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*Dungeons & Dragons
A tweak for the Battlemaster fighter
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<blockquote data-quote="Esker" data-source="post: 7789233" data-attributes="member: 6966824"><p>They might, and in scenarios where the high-variance character's damage is just enough to providing good odds of a one-shot kill, that works in their favor (hence the example about 15 HP being a really good number for the 1d8+14 character). But falling just short of a kill happens too. That's why we should look at probability distributions instead of just isolated scenarios.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's not only about overkill, but it's partly about overkill. It's also about "underkill". Any time you fall within an average amount of damage short of a kill such that it takes you another hit to finish the job, the reason the reliable medium damage character has the edge is that their results consist of less overkill and less underkill.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It sounds like you're saying PCs never fail to finish off monsters before monsters finish them off. I could also argue that the fact that the other PCs are there is reason to make sure you do your part, so the party as a whole can finish off the monster before their turn comes. Which means that the "one shot kill" edge case that you dismissed should arguably be about the "four shot kill" case.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Absolutely. The fighter's many attacks was the variance-reducing mechanism that spurred me to discuss the topic of variance in the first place.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm not sure exactly what distinction you're making. Overkill is part of the right tail that balances out the left-tail misses when looking at average damage.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Esker, post: 7789233, member: 6966824"] They might, and in scenarios where the high-variance character's damage is just enough to providing good odds of a one-shot kill, that works in their favor (hence the example about 15 HP being a really good number for the 1d8+14 character). But falling just short of a kill happens too. That's why we should look at probability distributions instead of just isolated scenarios. It's not only about overkill, but it's partly about overkill. It's also about "underkill". Any time you fall within an average amount of damage short of a kill such that it takes you another hit to finish the job, the reason the reliable medium damage character has the edge is that their results consist of less overkill and less underkill. It sounds like you're saying PCs never fail to finish off monsters before monsters finish them off. I could also argue that the fact that the other PCs are there is reason to make sure you do your part, so the party as a whole can finish off the monster before their turn comes. Which means that the "one shot kill" edge case that you dismissed should arguably be about the "four shot kill" case. Absolutely. The fighter's many attacks was the variance-reducing mechanism that spurred me to discuss the topic of variance in the first place. I'm not sure exactly what distinction you're making. Overkill is part of the right tail that balances out the left-tail misses when looking at average damage. [/QUOTE]
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