Weird Question. Other than Brutal Crit, Orcish Fury, & Savage Attack are there any other abilities that only add one of a weapon's dice damage to the total dice rolled (as opposed to adding both die that you get when using a maul, greatsword, etc.)?
Off the top of my head, those are the only feats/abilities.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
The short answer is that they're close enough that you should just go with what you want. 2d6 is more consistent damage and the 1d12 hits the edges more frequently. Criticals favor the larger die and builds that emphasize crits will generally want the bigger die for optimization. But the difference isn't enough to worry about outside of optimizing either big crits or steady damage.
I'll keep an eye out and if anything pops up, I'll document it here.
There is a reason, btw. Trying to compare Great Axe to Great Sword / Maul
Ahh... there's been a ton of analysis on that question, and it boils down to this: If you're a Half-Orc Barbarian with the critical feats, a Greataxe pulls ahead in average damage.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I am finding that, even with advantage, unless you have 2 of the 3 possible bonus crit dice (ie the 2 bonus die from brutal crit, and the one from 1/2 orc), you generally do more damage with 2d6.
When you get 2 out of the three, you always do better with a greataxe if you have advantage. If you don't have advantage, then Greataxe is better if you are attacking high AC (typically >21 depending on your to hit bonus.)
An expanded critical range also skews things in favor of the greataxe - it has better avg. damage at AC of ~10 or more if they have even one bonus crit die. Meaning that a Half Orc champion should always use a greataxe - if damage is their goal.
If you have all 3 then 2d6 is better only when you do not have adv and the opponent's AC < 14 or so.
TL;DR is - Barbarians who use Reckless Attack should switch to the GreatAxe 13th level, unless they are half-orcs. Then they should switch at 9th. Half-Orc Champions should use the Greataxe after 3rd level.
All of this is with the caveat that damage output is not the end all be all of a character, natch.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
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Weird Question. Other than Brutal Crit, Orcish Fury, & Savage Attack are there any other abilities that only add one of a weapon's dice damage to the total dice rolled (as opposed to adding both die that you get when using a maul, greatsword, etc.)?
Off the top of my head, those are the only feats/abilities.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
That's what I thought. Thanks.
I'll keep an eye out and if anything pops up, I'll document it here.
There is a reason, btw. Trying to compare Great Axe to Great Sword / Maul
The short answer is that they're close enough that you should just go with what you want. 2d6 is more consistent damage and the 1d12 hits the edges more frequently. Criticals favor the larger die and builds that emphasize crits will generally want the bigger die for optimization. But the difference isn't enough to worry about outside of optimizing either big crits or steady damage.
Ahh... there's been a ton of analysis on that question, and it boils down to this: If you're a Half-Orc Barbarian with the critical feats, a Greataxe pulls ahead in average damage.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I am finding that, even with advantage, unless you have 2 of the 3 possible bonus crit dice (ie the 2 bonus die from brutal crit, and the one from 1/2 orc), you generally do more damage with 2d6.
When you get 2 out of the three, you always do better with a greataxe if you have advantage. If you don't have advantage, then Greataxe is better if you are attacking high AC (typically >21 depending on your to hit bonus.)
An expanded critical range also skews things in favor of the greataxe - it has better avg. damage at AC of ~10 or more if they have even one bonus crit die. Meaning that a Half Orc champion should always use a greataxe - if damage is their goal.
If you have all 3 then 2d6 is better only when you do not have adv and the opponent's AC < 14 or so.
TL;DR is - Barbarians who use Reckless Attack should switch to the GreatAxe 13th level, unless they are half-orcs. Then they should switch at 9th. Half-Orc Champions should use the Greataxe after 3rd level.
All of this is with the caveat that damage output is not the end all be all of a character, natch.
That's accurate.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.