Didn't follow this thread to the end before, but surprised no one pointed out that the poison damage doesn't double on a crit since it's dependent on a saving throw rather than the attack roll.
I've taken part in a couple of threads where we theory crafted what is probably the highest potential turn 1 damage build possible.
Rogue assassin 4/ fighter battle master 11/ ranger gloom stalker 5. Take the alert and sharpshooter feats and use the rest of your ASIs to max DEX and get WIS as high as possible (using half elf I was able to get +5 DEX and +4 WIS using standard array). Oathbow and bracers of archery required.
Use pass without trace to all but guarantee surprise (even if you have a paladin in the party), and you should have at least a +14 to initiative to all but guarantee going first. You should make 8 attacks with a +8 to hit (after the -5 for sharphooter) with advantage. Between hunter's mark, martial maneuvers, sneak attack, dread ambush, action surge, oathbow, bracers of archery, assassinate (auto-crit), and sharpshooter (and not counting any magical or poisoned ammo for even more damage), the last time I crunched the numbers the minimum damage was 234, maximum damage was 804, making the average 519 damage (again not using arrow of slaying or purple worm poison (injury) which could add as much as 48d10+96d6 (average 600) half on DC17/19 CON save×8).
Now attack action: mark target with oathbow (free), +8 with advantage (assassinate) to hit with sharpshooter, on hit: 2d8+8d6+17 (auto crit from assassinate) ×3 (extra attack), and an extra attack for 4d8+8d6+17 (dread ambush)
Now action surge and do all of step 3 again.
Throughout, you have 1 4d6 sneak attack and 5 2d10 maneuvers you can use (save maneuvers until the end and use precision shot to make sure as many attacks land as possible).
That all adds up to 10d10+20d8+68d6+136 for the range and average I provided previously (234-804, ~519). And all with regular arrows. Poisoned slayer arrows add another 600 average damage for an average of 1119.
I've taken part in a couple of threads where we theory crafted what is probably the highest potential turn 1 damage build possible.
Rogue assassin 4/ fighter battle master 11/ ranger gloom stalker 5. Take the alert and sharpshooter feats and use the rest of your ASIs to max DEX and get WIS as high as possible (using half elf I was able to get +5 DEX and +4 WIS using standard array). Oathbow and bracers of archery required.
Use pass without trace to all but guarantee surprise (even if you have a paladin in the party), and you should have at least a +14 to initiative to all but guarantee going first. You should make 8 attacks with a +8 to hit (after the -5 for sharphooter) with advantage. Between hunter's mark, martial maneuvers, sneak attack, dread ambush, action surge, oathbow, bracers of archery, assassinate (auto-crit), and sharpshooter (and not counting any magical or poisoned ammo for even more damage), the last time I crunched the numbers the minimum damage was 234, maximum damage was 804, making the average 519 damage (again not using arrow of slaying or purple worm poison (injury) which could add as much as 48d10+96d6 (average 600) half on DC17/19 CON save×8).
I think the 5th level of Ranger there is redundant. You can drop that to get one more level in Fighter to get one more ASI, which you might spend on Resilient: Con since losing hunter's mark sucks. or you could take crossbow expert for a little bit more sustained damage.
I think the 5th level of Ranger there is redundant. You can drop that to get one more level in Fighter to get one more ASI, which you might spend on Resilient: Con since losing hunter's mark sucks. or you could take crossbow expert for a little bit more sustained damage.
Good notes, but I went with 5th level ranger for pass without trace. The nova damage is highly dependant on getting surprise, and I don't expect the whole party to be as stealth focused as this build, so this gives them all +10 to stealth. Now even a paladin in full plate has a chance to surprise.
Concentration is a very minor concern when doing 600+ damage from 90 feet away before the enemy gets a turn. Just saying. And crossbow expert would do less damage than oathbow.
Basically 8 auto crits are more important than anything else I could get by lowering my odds of that.
I think the 5th level of Ranger there is redundant. You can drop that to get one more level in Fighter to get one more ASI, which you might spend on Resilient: Con since losing hunter's mark sucks. or you could take crossbow expert for a little bit more sustained damage.
