Help! Is my player cheating?

[mentle]

I am a fairly new dm, and so perhaps I do not have the familiarity with all the classes and abilities available; but I feel pretty comfortable on base mechanics and knowledge.

With that being said, I believe that one of my newly joined players may be cheating. The reason I don't just call him out is that I think he might just be miscalculating damage. He has never played 4.0 and I have never really played anything else.

Is it feasible that the way he is calculating damage is simply misguided, or is cheating more the reality?

Any input is appreciated.

 

[MerricB]

I'm sorry, but you haven't given us enough information to make an informed judgement. The actual stats of the character would let us know if there's a mistake there.

Mostly, people don't need to cheat in D&D. I'm sure some do.

 

[mentle]

He is a lvl 10 Devati? Blackguard (fury vice). He is using relocation blade (teleporting longsword)? And he seems on average to be claiming way more damage than everyone else. Upward of 25 even in low rolls

 

[mentle]

That was supposed to be 35

 

[Truename]

He is a lvl 10 Devati? Blackguard (fury vice). He is using relocation blade (teleporting longsword)? And he seems on average to be claiming way more damage than everyone else. Upward of 25 even in low rolls

I'm not familiar with the Blackguard, but it's a striker and strikers do a lot of damage. Over 25 at level 10 seems normal, even a bit low.

Edit: 35... not so sure. Someone who knows the blackguard better than me will have to respond. Also, I can't find "devati" and "relocation blade" in the compendium, so either you have the names wrong or there's something fishy going on here.

 

[GreyICE]

He is a lvl 10 Devati? Blackguard (fury vice). He is using relocation blade (teleporting longsword)? And he seems on average to be claiming way more damage than everyone else. Upward of 25 even in low rolls

Lessee. Assuming a +2 weapon, with Deathly Aura on, using the blackguard striker feature (+Cha to damage if you have temp hitpoints, take Cha damage) with decent feat selection and a Mordenkrad:

2d6 brutal 1, average 7+2 (weapon)+ 5 (charisma) +5 (strength) + 1 focus +5 (deathly aura), plus whatever bonuses anyone else has gives you somewhere in the ballpark of 25 damage per hit. That assumes a daily pop, but it also assumes that the leader isn't doing anything special, that there's no extra debuffs, and that there's no other feats kicking in (Crusader's Fury, Impending Victory, Dragonborn Frenzy, Headsman's Chop, etc. etc. etc. etc.)

TLDR is that I'd basically assume a benchmark of 25/round on a hit with a striker at level 10 is okay, based on the fact I could make a Twin Strike Ranger that does that in his sleep, but if you're really confused, the next time he rolls damage have him walk you through where all the modifiers are coming from.

BTW, the most likely thing is that he made a mistake. There's many ways to make easy mistakes when totaling damage (double adding ability modifiers on 2W attacks, miscounting bonuses, etc.).

Then again, if he's doing 25 a hit, maybe that's just where a striker should be. Remember, the blackguard is a striker. It's okay for him to be way ahead of the rest of the party, that's kinda what strikers do. In point of fact, if any striker is too far behind 25 damage/round average, it's time to poke them and figure out what the hey they're doing.

 

[Mengu]

Longtooth shifter blackguard in our game, level 8, damage in the 30's is pretty common, something like 1d12+1d8+1d6+20'ish on a charge with CA if he or the target is bloodied. With 2 dread smites an encounter, he can get to 40's. And he's not all that optimized for basic attacks.

With a Deva, and without charging, it's a little less straight forward, but it would not be surprising for the DM to observe damage in the 30's for whole encounters. Assuming Str 18, Cha 20, the bonuses will be something like:

Base: 1d12+9
CA: +5+2
CA and bloodied: +2
Vengeance Strike: +2

It's going to be around 1d12+20, so mid-twenties. With Dread Smite (+9) twice an encounter it will be in mid-thirties. Once per encounter with Improved Shroud of Shadow it's another +7. There are a few other easy add-ons like +5 with Wrath of the Gods or Aspect of Ferocity for an extra 1d12. And then there are themes that might give him an encounter boost, in the form of a +5, or an extra [W]. So it could easily be that damage is frequently in the mid-thirties, particularly if there are subtle leader boosts. Blackguard+Panther Shaman can do crazy things to bloodied enemies.

At level 10, 35 damage from a striker is nothing to be concerned about.

 

[Quickleaf]

The player is probably using a charge build, so that could add another +3 or +4 easily with some magic items and Two-Handed Expertise. And Bracers of Might for another +2.
On a cursory glance the highest DPR for a 10th level blackguard I can come up with is 30. You said he is routinely doing upward of 35 damage? Maybe he's just been rolling well?

Stepping back, you've got a player who is willing to try a non-optimized race (deva) - class (blackguard) build. To me that's a good sign he probably isn't cheating.

 

[mentle]

Its not a deva, but a davati. They are In one of the dragon magazines. This part got left out of my original post for some reason. The davati are a split soul vessel basically. So two bodies sharing one soul. Which means in total he is doing around 70 dmg a round. Which is why it seems to high for level ten.

 

[GreyICE]

Doesn't mean he's not misreading something. 35 seems a bit high.

But really this is just a 'too little information' situation. A few leader buffs or a warlock dumping vulnerabilities on things could jump things up to 35+ on a hit right quick.