A Rapier (average 4.5) plus Dueling (+2 damage every strike) is average 6.5, call it 7, before ability score modifier. Add in a once-per-turn reroll of a Rapier d8 (mathematically, you should use it on any 1, 2, 3, or 4, but emotionally you should save it for 1's and 2's) and that isn't much of a boost, but let's call that just "+1 damage per turn," and lock that average 6.5 in as a solid average 7.
A DBScimitar (average 5) plus GWFS on every swing (turn that average 5 into an average 6) is average 6, before ability score modifier.
They are close, don't get me wrong, but there is no situation in which GWFS on a 2d4 damage does more than Dueling on a d8, other than Opportunity Attacks.
GWFS is generally bad. Doubly so on a weapon with low damage dice like double-bladed skimitar, so you should probably go with defense or blind fighting. The thing that makes double-bladed scimitar good is in-built not!PolearmMaster extra attack, so while on average it deals slightly less damage than rapier with dueling, unless you have better things to use your bonus attacks DBS would still do more damage.
Right! Again, I like the Double-Bladed Scimitar, and I think that most melee characters want to pick up a Bonus Action attack! But for a class that specifically already has a competing use for its Bonus Action, like a Crit-Fishing Samurai, the DBS isn't the weapon you want to build around. It wouldbe outstanding on a Rogue (doubles your attacks per round, which doubles your chance to Sneak Attack, while leaving a hand open for spellcasting as an Arcane Trickster!), or on a Dex-based Battlemaster that switches between ranged (Longbow) and melee (DBS), or... probably some other stuff out there. Not everyone wants to use PAM+Shield, or PAM alone, so Revenant Blade+DBS is a good substitute. But if you're specifically interested in crit-fishing as a melee-only Samurai, the rapier+Shield is probably slightly better and more flexible.
A Rapier (average 4.5) plus Dueling (+2 damage every strike) is average 6.5, call it 7, before ability score modifier. Add in a once-per-turn reroll of a Rapier d8 (mathematically, you should use it on any 1, 2, 3, or 4, but emotionally you should save it for 1's and 2's) and that isn't much of a boost, but let's call that just "+1 damage per turn," and lock that average 6.5 in as a solid average 7.
A DBScimitar (average 5) plus GWFS on every swing (turn that average 5 into an average 6) is average 6, before ability score modifier.
They are close, don't get me wrong, but there is no situation in which GWFS on a 2d4 damage does more than Dueling on a d8, other than Opportunity Attacks.
What are you using the bonus action on with the rapier and shield? Fighting Spirit 3 times per long rest and once more per initiative (after 10th) until the next long rest. After that you are looking at shield Master for the shove and what else? If someone else already has shield Master or otherwise proned or restrains your target, what then? Battlemaster is better, having between 4 and 6 superiority dice (and a possible 7th with martial Adept) per short rest and not all maneuvers use a bonus action. Otherwise the DBS gets that bonus action almost everytime.
You could get Great Weapon Master strictly for the bonus action clause for an attack bonus action, PAM is out, Tavern Brawler doesn't fit the rapier concept very well, there are a few options from the various spellcasting feats, but they'll add one or two more uses occasionally. Poisoner could work and could be a good thematic choice, but it's efficacy is more volatile than an attack. Telekinetic might actually be a good addition with the addition of mage hand and the ability to move allies and enemies within 30 ft of you, but that's an action to cast mage hand before the bonus action is accessible for the next 10 rounds.
As you can see, you are trading a build with good damage with a built in bonus attack and a control feat plus an additional feat for decent damage build without a bonus action feat, a damage feat, and 2 control feats with situational bonus actions. The number of available bonus actions for DBS to pull ahead is dependent on the subclass and the campaign.
GWFS is generally bad. Doubly so on a weapon with low damage dice like double-bladed skimitar, so you should probably go with defense or blind fighting. The thing that makes double-bladed scimitar good is in-built not!PolearmMaster extra attack, so while on average it deals slightly less damage than rapier with dueling, unless you have better things to use your bonus attacks DBS would still do more damage.
Blind fighting would be amazing on this build in a party with a shadow sorcerer and a devil's Sight warlock.
