenging fight so everything goes on the first two rounds of combat. As long as they do this, the first combat of the day is likely to be easy while the next one at the same level of challenge could wind up deadly.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the issue isn't the character necessarily, it is the adventuring day that the players expect which allows them to freely use resources knowing they won't need them later. The character's damage output is far less impressive making two attacks each round without smite or booming blade ... and without extreme luck they are actually hurting their average damage using GWM against AC20 ... and this starts to happen on the third and subsequent combat rounds.

P.S. I am assuming that the OP was exceptionally lucky with their die rolls and that everyone was watching. If this happened online or in a situation where folks reported die rolls without over sight, the 1 in 10,000,000 odds of this outcome would make me start using automated dice rolling or rolling on camera in subsequent sessions.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

Kinda?

I have a strength of 16. My Fireglass is a +1 weapon dealing 2D6+4 damage, with re-rolls on 1s and 2s on the damage die, and crits on a 19 or 20. The weapon is admittedly OP; I got it very early in the campaign (it was since blessed (read: buffed) by a literal God), and I think the DM has been kicking himself for a long time over it since.

With GWM, I effectively still get a +3 to D20 rolls. And yes, I did roll 17s and higher six times, which is why the fight against the Dragon Turtle was exceptional. I have never consistently hit for more than 100pts until last night.

Beyond the sword itself, I'm not sure where the "free power-ups" are coming from. Booming Blade specifies a Melee Weapon attack being made as part of the spell, and Smites can be applied to melee weapon attacks. Granted, he could table-rule that Smites can no longer be added onto melee weapon attacks made as part of spells, but in any case I don't see how he's giving me freebies beyond a rather broken sword.

Without accounting for the Crits, Dice re-rolls, Smites, and BB damage you'd average 11 points of damage per hit on a regular attack. With these things way more. Against a high AC opponent like this, not taking the power attack allows you to more than double your chances to hit (9/20 swings instead of 4/20), and damage per swing is more than 1/2 of the power attack (way more if you tack on smites, etc. Against opponents like this you shouldn't be taking the -5 penalty; as others have said, you got lucky. On average you'd hit 1 in 5 swings with your power attack and have little opportunity to smite. You used poor tactics and got away with it.

[Unoriginal]

What I'd like to know is, what would have likely happened if the roles were reversed and the rest of the group had to handle the Dragon Turtle while OP's Sorcadin was kept busy by the horde of Sahuagin?

[OldTrees1]

I'm sorry if my analogy was unhelpful.

Your analogy works well for the Dragon Turtle. I was just highlighting the OP's question was caused by more than just the lucky Dragon Turtle fight.

That is good advice on reigning it in by being more conservative / even about risks.

[Kane0]

Easy thing to do would be to separate some of your damage synergies so you aren't using GWM + Booming at the same time, or limiting yourself to one smite per turn.

[Samayu]

As a GM, I find it kindof a pain to deal with one character (or player) that's much stronger than the rest. I find my self changing tactics to give the other players a chance to do their thing and to not kill them immediately. So I'd think your GM would be on board with helping you tone it down a little.

My first suggestion is that he says he thought about it some more, and decided you can't smite with Booming Blade. I've never heard of anyone allowing that (though I have heard of people allowing smites with ranged weapons).

The other players who complained that you stole their kills, don't do that! But I recommend keeping it all in character. You are a paladin, after all. Do the honorable thing.

It sounds like you're using a lot of resources at once. Just spread them out a bit. Save some for "just in case."

[ATHATH]

Level 10 total? Attack and quickened booming blade?

Greatsword +3 (2d6+5d8+14), twice,
plus Booming Greatsword +3 (2d6+5d8+2d8+14)

Against a dragon turtle, AC 20 with 341 hp...

You have a 10% chance of getting a regular hit and a 10% chance of getting a crit. You have an expected damage per round of 37.65. I did not account for the benefit of rerolling low damage dice.
You are holding yourself back simply by virtue of using Great Weapon Master. If you simply didn't use it, you'd have a 35% chance of getting a regular hit and a 10% chance of getting a crit. This would bump your expected damage per round to 59.025. For the resource expenditure that you're talking about, I wouldn't be worried about the damage.

Frankly, I'm stunned that you managed to kill it in two turns. Even accounting for a crit and five hits, you're talking about hugely lucky damage rolls.

Call it a statistical anomaly.

I made a champion fighter build that dealt about 250 damage in a single turn with action surge at level 7 because he crit a bunch of times with a likewise-powerful weapon (and the DM uses crit-enhancing random tables when you roll a crit). Anomalies happen.

I know a certain official WotC module has a nerfed dragon turtle in it; maybe he actually was fighting that?

An easy way to nerf yourself relative to the rest of the party would be to just take more short rests and fewer long rests, and ration out your spell slots and sorcery points accordingly. Make sure that you're not accidentally screwing over your group's long rest casters when you do this, of course.

Also, check to make sure that your DM is actually having trouble balancing encounters around you- this might be a problem that only exists in your own head.

[Eldariel]

I know a certain official WotC module has a nerfed dragon turtle in it; maybe he actually was fighting that?

There's an easy way to figure this out. @OP: Was the Turtle Large or Gargantuan?

[Catullus64]

You don't "reign in" something, like a king reigns over a kingdom. You rein in something, as in pulling on the reins of a horse.

Sorry, pedantry is a reflex. To the actual substance of your post:

As someone pointed out, Booming Blade uses the Cast a Spell action rather than the Attack action, it just happens to include a weapon attack as part of it. You cannot use Booming Blade with your extra attack. I assume the third listed attack is coming from Great Weapon master.

Have you considered simply having some fun with suboptimal play? Spend a round climbing on and jumping on big monsters instead of just whacking them. Spend an action here and there Searching for clues on how to use your environment against the enemy. Use actions manipulating that environment! Get mad and attack tactically suboptimal targets. Get scared and retreat! If you feel like you're a DPR monster relative to the rest of the party, look for things to do that break up your DPR, and introduce more roleplay into combat.

Speaking of which... does it feel like you're outshining other party members outside of combat too? A very strong fighter who is very inept at social situations and makes rash decisions while exploring is a well-supported archetype, and can make party members who can't match you in combat still feel like they have a distinct place in the group. Point out to your DM that you're fine being put in situations that go against your character's strengths. And check out the discussion going on in the thread "How highly do we value melee mobility?" for inspiration about how a melee DPR monster can still be challenged in combat.

[OldTrees1]

As someone pointed out, Booming Blade uses the Cast a Spell action rather than the Attack action, it just happens to include a weapon attack as part of it. You cannot use Booming Blade with your extra attack. I assume the third listed attack is coming from Great Weapon master.

I believe the third attack was the Cast a Quickened Spell (Booming Blade) bonus action.

Good advice for the OP in the rest of the post.