Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nifft" data-source="post: 5364145" data-attributes="member: 6562">Hey, I've been posting the Riding Dog explicitly with Weapon Focus since I brought it up to replace the Wolf. You can go back and look at my posts (and see that they haven't been edited). The way Fighters trip is pretty good for tripping humanoids, but it sucks for other creatures, and it gives you three chances to fail before you're allowed to inflict damage.- Touch attack (usually not hard).- Strength check (often works on Medium and Small humanoids).- Finally, you get to make an attack roll to deal damage.In contrast, the Wolf and Riding Dog get to do damage every time they hit, and then they get a free trip chance after dealing damage. They don't need to roll three attacks to deal damage once, nor do they need to guess if an opponent is trip-vulnerable before attacking. Ah, you're making a student mistake.The Fighter gets to deal damage if he hits with the touch attack (.55) and succeeds on the strength check (let's say .75) and succeeds on the bonus attack (.45, same as the dog, since he gets a +2 vs. prone). He gets to roll damage 18.6% of the time, while the dog gets to roll damage 45% of the time.Fighter's damage is 1d10+3 = 8.5, so his expected damage per round is 8.5 * .186 = 1.58 hp/round.Dog's damage is 1d6+3 = 6.5, expected dpr is 6.5 * .45 = 2.925 hp/round.Dog trips 60% of the time instead of 75% of the time, but he deals roughly double damage because his damage isn't contingent on the success of his trip check.If the Fighter skips tripping entirely and just goes for the straight attack, he deals as much damage as the dog (.35 * 8.5 = 2.975).Both parties should take Weapon Focus. Look at the Fighter's performance with it.- - -Fighters aren't good at tripping unless they get a Reach weapon and can lock down foes in an area with their AoOs. That kind of battlefield control is very strong.Cheers, -- N</blockquote>

Verification