PAM is not out in general if we're just talking about 1H Piercing Weapon vs DBS in general, because a Spear works almost as well as a Rapier (d6 rather than d8), other than not being Finesse and thus not fitting with this specific Elven Accuracy dex-based Samurai that we're talking about in this specific context. A d6 with Piercer and dueling is an average of 3.5+2 = 5.5, with one reroll of 1, 2, or 3 per round, bringing it up to break even with the DBS+GWFS. The Bonus Action PAM attack is average 4.5, the Bonus Action DBS attack is average 3, Spear with PAM and Piercer and Dueling is still better than DBS with RB and Slasher and GWFS from a damage perspective.
But back to the specific context of this thread, the crit fishing dex based Elven Accuracy Samurai wants advantage every single round, all day long, on as many attacks as possible. That means that they use their Bonus Action for Shield Master on most regular enemies that are the correct size to shove prone, and Fighting Spirit on larger or more skilled opponents instead who can't be shoved Prone. The DPR that is picked up from consistently having (super)advantage and critting far exceeds the DPR from having bonus action 1d4+Dex attacks, as well as supporting the purpose of the build (landing crits). If you find yourself on a turn where you already have a prone enemy, and thus don't need to use your Bonus Action for Shield Master or Fighting Spirit... hey, that's a good problem to have, either use your Bonus on a Second Wind , or on a Hunter's Mark (with feat), or just patting yourself on your back?
True I had thought of GWM but it doesn't match with Elven Accuracy.
What if the player had a Flame Tongue Double Bladed Scimitar? Would GWF apply to the 2d6 flame damage as well since it is coming from the weapon itself?
PAM is not out in general if we're just talking about 1H Piercing Weapon vs DBS in general, because a Spear works almost as well as a Rapier (d6 rather than d8), other than not being Finesse and thus not fitting with this specific Elven Accuracy dex-based Samurai that we're talking about in this specific context. A d6 with Piercer and dueling is an average of 3.5+2 = 5.5, with one reroll of 1, 2, or 3 per round, bringing it up to break even with the DBS+GWFS. The Bonus Action PAM attack is average 4.5, the Bonus Action DBS attack is average 3, Spear with PAM and Piercer and Dueling is still better than DBS with RB and Slasher and GWFS from a damage perspective.
But back to the specific context of this thread, the crit fishing dex based Elven Accuracy Samurai wants advantage every single round, all day long, on as many attacks as possible. That means that they use their Bonus Action for Shield Master on most regular enemies that are the correct size to shove prone, and Fighting Spirit on larger or more skilled opponents instead who can't be shoved Prone. The DPR that is picked up from consistently having (super)advantage and critting far exceeds the DPR from having bonus action 1d4+Dex attacks, as well as supporting the purpose of the build (landing crits). If you find yourself on a turn where you already have a prone enemy, and thus don't need to use your Bonus Action for Shield Master or Fighting Spirit... hey, that's a good problem to have, either use your Bonus on a Second Wind , or on a Hunter's Mark (with feat), or just patting yourself on your back?
Right. That's why I'm saying it depends on what's going on with the party. It depends on if someone is using the flanking option, it depends on how you can get advantage on your attacks. Having the ability to get the advantage at will is important, but if you are in a situation where you already have it on a regular basis, then you will be lacking on potential damage. That is why I'm saying that the rapier build is not strictly better. It's situationally better. 1v1 white room scenarios, rapier and shield master with piercer is better because it can reliably get the advantage, but it's not that easy when other factors are involved.
I agree that losing out on the extra 1 average damage per attack from GWFS for the additional AC is probably better in most cases. I think that Blind Fighting would be awesome with the right party tactics or the right circumstances. However, AC is only useful if you take attacks and then only if the AC will actually prevent the attack, blind fighting doesn't help if you aren't blinded or fighting invisible creatures or in darkness. GWFS is only useful if you roll a 1 or a 2 on a damage roll, just like the piercer feat is only good if you roll below the threshold that you choose, ideally between 2-4 on a d8.
The builds are very similar but have very specific priorities. Which build will be better will be dependent on you DM, your campaign, and your party. The good news is that you'll likely start with the rapier to begin with since an elf won't likely have a feat to make the DBS a finesse weapon until 4th and you'll have lots of opportunities to figure out what will work best for your situation, especially if you grab Elven Accuracy at 4th. By 6th, you should have a good feel for what you will need for your particular circumstances on a regular basis. If you have advantage frequently but don't use your bonus action, DBS will be better. If you need more personal defense or need to generate advantage more frequently, rapier with shield master will be better. In either case, I'd leave piercer/slasher for 8th level. You may decide that something else would be better by that time anyway.