Good notes, but I went with 5th level ranger for pass without trace. The nova damage is highly dependant on getting surprise, and I don't expect the whole party to be as stealth focused as this build, so this gives them all +10 to stealth. Now even a paladin in full plate has a chance to surprise.
Concentration is a very minor concern when doing 600+ damage from 90 feet away before the enemy gets a turn. Just saying. And crossbow expert would do less damage than oathbow.
Basically 8 auto crits are more important than anything else I could get by lowering my odds of that.
Ah, wasnt thinking about the level requirements for pass without a trace.
As for the crossbow, I meant you could use that for more damage after you kill you first target with your oathbow, since oathbow only works on one target a day and it basically becomes a regular longbow after that. I'm assuming that after you nuke your Archfiend or whatever that there's still some other enemies to kill.
I think the 5th level of Ranger there is redundant. You can drop that to get one more level in Fighter to get one more ASI, which you might spend on Resilient: Con since losing hunter's mark sucks. or you could take crossbow expert for a little bit more sustained damage.
Good notes, but I went with 5th level ranger for pass without trace. The nova damage is highly dependant on getting surprise, and I don't expect the whole party to be as stealth focused as this build, so this gives them all +10 to stealth. Now even a paladin in full plate has a chance to surprise.
Concentration is a very minor concern when doing 600+ damage from 90 feet away before the enemy gets a turn. Just saying. And crossbow expert would do less damage than oathbow.
Basically 8 auto crits are more important than anything else I could get by lowering my odds of that.
Ah, wasnt thinking about the level requirements for pass without a trace.
As for the crossbow, I meant you could use that for more damage after you kill you first target with your oathbow, since oathbow only works on one target a day and it basically becomes a regular longbow after that. I'm assuming that after you nuke your Archfiend or whatever that there's still some other enemies to kill.
True. If you kill your target with the first action, you will be doing 32d6 less damage with the second action. Definitely a boss killer build, but no boss monster will survive.
You would still have to give up an ASI for crossbow expert for it to be any good (can't extra attack without it). And you wouldn't be able to switch weapons until next turn, and even then it will basically take the full turn... It also only increases average damage by 3 per turn, it just isn't worth it in the case.
I've taken part in a couple of threads where we theory crafted what is probably the highest potential turn 1 damage build possible.
Rogue assassin 4/ fighter battle master 11/ ranger gloom stalker 5. Take the alert and sharpshooter feats and use the rest of your ASIs to max DEX and get WIS as high as possible (using half elf I was able to get +5 DEX and +4 WIS using standard array). Oathbow and bracers of archery required.
Use pass without trace to all but guarantee surprise (even if you have a paladin in the party), and you should have at least a +14 to initiative to all but guarantee going first. You should make 8 attacks with a +8 to hit (after the -5 for sharphooter) with advantage. Between hunter's mark, martial maneuvers, sneak attack, dread ambush, action surge, oathbow, bracers of archery, assassinate (auto-crit), and sharpshooter (and not counting any magical or poisoned ammo for even more damage), the last time I crunched the numbers the minimum damage was 234, maximum damage was 804, making the average 519 damage (again not using arrow of slaying or purple worm poison (injury) which could add as much as 48d10+96d6 (average 600) half on DC17/19 CON save×8).
Now attack action: mark target with oathbow (free), +8 with advantage (assassinate) to hit with sharpshooter, on hit: 2d8+8d6+17 (auto crit from assassinate) ×3 (extra attack), and an extra attack for 4d8+8d6+17 (dread ambush)
Now action surge and do all of step 3 again.
Throughout, you have 1 4d6 sneak attack and 5 2d10 maneuvers you can use (save maneuvers until the end and use precision shot to make sure as many attacks land as possible).
That all adds up to 10d10+20d8+68d6+136 for the range and average I provided previously (234-804, ~519). And all with regular arrows. Poisoned slayer arrows add another 600 average damage for an average of 1119.
Sadly, this only works if they don't know you are coming or if there are no defenses that could alert the boss. It also requires a few magic items
I've taken part in a couple of threads where we theory crafted what is probably the highest potential turn 1 damage build possible.
