I love theorycrafting, not min maxing but I guess if you bring a thourougly thought out character to a party it could be seen at min maxing. But yeah I love building characters and see their potential, I guess my character list can speak for me when I tell you I have 50 something characters made in dndbeyond.
I would love to hear your best combinations of classes to create some real burst potential, be it Hexadin with smites or Sorcerers with Warlock for Quickened spell + EB (Agonizing blast) fun. Usualy I limit myself to two classes, as I like to keep a real look on a character. Tell me again how a Barbarian suddenly has Paladin powers with Warlock mixed in there became a thing?
A Barbarian with Paladin and Warlock levels? That's pretty easy, relatively speaking. The simplest way would be to make a Zealot Barbarian with at least 2 levels in Paladin so spell slots (including those from Warlock) can be spent on smites. Then you have a Zealot who went so far as to make a pact with a (patron type) in order to advance their cause. Or maybe you have a Totem Barbarian whose rage against the creatures who destroyed their homeland fills them with divine might, and the magic of the fey allies who they have sworn to avenge.
Here's a nova build that seems pretty good: Warlock (2+)/Fighter (2+)/Sorcerer (3+), who can use Action Surge, Quicken, and their action to cast (Agonizing) Eldritch Blast 3 times. Even at 7th level when this first becomes possible, you're looking at (assuming hits) an average of 9.5 force damage per beam, with a total of 6 beams, for 57 average damage. That's just in one turn, though. You could spend the turn before that casting Hold Person on the target and cursing them with Hexblade's curse as a bonus action, meaning you'd add your proficiency bonus to the damage you'd deal to them and each one of those eldritch blasts would be a critical hit if you were close enough: 108 average damage.
I also love theory-crafting and am constantly trying build for different things like Ultimate Survival, Ultimate Detective etc. Right now I'm working on an archer and I'm finding that you can't really build just one.
Are you looking for an archer that gets max damage from ambush? Ranger (Gloom Stalker), Rogue (Assassin) and Fighter 2 (for Action Surge) is my go-to right now. Gloom Stalker gives nice Ambush damage (and an additional Attack for a round), Assassin for the Crits and Sneak Attack, Fighter for Action Surge (go Fighter 3 for Champion for the 19-20 crit chance maybe?) and your Nova damage is insane.
But what about when you're doing the Horde thing instead? 23 points of damage will cause most Goblins to simply explode and there are still 19 more of them. Take Ranger (Hunter) and go with Horde Defense and Volley at lvl 11.
And of course there's Rouge (Scout) now from Xanathar's as well.
Are we talking urban shooter, woodland shooter or are you actually going to go dungeon-delving where most ranges above 100' are nonexistent?
Tough to build a character that is the 'best' at something in 5e and I find that I like it that way!
We are kindred spirits. I have a ton of characters as well.
One of my past favorites has been WoH Monk/Zealot Barbarian. Eventually you get 4 attacks, all Reckless, with rage damage, and brutal criticals. As well as a damage aura from zealot path and tons of movement. You can literally leap in and go to pound town.
Here's a nova build that seems pretty good: Warlock (2+)/Fighter (2+)/Sorcerer (3+), who can use Action Surge, Quicken, and their action to cast (Agonizing) Eldritch Blast 3 times. Even at 7th level when this first becomes possible, you're looking at (assuming hits) an average of 9.5 force damage per beam, with a total of 6 beams, for 57 average damage. ...
Another note on this combination is to focus in Fighter (EK for spell slots). With Extra Attack, and Sharpshooter, use a bow for your action and an Eldritch Blast for your Bonus. Darkness and Devil's sight is more reliable than Hold Monster, and the bonuses to Attack for Archery are top notch. 2 or 3 (or 6) +10 damage arrows with advantage followed up with 2 to 4 Eldritch Rays with advantage... Just bring a lot of color coded dice. Instead of rolling one d20 twenty times and the d10 up to ten times roll twenty d20s with 2 red, 2 blue, etc. Along with ten d10 of the same.
"Archy the Archer left all his magic items at home. He hits AC 15... 8 times for 127 damage..."
And yet I can't help but think my level 20 Bladesinger will make mincemeat of these builds......without any forcecage or banishment.
