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Yes, but why are such NPCs leaving their lair open to common athletics checks that even a low level PC could pass (a level 5 valor bars with a 14 strength has +8 athletics). Seems like these NPCs aren't being played all that smart after all.

Here is the thing, at low levels, when you really need your level 1 and 2 spells for combat, there is very little difference between the fighter and other classes at exploration tasks. If you had a war cleric with 14 Strength, he is only 1 or 2 worse than the fighter at Str based checks, but has...

You were the one who brought up instant death. But either way, lets say is some amount of damage on a failed save. If the damage is significant, then it is better to use a spell with 100% chance of success to bypass the damage. If the damage is not significant, then failure isn't really a...

I hear what you are saying, but your arguments counteract eachother. For example, lets say you have a Strength based challenge where the 20 Strength fighter needs to roll an 11+ to overcome it. If he fails, he dies. The 10 wizard who happens to be trained in athletics could attempt this, but he...

I don't believe this is true. For example a 20 strength PC will definitely climb or swim better than s 10 Strength one, but how often is that needed? And how often are the consequences of failure sever enough to where that matters. Let's say you have a DC 15 Strength check that is needed. If...

What is the comparison missing? It is the most detailed mathematical analysis anyone has posted. It includes values over a number of levels, a range of ACs, expected magic items, and the like. You keep saying the math doesn't show GWM is an advantage, and here it clearly does. Sure, it doesn't...

A potential "fix" to GWM and SS is to have -5 to attack in exchange for +1[W] damage. That way instead of a handcrossbow getting 1d6+18 (21.5 average) per attack, it is 2d6+8 (15 average) per attack. Same situation with polearm master. Sadly though, this fix does very little to reduce the...

Here is an in depth analysis of the DPR gained by GWM/SS: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cZGd7HwD1dWSzYqVx4PQqw9dl9YYzKxRv7YJtOojkDE/edit?usp=sharing It also has an added bonus of showing what happens when you combine those feats with Crossbow Expert or Polearm Master (hint, it is...

Isn't the effect of bless multiplicative with GWM. Say you have a 50% chance to hit while using GWM. Bless gives you about +12.5% chance to hit, increasing your chance to hit and thus your damage per attack (DPA) by ~25%. So a fighter who deals roughly 13 DPA [(8.33+5+2+10)*50%] with GWM, gets...

I'm using numbers straight from the monster manual. Someone did a very dice analysis of every monster in the MM and the average AC for monsters is quite a bit lower than what the DMG says the average should be. So unless you have a DM who has enough time to uniquely build every single monster...

Wait, who was saying that the math shows that GWM and SS don't significantly increase player damage. How can they even make that claim? The math clearly shows the opposite (and that is before taking into account the large number of ways to increase accuracy they are easily available to players).

I'm not denying that has been their line since day 1. I even complained about that being their line during the play test when they simultaneously included spells like magic weapon (somewhat fixed due to concentration), had plenty of magic items in all the modules (still the same as it was during...

Here is the issue with that line of thinking. You are essentially saying that to counteract GWM and Sharpshooter, you should give monsters greater defenses and hand out less treasure. Well, sure that works for experienced DMs, but that doesn't work for newb DMs or adventure league. Nor does it...

You missed some important factors. 1. Until high levels, most enemies only have an AC of 14-16 (with the occasional outlier). 2. Even at high levels, AC typically range from 16-18. An AC of 19+ is rare, and ACs of 22 or higher are typically reserved for CR 20+ enemies. 3. Using random treasure...

I thought they were considered when designing higher level monsters. Using the random treasure tables shows that on average every PC in the party will have a +1 weapon by level 7 or so, a +2 weapon by level 15 or so, and a +3 weapon by level 20. If you use those as baselines and compare to...

Umm, you do realize this is a discussion of non-combat utility. Bringing combat situations into this has no relevance (well other than to point out that the spellcasters can perform feats of athletics in combat better than the purely martial characters).

Sure, the failure exists for those actions, which is why the spells win out again. Jump, spider climb, etc all can never fail. Either you are faced with an athletics related challenge that is so hard that attempting it is risky, and you are better off using a spell, or you face one that is so...

Exactly. The fighter, barbarian, and monk are all extremely lacking in utility outside of the combat pillar. It doesn't help that the fighter and barbarian's primary contribution to the exploration pillar is outdone by low level spells (everything you can do with Strength checks can be...

If you need an actual mathematical model for the damage comparison, just look here. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cZGd7HwD1dWSzYqVx4PQqw9dl9YYzKxRv7YJtOojkDE/edit?usp=sharing 1) Some things to note: GWM is almost always worthwhile to use for fighters and barbarians. 2) The bonus...

You do realize that there is a big difference between all classes being able to meaningfully contribute in every pillar, and all classes being equally capable of every aspect of each pillar, don't you? It is possible to have classes be competent in each pillar to varying degrees, but still have...