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<blockquote data-quote="Esker" data-source="post: 7907749" data-attributes="member: 6966824">This would be really useful to be able to do.Off the top of my head it feels like a good place to start is to index AoE damage to a level-appropriate baseline for single-target damage. That way, you're not trying to evaluate the impact of 21 damage per target to N targets, which is going to depend on how many HP per target is typical for the PC's level; instead you're comparing, say, doing X damage to one target to C*X total damage spread across N targets.The total amount of damage is one relevant quantity, but it ought to be adjusted by the ratio C/N. If C/N &gt; 1, the AoE is strictly better than doing X damage to one target, since (resource use aside) you'd prefer it even if you only hit one target; and if C/N &lt;= 1/N it's almost strictly worse, since you're just doing X damage, but the chance of denying an enemy turn is lower than if you did all X damage to a single target (the exception being if multiple targets are below X/N HP at that point, though even then a single target damage dealer will often be able to pick off multiple enemies with multiple attacks).But usually we'll have 1/N &lt; C/N &lt; 1, which is the interesting region, where we need to start making some assumptions.... More later.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Esker, post: 7907749, member: 6966824"] This would be really useful to be able to do. Off the top of my head it feels like a good place to start is to index AoE damage to a level-appropriate baseline for single-target damage. That way, you're not trying to evaluate the impact of 21 damage per target to N targets, which is going to depend on how many HP per target is typical for the PC's level; instead you're comparing, say, doing X damage to one target to C*X total damage spread across N targets. The total amount of damage is one relevant quantity, but it ought to be adjusted by the ratio C/N. If C/N > 1, the AoE is strictly better than doing X damage to one target, since (resource use aside) you'd prefer it even if you only hit one target; and if C/N <= 1/N it's almost strictly worse, since you're just doing X damage, but the chance of denying an enemy turn is lower than if you did all X damage to a single target (the exception being if multiple targets are below X/N HP at that point, though even then a single target damage dealer will often be able to pick off multiple enemies with multiple attacks). But usually we'll have 1/N < C/N < 1, which is the interesting region, where we need to start making some assumptions. ... More later. [/QUOTE]

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