The archer builds are easily beat down with Foresight and True seeing (now all attacks are at disadvantage against AC 27 (shield spell and no magic items). that's assuming the Bladesinger doesn't just rip away his bow with telekinesis.
Of the martial classes the raging barbarian is the hardest one to deal with.....I guess a simple fly spell to stay our of range....
The archer builds are easily beat down with Foresight and True seeing (now all attacks are at disadvantage against AC 27 (shield spell and no magic items). that's assuming the Bladesinger doesn't just rip away his bow with telekinesis.
Of the martial classes the raging barbarian is the hardest one to deal with.....I guess a simple fly spell to stay our of range....
So while you're casting Foresight and True Seeing, you're being peppered with arrows, that the archer gets advantage (cancelling out the disadvantage) on because they were hidden before attacking you, and you use up two of your four 1st-level slots on shield and then the archer succeeds on their check against your telekinesis... oh, and a third slot on shield because of all the arrows still coming your way.
You're assuming optimal conditions for yourself while assuming the worst case scenario for your opponents and that they aren't using any tactics to thwart your abilities.
And yet I can't help but think my level 20 Bladesinger will make mincemeat of these builds......without any forcecage or banishment.
The archer builds are easily beat down with Foresight and True seeing (now all attacks are at disadvantage against AC 27 (shield spell and no magic items). that's assuming the Bladesinger doesn't just rip away his bow with telekinesis.
Of the martial classes the raging barbarian is the hardest one to deal with.....I guess a simple fly spell to stay our of range....
So...what does he do OUT of combat. Sure, combat monster blah blah...is he INTERESTING and FUN to play otherwise?
How will he contribute in a game with OTHER PLAYERS? A horde of 60 Goblins shows up...what then?
The difference between 'theory-crafting for fun' and 'smug s.o.b.' is tone
Foresight is among my favorite 9th-level spells, but it is a 9th-level spell. When facing a foe with Truesight it would be best to use Hex instead. Against Foresight I'd opt to use Fog Cloud.
Competing theory crafted characters as though they were facing each other is a bit silly. As is assuming because a build is combat focused that it has no room for out of combat utilities or a story. Even more so is to bring it up in a theory crafting thread.
I'm confident any character could be fun and interesting to play in a game with other players. More valuable than the build is the player.
I like the Foresight and Truesight combo as neither are concentration and cast well before combat - so always on. If you go against high level npc or monsters then things like Dark / Devils sight for advantage are suddenly less useful. Hex is one of those great first level spells that makes me think about a magic initiate feat for any martial class.
I didn't mean to run off topic or cause offense. I do happen to like building different characters....I find in the end I prefer to stick with one class for the extra ASI and high level abilities. Certainly this is true of any wizard as you loose too much multi classing in my opinion.
The warlock hexblade is the one odd combination as it allows you to run all your combat off the same ability as your spell casting - suddenly you have a multi-class character that doesn't need as many ASI buffs as everything is run off Charisma, as well as some good mesh abilities. It's the one class you usually only see as a multi-class with something else.
So while you're casting Foresight and True Seeing, you're being peppered with arrows, that the archer gets advantage (cancelling out the disadvantage) on because they were hidden before attacking you, and you use up two of your four 1st-level slots on shield and then the archer succeeds on their check against your telekinesis... oh, and a third slot on shield because of all the arrows still coming your way.
Foresight has a duration of 8 hours. It's going to get cast in the morning, along with Mage Armor.
By the time you're casting 9th level spells, 1st level slots aren't useful for much besides Shield. Cantrips do more damage and you have much better spells to spend your action on for useful non-damage effects. That's setting aside the fact 18th level wizards can pick Shield for their at will 1st level spell anyways.
This is just build I use all the time: any race, fighter class, take a one handed weapon and a shield, chain mail armor, defense fighting style, 19 AC at level 1 not to mention later levels, it’s possible to get you AC to 21 w/o magic, or multiclassing.
... 19 AC at level 1 not to mention later levels, it’s possible to get you AC to 21 w/o magic, or multiclassing.
