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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashkelon" data-source="post: 6642690" data-attributes="member: 6774887">Here is an in depth analysis of the DPR gained by GWM/SS:<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cZGd7HwD1dWSzYqVx4PQqw9dl9YYzKxRv7YJtOojkDE/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cZGd7HwD1dWSzYqVx4PQqw9dl9YYzKxRv7YJtOojkDE/edit?usp=sharing</a>It also has an added bonus of showing what happens when you combine those feats with Crossbow Expert or Polearm Master (hint, it is scary).These sheets ignore the accuracy bonuses grantedone of the many of the readily available sources (wolf totem barbarians, hold person/monster, stunning fist, knocking enemies prone, avenger paladins, faerie fire, bless, battlemaster maneuvers, etc). A typical party will have one or more of these available to them.IMHO a significant increase in DPR is ~10% which is what a +2 to an ability score typically gives. For example going from 20 STR to 22 STR increases a level 17 fighter's DPR from 46 to 51. GWM increases such a fighter's DPR from 46 to 56. So it gives almost twice the benefit of +2 Strength. Furthermore, +2 Strength has diminishing returns with accuracy boosts. GWM actually does better the more accuracy boosts you have, ie it is multiplicative. For example, advantage only adds ~15% more DPR to the 22 Strength fighter's attacks, but adds 25% more DPR to the Great Weapon Master.Finally, it is my opinion that feats should not even equal stat bumps for pure DPR in terms of DPR boosting. Feats should grant new options and capabilities while stat bumps should increase raw combat power. If you have feats that greatly increase combat power, you get stacking of them that leads to broken builds and trivial combats. The ability cap is there for a reason. A fighter with his 7 feats could only choose feats that increase combat power by 20% and end up with a +140% damage over a fighter who chose more flavorful feats.</blockquote>

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