I have several questions regarding how the 'Great Weapon Fighting' fighting style works, and I'd be really glad to hear about how you (or your DM) interpret(s) how it should function.
The PHB states:
Great Weapon Fighting When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
The vague part about this is the part where it says "...an attack you make with a melee weapon..." Here's what I mean.
Let's assume there's a paladin who took Great Weapon Fighting at level 2 and has a flametongue greatsword (upon activation, it gives +2d6 to any damage rolls when hitting with the flametongue weapon) .
When rolling 1s or 2s for a Divine Smite, would they be allowed to be rerolled?
When rolling 1s or 2s for the Flame Tongue damage, would they be allowed to be rerolled?
When rolling 1s or 2s for a magically enhanced on-hit attack (e.g., Thunderous Smite or Hex), would they be allowed to be rerolled?
Scenario 1 is odd, as the PHB states: "...when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target..." This seems to imply that Divine Smite is more of a magical damage boost that is applied after the attack has connected (as a player can choose to add a smite AFTER they know they have hit). If this is how it is interpreted, would Divine Smite 1s and 2s be ineligible to be rerolled?
Scenario 2 is strange in a different way. The text for a Flame Tongue weapon states: "While the sword is ablaze, it deals an extra 2d6 fire damage to any target it hits." As the fire damage is an effect that happens simultaneously with the normal weapon damage, would it be lumped in with the normal damage attack, thus enabling 1s or 2s to be rerolled? Or would the fire damage be considered a secondary magical effect, thus preventing it from being rerolled?
Scenario 3 is similar to 1, so I feel like those two have some overlap.
I think it would apply to any weapon damage die. So if i have a frost enchanted greatsword that does 1d6 frost plus 2d6, you could reroll the frost damage as it is part of the weapon. Any effect like flametongue that adds to the attack that doesn' say "add x to the weapons damage roll" wouldn' apply though.
Rules as written: just the damage dice that come the mundane aspect of the weapon itself.
Rules as at my table: any dice you rolled for damage when attacking, for sake of simplicity and not having to not roll all your damage dice in one big handful or make sure your weapon's die/dice are not the same color as the rest if they are the same size.
Well, for the Flame Tongue, I see the fire damage always as an extra damage, so I would not apply Great Weapon Fighting to it.
The extra damage is part of the weapon's damage dice and that qualifies it for other features like Savage Attacks, so in my opinion Great Weapon Fighting should apply to it. Features like Sneak Attack and smites don't come from the weapon.
there was a good response to this on the rpg stack exchange in response to using great weapon fighting on combat superiority dice for a fighter.
summed up as:
Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
This is fairly explicit. If it's a damage die, and it's rolled for an attack you make with a melee weapon in two hands, then you get the re-roll. This works for Combat Superiority, Smite, bonus dice from spell buffs, and even Sneak Attack if you could figure out a way to sneak attack with a two-handed weapon (currently, there is no way to do so).
But he also added a mathematical breakdown on the game effects... and it's not much.
On average you are looking at a 5% increase in damage.
As you can see, overall the difference is fairly minor. All told, the damage increase is never more than 5% of the total damage being done, and this is assuming that you're using Combat Superiority on all of your attacks, which is probably not what you want to be doing when you have 3-4 attacks each turn.
I feel this will also work for divine smite and other smites as they are weapon effects like a flaming sword.
Thunderous smite says: Your weapon rings with thunder that is audible within 300 feet of you, and the attack deals an extra 2d6 thunder damage. There is literally thunder in your blade. It's not striking from the sky or some other source.
Same for Wrathful smite: Your weapon flares with white-hot intensity, and the attack deals an extra 1d6 fire damage to the target and causes the target to ignite in flames.
But for me, there are two ways of looking at it...
A. The magic effect of the weapon is more like a constant. The blade is evenly heated. The thunder rings consistently throughout the blade. You are skilled with a great weapon and that's why the damage you deal with that weapon is better than avg. So it should apply to all damage dice because that's directly related to your fighting ability not the magic power of the weapon itself which is a constant or close to it.