Alternatively, take Sorcerer (or Wizard) with 16 dexterity (assuming any race with a bonus to dex) and Draconic bloodline (or mage armor) in the event something hits you, you can expend a first level spell slot and your AC becomes 21 at level-1
This is beaten with Hexblade Warlock assuming they are able to weasel their way into Scale Mail and a Shield at level-1 to have 18 standing AC and 23 when hit, But they only have one spell slot. However, the fighter has none.
The OP was asking about damage though. At level-1 the best single round damage I've seen is: Forge Cleric, Bonus Action Searing Smite, Attack Greatsword with Blessing of the Forge. Totaling 2d6+4 slash and 1d6 fire + 1d6 fire on the opponents turn (assuming a failed save) (22)
Next best: Double-Longsword Human Fighter with Dual Wielder racial feat and Two Weapon Fighting Style for 2d8+6 (20), or any Cleric casting Inflict Wounds for 3d10 (18)
Assuming hits of course Great Weapon Master is better, but with a -5 to hit, the assumption will prove false at level-1.
They do completely different things. The Fighting Style lets you add your ability modifier to the bonus action attack. The feat gives you +1 AC while wielding two weapons, lets you use non-light melee weapons (d8 damage instead of d6), and lets you draw/stow two weapons per turn.
I just posted about this build somewhere else, but I'll repeat it here since I like the idea so much. :D
This nova build is based on the monk and has two versions, the one-a-day ready at level 7 and the one-per-short at level 8.
1. For the one-a-day, start in monk, and at level 4 get the Magic Initiate (warlock) feat for hex. Continue to level 5 for Extra Attack. Then dip 2 levels into fighter for Action Surge. At level 7, you can hex an opponent, do two attacks with quarterstaff, use Flurry of Blows for two unarmed strikes, and then Action Surge for two more quarterstaff strikes. That totals 4d8 + 8d6 + (6 x DEX) damage (at 16 DEX, the average is 64), and you still have 4 ki to spend. After your next short rest, you can still use Action Surge to do 4d8 + 2d6 + (6 x DEX) damage, average 43 (with the same 16 DEX).
2. For the one-per-short-rest, just dip 1 level into warlock instead of taking the MI feat. You'll end up as a 5 Monk/1 Warlock/2 Fighter. You can still get all your subclass features and max your martial arts die for an eventual 6d10 + 6d6 + (6 x DEX), and if you maxed DEX to 20 like you're supposed to, you'd average 84 damage.
Each of these builds takes advantage of the monk's ridiculous number of attacks to apply multipliers. For context, a level 9 fireball does 14d6 damage, average 49 (to multiple enemies, granted, but at level 7?), and a level 3 fireball with a level 20 rogue's sneak attack damage would total 18d6, average 63.
3. If you wanted to Frankenstein this build, you could take 3 levels of ranger next. Choose the Hunter archetype, and take Colossus Slayer. Congratulations, you can now add 1d8 to your nova. (You can only ever get up to a d8 martial arts die, though). So at level 10 or 11, 5d8 + 8d6 + (6 x DEX), with hypothetical 16 DEX, is average 68.5. (*Note*: I originally thought this applied 1d8 to every attack on your turn, but it only applies once a turn. But it does provide access to Hunter's Mark as well!)
4. If you choose Way of the Kensei as your monk subclass, replace the quarterstaff damage with longsword damage, creep up to level 6 monk (that's 6 Monk/2 Fighter/3 Ranger/optional 1 Warlock), and you can spend another ki point to add an extra d6 for a whopping 4d10 + 1d8 + 9d6 + (6 x DEX), average 76, at level 11. Its max damage is 120, and as icing on top, it overcomes resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage thanks to the Kensei monk's Magic Kensei Weapons feature. If you progress to monk level 11, your martial arts die will increase to a d8, and you can use Sharpen the Blade to spend 3 ki points and add another 12 damage to that, total 4d10 + 12 + 4d8 + 6d6 + (6 x DEX), average 87 with a sensible 18 DEX. Go to level 12 for the ability increase, max out your DEX, and that's another 6 points to average 93 as a 12 Monk/2 Fighter/3 Ranger/optional 1 Warlock. As a reminder, the average damage for meteor swarm on a failed save is 140. I'd like to see a paladin out-smite that.
