Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
Well... I mean... It's 1d6+Wis or 1d8+Int,
Oh and 1d6+level (not + wis) - so it catches up fast to the artificer boost.
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Well... I mean... It's 1d6+Wis or 1d8+Int,
Generally, in 5e it's more efficient to prevent damage than deal damage if the numbers are equal.[...] the psi warrior has a very direct equivalence - spend a psi die to do/prevent 1d8+int bonus damage, so I'm going to use this one since it's so clear.
If the damage prevention can stop someone from going down, that is a very good use of the psi point.... but you could also make the example of making more damage that is sufficient to take down a foe. So it's unclear to me if one is clearly better than the other, or if it's situational, or roughly equivalent.
The X HP is very likely going to be less than the Y HP, and Y decreases at a faster rate than X, which makes adding to X more efficient.In the end? It doesn't matter. Your side has X HP and your enemy has Y HP. It's a race to see which side hits 0 first.
If you can add 10 to your side or subtract 10 from theirs, the equation is the same. One side or the other will hit 0. By keeping your side in the higher numbers, though, or at least from falling, you maintain uptime on your damage output [...]
Generally, in 5e it's more efficient to prevent damage than deal damage if the numbers are equal.
Damage prevention is more mathematically efficient, point for point, than inflicting damage (for PCs... usually) but there are plenty of cases where leveraging the death rules--assuming that no variant death and dying rules are in play--would be a more efficient use of resources over the course of an encounter or an adventuring day.I disagree, due to 5e's whack-a-mole healing system. Healing is most efficient if you let a player drop, because any damage that would take you past 0 is ignored. It can cost a lot to block or heal 1d8 or damage, or when you're at 1HP you can ignore 3d8 of damage except for that pesky first step. Also, dropping to 0 and below was much more serious in earlier editions.
context is more important than efficiency.
It's not a 1:1 thing though. If something drops bob it's statistically almost certain that some fraction of the damage will simply go away when bob gets healed. Often a significant fraction to boot. Doing otherwise would require bob to have exactly as many current hp as the attacker dealt in damage.Damage prevention is more mathematically efficient, point for point, than inflicting damage (for PCs... usually) but there are plenty of cases where leveraging the death rules--assuming that no variant death and dying rules are in play--would be a more efficient use of resources over the course of an encounter or an adventuring day.
Do note, though, that the 3rd level psi-warrior feature that @Ancalagon is asking about doesn't heal damage and can't bring a PC up if he/she drops, it only prevents damage.
But we're getting into a lot of incomparables, so let me restate my (near uselessly wishy-washy) intended takeaway:
Conversely, damage beyond the creature's HP is just as wasted. While you can meta-game healing, you can't with damage unless the DM tells you their HP. Reducing damage by 8 will always save 8 HP, but adding 8 damage might only amount to 1 point of damage (or even 0 if the attack would drop the creature anyway).It's not a 1:1 thing though. If something drops bob it's statistically almost certain that some fraction of the damage will simply go away when bob gets healed. Often a significant fraction to boot. Doing otherwise would require bob to have exactly as many current hp as the attacker dealt in damage.
Perhaps the better question isn't are they roughly equivalent but rather, when is one better than the other.Hello
There are a number of classes that can spend a resource to inflict damage, or spend the same resource to prevent damage. A very clear example of this is the Psi Warrior, who can use a resource (psi dice) to either hit harder or shield someone from damage. There are several other classes with this dilema (the battle master can use a maneuver dice to parry for example), but the psi warrior has a very direct equivalence - spend a psi die to do/prevent 1d8+int bonus damage, so I'm going to use this one since it's so clear.
If the damage prevention can stop someone from going down, that is a very good use of the psi point.... but you could also make the example of making more damage that is sufficient to take down a foe. So it's unclear to me if one is clearly better than the other, or if it's situational, or roughly equivalent.