OR
B. The magic effect of the weapon is not constant. The magic heating the blade is variable, ebbs and flows. The thunder in the blade is based on your gods faith in you. Therefore random, slightly unpredictable. And the only damage you can control is from your skill with the blade itself. The rest of the effect is not constant so therefore out of your control and cant be re-rolled. This is more fate related, less skill related.
but think about Game of Thrones and Berric Dondarrion, his flaming sword seemed pretty consistent. When he hits you with the flaming sword, the damage comes more from his skill with the blade than the fire.
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I have several questions regarding how the 'Great Weapon Fighting' fighting style works, and I'd be really glad to hear about how you (or your DM) interpret(s) how it should function.
The PHB states:
Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
The vague part about this is the part where it says "...an attack you make with a melee weapon..." Here's what I mean.
Let's assume there's a paladin who took Great Weapon Fighting at level 2 and has a flametongue greatsword (upon activation, it gives +2d6 to any damage rolls when hitting with the flametongue weapon) .
Scenario 1 is odd, as the PHB states: "...when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target..." This seems to imply that Divine Smite is more of a magical damage boost that is applied after the attack has connected (as a player can choose to add a smite AFTER they know they have hit). If this is how it is interpreted, would Divine Smite 1s and 2s be ineligible to be rerolled?
Scenario 2 is strange in a different way. The text for a Flame Tongue weapon states: "While the sword is ablaze, it deals an extra 2d6 fire damage to any target it hits." As the fire damage is an effect that happens simultaneously with the normal weapon damage, would it be lumped in with the normal damage attack, thus enabling 1s or 2s to be rerolled? Or would the fire damage be considered a secondary magical effect, thus preventing it from being rerolled?
Scenario 3 is similar to 1, so I feel like those two have some overlap.
As explained by Crawford here, the intent of Great Weapon Fighting is to reroll only the weapon's die.
Thanks for the link - this would rule out scenarios 1 and 3 for sure. How do you think it would apply to scenario 2 (magical weapon) then?
Well, for the Flame Tongue, I see the fire damage always as an extra damage, so I would not apply Great Weapon Fighting to it.
That does make sense. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
I think it would apply to any weapon damage die. So if i have a frost enchanted greatsword that does 1d6 frost plus 2d6, you could reroll the frost damage as it is part of the weapon. Any effect like flametongue that adds to the attack that doesn' say "add x to the weapons damage roll" wouldn' apply though.
You only lose if you die. Any time else, there's opportunity for a come back.
Rules as written: just the damage dice that come the mundane aspect of the weapon itself.
Rules as at my table: any dice you rolled for damage when attacking, for sake of simplicity and not having to not roll all your damage dice in one big handful or make sure your weapon's die/dice are not the same color as the rest if they are the same size.
Only the raw "un-magic" weapons die
there was a good response to this on the rpg stack exchange in response to using great weapon fighting on combat superiority dice for a fighter.
summed up as:
But he also added a mathematical breakdown on the game effects... and it's not much.
On average you are looking at a 5% increase in damage.
I feel this will also work for divine smite and other smites as they are weapon effects like a flaming sword.
Thunderous smite says: Your weapon rings with thunder that is audible within 300 feet of you, and the attack deals an extra 2d6 thunder damage. There is literally thunder in your blade. It's not striking from the sky or some other source.
Same for Wrathful smite: Your weapon flares with white-hot intensity, and the attack deals an extra 1d6 fire damage to the target and causes the target to ignite in flames.
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/55538/does-great-weapon-fighting-allow-extra-damage-from-a-battle-master-fighters-sup
But for me, there are two ways of looking at it...
A. The magic effect of the weapon is more like a constant. The blade is evenly heated. The thunder rings consistently throughout the blade. You are skilled with a great weapon and that's why the damage you deal with that weapon is better than avg. So it should apply to all damage dice because that's directly related to your fighting ability not the magic power of the weapon itself which is a constant or close to it.
OR
B. The magic effect of the weapon is not constant. The magic heating the blade is variable, ebbs and flows. The thunder in the blade is based on your gods faith in you. Therefore random, slightly unpredictable. And the only damage you can control is from your skill with the blade itself. The rest of the effect is not constant so therefore out of your control and cant be re-rolled. This is more fate related, less skill related.
but think about Game of Thrones and Berric Dondarrion, his flaming sword seemed pretty consistent. When he hits you with the flaming sword, the damage comes more from his skill with the blade than the fire.