5. Speaking of which, why not? Put your final levels into paladin, and you can add either 4d8 or 6d8 to your nova. At level 20, you are now just shy of the average damage for meteor swarm. *slow clap*
As a disclaimer, in no way am I stating that this would be a fun or practical character concept. It's just a consistently amazing nova.
*Note*: as another disclaimer, as I re-read this post I have had to make fixes to the math, the most disappointing of which was that Colossus Slayer only adds 1d8 per turn, not per attack. If I made this build again, I'd choose Gloom Stalker ranger instead for the extra action as well as a +1d8 damage in the first turn of combat.
Add to that a fighting style and bump up the output a little bit higher, but make the dice less fun to theory craft. Re-roll 1s and 2s once with 2-handed style. Of course once your MA die is as good as you're versatile die you could use dueling to add +2 to each weapon hit. Also with the foresight that you're going to take Ranger, you can skip hex in favor Hunter's mark, but you'd lose that per short rest spell slot =(
Now the worst Nova build is pure monk. You can top these numbers at some levels but fall just short at top levels with everyone's favorite Way of the Four Elements *gasp* Fist of Unbroken Air at level 7 using ALL 7 ki deals 8d10 or avg. 44 compared to the above 43, but of course leaves you with 0 ki left over. At level 20 using ALL 20 ki deals 21d10 or avg. 115.5 compared to the above 115.5 with the potential to smite.
As for beating 140 with Smite... Paladin 8, Warlock 4, Sorcerer 4 (the remaining 4 levels aren't defined. You could take fighter for action surge, but a smiter can really use spell slots, Eldritch Knight can help there. The numbers below don't use action surge.) Assuming the target is hexed as in the above posts Extra Attack, Divine Smite (Level-2), Great Weapon Master. 2×(3d6+4d8+15)=87 on average well short but why did we take Sorcerer? Quicken Spell Eldritch Blast 4×(1d10+1d6+5)+87=143 well that was close. Good thing all of those attacks hit. I used level-2 smites because they are plentiful, and recover as Pact Magic slots on rests. You could bump those up to level-4 and add 4d8 (18).
Of course the true average damage requires a roll to hit. This also allows a chance to crit, and your best approach depends on the enemy defence. Against AC 20 the Great Weapon Master ability will reduce your damage with your chance to hit. You'd be better off with the full attack bonus for..
Hello everyone!
I love theorycrafting, not min maxing but I guess if you bring a thourougly thought out character to a party it could be seen at min maxing. But yeah I love building characters and see their potential, I guess my character list can speak for me when I tell you I have 50 something characters made in dndbeyond.
I would love to hear your best combinations of classes to create some real burst potential, be it Hexadin with smites or Sorcerers with Warlock for Quickened spell + EB (Agonizing blast) fun.
Usualy I limit myself to two classes, as I like to keep a real look on a character. Tell me again how a Barbarian suddenly has Paladin powers with Warlock mixed in there became a thing?
A Barbarian with Paladin and Warlock levels? That's pretty easy, relatively speaking. The simplest way would be to make a Zealot Barbarian with at least 2 levels in Paladin so spell slots (including those from Warlock) can be spent on smites. Then you have a Zealot who went so far as to make a pact with a (patron type) in order to advance their cause. Or maybe you have a Totem Barbarian whose rage against the creatures who destroyed their homeland fills them with divine might, and the magic of the fey allies who they have sworn to avenge.
Here's a nova build that seems pretty good: Warlock (2+)/Fighter (2+)/Sorcerer (3+), who can use Action Surge, Quicken, and their action to cast (Agonizing) Eldritch Blast 3 times. Even at 7th level when this first becomes possible, you're looking at (assuming hits) an average of 9.5 force damage per beam, with a total of 6 beams, for 57 average damage. That's just in one turn, though. You could spend the turn before that casting Hold Person on the target and cursing them with Hexblade's curse as a bonus action, meaning you'd add your proficiency bonus to the damage you'd deal to them and each one of those eldritch blasts would be a critical hit if you were close enough: 108 average damage.
And that's all I have to say about that.
I also love theory-crafting and am constantly trying build for different things like Ultimate Survival, Ultimate Detective etc. Right now I'm working on an archer and I'm finding that you can't really build just one.
