Greataxe, greatsword, and a little math

[Warpiglet]

I think the irony of this thread for me is that I am now really jonesing to use a greataxe---believe I will get my pact weapon next session!

Was thinking maul but I keep picturing the d12 tumble in the dice tray...

Had a barbarian once in 1e that got to 7th level. He had 6 12s rolled for hp (and one 7!). They nicknamed him "the tree" as foes tried to chop him down. Sadly he could not hit, but that was the quirk of the dice. The rolls were witnessed at the table and after a few were preceded by a drum roll.

Maybe that has biased me for life!

 

[FrogReaver]

If you combine it with the frenzied attacker feat the chance of 12 rises to 1/6. If you are fighting enemies with 6-15 hp (assuming +3 damage bonus), the battleaxe is more likely to one-shot them.

You mean the battleaxe with frenzied attacker vs a greatsword without it?

Because without that feat the greatsword is much more likely to kill enemies evenly distributed over that hp range.