Damage Per Round

loisel · Jul 8, 2008

NeoNick said:
edit: When I get prompted to save the file it suggest to name the file "dnd4e-1.6.zip". Is that the source to my problem? Should it end with .xlsx when downloaded?

That's certainly a problem. You should save it as an .xlsx file, not as a .zip file.

Canine · Jul 8, 2008

loisel said:
That's certainly a problem. You should save it as an .xlsx file, not as a .zip file.

Running the .exe from Microsoft and renaming the file to .xlsx fixed the file to work with my older copy of Excel.

The sheet looks very interesting, but I am wondering how the "Best of" functionality is modeled. Theoretically, the Divine Oracle reroll power should push Eyebite up across the board, due to increased chance to crit, and of course the increased chance to hit, but when I change the "Best of" number, I am not seeing any change in any of the sheets. I looked through the formulas, and can't find any reference to the "Best of" cells. This could be an issue with converting the file to something Excel 2003 can run, but either way, I was hoping you could take a look. I'll be thinking about ways to model it using your current method, but I need to keep looking around some more to be sure I understand everything before I start with any edits.

Thanks for this excellent work!

KingCrab · Jul 8, 2008

Looks like great work!

loisel · Jul 8, 2008

Canine said:
The sheet looks very interesting, but I am wondering how the "Best of" functionality is modeled. Theoretically, the Divine Oracle reroll power should push Eyebite up across the board, due to increased chance to crit, and of course the increased chance to hit, but when I change the "Best of" number, I am not seeing any change in any of the sheets.

That's because I never got around to implementing that. Sorry. Maybe in a later version. I should just delete that column...

Sorry about that.

slaughterj · Jul 8, 2008

loisel said:
Starting at level 15, something amazing happens. A Fighter using a Stance will out-damage everybody else, by far. As a result, even if you're a Ranger Stormwarden, it would be seriously worthwhile looking into taking the Fighter multiclass, just so you can take some of the Fighter stances.

I had actually considered that, thinking of swapping out the level 5 Ranger daily for Rain of Steel.

loisel said:
At Level 20, your character is having his mid-life crisis, and is probably buying a corvette and cruising around the mall trying to impress the schoolgirls. Many of the game-changing powers (Blade Cascade?) make their appearance in the Paragon Levels, so I take another look at optimized characters. The big surprise here is the Fighter stance Unyielding Avalanche. Any melee character should multiclass to Fighter and substitute their daily for this stance, it is simply that good.

It is interesting that you mention Blade Cascade and Unyielding Avalanche together, and effective suggest Blade Cascade should be swapped for Unyielding Avalanche. Per damage calculations though, presumably the level 5 Rain of Steel does just as good as the level 15 Unyielding Avalanche, right? So one could just get the level 5 instead, and keep Blade Cascade. Sure, Unyielding Avalanche has various other benefits, but CON will be low and not raised level-by-level for many other melee types (a couple though), so the regeneration won't be much for many. Is Unyielding Avalanche worth trading down to (i.e., trading a higher level daily for it)?

loisel · Jul 8, 2008

slaughterj said:
Per damage calculations though, presumably the level 5 Rain of Steel does just as good as the level 15 Unyielding Avalanche, right?

Oh my word, I hadn't seen that. If I update the Maul Fighter at level 11 with Rain of Steel, no doubt in my mind that he'll be the leading DPR character.

Is Unyielding Avalanche worth trading down to (i.e., trading a higher level daily for it)?

I think Rain of Steel is plenty sufficient, although the Reaper's Stance (L25) is of course better.

Machus · Jul 8, 2008

Nice work.

Sorry if I missed it but what was your rogue sneak attack damage rate?
With a high rate, brutals should rate higher than artful because they can either use pierce for higher hit and same damage (add str to damage), or sly if they have a CHA modifier for combined dex+str+cha.

loisel · Jul 9, 2008

Machus said:
Nice work.

Sorry if I missed it but what was your rogue sneak attack damage rate?
With a high rate, brutals should rate higher than artful because they can either use pierce for higher hit and same damage (add str to damage), or sly if they have a CHA modifier for combined dex+str+cha.

I assume that you have CA. Then, I count the probability of hitting, P. Then, I count the average expected damage of a sneak attack, D. The damage from Sneak Attack is P times D. I have counted Brutal Scoundrel and such in this damage.

small pumpkin man · Jul 9, 2008

loisel said:
Oh my word, I hadn't seen that. If I update the Maul Fighter at level 11 with Rain of Steel, no doubt in my mind that he'll be the leading DPR character.

I think Rain of Steel is plenty sufficient, although the Reaper's Stance (L25) is of course better.

May I ask why you're inlcuding these dailys anyway? Since they only show up one encounter a day, they aren't really part of the characters "normal" damage potential.

loisel · Jul 9, 2008

small pumpkin man said:
May I ask why you're inlcuding these dailys anyway? Since they only show up one encounter a day, they aren't really part of the characters "normal" damage potential.

That's why I include both cases: using the stance, and not using it. If you don't like the comparison, just ignore that particular line.