D&D 5E Great Weapon Fighting and damage dice from other sources

[Warmaster Horus]

RAW, yes, it say damage dice for the attack, not weapon dice.

RAI, no, as Jeremy Crawford said.

My only issue with RAI is that this could of been clarified in the Errata but wasn't.

 

[zaratan]

My issue with RAI is that GWF do less damage that dueling, and for me, a feature of two hand weapon need to be equal or better in damage than a one hand.
But I understand that some DMs will not like a critical smiter sneak attacker booming blader elemental weapon rerolling all 1 or 2.

 

[MostlyDm]

My issue with RAI is that GWF do less damage that dueling, and for me, a feature of two hand weapon need to be equal or better in damage than a one hand.
But I understand that some DMs will not like a critical smiter sneak attacker booming blader elemental weapon rerolling all 1 or 2.

RAW there is almost no way to use GWF with sneak attack anyway; sneak attack needs a finesse weapon, and there are no versatile or two handed finesse weapons.

Almost.

The one possible exception I know of would be the Sun Blade, which counts as both a short sword and a long sword.

You could argue the user picks which sword it counts as at a given time, but there's ambiguity here. Arguably, paladin/rogue with GWF could wield a sun blade with two hands and still count it as a short sword, thus remaining eligible for sneak attack.

(In general I agree that RAW is more fun for players and not terribly excessive. I don't follow Crawford on this.)

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

The one possible exception I know of would be the Sun Blade, which counts as both a short sword and a long sword.

You could argue the user picks which sword it counts as at a given time, but there's ambiguity here. Arguably, paladin/rogue with GWF could wield a sun blade with two hands and still count it as a short sword, thus remaining eligible for sneak attack.

There's not any argument needed, as you are slightly misremembering the details: if you are proficient with either short sword or longsword, you are proficient with a sun blade, and a sun blade has a special trait in that "while the blade exists, this magic longsword has the finesse property."

So yeah, it's absolutely clear that if you have a sun blade you have a weapon that is both versatile and finesse, allowing some interplay between sneak attack and other features reserved for a weapon wielded in two hands like great weapon fighting.

 

[MostlyDm]

Okay, cool. I was 99% sure it worked but I don't have the books handy.

Thanks!

 

[Rhogar_Rarr]

Funny that other people mention it, but my OotA character is a fighter/rogue with GWF style and a sunblade. My DM lets me reroll all damage dice and it certainly a lot of fun, but my character isn't doing absurd damage or anything. My personal play experience would suggest that it is not game breaking, but in fact fun-enhancing. Although, I will admit that my critical hits tend to be absurd. However, I'd be willing to bet that a same level character with Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter could probably do superior at-will damage.

 

[zaratan]

Good remember. But even in that absurd exemple I gave, I don't think RAW is broken.

 

[Sunseeker]

Long story short: It doesn't make that much of a difference. The feat is good as is, would be better when affecting more dice.

 

[MostlyDm]

One reason is because damage creep is no big deal in 5e.

But more important I think is the type of creep.

Rerolling 1 and 2 is in a similar category of bonus as advantage. Rather than increase the extreme end, it shifts the distribution curve while staying in the preexisting boundaries.

In terms of averages it's not much different than a nice fat bonus. But in play, it has a different result.

 

[FrogReaver]

It makes you slightly better against enemies in a pretty well defined range and worse against others when compared with a similar flat avg damage increase. Overall the difference isn't significant except when monsters are in danger of being killed with the next attack.

One reason is because damage creep is no big deal in 5e.

But more important I think is the type of creep.

Rerolling 1 and 2 is in a similar category of bonus as advantage. Rather than increase the extreme end, it shifts the distribution curve while staying in the preexisting boundaries.

In terms of averages it's not much different than a nice fat bonus. But in play, it has a different result.