True I had thought of GWM but it doesn't match with Elven Accuracy.
What if the player had a Flame Tongue Double Bladed Scimitar? Would GWF apply to the 2d6 flame damage as well since it is coming from the weapon itself?
I would rule that yes it would.
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 damage die is rolled for an attack that you made with a melee weapon. However, that would be a good question to ask your DM, since they may rule differently. If it's something that says the creature takes X extra damage, I would rule no, but something where the weapon deals X extra damage would be yes.
Great Weapon Master in this case would not be for the power attack, but strictly for the crit or kill generating a bonus action, which doesn't care about the weapon type outside of it being a melee weapon. It's a reasonable option because of all of the ASIs that fighters get and particularly because your crit rate would be higher. It would be particularly good if you had Butcher's Bib on this build, as your crit rate would be approaching 30% or so. Since the DBS is a melee weapon with finesse it qualifies for generating bonus actions and can still work with Elven Accuracy.
However, you might be able to do better with something else.
One other thing that could be favorable for the DBS with GWFS is if you are Enlarged by Enlarge/Reduce frequently since that would be an extra chance per attack to roll a 1 or a 2. Any dice roll that your DM rules is affected by GWFS increases your average damage and reduces the need to rely on your bonus attack to make up damage.
An 8th level rogue with 4d6 sneak attack that somehow has revenant feat and GWFS would be rolling 6 dice adding 1/2 point of damage per d4 and 2/3 point of damage per d6 which would be an additional 9 points of damage. That rogue could also forgo movement and use a bonus action to attack with advantage, in addition to the normal hiding shenanigans. You'll need 4-5 total attacks to get close to that with dueling FS.
If you have Enlarge/Reduce (or, your party is willing to cast it on you often)... take Mounted Combatant and ride a horse or something, and cast the spell on the mount instead. Being able to have advantage automatically on every melee attack against Medium and smaller by default, or Large and smaller when your mount is Enlarged, is again going to help your damage better than a bonus d4 will on yourself. Depending on if your DM tries to get nasty with you re: reach, you might want to keep a Whip on hand as a Finesse weapon with Reach, but most likely, you'd still be fine with your Rapier or Double-Bladed Scimitar even on a Huge Warhorse.
An interesting idea. You'd 1 extra attack and 1 action surge but throwing in the extra 4d6 isn't bad.
Mounted Combat isn't bad but does the mount share you turn or take its turn immediately after yours? It'd suck if you killed the creature on your first attack and then your other attacks went to waste because the other creatures were out of reach and your mount wouldn't move until after your turn.
Elven accuracy states that it needs a dex, int, wis, or cha based attack and GWM needs a heavy weapon. I'm not likely to find a heavy finesse weapon but what if I took a 3 level dip into the Battle Smith Artificer? Then I could use Battle Ready to combine Elven Accuracy with GWM using an Int based attack roll.
Mounted Combat has two modes: uncontrolled, the mount clearly has its own turn, but controlled its a little ambiguous whether the Mount is actually on your turn, or merely on your same initiative count (immediately before or after your turn). I think most DM's would agree that RAI, a Mount is just on your turn, because otherwise mounted combat is nearly impossible. And, since it can move and act "on the turn that you mount it" (not the round that you mount it), that language implies that its moving and acting on your turn:
Controlling a Mount
While you’re mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Intelligent creatures, such as dragons, act independently.
You can control a mount only if it has been trained to accept a rider. Domesticated horses, donkeys, and similar creatures are assumed to have such training. The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it.
An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes. It might flee from combat, rush to attack and devour a badly injured foe, or otherwise act against your wishes.
In either case, if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you’re on it, the attacker can target you or the mount.
Some pet classes provide a companion which explicitly takes a separate turn (such as Battle Smith, Beast Master, etc.). If they're being ridden, however, I'd think that you could probably choose to use them as a controlled mount instead of their normal action economy (but be careful if trying to blend).
There's a couple ways to use Dex, Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom with a Heavy weapon.