Rogue assassin 4/ fighter battle master 11/ ranger gloom stalker 5. Take the alert and sharpshooter feats and use the rest of your ASIs to max DEX and get WIS as high as possible (using half elf I was able to get +5 DEX and +4 WIS using standard array). Oathbow and bracers of archery required.
Use pass without trace to all but guarantee surprise (even if you have a paladin in the party), and you should have at least a +14 to initiative to all but guarantee going first. You should make 8 attacks with a +8 to hit (after the -5 for sharphooter) with advantage. Between hunter's mark, martial maneuvers, sneak attack, dread ambush, action surge, oathbow, bracers of archery, assassinate (auto-crit), and sharpshooter (and not counting any magical or poisoned ammo for even more damage), the last time I crunched the numbers the minimum damage was 234, maximum damage was 804, making the average 519 damage (again not using arrow of slaying or purple worm poison (injury) which could add as much as 48d10+96d6 (average 600) half on DC17/19 CON save×8).
Now attack action: mark target with oathbow (free), +8 with advantage (assassinate) to hit with sharpshooter, on hit: 2d8+8d6+17 (auto crit from assassinate) ×3 (extra attack), and an extra attack for 4d8+8d6+17 (dread ambush)
Now action surge and do all of step 3 again.
Throughout, you have 1 4d6 sneak attack and 5 2d10 maneuvers you can use (save maneuvers until the end and use precision shot to make sure as many attacks land as possible).
That all adds up to 10d10+20d8+68d6+136 for the range and average I provided previously (234-804, ~519). And all with regular arrows. Poisoned slayer arrows add another 600 average damage for an average of 1119.
Sadly, this only works if they don't know you are coming or if there are no defenses that could alert the boss. It also requires a few magic items
Yeah, only 2 though, none are legendary, and you are level 20. It is very reasonable.
Level 8 spell, Druid, cleric, wizard- control weather. Makes a 5 mile radius effect of arctic cold.
Divination wizard: I give you 3 portents. To auto fail.
guaranteed 3 levels of exhaustion: your speed is halved, and you have disadvantage on saving throws. You can freeze to death without ever knowing where it came from. Even if your HP was 2,000,000,000.
Sure it’s easily counterable. But, this is a hypothetical build game. And I give you. So much damage, it cannot be calculated. It’s mathematically infinite over a 5 mile radius.
Whenever the temperature is at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures wearing cold weather gear (thick coats, gloves, and the like) and creatures naturally adapted to cold climates.
If you play with firearms, you could be proficient with them.
Get "Sharpshooter"-Feat.
Get 2 pistols.
Infuse "Enhance Weapon +2" on the pistols.
Use "Branding Smite" with a bonus action the turn before your attack.
Use your 1st pistol:
Basic (1d10+5) = 15
Enhanced Weapon Infusion (+2) = 2
Arcane Jolt (+4d6) = 24
Branding Smite (+5d6) = 30
Sharpshooter (+10) = 10
= 81 dmg (162 dmg if full crit)
Use your 2nd pistol:
Basic (1d10+5) = 15
Enhanced Weapon Infusion (+2) = 2
Sharpshooter (+10) = 10
= 27 dmg (52 dmg if full crit)
Attack with Steel Defender:
Force Empowered Rend (1d8+2) = 10
Might of the Master (+3) = 3
= 13 dmg (26 dmg if full crit)
So your maximum damage is 240 dmg, where 214 is delivered over a range of 150 without disadvantage.
There are a few mistakes. First, you can't put the same infusion on 2 items. Second, you have to be level 17 to cast branding smite at level 5 like you do in your math. Third, at level 17 you can use a more damaging spell like banishing smite, or even better animate objects. Fourth, you forgot about extra attack. Fifth, attacking with the steel defender uses your bonus action, so you can't attack with 2 weapons (this makes up for mistake 4, and might as well upgrade to musket). Sixth, when calculating damage, don't only use max damage, calculate average. Seventh, that is not how crit damage works, and honestly shouldn't be bothering to count it unless crit chances are manipulated in some way. Eighth, don't forget crossbow expert to ignore loading, or use repeating weapon infusion instead for 1 less damage, but 1 more ASI. So correcting all of those gives:
Attack action first attack:
1d12+4d6+17 (22-53, avg: 37.5)
Crit: 2d12+8d6+17 (27-89, avg: 58)
Second attack:
1d12+17 (18-29, avg: 23.5)
Crit: 2d12+17 (19-41, avg: 30)
Bonus action command 10 tiny objects to attack:
10d4+40 (50-80, avg: 65)
Crit 20d4+40 (60-120, avg: 90)
So total damage would be:
Min: 90, max: 162, average: 126
All crits min: 106, max: 250, average: 178
Just improving your method using musket and banishing smite give:
Min: 52, max: 146, average: 99
All crits (1:8000 chance) min: 64, max: 252, average: 158
You honestly do more damage dual wielding pistols than using steel defender, but only 9 on average. And either way, musket and animate objects still better.
