D&D 5E Philosophy of Greataxe vs. Greatsword

[Fauchard1520]

Now, if only we had a 3d4 Two-Handed, Heavy Weapon and we'd have a complete set of "the most you can roll is 12 for the base weapon's damage"-type weapons. Maybe a Great-Trident or something like that? The closest thing we currently have to this is the Double-Bladed Scimitar, which is 2d4, but lets you make a bonus action attack that's just 1d4.

Is there any weapon in D&D history that rolls 3d4? I guess you could find something like the "shock truncheon" over in Starfinder...

Weapons – Starjammer SRD

The premier online rules reference website for the Starfinder RPG!

www.starjammersrd.com

...But that game goes a bit nuts with leveling up your gear.

 

[Iry]

But you’re also increasing your chances of lower-than-average damage, and that means you run the risk of under-performing when you really need to put a baddy down.

Serious question. How often do people suffer a serious consequence because they did .5 less damage per attack? I mean things like "He only has 3 HP left and just killed Jane!"

 

[Krachek]

Serious question. How often do people suffer a serious consequence because they did .5 less damage per round? I mean things like "He only has 3 HP left and just killed Jane!"

What is really disappointing is letting a monster alive with only .5 hit points!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Serious question. How often do people suffer a serious consequence because they did .5 less damage per round? I mean things like "He only has 3 HP left and just killed Jane!"

But it's most often not .5 less damage per round. That's only if you only have one attack a round. Once you have Extra Attack, or some way to attack as a bonus action, or if you can reroll low numbers on the dice (Savage Attacker, Great Weapon Fighting, etc), that ups the disparity of the average damages of Greatswords and Greataxes even more. If you have 2 attacks each turn, that's 1 extra average damage. If you have Great Weapon Fighting, you're rerolling dice twice as often.

It often isn't a big deal, but if the enemy would be left with between 1-5 hit points after your turn attacking with a Greataxe, they could possibly be done for if attacking with a Greatsword.

 

[Oofta]

But it's most often not .5 less damage per round. That's only if you only have one attack a round. Once you have Extra Attack, or some way to attack as a bonus action, or if you can reroll low numbers on the dice (Savage Attacker, Great Weapon Fighting, etc), that ups the disparity of the average damages of Greatswords and Greataxes even more. If you have 2 attacks each turn, that's 1 extra average damage. If you have Great Weapon Fighting, you're rerolling dice twice as often.

It often isn't a big deal, but if the enemy would be left with between 1-5 hit points after your turn attacking with a Greataxe, they could possibly be done for if attacking with a Greatsword.

Well, I will agree that 1 is greater than .5.

Is it significant enough that anyone will ever notice? Eh. If you care about this stuff, fine. Most people do not.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I love spells and weapons that use d12s.

I like to roll em

 

[Lord Shark]

Is there any weapon in D&D history that rolls 3d4?

In AD&D 1E and 2E, a trident does 3d4, although only against large enemies.

 

[Iry]

It often isn't a big deal, but if the enemy would be left with between 1-5 hit points after your turn attacking with a Greataxe, they could possibly be done for if attacking with a Greatsword.

How often, in your games, has the slightly reduced damage resulted in something bad happening?

 

[Bill Zebub]

In AD&D 1E and 2E, a trident does 3d4, although only against large enemies.

omg nostalgia attack...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

How often, in your games, has the slightly reduced damage resulted in something bad happening?

One time a Vampire got away from a fight with 2 HP remaining, taking the corpse of a downed PC with them that they turned into a Vampire Spawn. Another time an enemy with 5 HP left dropped the party cleric when there were still quite a few enemies left and it almost resulted in a TPK.

They're not super common, but they do happen, and an average damage increase of .5 does have the potential to avoid some of those types of situations.