Be a Hexblade with Pact of the Blade (Charisma)
Be a Battlesmith with a magical heavy weapon (Intelligence)
(RAW but not RAI?) Be a Kensei (or use the monk Tasha's variant) with a Longbow as a monk weapon, and use the Longbow to make Improvised Weapon Attacks in melee (Dexterity)
(not RAW but RAF?) Pick up Shillelagh (either MC Druid or Ranger or Magic Initiate feat) and get your DM to allow you to use it on a sufficiently Heavy log or something used as an Improvised Weapon (Wisdom)
Hex Blade prohibits two-handed weapons, but Pact of the Blade bypasses.
Kensei weapons prohibit heavy weapons except for Longbows.
A one-handed heavy weapon (Thor's Hammer?) would make an excellent magical weapon, but unless your DM is helpful with creative improvised weapons (see the "heavy log" suggestion above), you're otherwise out of luck.
You've learned to put the weight of a weapon to your advantage, letting its momentum empower your strikes. You gain the following benefits:
On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.
Before you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage.
You don't need a heavy weapon for the underlined part, which is the part that I'm referencing. You wouldn't be able to use the second part, because that is the part that uses the heavy weapon qualification and would require strength. The underlined part doesn't care what stat you use for your melee weapon attacks as long as you crit or kill. Triple advantage gives a 14.3% chance to crit on a 20 and a 27.1% chance to crit on a 19-20 (as with Butcher's Bib. It means that you would either have to be good not using the power attack to be able to get a pretty decent chance to have a bonus action available. (As a side note, triple advantage give you a 7/8 chance of rolling a 10 or higher, meaning that you'd be hitting on a 15 with a dex of 20 87.5% of the time. 65.7% of the time, you'd roll a 14 or better hitting on a 19 AC.)
Using a Battlesmith would give you the option to use Elven Accuracy with a heavy weapon and could be quite interesting. Artificer3/fighter11 for 3 steady attacks with triple advantage plus and a max intelligence would hit on a 15 57.81% of the time for the power attack (the same as hitting an AC 20 normally). The crit/kill clause would be more likely to trigger with the -5/+10 since you'd be putting out more damage that way.
The mount would either be controlled by you or it would have it's own turn and move according to it's whims. Some of it is dependent on the type of creature, but most creatures that would be mounts would allow you to use their movement on your turn, if I remember correctly.
Hex Blade prohibits two-handed weapons, but Pact of the Blade bypasses.
Kensei weapons prohibit heavy weapons except for Longbows.
A one-handed heavy weapon (Thor's Hammer?) would make an excellent magical weapon, but unless your DM is helpful with creative improvised weapons (see the "heavy log" suggestion above), you're otherwise out of luck.
Hex Warrior
At 1st level, you acquire the training necessary to effectively arm yourself for battle. You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.
The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.
It does preclude using any other pact though. Eldritch Smite can Prone creatures, and Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite can stack for extra crispy crits. It has it's uses. Hexadin likes Elven Accuracy.
Ah, I understand your clarification now. I like this thought of triple advantage GWM. I could see it being worth give up the 3rd extra attack in exchange for the good chance of a bonus attack on a crit/kill.
I would think that an Enlarged Steel Defender that was designed and built by you would count as controlled by you.
But also, Crit Fishers don't particularly care about GWM as much as other melee builds do, since the +10 doesn't multiply, so crit fishing Hexadins (with Devil's Sight and Elven Accuracy) probably care more about Hex or Sneak Attack or Divine Smite than fitting in GWM. But hey, a crit is a crit and doesn't suffer from the -5 to hit modifier, and +10 damage is good, so there's arguments to be made both ways.
I like the idea of 5 levels in Hexblade. I'd give up my 2nd Action surge but instead I can gain Eldritch Smite, Improved Pact Weapon, Devil's Sight, and either Hex or Spirit Shroud. Combined with EA, GWM, GWF, and a Flame Tongue Greatsword and this damage REALLY starts to add up.
I like the idea of 5 levels in Hexblade. I'd give up my 2nd Action surge but instead I can gain Eldritch Smite, Improved Pact Weapon, Devil's Sight, and either Hex or Spirit Shroud. Combined with EA, GWM, GWF, and a Flame Tongue Greatsword and this damage REALLY starts to add up.
Keep in mind that you can use blind fighting instead of GWF to open up other invocations if you choose to go that route. Devil's sight is better at range, but in melee, blind fighting will work fine.