doubled= 28d8 +16d6 + 42= 202 damage. and you double that on a roll of 19 or 20.
You don't get sneak attack with great weapons.
You need to explain the bonuses on attack 2. I assume the 3d8 is divine smite damage, but where does the extra 2d6 come from?
Also, if you are already accounting for assassinate's auto crit, you can't double crit on 19-20. Critical hits either happen or don't, they don't stack.
Hex will do more damage than curse with assassinate.
Corrected, that makes the math: 28d8+12d6+30 (70-326, avg: 198).
doubled= 28d8 +16d6 + 42= 202 damage. and you double that on a roll of 19 or 20.
You don't get sneak attack with great weapons.
You need to explain the bonuses on attack 2. I assume the 3d8 is divine smite damage, but where does the extra 2d6 come from?
Also, if you are already accounting for assassinate's auto crit, you can't double crit on 19-20. Critical hits either happen or don't, they don't stack.
Hex will do more damage than curse with assassinate.
my god you are right. sorry, I just woke up and I am still rebooting my brain. yeah you are right. maybe you could precast hex?
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
“” but I like playing the game by roleplaying, so I would never use an optimized build.””
this makes no sense to me when people say you can’t role play an optimized character.
The characters here are not optimized, they are 20th level Maximized characters.
Maximized vs Optimized: Maximized is a character that has selected for one particular thing, for example Eldritch Blast, or surprise ranged attacks in Sneak Attack range and EVERY choice in the game is designed to make that the best possible one --- at level 20. Often a 'Maximized' character is particularly weak until it hits certain milestones, particularly if you are multi-classing. Optimized means your character has chosen to focus on one particular group of activities, such as Battlefield Controller, or Tank.
In truth, you can role play an optimized build. Not that hard to say that your character wants to protect people so he Tanks. Or Heals, or Controls, or does Social.
Maximized however is a different story. Everything is built not toward an idea such as "Do as much Damage as I can" but instead toward combining the rules in such a way that everything stacks on top of a single specific action. Which leaves you nothing at all for non-focused activities and gives you CLEAR weakness. For example, the Ambusher/Battlemaster/Glooom guy loses a lot against many creatures. Creatures that can hide/incorporeal/burrow? Using readied actions, so no 8 attacks.
If we were doing a no-outside-help-and-no-magic-items build, I would think that a Samurai 20 using either Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter would do the most damage. With items and help it sounds like there's better tricks listed above, but I'll still play it out... I think Sharpshooter probably wins out if you account for needing to actually land hits, though its weapon damage die is lower (d10 vs 2d6, and +2 to hit instead of rerolling 1's and 2's), but I'll do GWM for now since I don't plan to get into hit/crit %.
Assumptions:
Start the turn with Haste cast on you by a friend, and also Enlarge from another friend :)
20 Strength and a Greatsword,
2d6+1d4+5+10, reroll 1's and 2's once for any damage die that is part of the attack, is a minimum of 18 damage per regular hit, maximum of 31, and average of ~8+3+5+10=26. (I specifically am not good enough at math to really modify this based on % chance to hit and to crit against suitable enemies, so we're just going to leave it at 18-31, average 26 per hit)
Start the turn with 1 hp, and there's caltrops on the field, or some other suitable environmental hazard, which you can willingly use to deal at least 6 hp of damage to yourself without an action (using your movement or something)
Bonus Action: Fighting Spirit for advantage on all attacks (*not technically necessary if you already have advantage from another source, like Greater Invisibility, or against a prone target or something due to starting the turn with a Trip Attack from Martial Adept or something.)