Are you looking for an archer that gets max damage from ambush? Ranger (Gloom Stalker), Rogue (Assassin) and Fighter 2 (for Action Surge) is my go-to right now. Gloom Stalker gives nice Ambush damage (and an additional Attack for a round), Assassin for the Crits and Sneak Attack, Fighter for Action Surge (go Fighter 3 for Champion for the 19-20 crit chance maybe?) and your Nova damage is insane.
But what about when you're doing the Horde thing instead? 23 points of damage will cause most Goblins to simply explode and there are still 19 more of them. Take Ranger (Hunter) and go with Horde Defense and Volley at lvl 11.
And of course there's Rouge (Scout) now from Xanathar's as well.
Are we talking urban shooter, woodland shooter or are you actually going to go dungeon-delving where most ranges above 100' are nonexistent?
Tough to build a character that is the 'best' at something in 5e and I find that I like it that way!
We are kindred spirits. I have a ton of characters as well.
One of my past favorites has been WoH Monk/Zealot Barbarian. Eventually you get 4 attacks, all Reckless, with rage damage, and brutal criticals. As well as a damage aura from zealot path and tons of movement. You can literally leap in and go to pound town.
Another note on this combination is to focus in Fighter (EK for spell slots). With Extra Attack, and Sharpshooter, use a bow for your action and an Eldritch Blast for your Bonus. Darkness and Devil's sight is more reliable than Hold Monster, and the bonuses to Attack for Archery are top notch. 2 or 3 (or 6) +10 damage arrows with advantage followed up with 2 to 4 Eldritch Rays with advantage... Just bring a lot of color coded dice. Instead of rolling one d20 twenty times and the d10 up to ten times roll twenty d20s with 2 red, 2 blue, etc. Along with ten d10 of the same.
"Archy the Archer left all his magic items at home. He hits AC 15... 8 times for 127 damage..."
[Edit: oh plus Ability Modifiers 13]
[Edit2: err... 40]
Extended Signature
And yet I can't help but think my level 20 Bladesinger will make mincemeat of these builds......without any forcecage or banishment.
The archer builds are easily beat down with Foresight and True seeing (now all attacks are at disadvantage against AC 27 (shield spell and no magic items). that's assuming the Bladesinger doesn't just rip away his bow with telekinesis.
Of the martial classes the raging barbarian is the hardest one to deal with.....I guess a simple fly spell to stay our of range....
So while you're casting Foresight and True Seeing, you're being peppered with arrows, that the archer gets advantage (cancelling out the disadvantage) on because they were hidden before attacking you, and you use up two of your four 1st-level slots on shield and then the archer succeeds on their check against your telekinesis... oh, and a third slot on shield because of all the arrows still coming your way.
You're assuming optimal conditions for yourself while assuming the worst case scenario for your opponents and that they aren't using any tactics to thwart your abilities.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
So...what does he do OUT of combat. Sure, combat monster blah blah...is he INTERESTING and FUN to play otherwise?
How will he contribute in a game with OTHER PLAYERS? A horde of 60 Goblins shows up...what then?
The difference between 'theory-crafting for fun' and 'smug s.o.b.' is tone
Foresight is among my favorite 9th-level spells, but it is a 9th-level spell. When facing a foe with Truesight it would be best to use Hex instead. Against Foresight I'd opt to use Fog Cloud.
Competing theory crafted characters as though they were facing each other is a bit silly. As is assuming because a build is combat focused that it has no room for out of combat utilities or a story. Even more so is to bring it up in a theory crafting thread.
I'm confident any character could be fun and interesting to play in a game with other players. More valuable than the build is the player.
Extended Signature
I like the Foresight and Truesight combo as neither are concentration and cast well before combat - so always on. If you go against high level npc or monsters then things like Dark / Devils sight for advantage are suddenly less useful. Hex is one of those great first level spells that makes me think about a magic initiate feat for any martial class.
I didn't mean to run off topic or cause offense. I do happen to like building different characters....I find in the end I prefer to stick with one class for the extra ASI and high level abilities. Certainly this is true of any wizard as you loose too much multi classing in my opinion.