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A Rapier (average 4.5) plus Dueling (+2 damage every strike) is average 6.5, call it 7, before ability score modifier. Add in a once-per-turn reroll of a Rapier d8 (mathematically, you should use it on any 1, 2, 3, or 4, but emotionally you should save it for 1's and 2's) and that isn't much of a boost, but let's call that just "+1 damage per turn," and lock that average 6.5 in as a solid average 7.
A DBScimitar (average 5) plus GWFS on every swing (turn that average 5 into an average 6) is average 6, before ability score modifier.
They are close, don't get me wrong, but there is no situation in which GWFS on a 2d4 damage does more than Dueling on a d8, other than Opportunity Attacks.
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GWFS is generally bad. Doubly so on a weapon with low damage dice like double-bladed skimitar, so you should probably go with defense or blind fighting.
The thing that makes double-bladed scimitar good is in-built not!PolearmMaster extra attack, so while on average it deals slightly less damage than rapier with dueling, unless you have better things to use your bonus attacks DBS would still do more damage.
Right! Again, I like the Double-Bladed Scimitar, and I think that most melee characters want to pick up a Bonus Action attack! But for a class that specifically already has a competing use for its Bonus Action, like a Crit-Fishing Samurai, the DBS isn't the weapon you want to build around. It would be outstanding on a Rogue (doubles your attacks per round, which doubles your chance to Sneak Attack, while leaving a hand open for spellcasting as an Arcane Trickster!), or on a Dex-based Battlemaster that switches between ranged (Longbow) and melee (DBS), or... probably some other stuff out there. Not everyone wants to use PAM+Shield, or PAM alone, so Revenant Blade+DBS is a good substitute. But if you're specifically interested in crit-fishing as a melee-only Samurai, the rapier+Shield is probably slightly better and more flexible.
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What are you using the bonus action on with the rapier and shield? Fighting Spirit 3 times per long rest and once more per initiative (after 10th) until the next long rest. After that you are looking at shield Master for the shove and what else? If someone else already has shield Master or otherwise proned or restrains your target, what then? Battlemaster is better, having between 4 and 6 superiority dice (and a possible 7th with martial Adept) per short rest and not all maneuvers use a bonus action. Otherwise the DBS gets that bonus action almost everytime.
You could get Great Weapon Master strictly for the bonus action clause for an attack bonus action, PAM is out, Tavern Brawler doesn't fit the rapier concept very well, there are a few options from the various spellcasting feats, but they'll add one or two more uses occasionally. Poisoner could work and could be a good thematic choice, but it's efficacy is more volatile than an attack. Telekinetic might actually be a good addition with the addition of mage hand and the ability to move allies and enemies within 30 ft of you, but that's an action to cast mage hand before the bonus action is accessible for the next 10 rounds.
As you can see, you are trading a build with good damage with a built in bonus attack and a control feat plus an additional feat for decent damage build without a bonus action feat, a damage feat, and 2 control feats with situational bonus actions. The number of available bonus actions for DBS to pull ahead is dependent on the subclass and the campaign.
Blind fighting would be amazing on this build in a party with a shadow sorcerer and a devil's Sight warlock.
PAM is not out in general if we're just talking about 1H Piercing Weapon vs DBS in general, because a Spear works almost as well as a Rapier (d6 rather than d8), other than not being Finesse and thus not fitting with this specific Elven Accuracy dex-based Samurai that we're talking about in this specific context. A d6 with Piercer and dueling is an average of 3.5+2 = 5.5, with one reroll of 1, 2, or 3 per round, bringing it up to break even with the DBS+GWFS. The Bonus Action PAM attack is average 4.5, the Bonus Action DBS attack is average 3, Spear with PAM and Piercer and Dueling is still better than DBS with RB and Slasher and GWFS from a damage perspective.
But back to the specific context of this thread, the crit fishing dex based Elven Accuracy Samurai wants advantage every single round, all day long, on as many attacks as possible. That means that they use their Bonus Action for Shield Master on most regular enemies that are the correct size to shove prone, and Fighting Spirit on larger or more skilled opponents instead who can't be shoved Prone. The DPR that is picked up from consistently having (super)advantage and critting far exceeds the DPR from having bonus action 1d4+Dex attacks, as well as supporting the purpose of the build (landing crits). If you find yourself on a turn where you already have a prone enemy, and thus don't need to use your Bonus Action for Shield Master or Fighting Spirit... hey, that's a good problem to have, either use your Bonus on a Second Wind , or on a Hunter's Mark (with feat), or just patting yourself on your back?
