D&D (2024) Epic Boon of Irresistible Offense

[Gorck]

Man, I really underestimated the following part:

"Overwhelming Strike. When you roll a 20 on the d20 for an attack roll, you can deal extra damage to the target equal to the ability score increased by this feat. The extra damage’s type is the same as the attack’s type. You can use this benefit only once per turn."

The first time I read that, I thought it said "you can deal extra damage to the target equal to the ability score modifier increased by this feat." So if my Barbarian has a 22 Strength, I can do an extra +6 damage. But, while rereading it for the survey, I realized that it doesn't say "modifier" at all. So if my Barbarian has a 22 Strength, I can do an extra +22 damage. That's much better than I initially gave it credit for.

 

[Asisreo]

Man, I really underestimated the following part:

"Overwhelming Strike. When you roll a 20 on the d20 for an attack roll, you can deal extra damage to the target equal to the ability score increased by this feat. The extra damage’s type is the same as the attack’s type. You can use this benefit only once per turn."

The first time I read that, I thought it said "you can deal extra damage to the target equal to the ability score modifier increased by this feat." So if my Barbarian has a 22 Strength, I can do an extra +6 damage. But, while rereading it for the survey, I realized that it doesn't say "modifier" at all. So if my Barbarian has a 22 Strength, I can do an extra +22 damage. That's much better than I initially gave it credit for.

Its definitely a big-hitter feature, especially one Barbarians and Fighters who have a chance to roll 4 times by the time this feature comes online.

The fact it bypasses resistances as well makes it pretty decent.


But it doesn't need the once-per-turn clause.

 

[Clint_L]

It'll give you an occasional huge, satisfying hit. But on average it'll give you about +1 damage/attack, +2 DPA if you can normally get advantage on attacks, like barbarians. So it's not that great for an epic boon.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

It'll give you an occasional huge, satisfying hit. But on average it'll give you about +1 damage/attack, +2 DPA if you can normally get advantage on attacks, like barbarians. So it's not that great for an epic boon.

I completely disagree. With how many d20 attack rolls Fighters and Barbarians will be rolling, the Boon of Irresistable Offense will be getting some sweet screen time. Especially when it gets added on to the crit damage from a natural 20. If the enemy feels that you hit for 25 points of damage on average, they can underestimate you and make some tactical choices they don't think are that risky because they think they can soak even a crit. But when you crit for 70+ damage, that ignores resistance, that is some delightful shock and awe experience and can really ruin their day. Burst damage design is absolutely valid is great fun and I would be delighted to have the Boon of Irresistable Offense as a capstone Epic Boon. (A barbarian swinging with advantage, crit fishing with a Strength of 23+, sounds fun to me!)

Distilling everything into a mathematical average is cheap and boring, and dismissing the value of the burst damage experience itself as "not that great" is just... not that great. If you always design for average damage, it's either predictable, or the math has to make burst damage obnoxiously high. Also, figuring out the factors for the "average" (like how many attack rolls are you putting into the equation to split the damage between) varies because different groups have different cadences of combat.

Maybe you do believe that burst damage is fun, but your dismissive comment came off as contrary to that, hence my response.

 

[cbwjm]

I think this should be a critical hit rather than a natural 20, make it a great option for champion fighters. I also agree that it doesn't need to once per turn limit.

 

[Horwath]

It'll give you an occasional huge, satisfying hit. But on average it'll give you about +1 damage/attack, +2 DPA if you can normally get advantage on attacks, like barbarians. So it's not that great for an epic boon.

this.

It sucks, better would be, add your prof bonus to all weapon damage rolls. or twice prof bonus.
That would make it consistent.

 

[CleverNickName]

I mean, if "MOAR DMAAGE!" is what you expect an epic boon to be, this is probably what you're looking for. Personally I'd like something a little more interesting and flavorful, but there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Kinematics]

Champion has always been on the low end of damage for fighter sublcasses. Letting it get the Irresistible Offense boon on any of its crits, and thus getting more out of this boon than other classes, sounds totally fair.

Barbarian gets to improve its chances of getting a crit by using Reckless Attack, which the Berserker barbarian is going to do religiously anyway, to get its Frenzy damage bonus, so that also seems fine.

I suppose a Champion fighter using a Vex weapon to raise his crit chance from 15% to 27.75% could be a bit on the extreme end for how much this boon is worth, though. Without Brutal Critical that barbarians get, though, it doesn't feel as unbalanced. So again, I wouldn't find it a bad change.

That said, the only real gripe I have about the boon is that the part about ignoring damage resistance feels a bit disingenuous, since almost all physical damage resistance comes with the caveat of "from non-magical weapons", and the odds of using a non-magical weapon at 20th level for anything where resistance is a concern seem remote at best.

On the other hand, if they do seriously revamp the resistance aspect of monsters, that could be a solid benefit.

 

[Kinematics]

Amendment to the above: I applied this variant to my spreadsheet data to see where it lands, and that might actually be a bit too powerful. A Champion getting the epic crit on any crit gets about 10% higher DPR than one that only gets it on a 20. Like, bumping from a 72 to an 80, on a PAM+GWM build getting 5 attacks per round. Add advantage, and it's about 10 points higher than the Berserker barbarian (not including Retaliation).

Given that Champion is supposedly on the low end of fighter damage, it might pay to remain conservative on this one until more subclasses are available.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I would expect the Campion should be on the higher end of Fighter damage, given that will have less utility and tactical capabilities than most others.
The damage increase compared to Barbarian seems about right. The Barbarian should be using Retaliation regularly, and have the edge in toughness at high levels.