Attack Roll and Damage

[Eunstoppable]

I dont really understand all of the modifiers that the attack roll (1d20) gets. By adding ability modifiers and weapon proficiency, level 1 characters can get up to around +8 to their attack roll...isnt that somewhat skewed since the monsters only have like 15 AC? Or am I doing something wrong?

As for damage, its just your weapon damage roll + your ability modifier, correct?

It just seems that some classes do too much damage or not enough. So basically I figured my friends and I made our characters incorrectly.

Can anyone give me some input/examples on how attack rolls are calculated and how, say, a ranger's twin strike is calculated? Thanks.

 

[Danceofmasks]

You've pretty much got it right.
Remember, the monsters also have an attack bonus and you also have an AC.

A ranger's twin strike deals [W] damage .. add all other bonuses (magical enhancement, weapon focus, hunter's quarry if you want), except for ability mod.
Note that some bonuses (such as hunter's quarry) is limited in some way (such as only applicable once per round).

 

[ForbidenMaster]

Twin strike:

1st attack (main weapon): STR+1/2 level+weapon proficiency+enhancement bonus+feat bonus+misc

2nd attack (off-hand weapon): STR+1/2 level+weapon proficiency+enhancement bonus+feat bonus+misc

 

[DLichen]

+8 is the peak of level 1 to hit I think since it either requires +4 stat +3 prof +1 fighter bonus or +5 stat +3 prof for everybody else.

And even then, that's still a 35% chance to miss against 15 AC.

Casters are likely to only have +4 since they hit other defenses which are usually around 2 points lower (accounts for proficiency)

 

[Bialaska]

I dont really understand all of the modifiers that the attack roll (1d20) gets. By adding ability modifiers and weapon proficiency, level 1 characters can get up to around +8 to their attack roll...isnt that somewhat skewed since the monsters only have like 15 AC? Or am I doing something wrong?

As for damage, its just your weapon damage roll + your ability modifier, correct?

It just seems that some classes do too much damage or not enough. So basically I figured my friends and I made our characters incorrectly.

Can anyone give me some input/examples on how attack rolls are calculated and how, say, a ranger's twin strike is calculated? Thanks.

The party I was in had 1 Rogue (me), 1 Ranger, 1 Wizard, 1 Cleric and 1 Paladin. The Wizard was the one who did the least damage, being unable to hit the enemies with his spells, the Cleric did a bit better, since he also was able to heal, but also missed lots. The Paladin did a decent amount of damage, more than the spellcasting classes. Lastly the Ranger and Rogue did by far the most damage. I think the Rogue did the most, simply because I was able to do my Sneak each round, but the Ranger wasn't half-bad.

This fits in with Ranger and Rogue being strikers and thus should do the damage. The rest of the party's damage is not that important, since they got different roles and therefore shouldn't concern themselves with damage, but instead doing what they do best. Paladins and other defenders mark and prevents with the rest of the party from injury. The cleric heals and do buffs and debuffs and the Wizard controls the battlefield (though ours didn't due to crappy rolls)

 

[Bialaska]

+8 is the peak of level 1 to hit I think since it either requires +4 stat +3 prof +1 fighter bonus or +5 stat +3 prof for everybody else.

And even then, that's still a 35% chance to miss against 15 AC.

Casters are likely to only have +4 since they hit other defenses which are usually around 2 points lower (accounts for proficiency)

Well, my Rogue has +5 stat, +3 proficiency, +1 weapon (rogue talent). And due to Nimble Blade and almost always being able to get into Combat advantage (even if I had to provoke an attack of opportunity from time to time, means that my attack roll is +12 most of the time.

 

[DLichen]

That's true, if your wizard is attempting to hit high defenses, he comes off significantly worse. Something like trying to hit a zombie's fortitude is just a bad idea.

The key to wizards is to get scorching burst and cloud of daggers imho, which makes them the absolute best at clearing minions.

My wizard in the last session accounted for over 50% of the party's kills due to autohit and splash damage.

 

[erik_the_guy]

Rogues and Rangers will do the best if you go by damage, Wizards are best if you go by kills. The other party members do a fair bit of each. If the wizard doesn't contribute as much the DM should probably try using more minions. Using minions, normals, and elites gives everyone in the party something to do.