D&D 5E Why do people think elven accuracy is so great?

[EzekielRaiden]

(Ok, the +1 Dex makes Elven Accuracy win, though.)

Yeah, if it were JUST the triple-advantage on attacks, the comparison would be very difficult--I could see arguments either way. But with triple advantage and a stat point to good stats (Cha is also quite good for many characters), it's clearly the better feat.

To be fair, Elven Accuracy really shouldn't be your choice unless you anticipate a lot more than 25% of your attacks having advantage. It really isn't worth it unless you have almost on-demand advantage.

This, absolutely. Advantage isn't hard to acquire in 5e.

You are right. In my games no one really has on demand advantage, although Rogues can come close ... maybe 50% on a ranged Rogue.

As I noted earlier though flanking is not used in the games I DM or most of those I play.

While I obviously don't have unassailable, robust statistics? It sounds like the way your groups have played is not generally in keeping with either the designers' overall intent,* nor with the way most folks play. Advantage is quite common in most games, if you do anything whatsoever to seek it out, based on what I've seen of others' descriptions. Remember, the rules have effectively made it so the "DM's best friend"--that is, generic +2 for "this is a good situation" and -2 for "this is a bad situation"--has been replaced by Advantage. It is, IIRC explicitly but I could be mistaken, expected that any time a player comes up with an actually good plan (or roleplays really well, or whatever else), the DM will hand them Advantage as their reward.

 

[robmox]

You are right. In my games no one really has on demand advantage, although Rogues can come close ... maybe 50% on a ranged Rogue.

As I noted earlier though flanking is not used in the games I DM or most of those I play.

I was reading this month old post, just because I wanted to look at the math for Elven Accuracy. I agree that it’s not worth it unless you have on demand advantage, which is pretty easy to get for a lot of builds, and crucial for anything with a power attack (in the case of EA it’s only Sharpshooter, or GWM for Warlocks). But, warlocks can get Darkness, and later Shadow of Moil. Rangers get Guardian of Nature at higher level. A Bladesinger could get Blind Fighting from a 1 level dip in Fighter or Pally, and combine it with Darkness like a Warlock. And, a bard can use any of the above options, though Shadow of Moil is probably the strongest. When you’re already doing -5/+10, EA is the biggest increase to DPR you can get. Think about it like this, +2 to your attack stat adds 1.1 damage to each attack. GWM/Sharpshooter adds ~5 damage to each attack. A character that already has GWM/Sharpshooter adds a little more than 2 damage to each attack depending on enemy AC. So it’s better than +2 to your attack stat, worse than GWM/Sharpshooter, and few other feats are better than these 3 options (PAM and XBE being the notable ones, but depends on your build and your bonus action usage).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Crit fishing. Your chance for a crit goes from 5% on a d20, to 9.75% on 2d20, and 14.2626% on 3d20. If you have a build with lots of crit bonus damage, Elven Accuracy is a good feat. Paladins can definitely benefit here due to smite mechanics. Rogues, obviously. Spellcasters with ray spells or riders can benefit as well.

It's especially good when using with the Blade of Disaster. That triples your likelihood to get a critical hit per attack, and you get two attacks per bonus action with it. It is a 9th level spell, so it's expected to be good, but still, it's crazy good with that combo.

 

[ECMO3]

I was reading this month old post, just because I wanted to look at the math for Elven Accuracy. I agree that it’s not worth it unless you have on demand advantage, which is pretty easy to get for a lot of builds, and crucial for anything with a power attack (in the case of EA it’s only Sharpshooter, or GWM for Warlocks). But, warlocks can get Darkness, and later Shadow of Moil. Rangers get Guardian of Nature at higher level. A Bladesinger could get Blind Fighting from a 1 level dip in Fighter or Pally, and combine it with Darkness like a Warlock. And, a bard can use any of the above options, though Shadow of Moil is probably the strongest.

I would not consider any of those are "on demand" as they require a spell and use an action which is a big cut into their damage output over a combat as compared with attacking that first turn. If we are looking at DPR, sure this will bring it up, but it requires an entire turn of combat (and lost damage that turn) to get it up. Over the course of most combats I think you will do less damage overall.

Now if you are playing a fighter with blind fighting and your party wizard is going to throw down darkness regularly then sure.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I would not consider any of those are "on demand" as they require a spell and use an action which is a big cut into their damage output over a combat as compared with attacking that first turn. If we are looking at DPR, sure this will bring it up, but it requires an entire turn of combat (and lost damage that turn) to get it up. Over the course of most combats I think you will do less damage overall.

Now if you are playing a fighter with blind fighting and your party wizard is going to throw down darkness regularly then sure.

They are absolutely "on demand" as you can get them whenever you decide to without needing to rely on other players or DM fiat.

 

[Bill Zebub]

As long as we have a thread necro, I was thinking that I would especially enjoy Elven Accuracy at a table that was using cinematic advantage. It would make the risk:reward ratio that much more interesting.

 

[robmox]

I would not consider any of those are "on demand" as they require a spell and use an action which is a big cut into their damage output over a combat as compared with attacking that first turn. If we are looking at DPR, sure this will bring it up, but it requires an entire turn of combat (and lost damage that turn) to get it up. Over the course of most combats I think you will do less damage overall.

Now if you are playing a fighter with blind fighting and your party wizard is going to throw down darkness regularly then sure.

Just wanted to clarify, Guardian of Nature is a bonus action. However, it takes the largest investment to get if you’re full ranger, coming at level 13. Level 7 if you’re a bard (I guess level 10, because that’s when you get magical secrets). But, you generally reach a point where spell slots are no longer a barrier.

 

[ECMO3]

They are absolutely "on demand" as you can get them whenever you decide to without needing to rely on other players or DM fiat.

For the darkness, blind fighting combo you get it the turn after you decide, if you do not lose concentration between casting and acting. You can't get it on demand this turn.

You are setting it up with another action. This is no different than a fighter with extra attack using shove prone so he or she can have advantage, yeah it works to get advantage but at a high cost.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

For the darkness, blind fighting combo you get it the turn after you decide, if you do not lose concentration between casting and acting. You can't get it on demand this turn.

You are setting it up with another action. This is no different than a fighter with extra attack using shove prone so he or she can have advantage, yeah it works to get advantage but at a high cost.

On demand doesn't mean "free", or else my bookshelves would be full of books from on-demand print services

Darkness and similar effects also have defensive benefits, so it's not like the turn you cast it is wasted even if you don't attack.

 

[Blue]

EDIT: Sorry, just realized this was responding to a necro'd thread. BVut it's not hugely old so I'll leave this.

oof. Thanks, but I disagree with this.

Unless you roll abilitles, bladesinger should not have an odd dexterity (or intelligence). Bladesingers more than any other subclass need to take ASIs and if they have a spare feat it needs to be lucky to counter crits against them.

I was unaware that you can start with higher than a 17 with +2 racial and either point buy or standard array. So it seems that when you don't roll ability scores it is simpel to position yourself to have a high odd score that would be improved with Elven Accuracy.

In games I have played, bladesingers do not get advantage enough for this to be worthwhile. I guess if you use Shadowblade yes you might have advantage often, but if you are using shadowblade then you are not using PGE, blur or greater invisibility. You are not going to last long in melee as a bladesinger without one of those spells up. I guess greater invisibility would give that third dice though .....

Okay, so you aren't using shadowblade to use greater invisibility - which also grants advantage. Or you've cast Tensor's and have advantage every melee attack.