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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6652233" data-attributes="member: 6787650">A simple counterexample:You're a level 11 Fighter with Sharpshooter and Dex 20, and you notice that there's an invisible stalker on your tail. What do you do?Normally invisible stalkers have AC 14, so sniping it will boost your expected DPR from 23.12 to 24.75. But if it turns out that someone cast Mage Armor on it beforehand, it actually has AC 17, which means that sniping it will actually drop your expected damage from 16.07 to 14.66 DPR.I've learned that I need to be clear with you, so let me be clear: this is not the only case where sniping is not no-brainer. Some of them are high-powered (dragons with Greater Invisibility and the Shield spell: sniping drops your 20th level damage from 4.7 DPR to 0.83) and some of them are simple and low-tech (hobgoblins lying prone behind half-cover while shooting back with crossbows: AC 18, disadvantage means that the 11th level fighter will do 14.00 DPR when shooting normally, or 11.88 DPR when sniping[1]). But since the statement I'm disagreeing with is absolutist, &quot;Because it's never in your best interest NOT to use them,&quot; I don't need to illustrate all the counterexamples. It's sufficient to have shown one, which is the invisible stalker. Sometimes sniping is an optimal choice, sometimes it's suboptimal, and while suboptimal choices aren't disastrous, it is fun to have to think about which approach is better.[1] DPR isn't always the best measure because overkill matters too, but the hit rate is also more than twice as good with normal attacks (0.49 with regular shots vs. 0.2 with sniping), and since a normal arrow usually takes two shots to kill a hobgoblin and a sniped arrow always only takes one, you're still coming out ahead when not sniping.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6652233, member: 6787650"] A simple counterexample: You're a level 11 Fighter with Sharpshooter and Dex 20, and you notice that there's an invisible stalker on your tail. What do you do? Normally invisible stalkers have AC 14, so sniping it will boost your expected DPR from 23.12 to 24.75. But if it turns out that someone cast Mage Armor on it beforehand, it actually has AC 17, which means that sniping it will actually drop your expected damage from 16.07 to 14.66 DPR. I've learned that I need to be clear with you, so let me be clear: this is not the only case where sniping is not no-brainer. Some of them are high-powered (dragons with Greater Invisibility and the Shield spell: sniping drops your 20th level damage from [B]4.7[/B] DPR to [B]0.83[/B]) and some of them are simple and low-tech (hobgoblins lying prone behind half-cover while shooting back with crossbows: AC 18, disadvantage means that the 11th level fighter will do 14.00 DPR when shooting normally, or 11.88 DPR when sniping[1]). But since the statement I'm disagreeing with is absolutist, "Because it's never in your best interest NOT to use them," I don't need to illustrate all the counterexamples. It's sufficient to have shown one, which is the invisible stalker. Sometimes sniping is an optimal choice, sometimes it's suboptimal, and while suboptimal choices aren't disastrous, it is fun to have to think about which approach is better. [1] DPR isn't always the best measure because overkill matters too, but the hit rate is also more than twice as good with normal attacks (0.49 with regular shots vs. 0.2 with sniping), and since a normal arrow usually takes two shots to kill a hobgoblin and a sniped arrow always only takes one, you're still coming out ahead when not sniping. [/QUOTE]

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