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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AtomicPope" data-source="post: 6726215" data-attributes="member: 64790">What most gamers don't understand, but game designers/math heads do, is AC calculates damage.  Let me explain... if you're only hitting 50% of the time you calculate your damage output by dividing your average damage dice total in half.  Make sense?  In your description you talk about how a Barbarian always hits, even if he needs to roll a '6' on the D20.  When you look at damage output that's how a Barbarian scales against a Fighter or Paladin.  The Fighters gets more attacks (hits less often but with higher attack output his damage increases) while a Paladin Smites (increases damage when he hits and when it does the most damage like during a Crit).Bounded Accurancy translates the PC damage output by increasing their damage through increased success.  In other words, more hits means more damage per turn.  Right now my 15th Level Warlock is +14 to hit with his Eldritch Blast.  He does a reliable 40pts damage per round because he rarely misses.  In two more levels that damage increase drastically due to an additional attack and Foresight (Advantage on all attacks).  When you look at the dice, it's a simple 1D10+1D6+5 damage that hasn't changed since level one.  When I was lower level I had a hard time hitting Goblins and Hobgoblins, especially when they had cover.  After several levels my number of attacks increased, my hit bonus increased, and I have the Spell Sniper Feat to ignore Cover; all of it translates to more damage even though the dice are the same.  All of this assumes Bounded Accuracy - a monster AC that increases more slowly than PC attack bonuses increase.  When you change the AC and Defenses of a monster, the PC damage changes.  If the monsters had a 25 AC and special defenses like Blur, then my damage would drop to around 14pts per round hitting maybe one time in three attacks.Bounded Accuracy works both ways.In our campaign we've been fighting with Devils and Hobgoblins since level one.  There are NPCs that grant +1D4 bonuses to hit like using the "Bless" spell or a Hobgoblin's leadership.  Sprinkle in Goblins and Imps to use the Help Action and the low CR monsters now have Advantage on a +5+1D4 bonus to hit.  They can reliably hit our PCs since our AC sits around 18 for non-Tanks and around 22 for Tanks.  This allows us to be heroes and fight against hordes like in the Battle of the Hornburg (Helm's Deep), while still making them a credible threat.  That means if we charged out into the ranks we'd die a horrible death.  However, using terrain and cover it reduces the total number of incoming attacks and lets us grind it out heroically.  All of this is possible because Bounded Accuracy works both ways, and the DM must be conscious of the magic items they hand out to ensure it stays that way.</blockquote>

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