D&D 5E Consensus about two-weapon fighting?


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DND_Reborn

The High Aldwin
That didn't end up being much of a nutshell, did it?

I just used combinatorics and, in our specific scenario, found the probabilities, to determine how much damage the fighter would expectedly benefit from during 20 rounds of combat. If you do the math for our particular scenario, I would be interested to see if the results jibe. If not, no worries. :)
 

Esker

Hero
I just used combinatorics and, in our specific scenario, found the probabilities, to determine how much damage the fighter would expectedly benefit from during 20 rounds of combat. If you do the math for our particular scenario, I would be interested to see if the results jibe. If not, no worries. :)

This is based on the level 11 characters in FrogReaver's table? So, maxed STR, dueling style, vs AC 17, no relevant feats?
 
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DND_Reborn

The High Aldwin
This is based on the level 11 characters in FrogReaver's table? So, maxed STR, dueling style, vs AC 17, no relevant feats?

Yep. It sprung from my comparison of the general classes of Fighter vs. Paladin, with action surge vs divine strike. I was looking at 20th level, but his was at 11th so I just went with that.
 

Esker

Hero
Yep. It sprung from my comparison of the general classes of Fighter vs. Paladin, with action surge vs divine strike. I was looking at 20th level, but his was at 11th so I just went with that.

Ok, sure, I can add precision attack to that. Won't be until at least tomorrow night though; I'm traveling sans computer til then, and I don’t really want to do the calculations on my phone... Based on a quick estimate though, I think the precision dice should buy the battlemaster around 120 or so extra damage over the course of a 20 round day, assuming two evenly spaced short rests, all enemies at AC 17, and no advantage ever. The gain should be close to twice that if they have GWM, and more still if they have PAM too (since with the bonus action attack they can afford to be really choosy about using them without worrying about having enough chances before the rest).
 
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Esker

Hero
I just used combinatorics and, in our specific scenario, found the probabilities, to determine how much damage the fighter would expectedly benefit from during 20 rounds of combat. If you do the math for our particular scenario, I would be interested to see if the results jibe. If not, no worries. :)

My back-of-the-envelope estimate was slightly low, but pretty close. Doing the exact calculations, assuming you use a precision die any time you are within 6 of a hit (which at AC 17 and an attack mod of 9 is the largest gap you can get outside nat 1s), then precision attack adds 132 damage [edit: nope; 171. see the post just below] on average to a 20 round day with two short rests. On top of the 516 base damage that the fighter gets, that's a total of 648 [edit: 687], for an average DPR of 32.4 [edit: 34.4].

It will be less than this in practice, since you usually don't know the enemy's precise AC right away (I mean, assuming we're not actually in a world where every enemy has an AC of 17), so you'll have some turns when you use your dice inefficiently.
 
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Esker

Hero
Actually, that's wrong. I found some errors in my code; the right number (unless I didn't find them all) is 171 damage added, for a total of 687. It turns out that for this particular AC, since the precision range lines up perfectly with the bottom of the d20 range, winding up with dice leftover is associated with higher damage than using them all, since almost all rolls outside the triggering range are already hits (the only roll that isn't is a nat 1). So you end up averaging an extra 11.4 damage per die (almost your full DPH) compared to not having precision attack, even though your average damage on attacks where you actually use a die is lower than that.
 

DND_Reborn

The High Aldwin
Actually, that's wrong. I found some errors in my code; the right number (unless I didn't find them all) is 171 damage added, for a total of 687. It turns out that for this particular AC, since the precision range lines up perfectly with the bottom of the d20 range, winding up with dice leftover is associated with higher damage than using them all, since almost all rolls outside the triggering range are already hits (the only roll that isn't is a nat 1). So you end up averaging an extra 11.4 damage per die (almost your full DPH) compared to not having precision attack, even though your average damage on attacks where you actually use a die is lower than that.

I am glad to see you revised your answer, because I got 171.5 (roughly), only 1 point away from perfect potential IIRC. I remember someone saying the math was hard... guess not LOL. ;)
 

Fenris-77

Small God of the Dozens
Supporter
I love you guys. The stats are important to me and I love them, but I have neither the time, nor inclination, nor, to be honest, skills, to run complex probability. I have great skills with massed d6 rolling and that's about it (quick, guess my other hobby...). So, from all of us following along at home, thanks for being mathematically inclined. Now back to our regular programming...
 

Esker

Hero
I love you guys. The stats are important to me and I love them, but I have neither the time, nor inclination, nor, to be honest, skills, to run complex probability. I have great skills with massed d6 rolling and that's about it (quick, guess my other hobby...). So, from all of us following along at home, thanks for being mathematically inclined. Now back to our regular programming...

Is it Yahtzee?
 

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