The warlock hexblade is the one odd combination as it allows you to run all your combat off the same ability as your spell casting - suddenly you have a multi-class character that doesn't need as many ASI buffs as everything is run off Charisma, as well as some good mesh abilities. It's the one class you usually only see as a multi-class with something else.
Foresight has a duration of 8 hours. It's going to get cast in the morning, along with Mage Armor.
By the time you're casting 9th level spells, 1st level slots aren't useful for much besides Shield. Cantrips do more damage and you have much better spells to spend your action on for useful non-damage effects. That's setting aside the fact 18th level wizards can pick Shield for their at will 1st level spell anyways.
This is just build I use all the time: any race, fighter class, take a one handed weapon and a shield, chain mail armor, defense fighting style, 19 AC at level 1 not to mention later levels, it’s possible to get you AC to 21 w/o magic, or multiclassing.
Alternatively, take Sorcerer (or Wizard) with 16 dexterity (assuming any race with a bonus to dex) and Draconic bloodline (or mage armor) in the event something hits you, you can expend a first level spell slot and your AC becomes 21 at level-1
This is beaten with Hexblade Warlock assuming they are able to weasel their way into Scale Mail and a Shield at level-1 to have 18 standing AC and 23 when hit, But they only have one spell slot. However, the fighter has none.
The OP was asking about damage though. At level-1 the best single round damage I've seen is: Forge Cleric, Bonus Action Searing Smite, Attack Greatsword with Blessing of the Forge. Totaling 2d6+4 slash and 1d6 fire + 1d6 fire on the opponents turn (assuming a failed save) (22)
Next best: Double-Longsword Human Fighter with Dual Wielder racial feat and Two Weapon Fighting Style for 2d8+6 (20), or any Cleric casting Inflict Wounds for 3d10 (18)
Assuming hits of course Great Weapon Master is better, but with a -5 to hit, the assumption will prove false at level-1.
Extended Signature
Looking back on this, a Forge Cleric isn't proficient with Martial weapons. The same attack with a Greatclub would not beat out Inflict Wounds.
An Elf could use a longsword with proficiency to match it.
Extended Signature
Is there any benefit to Two-Weapon Fighting Style if you have the Dual Wield Feat? I figured the Feat would be better than the Fighting Style...
They do completely different things. The Fighting Style lets you add your ability modifier to the bonus action attack. The feat gives you +1 AC while wielding two weapons, lets you use non-light melee weapons (d8 damage instead of d6), and lets you draw/stow two weapons per turn.
I just posted about this build somewhere else, but I'll repeat it here since I like the idea so much. :D
This nova build is based on the monk and has two versions, the one-a-day ready at level 7 and the one-per-short at level 8.
1. For the one-a-day, start in monk, and at level 4 get the Magic Initiate (warlock) feat for hex. Continue to level 5 for Extra Attack. Then dip 2 levels into fighter for Action Surge. At level 7, you can hex an opponent, do two attacks with quarterstaff, use Flurry of Blows for two unarmed strikes, and then Action Surge for two more quarterstaff strikes. That totals 4d8 + 8d6 + (6 x DEX) damage (at 16 DEX, the average is 64), and you still have 4 ki to spend. After your next short rest, you can still use Action Surge to do 4d8 + 2d6 + (6 x DEX) damage, average 43 (with the same 16 DEX).
2. For the one-per-short-rest, just dip 1 level into warlock instead of taking the MI feat. You'll end up as a 5 Monk/1 Warlock/2 Fighter. You can still get all your subclass features and max your martial arts die for an eventual 6d10 + 6d6 + (6 x DEX), and if you maxed DEX to 20 like you're supposed to, you'd average 84 damage.
Each of these builds takes advantage of the monk's ridiculous number of attacks to apply multipliers. For context, a level 9 fireball does 14d6 damage, average 49 (to multiple enemies, granted, but at level 7?), and a level 3 fireball with a level 20 rogue's sneak attack damage would total 18d6, average 63.
