Scimitar Dance:is it better to miss?

[torim]

Hi!
I am a little puzzled about scimitar dance+twin strike.In facts, it seems to me that,if you are not using a magic weapon, you deal more damage (on average) if you miss!!!
Suppose you are a 11 level ranger with dexterity 20(+5) (not so strange if you are an elf,for example).If you hit with an attack of twin strike you deal 1d8 damage,on average 4.5 (no strength bonus).Instead,if you miss,scimitar dance allows you to deal 5 damage!
Am I correct?

 

[DLichen]

If you're a 11 level character without a magic weapon, I think you won't be too disappointed that your misses deal more damage than your hits.

 

[markl]

... if you are not using a magic weapon. It would be very unusual to not have a magic weapon by level 11. In fact, even just taking Weapon Focus tips the balance in favour of hitting.

 

[small pumpkin man]

Firstly, if you are using any other attack(not including things like sure strike, which suck), you allways want to hit.

Secondly, a more realistic 11th level ranger will have at least +2 weapons and often weapon focus, making it avg 8.5(minimum 5 damage) vs 5 damage, making hitting allways worthwhile.

It is theoretically possible to engineer a situation where you do 7 damage on a miss and 1d8(avg 4.5) on a hit though, yes.

 

[WalterKovacs]

While by the time it's available, it will probably do less damage than hits, it's still considerably close to average damage ... making dual scimitar wielding rangers a good idea for an archetype.

Wonder why that would be ...

 

[Cadfan]

Wouldn't the ranger also have a strength bonus?

Why are we doing the calculations for a ranger with a strength bonus of +0? Strength is what makes a two weapon fighting ranger hit things. Such a character would be far more likely to have a strength of 20 than a dex of 20, or to at least have both.

 

[Danceofmasks]

'cos twin strike doesn't add ability modifier to damage, maybe?

 

[Mengu]

Hunter's Quarry anyone?

 

[Cadfan]

'cos twin strike doesn't add ability modifier to damage, maybe?

Ooooh. My bad.

So I guess, yeah. If you've got a 20 dexterity you will do an average of .5 points more damage per miss than per hit if you don't have a magic weapon, and have either already used your hunter's quarry or have not marked this particular foe with it.

I'll leave it to you whether that's worth anything.

 

[Norhg]

Ooooh. My bad.

So I guess, yeah. If you've got a 20 dexterity you will do an average of .5 points more damage per miss than per hit if you don't have a magic weapon, and have either already used your hunter's quarry or have not marked this particular foe with it.

I'll leave it to you whether that's worth anything.

By level 16, a Stormwarden Ranger can deal a guaranteed 30 (24 against one target) damage with Twin Strike and paragon path abilities despite the defenses of the enemy. Support your attack with Frost Weapons and the lasting frost feats to up this damage to 40 (34).
White five of these guys, that's enough damage to take out an Elder Red Dragon in Six rounds, that's a level 22 solo Soldier and should be an impossible encounter