Attack Action: Four 2d6+1d4+15 attacks (average 26 each = 104 for this action) (104 for the round so far)
2nd Attack Action (Haste): One 2d6+1d4+15 attack (26 for this action) (130 for the round so far)
3rd Attack Action (Action Surge): Three 2d6+1d4+15 attacks (avg 26 each=78). Rapid strike to trade advantage on fourth attack for an extra regular attack, two more attacks (26 each=52 more) (260 for the round so far).
Move: KILL URSELF WITH CALTROPZ
Reaction: Start an entire second turn within this turn, repeating all of the above (260 again) (520 for the round so far). *note: possibly minus 26 damage if you don't want to actually end unconscious on this round, and would rather use your bonus action to Second Wind yourself than to Fighting Spirit... unless you already had Advantage without a Bonus Action, such as by using Martial Adept to Trip Attack on the opening attack)
Twenty attacks for 18-31 damage each (average 26), for somewhere between 324-558 (average 520). That will obviously be improved by a magic weapon adding additional damage on sixteen strikes (Hazirawn would add about 160 average more all on its own to most enemies), or by crits, by use of feats like Savage Attacker or Martial Adept, or by application of a racial damage buff like Goblin's Fury of the Small.... if we worked in all of that, I'm not surprised if you could reasonably hit about 700 average damage with some high level items.
Even without the magic items and without the helpful spellcasting, this still does a ton of damage without the two attacks from Haste or the ~3 damage per hit from Enlarge, that's just there for fun. Eighteen attacks at average 23 is still 414 average damage, which for a boring old pure-class character seems pretty unreal.
Start the turn with Haste cast on you by a friend, and also Enlarge from another friend :)
...and you lost it.
Joking aside, this is a pretty good build. Going pure fighter grants you a lot of ASIs to work with, even assuming Goblin for +20 average damage, you would have 4 ASIs left after getting STR to 20 with point buy. Now left to someone else to figure out how to use these ASIs (Also to figure out how rerolling 1s and 2s effects the average damage).
Lol, I'm arguing about the straight no-outside-help-no-magic-items Samurai in another thread, so check the math there if this post was too tainted. :) I think a Samurai with Sharpshooter and Elven Accuracy (and Crossbow Expert, since I goofed and did math for a d10 instead of d8 Longbow) does an average of 189 on a Big Turn without killing themself to use Strength Before Death, or 378 if they do. The GWM version would do a bit more than that on paper (weapon die average 8 instead of 5.5 per hit is about 45 damage over 18 strikes), but would be significantly more likely to miss (no +2 to hit, no super advantage from EA) and less able to pick the best targets on the battlefield.
A few sessions ago we had a magic-aided massive damage attack. Granted, it's highly situational, but many of the builds here seem highly situational too. So I figured I'd share.
Our DM was running an adventure module where, near the end, the party was jumped by a few Efreeti. The enemies summon some fire elementals, cast wall of fire, etc. Things looked dire. Well, several characters levels before, our warlock had used a Dust of Dryness to aid us on a mission. A feature of this item is that the resulting 'pellet of water' from absorbing water can be broken, thus releasing the same amount of water absorbed in a massive rush.
The DM ruled only a 10' cube of this water actually hit the fire elemental, rather than the entire 15' cube. Quick math and conversion from cubic feet to gallons, double-check on the fire elemental's water susceptibility, and, voila, 7480 HP of damage!
I doubt I'll ever see a single target attack do more damage than that. Good times.
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Didn't follow this thread to the end before, but surprised no one pointed out that the poison damage doesn't double on a crit since it's dependent on a saving throw rather than the attack roll.
Same is actually true for the arrow of slaying
I exist, and I guess so does this
I assume you are talking about this:
Yeah, I've deleted the character since then too, let me fix that. So here is example character: https://ddb.ac/characters/29301797/SjZA6r
The math breaks down like this:
That all adds up to 10d10+20d8+68d6+136 for the range and average I provided previously (234-804, ~519). And all with regular arrows. Poisoned slayer arrows add another 600 average damage for an average of 1119.
