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<blockquote data-quote="Xeviat" data-source="post: 7195767" data-attributes="member: 57494">The &quot;bonus attack on a crit&quot; part is a pretty big boost in power for those with expanded crit ranges. It's so good that it almost feels &quot;required&quot; on a Champion to bring them up to snuff. I feel the &quot;bonus attack on 0 hp&quot; part is nice, but not too much, as it helps a character who is likely going to overkill things a lot.In the end, Great Weapon Master should be balanced against +2 to hit. We keep comparing the offensive power of GWM, but I think we (I'm speaking mostly of myself) forget that +2 Str has +1 Str Saves, +1 Str Checks, and +20 carrying capacity. There is defense and utility in there, not just damage. So, it might be okay for GWM to be a bit better offensively than +2 Str, as +2 Str does more things.BUT, I think that the 20 ability score cap invalidates that a bit. Once you have a 20 Str (lets say at level 8), your ability increases start to become worth less. Sure, everyone benefits from pumping Con at that point (which is what I do when I'm playing around with really basic, raw character comparisons when building/rebuilding classes on my own), but that will cap out eventually too. 5E isn't like 4E, where every build had a primary and secondary stat. Some Classes really only care about one ability score to any great degree (and Con ... omnipresent, desirable Con). So, once your Str hits 20, spending feats on offensive power boosters feels like a no-brainer. Great Weapon Mastery, Polearm Mastery ... these start to look really easy. There's less perceived trade off.A DM I know didn't like the sound of that, and removed the 20 ability cap in his games. I'll have to ask him how it's turned out.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Xeviat, post: 7195767, member: 57494"] The "bonus attack on a crit" part is a pretty big boost in power for those with expanded crit ranges. It's so good that it almost feels "required" on a Champion to bring them up to snuff. I feel the "bonus attack on 0 hp" part is nice, but not too much, as it helps a character who is likely going to overkill things a lot. In the end, Great Weapon Master should be balanced against +2 to hit. We keep comparing the offensive power of GWM, but I think we (I'm speaking mostly of myself) forget that +2 Str has +1 Str Saves, +1 Str Checks, and +20 carrying capacity. There is defense and utility in there, not just damage. So, it might be okay for GWM to be a bit better offensively than +2 Str, as +2 Str does more things. BUT, I think that the 20 ability score cap invalidates that a bit. Once you have a 20 Str (lets say at level 8), your ability increases start to become worth less. Sure, everyone benefits from pumping Con at that point (which is what I do when I'm playing around with really basic, raw character comparisons when building/rebuilding classes on my own), but that will cap out eventually too. 5E isn't like 4E, where every build had a primary and secondary stat. Some Classes really only care about one ability score to any great degree (and Con ... omnipresent, desirable Con). So, once your Str hits 20, spending feats on offensive power boosters feels like a no-brainer. Great Weapon Mastery, Polearm Mastery ... these start to look really easy. There's less perceived trade off. A DM I know didn't like the sound of that, and removed the 20 ability cap in his games. I'll have to ask him how it's turned out. [/QUOTE]

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