jaelis
Oh this is where the title goes?
Everyone knows that the greataxe has slightly lower average damage than the greatsword. The axe does 6.5 on average, the sword does 7.0. This is not a big deal, but it bothers me more than it probably should.
Of course, when you add in the GWF style, the disparity grows quite a bit. Rerolling 1s and 2s, the axe does 7.33 hp, the sword does 8.33. That's equivalent to a full die step, and seems legitimately significant.
I've wondered about ways to fix this. Simplest would be to make the greataxe 2d6, but that is a little boring. I'm probably not the first person to realize that there is another option:
Give the greataxe the property that when you roll max damage, you get to roll again one time and add that to the total. So if you roll a 12, you end up doing 12+1d12.
If you work it out, that gives an average damage of 7.04 hp, almost exactly the same as the greatsword. With GWF it improves to 8.03, not exactly equivalent but much closer.
I like this, but I have a question: people tend to key in on the max damage, which increases dramatically in my scheme. Even though they are mathematically balanced, would this make the greataxe seem too good? When you read it, is your first reaction that you would always pick my greataxe over a greatsword?
One point: I would not normally apply this to monsters... their greataxes just wouldn't be quite as good.
Of course, when you add in the GWF style, the disparity grows quite a bit. Rerolling 1s and 2s, the axe does 7.33 hp, the sword does 8.33. That's equivalent to a full die step, and seems legitimately significant.
I've wondered about ways to fix this. Simplest would be to make the greataxe 2d6, but that is a little boring. I'm probably not the first person to realize that there is another option:
Give the greataxe the property that when you roll max damage, you get to roll again one time and add that to the total. So if you roll a 12, you end up doing 12+1d12.
If you work it out, that gives an average damage of 7.04 hp, almost exactly the same as the greatsword. With GWF it improves to 8.03, not exactly equivalent but much closer.
I like this, but I have a question: people tend to key in on the max damage, which increases dramatically in my scheme. Even though they are mathematically balanced, would this make the greataxe seem too good? When you read it, is your first reaction that you would always pick my greataxe over a greatsword?
One point: I would not normally apply this to monsters... their greataxes just wouldn't be quite as good.