I think the 5th level of Ranger there is redundant. You can drop that to get one more level in Fighter to get one more ASI, which you might spend on Resilient: Con since losing hunter's mark sucks. or you could take crossbow expert for a little bit more sustained damage.
Good notes, but I went with 5th level ranger for pass without trace. The nova damage is highly dependant on getting surprise, and I don't expect the whole party to be as stealth focused as this build, so this gives them all +10 to stealth. Now even a paladin in full plate has a chance to surprise.
Concentration is a very minor concern when doing 600+ damage from 90 feet away before the enemy gets a turn. Just saying. And crossbow expert would do less damage than oathbow.
Basically 8 auto crits are more important than anything else I could get by lowering my odds of that.
Ah, wasnt thinking about the level requirements for pass without a trace.
As for the crossbow, I meant you could use that for more damage after you kill you first target with your oathbow, since oathbow only works on one target a day and it basically becomes a regular longbow after that. I'm assuming that after you nuke your Archfiend or whatever that there's still some other enemies to kill.
True. If you kill your target with the first action, you will be doing 32d6 less damage with the second action. Definitely a boss killer build, but no boss monster will survive.
You would still have to give up an ASI for crossbow expert for it to be any good (can't extra attack without it). And you wouldn't be able to switch weapons until next turn, and even then it will basically take the full turn... It also only increases average damage by 3 per turn, it just isn't worth it in the case.
Sadly, this only works if they don't know you are coming or if there are no defenses that could alert the boss. It also requires a few magic items
I exist, and I guess so does this
Yeah, only 2 though, none are legendary, and you are level 20. It is very reasonable.
hahahaha:
I love this.
Watch me on twitch
Use your 1st pistol:
= 81 dmg (162 dmg if full crit)
Use your 2nd pistol:
= 27 dmg (52 dmg if full crit)
Attack with Steel Defender:
= 13 dmg (26 dmg if full crit)
So your maximum damage is 240 dmg, where 214 is delivered over a range of 150 without disadvantage.
assassin 3. paladin8. hexblade warlock 9. with GWM.
BA= hex blades curse.
attack 1: 2d6 + 5d8 (paladin smite) + 6d8 (eldritch smite) + 2d6 (SA) 21
attack two : 2d6 + 3d8 + 2d6 + 21
doubled= 28d8 +16d6 + 42= 202 damage. and you double that on a roll of 19 or 20.
the easiest way to kill someone? you(chronurgist) cast sickening radience, someone else(divination wizard) casts wall of force.
they are trapped inside a bubble of death. make it pink. cause its funny
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
There are a few mistakes. First, you can't put the same infusion on 2 items. Second, you have to be level 17 to cast branding smite at level 5 like you do in your math. Third, at level 17 you can use a more damaging spell like banishing smite, or even better animate objects. Fourth, you forgot about extra attack. Fifth, attacking with the steel defender uses your bonus action, so you can't attack with 2 weapons (this makes up for mistake 4, and might as well upgrade to musket). Sixth, when calculating damage, don't only use max damage, calculate average. Seventh, that is not how crit damage works, and honestly shouldn't be bothering to count it unless crit chances are manipulated in some way. Eighth, don't forget crossbow expert to ignore loading, or use repeating weapon infusion instead for 1 less damage, but 1 more ASI. So correcting all of those gives:
Attack action first attack:
Second attack:
Bonus action command 10 tiny objects to attack:
So total damage would be:
Just improving your method using musket and banishing smite give:
You honestly do more damage dual wielding pistols than using steel defender, but only 9 on average. And either way, musket and animate objects still better.
You don't get sneak attack with great weapons.
You need to explain the bonuses on attack 2. I assume the 3d8 is divine smite damage, but where does the extra 2d6 come from?
Also, if you are already accounting for assassinate's auto crit, you can't double crit on 19-20. Critical hits either happen or don't, they don't stack.
Hex will do more damage than curse with assassinate.
Corrected, that makes the math: 28d8+12d6+30 (70-326, avg: 198).
my god you are right. sorry, I just woke up and I am still rebooting my brain. yeah you are right. maybe you could precast hex?