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True I had thought of GWM but it doesn't match with Elven Accuracy.
What if the player had a Flame Tongue Double Bladed Scimitar? Would GWF apply to the 2d6 flame damage as well since it is coming from the weapon itself?
Right. That's why I'm saying it depends on what's going on with the party. It depends on if someone is using the flanking option, it depends on how you can get advantage on your attacks. Having the ability to get the advantage at will is important, but if you are in a situation where you already have it on a regular basis, then you will be lacking on potential damage. That is why I'm saying that the rapier build is not strictly better. It's situationally better. 1v1 white room scenarios, rapier and shield master with piercer is better because it can reliably get the advantage, but it's not that easy when other factors are involved.
I agree that losing out on the extra 1 average damage per attack from GWFS for the additional AC is probably better in most cases. I think that Blind Fighting would be awesome with the right party tactics or the right circumstances. However, AC is only useful if you take attacks and then only if the AC will actually prevent the attack, blind fighting doesn't help if you aren't blinded or fighting invisible creatures or in darkness. GWFS is only useful if you roll a 1 or a 2 on a damage roll, just like the piercer feat is only good if you roll below the threshold that you choose, ideally between 2-4 on a d8.
The builds are very similar but have very specific priorities. Which build will be better will be dependent on you DM, your campaign, and your party. The good news is that you'll likely start with the rapier to begin with since an elf won't likely have a feat to make the DBS a finesse weapon until 4th and you'll have lots of opportunities to figure out what will work best for your situation, especially if you grab Elven Accuracy at 4th. By 6th, you should have a good feel for what you will need for your particular circumstances on a regular basis. If you have advantage frequently but don't use your bonus action, DBS will be better. If you need more personal defense or need to generate advantage more frequently, rapier with shield master will be better. In either case, I'd leave piercer/slasher for 8th level. You may decide that something else would be better by that time anyway.
I would rule that yes it would.
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 damage die is rolled for an attack that you made with a melee weapon. However, that would be a good question to ask your DM, since they may rule differently. If it's something that says the creature takes X extra damage, I would rule no, but something where the weapon deals X extra damage would be yes.
Great Weapon Master in this case would not be for the power attack, but strictly for the crit or kill generating a bonus action, which doesn't care about the weapon type outside of it being a melee weapon. It's a reasonable option because of all of the ASIs that fighters get and particularly because your crit rate would be higher. It would be particularly good if you had Butcher's Bib on this build, as your crit rate would be approaching 30% or so. Since the DBS is a melee weapon with finesse it qualifies for generating bonus actions and can still work with Elven Accuracy.
However, you might be able to do better with something else.
One other thing that could be favorable for the DBS with GWFS is if you are Enlarged by Enlarge/Reduce frequently since that would be an extra chance per attack to roll a 1 or a 2. Any dice roll that your DM rules is affected by GWFS increases your average damage and reduces the need to rely on your bonus attack to make up damage.
An 8th level rogue with 4d6 sneak attack that somehow has revenant feat and GWFS would be rolling 6 dice adding 1/2 point of damage per d4 and 2/3 point of damage per d6 which would be an additional 9 points of damage. That rogue could also forgo movement and use a bonus action to attack with advantage, in addition to the normal hiding shenanigans. You'll need 4-5 total attacks to get close to that with dueling FS.
If you have Enlarge/Reduce (or, your party is willing to cast it on you often)... take Mounted Combatant and ride a horse or something, and cast the spell on the mount instead. Being able to have advantage automatically on every melee attack against Medium and smaller by default, or Large and smaller when your mount is Enlarged, is again going to help your damage better than a bonus d4 will on yourself. Depending on if your DM tries to get nasty with you re: reach, you might want to keep a Whip on hand as a Finesse weapon with Reach, but most likely, you'd still be fine with your Rapier or Double-Bladed Scimitar even on a Huge Warhorse.
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An interesting idea. You'd 1 extra attack and 1 action surge but throwing in the extra 4d6 isn't bad.
Mounted Combat isn't bad but does the mount share you turn or take its turn immediately after yours? It'd suck if you killed the creature on your first attack and then your other attacks went to waste because the other creatures were out of reach and your mount wouldn't move until after your turn.
