Level Up (A5E) DPR for the Eldritch Blasts: Quick, Detailed, and Messy Observations

[VenerableBede]

... oh.

So. Dual Wielding is a thing...

Thirsting blade Longsword+Dagger at 20.

4 Eldritch Scythe Swings, 1 Longsword, 2 Dagger Strikes as a Bonus Action.

... and a partridge in a pear tree.

Two dagger strikes? I haven't looked at the equipment section very closely. Do daggers have a feature that let you attack twice with them as part of a single Bonus Action for Dual Wielding? If there were a way to have them count as a pact weapon—and thus benefit from Lifedrinker—and if you could get the Dual Wielding fighting style without sacrificing your capstone, that's a really solid boost to damage.

 

[TwoSix]

Good feedback!
The issue with calculating Eldritch Disturbance is that it does full damage on a failed save, half damage on a success. Thus, damage is guaranteed every single turn, but the amount of damage isn't consistent, and the odds are an even 50/50 (at which point I'd just average full and half damage and call it a day). So, after some huming and hahing, I represented it as a 90% change to hit and then added a lot of disclaimers that I felt I was being very generous. If the actual damage potential of Eldritch Disturbance is much lower I would not be surprised in the least.

Hmm. If the odds of a save are at 50/50 (which feels a little low), than you'd want to use 0.75 as the hit modifier (50% of 50% damage plus 50% chance of 100% damage).

Making it a little more general, if the chance to fail the save is p, then the hit modifier should be p+0.5*(1-p).

 

[Steampunkette]

Two dagger strikes? I haven't looked at the equipment section very closely. Do daggers have a feature that let you attack twice with them as part of a single Bonus Action for Dual Wielding? If there were a way to have them count as a pact weapon—and thus benefit from Lifedrinker—and if you could get the Dual Wielding fighting style without sacrificing your capstone, that's a really solid boost to damage.

Daggers are Dual-Wielding weapons. Which allows you to use them with a main-hand weapon that is not Heavy to dual wield.

Two-Weapon Fighting in the combat section explains that if you have Extra Attack and you use two weapons on your turn you can make two attacks with the offhand weapon as a bonus action instead of just once.

Though I suppose you could dual-wield shortswords, one of which is your pact weapon, and do 4 Eldritch Scythe attacks and then 3 short sword attacks (Two with your offhand).

 

[VenerableBede]

Hmm. If the odds of a save are at 50/50 (which feels a little low), than you'd want to use 0.75 as the hit modifier (50% of 50% damage plus 50% chance of 100% damage).

Making it a little more general, if the chance to fail the save is p, then the hit modifier should be p+0.5*(1-p).

I think the actual odds of the monster failing its save are 60–65%, but it also varies based on the monster even more widely than AC does. I borrowed this formula from Treantmonk, and he didn't specify how to calculate this niche situation, so I'm in the dark. I may update the formula at some point, for Disturbance specifically, but I definitely don't have time today.
Curse not studying math and then discovering that optimization math is really exciting!

 

[VenerableBede]

Two-Weapon Fighting in the combat section explains that if you have Extra Attack and you use two weapons on your turn you can make two attacks with the offhand weapon as a bonus action instead of just once.

Though I suppose you could dual-wield shortswords, one of which is your pact weapon, and do 4 Eldritch Scythe attacks and then 3 short sword attacks (Two with your offhand).

Man. You learn something new every day. That's +3d6+30, in addition to the base Scythe damage.

 

[Steampunkette]

Man. You learn something new every day. That's +3d6+30, in addition to the base Scythe damage.

Not +30, just +10.

You don't get your attribute damage on your off-hand attacks unless you have the two-weapon fighting style. And since your off-hand isn't your Pact of the Blade weapon, it doesn't add Charisma to attack or damage.

 

[VenerableBede]

Not +30, just +10.

You don't get your attribute damage on your off-hand attacks unless you have the two-weapon fighting style. And since your off-hand isn't your Pact of the Blade weapon, it doesn't add Charisma to attack or damage.

... You're right. It would be just +10. Can you tell I've spent significantly more time analyzing the changes to the warlock than the base rules? Ha ha.

 

[TwoSix]

I think the actual odds of the monster failing its save are 60–65%, but it also varies based on the monster even more widely than AC does. I borrowed this formula from Treantmonk, and he didn't specify how to calculate this niche situation, so I'm in the dark. I may update the formula at some point, for Disturbance specifically, but I definitely don't have time today.
Curse not studying math and then discovering that optimization math is really exciting!

Yea, 60% failure rate sounds about right, plus it matches up with the normal hit rate you were using anyway.

That would make 0.8 the appropriate multiplier for Disturbance.

 

[VenerableBede]

Yea, 60% failure rate sounds about right, plus it matches up with the normal hit rate you were using anyway.

That would make 0.8 the appropriate multiplier for Disturbance.

Interesting. That makes Eldritch Spasm inferior to Eldritch Ray after tier 1, damage-wise. I did that calculation before I ultimately switched to 0.9.
I’ll get that updated eventually.

 

[Vampersan]

I'm a little confused. How are you making weapon attacks in addition to Eldritch Scythe in the same turn?

Isn't Eldritch Blast an Action to activate, and not the "Attack" Action, which would seem that two-weapon fighting with Eldritch Blast is not legal?

Or have I missed something? If so, then I apologize.