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
The characters here are not optimized, they are 20th level Maximized characters.
Maximized vs Optimized: Maximized is a character that has selected for one particular thing, for example Eldritch Blast, or surprise ranged attacks in Sneak Attack range and EVERY choice in the game is designed to make that the best possible one --- at level 20. Often a 'Maximized' character is particularly weak until it hits certain milestones, particularly if you are multi-classing. Optimized means your character has chosen to focus on one particular group of activities, such as Battlefield Controller, or Tank.
In truth, you can role play an optimized build. Not that hard to say that your character wants to protect people so he Tanks. Or Heals, or Controls, or does Social.
Maximized however is a different story. Everything is built not toward an idea such as "Do as much Damage as I can" but instead toward combining the rules in such a way that everything stacks on top of a single specific action. Which leaves you nothing at all for non-focused activities and gives you CLEAR weakness. For example, the Ambusher/Battlemaster/Glooom guy loses a lot against many creatures. Creatures that can hide/incorporeal/burrow? Using readied actions, so no 8 attacks.
If we were doing a no-outside-help-and-no-magic-items build, I would think that a Samurai 20 using either Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter would do the most damage. With items and help it sounds like there's better tricks listed above, but I'll still play it out... I think Sharpshooter probably wins out if you account for needing to actually land hits, though its weapon damage die is lower (d10 vs 2d6, and +2 to hit instead of rerolling 1's and 2's), but I'll do GWM for now since I don't plan to get into hit/crit %.
Assumptions:
Twenty attacks for 18-31 damage each (average 26), for somewhere between 324-558 (average 520). That will obviously be improved by a magic weapon adding additional damage on sixteen strikes (Hazirawn would add about 160 average more all on its own to most enemies), or by crits, by use of feats like Savage Attacker or Martial Adept, or by application of a racial damage buff like Goblin's Fury of the Small.... if we worked in all of that, I'm not surprised if you could reasonably hit about 700 average damage with some high level items.
Even without the magic items and without the helpful spellcasting, this still does a ton of damage without the two attacks from Haste or the ~3 damage per hit from Enlarge, that's just there for fun. Eighteen attacks at average 23 is still 414 average damage, which for a boring old pure-class character seems pretty unreal.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Okay you got my attention...
...and you lost it.
Joking aside, this is a pretty good build. Going pure fighter grants you a lot of ASIs to work with, even assuming Goblin for +20 average damage, you would have 4 ASIs left after getting STR to 20 with point buy. Now left to someone else to figure out how to use these ASIs (Also to figure out how rerolling 1s and 2s effects the average damage).
Edit: messed up the second quote
if I edit a message, most of the time it's because of grammar. The rest of the time I'll put "Edit:" at the bottom.
Lol, I'm arguing about the straight no-outside-help-no-magic-items Samurai in another thread, so check the math there if this post was too tainted. :) I think a Samurai with Sharpshooter and Elven Accuracy (and Crossbow Expert, since I goofed and did math for a d10 instead of d8 Longbow) does an average of 189 on a Big Turn without killing themself to use Strength Before Death, or 378 if they do. The GWM version would do a bit more than that on paper (weapon die average 8 instead of 5.5 per hit is about 45 damage over 18 strikes), but would be significantly more likely to miss (no +2 to hit, no super advantage from EA) and less able to pick the best targets on the battlefield.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
A few sessions ago we had a magic-aided massive damage attack. Granted, it's highly situational, but many of the builds here seem highly situational too. So I figured I'd share.
Our DM was running an adventure module where, near the end, the party was jumped by a few Efreeti. The enemies summon some fire elementals, cast wall of fire, etc. Things looked dire. Well, several characters levels before, our warlock had used a Dust of Dryness to aid us on a mission. A feature of this item is that the resulting 'pellet of water' from absorbing water can be broken, thus releasing the same amount of water absorbed in a massive rush.
The DM ruled only a 10' cube of this water actually hit the fire elemental, rather than the entire 15' cube. Quick math and conversion from cubic feet to gallons, double-check on the fire elemental's water susceptibility, and, voila, 7480 HP of damage!
I doubt I'll ever see a single target attack do more damage than that. Good times.