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Crossbow Expert Sharpshooter vs. Defensive Duelist in a cage match
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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6982364" data-attributes="member: 6787650"><p>[A <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?509333-Helping-melee-combat-to-be-more-competitive-to-ranged/page49" target="_blank">different thread</a> raised the issue of a cage match comparing a DPR-oriented build to a tank build, and I did enough work on the simulation that I want to share the sim results more widely. A lot of analysis tends to focus on DPR, but what really matters most of the time is loss ratios: which monsters you can beat and how much it costs you to do so. -Max/Hemlock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Original post:</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Response:</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>I didn't agree to Ashkelon's proposed GWM/PM build because I didn't think it was a good build, but I did make my own build and code up a simulation in F#. Here is what I wrote:</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>I haven't finished writing the Death Slaad, because it's more complicated to simulate the various spells, etc., and I haven't coded Action Surge, but aside from that here's the result against an earth elemental:</p><p></p><p><a href="https://repl.it/EyQy/0" target="_blank">https://repl.it/EyQy/0</a></p><p></p><p>It takes quite a while to run 100 combats in the online emulator (just hit the Run button) so you might want to decrease the number of runs (on line 281 of the script) before running it, but here's a typical output when run against an earth elemental:</p><p></p><p><strong>Rufus the Archer wins 100 out of 100 matches, with 81.120000 HP remaining (65.419355% of total)</strong></p><p><strong>Brutus the Tank wins 100 out of 100 matches, with 107.400000 HP remaining (86.612903% of total)</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p></p><p>Details of the combats are in the source code and combat logs, but basically what happens is that Brutus the Tank grabs the elemental with one hand and slams it to the ground on his first turn and then beats it to death with his magic rapier at advantage while it futilely tries to attack him back at disadvantage--and half the time, when it does hit him, he parries it with Defensive Duelist. Rufus the Archer just does the boring "shoot it every round" strategy.</p><p></p><p>Both of them can take on a single earth elemental (Medium Fight) but obviously Brutus is about twice as good at it.</p><p></p><p>It's simple to model a spell-less Death Slaad (still a Deadly encounter), and if I comment out the Fireball/Cloudkill/etc. options so it only has Multiattack and run:</p><p></p><p>[CODE]compare deathScuzz [shooter; stabber][/CODE]</p><p></p><p>I then get the following output:</p><p></p><p><strong>Rufus the Archer wins 14 out of 100 matches, with 4.180000 HP remaining (3.370968% of total)</strong></p><p><strong>Brutus the Tank wins 93 out of 100 matches, with 45.020000 HP remaining (36.306452% of total)</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p></p><p>As you can see, Brutus is almost guaranteed to be able to defeat a CR 10 Death Slaad in a close-quarters cage match (although it is a tough fight), but Rufus is almost guaranteed to lose the fight without Action Surge (which I haven't coded yet).</p><p></p><p>If you would like to make any tweaks to Rufus the Archer's build or tactical AI, just let me know. I want you to have the chance to run your archer as effectively as possible.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6982364, member: 6787650"] [A [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?509333-Helping-melee-combat-to-be-more-competitive-to-ranged/page49"]different thread[/URL] raised the issue of a cage match comparing a DPR-oriented build to a tank build, and I did enough work on the simulation that I want to share the sim results more widely. A lot of analysis tends to focus on DPR, but what really matters most of the time is loss ratios: which monsters you can beat and how much it costs you to do so. -Max/Hemlock] [B]Original post: [/B] [B]Response: [/B] [I]I didn't agree to Ashkelon's proposed GWM/PM build because I didn't think it was a good build, but I did make my own build and code up a simulation in F#. Here is what I wrote: [/I] I haven't finished writing the Death Slaad, because it's more complicated to simulate the various spells, etc., and I haven't coded Action Surge, but aside from that here's the result against an earth elemental: [URL]https://repl.it/EyQy/0[/URL] It takes quite a while to run 100 combats in the online emulator (just hit the Run button) so you might want to decrease the number of runs (on line 281 of the script) before running it, but here's a typical output when run against an earth elemental: [B]Rufus the Archer wins 100 out of 100 matches, with 81.120000 HP remaining (65.419355% of total) Brutus the Tank wins 100 out of 100 matches, with 107.400000 HP remaining (86.612903% of total) [/B] Details of the combats are in the source code and combat logs, but basically what happens is that Brutus the Tank grabs the elemental with one hand and slams it to the ground on his first turn and then beats it to death with his magic rapier at advantage while it futilely tries to attack him back at disadvantage--and half the time, when it does hit him, he parries it with Defensive Duelist. Rufus the Archer just does the boring "shoot it every round" strategy. Both of them can take on a single earth elemental (Medium Fight) but obviously Brutus is about twice as good at it. It's simple to model a spell-less Death Slaad (still a Deadly encounter), and if I comment out the Fireball/Cloudkill/etc. options so it only has Multiattack and run: [CODE]compare deathScuzz [shooter; stabber][/CODE] I then get the following output: [B]Rufus the Archer wins 14 out of 100 matches, with 4.180000 HP remaining (3.370968% of total) Brutus the Tank wins 93 out of 100 matches, with 45.020000 HP remaining (36.306452% of total) [/B] As you can see, Brutus is almost guaranteed to be able to defeat a CR 10 Death Slaad in a close-quarters cage match (although it is a tough fight), but Rufus is almost guaranteed to lose the fight without Action Surge (which I haven't coded yet). If you would like to make any tweaks to Rufus the Archer's build or tactical AI, just let me know. I want you to have the chance to run your archer as effectively as possible. [/QUOTE]
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