I play on a Forgotten Realms living world server where characters can obtain their choice of one very rare item after maxing out their faction rank. I am getting pretty close, and I've narrowed it down to either a Tome of Clear Thought or a Manual of Gainful exercise. But I can't decide which.
My character is a Githyanki Fighter (Psi Warrior) 11/Wizard 2 (War Magic). He has Telepathic, Great Weapon Master, and Fey Touched (taking Gift of Alacrity). His current stats are 20 Str, 12 Dex, 16 Con, 20 Int, 13 Wis, 9 Cha. I'm not at all interested in any other items, as my attunement slots are already full with ridiculously OP items (Cloak of Displacement, Helm of Teleportation, Ring of Spell Storing), and he already has a +3 greatsword and Mizzium full plate. I just want the permanent 22 Str or 22 Int.
So here's the dilemma:
The main benefit of 22 Str is my melee attack mod. With the sword, that would give me +14 to hit. And more importantly, a net +9 to hit with a GWM attack. As he is primarily a melee DPR character, every boost in accuracy with GWM is obviously a big edge.
With 22 Int, however, he gets several significant benefits.
First, his Telekinetic Strike DC becomes 19. When successful in knocking something prone, the boost in accuracy is much bigger than +1 because he gains advantage on all subsequent attacks; this is often when I use action surge, and is further amplified by Haste (in the ring of spell storing). And as there is no size limit, this ability can even knock gargantuan creatures prone. So a higher DC is huge.
Second, he would gain another boost to his initiative from War Magic. With Gift of Alacrity, this takes him to +1d8+7 to initiative rolls.
Third, he gets the flex of being a 22 Int fighter, and literally the smartest PC on the server. Unlike a typical fighter, he has a lot of out of combat RP as the knowledge guy of the group, especially as he already has +10 to Arcana and History (plus character knowledge about a lot of planar stuff from being a githyanki warrior).
But again, +9 net GWM mod is incredibly alluring. Thoughts?
I think you’ll get more use and impact out of the STR mod. But on an RP level, it sounds like you’ll have more fun with a 22 INT. So go be a super genius.
After crunching through some of the DPR calculations there doesn’t seem to be a large difference in expected damage values.
With the build you’ve chosen I’d say there may be a likelihood of you being able to make use of your Intelligence boost more consistently throughout the day. Your DCs for your prepared spells and cantrips will be just a bit higher, you’ll be able to prepare one more spell from your wizard spell list if needed too. A slight boost to your cantrip DCs may help keep them relevant as you level depending on what you choose to use. In the long term, if you reach level 15 fighter you’ll be able to target one more creature for a total of 6 with your bulwark of force feature. This could eventually be nice for your party, a creature needing to be protected by your party, or perhaps even to slightly buff summoned creatures from a teammates spells to keep them in the fight. There’s also the initiative boost you already identified which is quite powerful. The telekinetic thrust features DC increase could give you a bit more of a DPR increase than I’m capable of calculating by not only potentially generating advantage for you, but increasing your likelihood of criting which allows to use your great weapon master feats additional bonus action attack gained from a critical. if you make it all the way to level 20, your telekinesis spell use will be more formidable if melee somehow isn’t the answer in a combat.
I'd go for intelligence. You already have a +3 weapon (which, in combination with maxed out strength, at level 13 is quite bonkers) so you're melee fighting skills are taken care uof all the way up to level 20. If you really want to have some fun, take three levels of Artificer and take the Battle Smith subclass...
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I play on a Forgotten Realms living world server where characters can obtain their choice of one very rare item after maxing out their faction rank. I am getting pretty close, and I've narrowed it down to either a Tome of Clear Thought or a Manual of Gainful exercise. But I can't decide which.
My character is a Githyanki Fighter (Psi Warrior) 11/Wizard 2 (War Magic). He has Telepathic, Great Weapon Master, and Fey Touched (taking Gift of Alacrity). His current stats are 20 Str, 12 Dex, 16 Con, 20 Int, 13 Wis, 9 Cha. I'm not at all interested in any other items, as my attunement slots are already full with ridiculously OP items (Cloak of Displacement, Helm of Teleportation, Ring of Spell Storing), and he already has a +3 greatsword and Mizzium full plate. I just want the permanent 22 Str or 22 Int.
So here's the dilemma:
The main benefit of 22 Str is my melee attack mod. With the sword, that would give me +14 to hit. And more importantly, a net +9 to hit with a GWM attack. As he is primarily a melee DPR character, every boost in accuracy with GWM is obviously a big edge.
With 22 Int, however, he gets several significant benefits.
First, his Telekinetic Strike DC becomes 19. When successful in knocking something prone, the boost in accuracy is much bigger than +1 because he gains advantage on all subsequent attacks; this is often when I use action surge, and is further amplified by Haste (in the ring of spell storing). And as there is no size limit, this ability can even knock gargantuan creatures prone. So a higher DC is huge.
Second, he would gain another boost to his initiative from War Magic. With Gift of Alacrity, this takes him to +1d8+7 to initiative rolls.
Third, he gets the flex of being a 22 Int fighter, and literally the smartest PC on the server. Unlike a typical fighter, he has a lot of out of combat RP as the knowledge guy of the group, especially as he already has +10 to Arcana and History (plus character knowledge about a lot of planar stuff from being a githyanki warrior).
But again, +9 net GWM mod is incredibly alluring. Thoughts?
I think you’ll get more use and impact out of the STR mod. But on an RP level, it sounds like you’ll have more fun with a 22 INT. So go be a super genius.
After crunching through some of the DPR calculations there doesn’t seem to be a large difference in expected damage values.
With the build you’ve chosen I’d say there may be a likelihood of you being able to make use of your Intelligence boost more consistently throughout the day. Your DCs for your prepared spells and cantrips will be just a bit higher, you’ll be able to prepare one more spell from your wizard spell list if needed too. A slight boost to your cantrip DCs may help keep them relevant as you level depending on what you choose to use. In the long term, if you reach level 15 fighter you’ll be able to target one more creature for a total of 6 with your bulwark of force feature. This could eventually be nice for your party, a creature needing to be protected by your party, or perhaps even to slightly buff summoned creatures from a teammates spells to keep them in the fight. There’s also the initiative boost you already identified which is quite powerful. The telekinetic thrust features DC increase could give you a bit more of a DPR increase than I’m capable of calculating by not only potentially generating advantage for you, but increasing your likelihood of criting which allows to use your great weapon master feats additional bonus action attack gained from a critical. if you make it all the way to level 20, your telekinesis spell use will be more formidable if melee somehow isn’t the answer in a combat.
I'd go for intelligence. You already have a +3 weapon (which, in combination with maxed out strength, at level 13 is quite bonkers) so you're melee fighting skills are taken care uof all the way up to level 20. If you really want to have some fun, take three levels of Artificer and take the Battle Smith subclass...