D&D 5E Looking for inspiration for D&D data projects

Oofta · May 25, 2020

The dataset(s) I'd be interested in would be comparing all of the different fighting styles. But it's not just about DPR, it's also about defense and survivability. A reckless barbarian with GWM is going to win the DPR race, but are they going to survive the fight? Someone doing sword and board is going to get hit less, but is Defense better or Dueling?

While you're at it throw in a variety of opponents with differing numbers and ACs. Then start adding in feats and ... well the list goes on.

Guest 6801328 · May 25, 2020

Eyes of Nine said:
I'm interested in Sorcerer Metamagic and what spells are best at what levels to do most damage to 1, 2, 5, and 10 opponents within a 20ft square.

Hmm. This is pretty straightforward to do manually (and I've seen good analyses) but maybe there's a nifty way to visualize it.

CodeFlayer · May 25, 2020

This probably has already occurred to you, but consider adding the idea of targeted vs. area (and any other damage modalities - is touch still a thing?) in the base layer, and that way you use the same code to ask different kinds of questions later, more easily.

Guest 6801328 · May 25, 2020

Oofta said:
The dataset(s) I'd be interested in would be comparing all of the different fighting styles. But it's not just about DPR, it's also about defense and survivability. A reckless barbarian with GWM is going to win the DPR race, but are they going to survive the fight? Someone doing sword and board is going to get hit less, but is Defense better or Dueling?

While you're at it throw in a variety of opponents with differing numbers and ACs. Then start adding in feats and ... well the list goes on.

I've been thinking about this one, too. Here's something similar I did for The One Ring a long time ago.

Constraints would probably be:

Single PC
Multiple opponents of an identical type
Melee only

First version might require you to type in all relevant stats, but further iterations might make that easier. In particular I could type in a bunch of SRD monsters so you could just pick a monster and a quantity. Again, I would probably just go with straight slug-fest monsters, although special abilities like Pack Tactics are pretty straightforward. Structured correctly (although a total pain in javascript) it would be easy to keep adding abilities as suggestions/requests are made.

I have a neat idea in mind for how to visualize the results of thousands of iterations of fights.

Fenris-77 · May 25, 2020

Are you taking requests? I'd be interested to see what a series of DC 6 rolls looks like when failures add a cumulative -1 and a critical failure requires a DC 9 save or the series ceases. I can't figure out what the average number of successes would be before a failed save. I'm working on a non-spell slot magic alternative and I'm having trouble balancing the system above with the current 1st and 2nd level spell slot allotment.

Guest 6801328 · May 25, 2020

Fenris-77 said:
Are you taking requests? I'd be interested to see what a series of DC 6 rolls looks like when failures add a cumulative -1 and a critical failure requires a DC 9 save or the series ceases. I can't figure out what the average number of successes would be before a failed save. I'm working on a non-spell slot magic alternative and I'm having trouble balancing the system above with the current 1st and 2nd level spell slot allotment.

Yeah, that’s easy. I’ll throw something together.

Esker · May 25, 2020

Fenris-77 said:
Are you taking requests? I'd be interested to see what a series of DC 6 rolls looks like when failures add a cumulative -1 and a critical failure requires a DC 9 save or the series ceases. I can't figure out what the average number of successes would be before a failed save. I'm working on a non-spell slot magic alternative and I'm having trouble balancing the system above with the current 1st and 2nd level spell slot allotment.

Is the idea that a nat 1 followed by failing the save, as modified by the previous number of failures, is the only stopping condition?

Fenris-77 · May 25, 2020

Esker said:
Is the idea that a nat 1 followed by failing the save, as modified by the previous number of failures, is the only stopping condition?

Sort of. The failures add cumulative levels of fatigue, each of which give a -1 mod to subsequent rolls. The crit fumble is CON save vs exhaustion, and every fatigue past 3 also requires a test vs exhaustion. Exhaustion doesn't actually stop the ability to cast, but does grant disadvantage, and all failures to cast when exhausted cost CON vs additional levels of exhaustion, and eventually death. Casting after getting a level of exhaustion is obviously a bit of a death spiral, but that's on purpose. Players can take that chance if it's really important, but the consequences I hope are high enough to mostly dissuade pushing too hard. That'ts the plan anyway.

I also have mechanics for casting spells above you level as well, and an alternate system for how you learn spells and what a caster knows when. Just roughed out for the moment, but I want to get the mechanics pass the smell test before I spend too much time organizing spells into list and whatnot.