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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8999557" data-attributes="member: 2629">Sharpshooter has been a big player in 2 near TPKs when I have been DMing.&nbsp; In both instances, the archer was essentially useless at the start of combat ... and having a PC effectively do nothing in combat for a round or two in a difficult combat can make a huge difference.While sharshooter increases your average damage against foes with typical ACs, it also increases the odds that you'll totally miss the enemy on multiple back to back attacks at the start of combat.&nbsp; In both instances where the archer was just missing, the enemy had an AC high enough that Sharpshooter wasn't adding that much damage on average in theory - but with the extra unlucky misses it was devastaingly bad for the group when the PCs just flat out missed so much.If you hit 70% of the time without Sharpshooter (requires a 7), you only hit 45% of the time with it (requires a 12).&nbsp; &nbsp; You'll have a 2.7% chance of having three misses in a row without Sharpshooter, and a 16.6% chance of having three misses in a row with it.&nbsp;&nbsp; That goes from once in 37 combats to once in 6 combats.&nbsp; You may not have 37 challengeing combats in a campaign - but you might have several challenging combats where you miss those first three attacks in a campaign .... and if you do have that unlucky streak that happens once in 37 tries, it wouldn't just be missing 3 attacks ... it would be missing the first 6 if you're using Sharshooter and having that decreased chances to hit.Sharpshooter is often evaluated only by the damage per round or damage per attack impact - but people drastically underestimate the risks that it introduces.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8999557, member: 2629"] Sharpshooter has been a big player in 2 near TPKs when I have been DMing. In both instances, the archer was essentially useless at the start of combat ... and having a PC effectively do nothing in combat for a round or two in a difficult combat can make a huge difference. While sharshooter increases your average damage against foes with typical ACs, it also increases the odds that you'll totally miss the enemy on multiple back to back attacks at the start of combat. In both instances where the archer was just missing, the enemy had an AC high enough that Sharpshooter wasn't adding that much damage on average in theory - but with the extra unlucky misses it was devastaingly bad for the group when the PCs just flat out missed so much. If you hit 70% of the time without Sharpshooter (requires a 7), you only hit 45% of the time with it (requires a 12). You'll have a 2.7% chance of having three misses in a row without Sharpshooter, and a 16.6% chance of having three misses in a row with it. That goes from once in 37 combats to once in 6 combats. You may not have 37 challengeing combats in a campaign - but you might have several challenging combats where you miss those first three attacks in a campaign .... and if you do have that unlucky streak that happens once in 37 tries, it wouldn't just be missing 3 attacks ... it would be missing the first 6 if you're using Sharshooter and having that decreased chances to hit. Sharpshooter is often evaluated only by the damage per round or damage per attack impact - but people drastically underestimate the risks that it introduces. [/QUOTE]

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