Elven accuracy states that it needs a dex, int, wis, or cha based attack and GWM needs a heavy weapon. I'm not likely to find a heavy finesse weapon but what if I took a 3 level dip into the Battle Smith Artificer? Then I could use Battle Ready to combine Elven Accuracy with GWM using an Int based attack roll.
Mounted Combat has two modes: uncontrolled, the mount clearly has its own turn, but controlled its a little ambiguous whether the Mount is actually on your turn, or merely on your same initiative count (immediately before or after your turn). I think most DM's would agree that RAI, a Mount is just on your turn, because otherwise mounted combat is nearly impossible. And, since it can move and act "on the turn that you mount it" (not the round that you mount it), that language implies that its moving and acting on your turn:
Some pet classes provide a companion which explicitly takes a separate turn (such as Battle Smith, Beast Master, etc.). If they're being ridden, however, I'd think that you could probably choose to use them as a controlled mount instead of their normal action economy (but be careful if trying to blend).
There's a couple ways to use Dex, Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom with a Heavy weapon.
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Kensei Weapons prohibits heavy weapons and Hex Blade prohibited two-handed weapons. Do you know of any one-handed heavy weapons?
Hex Blade prohibits two-handed weapons, but Pact of the Blade bypasses.
Kensei weapons prohibit heavy weapons except for Longbows.
A one-handed heavy weapon (Thor's Hammer?) would make an excellent magical weapon, but unless your DM is helpful with creative improvised weapons (see the "heavy log" suggestion above), you're otherwise out of luck.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
You've learned to put the weight of a weapon to your advantage, letting its momentum empower your strikes. You gain the following benefits:
You don't need a heavy weapon for the underlined part, which is the part that I'm referencing. You wouldn't be able to use the second part, because that is the part that uses the heavy weapon qualification and would require strength. The underlined part doesn't care what stat you use for your melee weapon attacks as long as you crit or kill. Triple advantage gives a 14.3% chance to crit on a 20 and a 27.1% chance to crit on a 19-20 (as with Butcher's Bib. It means that you would either have to be good not using the power attack to be able to get a pretty decent chance to have a bonus action available. (As a side note, triple advantage give you a 7/8 chance of rolling a 10 or higher, meaning that you'd be hitting on a 15 with a dex of 20 87.5% of the time. 65.7% of the time, you'd roll a 14 or better hitting on a 19 AC.)
Using a Battlesmith would give you the option to use Elven Accuracy with a heavy weapon and could be quite interesting. Artificer3/fighter11 for 3 steady attacks with triple advantage plus and a max intelligence would hit on a 15 57.81% of the time for the power attack (the same as hitting an AC 20 normally). The crit/kill clause would be more likely to trigger with the -5/+10 since you'd be putting out more damage that way.
The mount would either be controlled by you or it would have it's own turn and move according to it's whims. Some of it is dependent on the type of creature, but most creatures that would be mounts would allow you to use their movement on your turn, if I remember correctly.
Hex Warrior
At 1st level, you acquire the training necessary to effectively arm yourself for battle. You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.
The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.
It does preclude using any other pact though. Eldritch Smite can Prone creatures, and Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite can stack for extra crispy crits. It has it's uses. Hexadin likes Elven Accuracy.
Ah, I understand your clarification now. I like this thought of triple advantage GWM. I could see it being worth give up the 3rd extra attack in exchange for the good chance of a bonus attack on a crit/kill.
I would think that an Enlarged Steel Defender that was designed and built by you would count as controlled by you.
But also, Crit Fishers don't particularly care about GWM as much as other melee builds do, since the +10 doesn't multiply, so crit fishing Hexadins (with Devil's Sight and Elven Accuracy) probably care more about Hex or Sneak Attack or Divine Smite than fitting in GWM. But hey, a crit is a crit and doesn't suffer from the -5 to hit modifier, and +10 damage is good, so there's arguments to be made both ways.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I like the idea of 5 levels in Hexblade. I'd give up my 2nd Action surge but instead I can gain Eldritch Smite, Improved Pact Weapon, Devil's Sight, and either Hex or Spirit Shroud. Combined with EA, GWM, GWF, and a Flame Tongue Greatsword and this damage REALLY starts to add up.
Keep in mind that you can use blind fighting instead of GWF to open up other invocations if you choose to go that route. Devil's sight is better at range, but in melee, blind fighting will work fine.