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Penny arcade pvp - battlerager

Bran Mak Morn

First Post

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Battlerager: a specialty the feat of which is - in melee combat I can take disantvantage on attack rolls to maximise damages.

Huh. It hardly seems worth it, but see below.

My question is: if I have advantage for any reason, can I use this feat or is the advantage I have negating my disantvantage and therefore the possibility to maximise damage?

Given that advantage allows a rogue to Sneak Attack even if there is disadvantage also present, I'd say the equivalent is true here as well: If you have disadvantage, you can use the feat, even if there is advantage also present.

In which case, the feat suddenly seems very much worth using.
 

Scipio202

Explorer
When to use

It should work the same as other disadvantages. So, if you have advantage this would put you back at "normal" and if you already have disadvantage then this ability becomes "free".

If you have neither advantage or disadvantage then there is a simple rule for when it is best to rage: if your damage dice is d8 or smaller rage if you can hit on a 9+, if it is d10 or larger rage if you can hit on 10+ (the number of dice doesn't matter, so 2d6 works like 1d6).

Math: let's say you hit with probability p, and roll a dX. With no disadvantage you need to hit once and get average damage, with disadvantage you need to hit twice, but get max damage. To break even you need
p*p*X >= p*(1+X)/2 or
p >= 1/2 + 1/2X
 


Chris_Nightwing

First Post
Hm, quick calculation time:

If you hit on a 10+, disadvantage takes you from 55% hit to 30.25% hit.
An ordinary sword attack goes from 1d8+3 (average 7.5) to 11 damage. That's 4.125 vs. 3.3275.
A bigger attack goes from 1d12+3 (average 9.5) to 15 damage. That's 5.225 vs. 4.5375.
An awesome fighter attack goes from 1d12+3+1d6 (average 13) to 21 damage. That's 7.15 vs. 6.3525.

It only breaks even when you hit on lower numbers, or if you're drunk I suppose.
 




Bran Mak Morn

First Post
Yeah, I found it. Looks like Battle Rage actually gives +2d6 damage in exchange for disadvantage?

And if he kills someone with it, the next feat in the chain lets him do 2d6 damage to another adjacent foe.

Yes that is what appears on the CS but in the podcast they were talking about maximising damage.
 

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