D&D 5E What is +1 Strength worth?

[FrogReaver]

Yeah in general I think Con is a strong choice, and it comes down to what kind of fighter you want.

But I did this in the context of the ASI debate, and if you want to play a specific race, Con may not be a choice.

Boosting Con would seem to be part of that debate. Some races boost con afterall.

But even the ones that don't they genearlly offer something else. Many things are much less specific to combat so alot harder to compare. Like what is the value of +1 wisdom? Or the value of magic resistance (looking at gnomes), or the value of darkvision, etc.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Ok, I added 2nd Wind. 3rd level, dueling style, no Con difference. Triggers if hp is low enough that you could die in one hit, which means no part of it is ever wasted.

Without 2nd Wind: Hutch wins 63%.
With 2nd Wind: Hutch wins 65%.

E.g., 2nd wind benefits both equally, prolonging the fight, and thus smoothing out the variability, giving more advantage to the higher strength.

P.S. FWIW, I gave 2nd Wind only to Starsky, and he went from losing 37% to winning 54%. So where +1 Str always gives a bit more damage, and sometimes gives an extra hit, 2nd Wind always gives bonus HP larger than an average hit.

Unsurprising, but interesting to quantify.

 

[FrogReaver]

Ok, I added 2nd Wind. 3rd level, dueling style, no Con difference. Triggers if hp is low enough that you could die in one hit, which means no part of it is ever wasted.

Without 2nd Wind: Hutch wins 63%.
With 2nd Wind: Hutch wins 65%.

E.g., 2nd wind benefits both equally, prolonging the fight, and thus smoothing out the variability, giving more advantage to the higher strength.

Is that die in 1 hit even if crit?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Is that die in 1 hit even if crit?

Oh, I left crits out. They don't change much.

 

[James Gasik]

Actually I would think adding 1's and crits would make things worse to model. A crit gives you another die of damage, a 1 negates damage entirely. These two things are not equivalent.

EDIT: I mean, it's unlikely that you could hit on a 1 anyways, but I've seen it come up once or twice.

 

[FrogReaver]

Oh, I left crits out. They don't change much.

Crits shorten the encounter
Crits lessen the relative difference of dpr values
Crits are highly variable and variability benefits the ‘weaker combatant’

There’s a high chance at least 1 crit happens in each encounter since these encounters take so long.

Probably not enough to matter, but would 1-2% matter? Would crits be enough to impact the percentage that much?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Actually I would think adding 1's and crits would make things worse to model. A crit gives you another die of damage, a 1 negates damage entirely. These two things are not equivalent.

Crits will slightly shorten the fighting, slightly decreasing the value of Str.

Failure on a 1 would negate that, but it’s not an official rule.

 

[Bill Zebub]

variability benefits the ‘weaker combatant’

Well, not really. There’s a sense in which high variability can save your bacon through sheer luck, but it can also swing against you. And it all averages out, especially over 100,000 fights.

 

[CleverNickName]

This is an interesting approach to the analysis, and illustrates how well the attributes and modifiers work together during combat.

But as others have mentioned, Strength isn't just melee attack rolls. Strength affects the kinds of armor you can wear, and the amount of gear you can carry. I wonder what those percentages would be if Starsky had Str 14 (and thus could only wear chainmail at best) and Hutch had Str 15 (allowing him to wear full plate), for example...because now, that +1 to Strength doesn't affect the Strength modifier, but instead it amounts to a +2 to AC.

I'd wager that +1 has a far greater impact than "just five percent."

 

[GMforPowergamers]

what about a Dex based fighter with a rapier and light armor against a str based fighter with a longsword?
the dex increases WAY more than str and still with a finesse weapon adds to attack and damage.