What is Brutal worth?

Btw, you don't have to be a great number-cruncher to figure out what Brutal is worth. You just figure out the average damage the same way you would for any die roll, but make allowance for the lowest possible number not being a 1.

So, a d12 damage weapon with brutal 2 is worth the average of 3 and 12 (7.5) instead of 1 and 12 (6.5).
 

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Btw, you don't have to be a great number-cruncher to figure out what Brutal is worth. You just figure out the average damage the same way you would for any die roll, but make allowance for the lowest possible number not being a 1.

So, a d12 damage weapon with brutal 2 is worth the average of 3 and 12 (7.5) instead of 1 and 12 (6.5).

True, but you do have to not be lazy. ;)

Lots of good comments and as has been widely noted, the main benifit is psychological

I actually did end up sitting down and putting together said spreadsheet and came to the shocking conclusion that Brutal 2 is worth +1 to hit for the die type (d12) if you assume a 50-50 chance of hitting with the axe.

If you hit on a 10, the axe is slightly better, if you need an 11, the sword is. This number moves a little depending on bonus damage, the 10/11 split was with +11 damage, at +15 damage the split happened at 8/9.

For those curious what assumptions/factors I included in the spreadsheet:
30,000 attack rolls
Best of 2 d20 rolls
Effect of Brutal 2 on both regular and High Crit damage dice
Bonus Weapon Damage

I did not factor in the effects of dice that do 2W or higher damage.

If this all seems a little excessive on the analysis, in my defense, I am a civil engineer... :p
 
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True, but you do have to not be lazy. ;)

Lots of good comments and as has been widely noted, the main benifit is psychological

I actually did end up sitting down and putting together said spreadsheet and came to the shocking conclusion that Brutal 2 is worth +1 to hit for the die type (d12) if you assume a 50-50 chance of hitting with the axe.

If you hit on a 10, the axe is slightly better, if you need an 11, the sword is. This number moves a little depending on bonus damage, the 10/11 split was with +11 damage, at +15 damage the split happened at 8/9.

For those curious what assumptions/factors I included in the spreadsheet:
30,000 attack rolls
Best of 2 d20 rolls
Effect of Brutal 2 on both regular and High Crit damage dice
Bonus Weapon Damage

I did not factor in the effects of dice that do 2W or higher damage.

If this all seems a little excessive on the analysis, in my defense, I am a civil engineer... :p

Given that bonus damage from other sources actually factors into this (I.E. strength bonus and all that) you have to factor that into calculations.

Basicly, the amount of damage you gain over the outcomes you hit from brutal has to be greater than the amount of damage done by the single outcome of you hitting with that other weapon. Because one of these is agnostic to miscellaneous bonuses, and the other isn't, you actually can't zero out the bonuses like that.
 

Given that bonus damage from other sources actually factors into this (I.E. strength bonus and all that) you have to factor that into calculations.

Basicly, the amount of damage you gain over the outcomes you hit from brutal has to be greater than the amount of damage done by the single outcome of you hitting with that other weapon. Because one of these is agnostic to miscellaneous bonuses, and the other isn't, you actually can't zero out the bonuses like that.

I agree that you can't ignore the effects of multiple W attacks, I just didn't feel like expanding the spreadsheet to do it. ;)

Since the more your damage depends on dice rolls, the better brutal is, I saw no need to test scenarios weighted toward Brutal, thus the 1W weapon tests.
 
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