3. If you wanted to Frankenstein this build, you could take 3 levels of ranger next. Choose the Hunter archetype, and take Colossus Slayer. Congratulations, you can now add 1d8 to your nova. (You can only ever get up to a d8 martial arts die, though). So at level 10 or 11, 5d8 + 8d6 + (6 x DEX), with hypothetical 16 DEX, is average 68.5. (*Note*: I originally thought this applied 1d8 to every attack on your turn, but it only applies once a turn. But it does provide access to Hunter's Mark as well!)
4. If you choose Way of the Kensei as your monk subclass, replace the quarterstaff damage with longsword damage, creep up to level 6 monk (that's 6 Monk/2 Fighter/3 Ranger/optional 1 Warlock), and you can spend another ki point to add an extra d6 for a whopping 4d10 + 1d8 + 9d6 + (6 x DEX), average 76, at level 11. Its max damage is 120, and as icing on top, it overcomes resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage thanks to the Kensei monk's Magic Kensei Weapons feature. If you progress to monk level 11, your martial arts die will increase to a d8, and you can use Sharpen the Blade to spend 3 ki points and add another 12 damage to that, total 4d10 + 12 + 4d8 + 6d6 + (6 x DEX), average 87 with a sensible 18 DEX. Go to level 12 for the ability increase, max out your DEX, and that's another 6 points to average 93 as a 12 Monk/2 Fighter/3 Ranger/optional 1 Warlock. As a reminder, the average damage for meteor swarm on a failed save is 140. I'd like to see a paladin out-smite that.
5. Speaking of which, why not? Put your final levels into paladin, and you can add either 4d8 or 6d8 to your nova. At level 20, you are now just shy of the average damage for meteor swarm. *slow clap*
As a disclaimer, in no way am I stating that this would be a fun or practical character concept. It's just a consistently amazing nova.
*Note*: as another disclaimer, as I re-read this post I have had to make fixes to the math, the most disappointing of which was that Colossus Slayer only adds 1d8 per turn, not per attack. If I made this build again, I'd choose Gloom Stalker ranger instead for the extra action as well as a +1d8 damage in the first turn of combat.
Add to that a fighting style and bump up the output a little bit higher, but make the dice less fun to theory craft. Re-roll 1s and 2s once with 2-handed style. Of course once your MA die is as good as you're versatile die you could use dueling to add +2 to each weapon hit. Also with the foresight that you're going to take Ranger, you can skip hex in favor Hunter's mark, but you'd lose that per short rest spell slot =(
Now the worst Nova build is pure monk. You can top these numbers at some levels but fall just short at top levels with everyone's favorite Way of the Four Elements *gasp* Fist of Unbroken Air at level 7 using ALL 7 ki deals 8d10 or avg. 44 compared to the above 43, but of course leaves you with 0 ki left over. At level 20 using ALL 20 ki deals 21d10 or avg. 115.5 compared to the above 115.5 with the potential to smite.
Extended Signature
As for beating 140 with Smite... Paladin 8, Warlock 4, Sorcerer 4 (the remaining 4 levels aren't defined. You could take fighter for action surge, but a smiter can really use spell slots, Eldritch Knight can help there. The numbers below don't use action surge.) Assuming the target is hexed as in the above posts Extra Attack, Divine Smite (Level-2), Great Weapon Master. 2×(3d6+4d8+15)=87 on average well short but why did we take Sorcerer? Quicken Spell Eldritch Blast 4×(1d10+1d6+5)+87=143 well that was close. Good thing all of those attacks hit. I used level-2 smites because they are plentiful, and recover as Pact Magic slots on rests. You could bump those up to level-4 and add 4d8 (18).
Of course the true average damage requires a roll to hit. This also allows a chance to crit, and your best approach depends on the enemy defence. Against AC 20 the Great Weapon Master ability will reduce your damage with your chance to hit. You'd be better off with the full attack bonus for..
2×((3d6+4d8)×17/16+5)×0.8+4×((1d10+1d6)17/16+5)×0.8=103.05
The added numbers: 17/16 is the critical bonus toward AC 20, and 0.8 (16/20) is your chance to hit AC 20
Extended Signature
A fith level Swashbuckler with a rapier, sneak attack, magic initiate...
1D8 +3D6 Sneak attack, 1d8 BB or GFB, 1D6 Hex.....+ Dex. Added the benefits of BB after you run away...