D&D 5E Replacing Damage-On-A-Miss

[Ahnehnois]

As I recall someone else bringing up in one of the many threads on this topic, some kind of area damage or attacks on multiple targets seems to make a lot of sense for the bigger weapons and would add a different dynamic.

 

[I'm A Banana]

How am I "doing it wrong"?

The topic posed a question and I responded what the best case route to take is.

Don't worry about it too much, if I was seriously bothered about it I wouldn't have responded with an image.

But the premise here is that we are discussing alternatives to Damage-On-A-Miss. Your post was basically saying "There should be alternatives to damage-on-a-miss, but damage-on-a-miss should be the defualt!" so it doesn't really add much to the convo about what we could do instead of damage-on-a-miss.

So take that image as a challenge! What would you do instead of damage-on-a-miss, working from the constraint that damage-on-a-miss is out for some arbitrary reason?

 

[Herschel]

Sweeping Blow: When adjacent to more than one foe, on a hit roll an extra damage die, apply one of your choice to primary target, split the other amongst different enemies within reach.

Make choosing to step in to a scrum a real gamble.

-or-

Staggering blow: The force of your strike staggers your enemy, granting the next ally to attack it Advantage on their (first) attack roll.

 

[Ichneumon]

Whatever the replacement is, it has to mesh, not agglutinate, with the Great Weapon Fighter feat. DoaM, despite all the flak it's copped, does just this, enabling you to -5 it up and still walk away not quite empty handed if you roll low.

GWF has a cleave effect and the option to take a -5 to hit for a big damage boost. What works well with that? (and on its own, for those not using feats). I may have a suggestion. Back after this commercial break.

 

[Minigiant]

How about we just make the bonus damage an attack

GWF- The first time you miss an attack with a melee weapon with two hands on a turn, you may make an extra attack using your weapon as a large improvised weapon at the same target. The damage is equal to 1d6 plus your Strength score. The weapon must have the two handed or versatile property.

So the damage increases to 1d6+Str damage from Str damage but you must attack and once a turn.

 

[EnglishLanguage]

Alright, fair enough.

I apologize for jumping the gun, but I've been attacked before for saying Damage on a Miss shouldn't be removed and jumped to assumptions. My bad.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Whatever the replacement is, it has to mesh, not agglutinate, with the Great Weapon Fighter feat. DoaM, despite all the flak it's copped, does just this, enabling you to -5 it up and still walk away not quite empty handed if you roll low.

GWF has a cleave effect and the option to take a -5 to hit for a big damage boost. What works well with that? (and on its own, for those not using feats). I may have a suggestion. Back after this commercial break.

I think a better solution would be to remove the power attack mechanic, because it's a terrible mechanic and there is no excuse for putting it in a game in 2014.

 

[darjr]

How about we just make the bonus damage an attack

GWF- The first time you miss an attack with a melee weapon with two hands on a turn, you may make an extra attack using your weapon as a large improvised weapon at the same target. The damage is equal to 1d6 plus your Strength score. The weapon must have the two handed or versatile property.

So the damage increases to 1d6+Str damage from Str damage but you must attack and once a turn.

I really like this one. In fact I may steal it for other things/games.

 

[Wulfgar76]

Yours? What would work well for you?

+1.5 times STR modifier to damage rolls
But only if you have the Greatweapon Fighting style from your class.

 

[pemerton]

I think a better solution would be to remove the power attack mechanic, because it's a terrible mechanic

I agree that it's bad: to make it work you have to do silly amounts of maths, and if you don't do the maths then you can end up using your feat to make your expected damage output lower rather than higher!