Well if we want to do big damage in 1 round with no prep and no surprise how about this stupid mishmash of a multiclass of 15 Whispers Bard 2 Grave Cleric 2 Fighter and 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer. You will need a vial of acid.
You play a Goblin for Fury of the Small. Your 3 ASIs will be spent on maxing your Dex and picking up Metamagic Adept for Quickened Spell.
This is what you do. Use an Action to use Path to the Grave on the unlucky Sod thats about to get mugged. Use Action Surge to drink your vial of acid, use your reaction to cast Absorb Elements with a 9th lvl spell slot. Now use Quickened Spell to cast Booming Blade on that poor sucker.
Now with a rapier you will be doing: 1d8 + 9d6 acid damage (Absorb Elements) + 8d6 psychic damage (Psychic Blades) + 3d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) + 20 (Fury of the Small) + 5 (Dex modifier) + 2 (Dueling Fighting Style) all of which they are vulnerable to.
And if they survive and move during their turn they take another 4d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) just to rub it all in.
Well if we want to do big damage in 1 round with no prep and no surprise how about this stupid mishmash of a multiclass of 15 Whispers Bard 2 Grave Cleric 2 Fighter and 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer. You will need a vial of acid.
You play a Goblin for Fury of the Small. Your 3 ASIs will be spent on maxing your Dex and picking up Metamagic Adept for Quickened Spell.
This is what you do. Use an Action to use Path to the Grave on the unlucky Sod thats about to get mugged. Use Action Surge to drink your vial of acid, use your reaction to cast Absorb Elements with a 9th lvl spell slot. Now use Quickened Spell to cast Booming Blade on that poor sucker.
Now with a rapier you will be doing: 1d8 + 9d6 acid damage (Absorb Elements) + 8d6 psychic damage (Psychic Blades) + 3d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) + 20 (Fury of the Small) + 5 (Dex modifier) + 2 (Dueling Fighting Style) all of which they are vulnerable to.
And if they survive and move during their turn they take another 4d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) just to rub it all in.
Unfortunately, a level 1 divine soul can't use metamagic, as you start getting them at level 3. sacrificing 3 levels of bard for it would still be effective, averaging 215 damage. That being said, 2 levels of grave cleric can benefit any build, because you simply double damage. That is the most broken ability in the game, mate.
Well if we want to do big damage in 1 round with no prep and no surprise how about this stupid mishmash of a multiclass of 15 Whispers Bard 2 Grave Cleric 2 Fighter and 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer. You will need a vial of acid.
You play a Goblin for Fury of the Small. Your 3 ASIs will be spent on maxing your Dex and picking up Metamagic Adept for Quickened Spell.
This is what you do. Use an Action to use Path to the Grave on the unlucky Sod thats about to get mugged. Use Action Surge to drink your vial of acid, use your reaction to cast Absorb Elements with a 9th lvl spell slot. Now use Quickened Spell to cast Booming Blade on that poor sucker.
Now with a rapier you will be doing: 1d8 + 9d6 acid damage (Absorb Elements) + 8d6 psychic damage (Psychic Blades) + 3d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) + 20 (Fury of the Small) + 5 (Dex modifier) + 2 (Dueling Fighting Style) all of which they are vulnerable to.
And if they survive and move during their turn they take another 4d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) just to rub it all in.
Unfortunately, a level 1 divine soul can't use metamagic, as you start getting them at level 3. sacrificing 3 levels of bard for it would still be effective, averaging 215 damage. That being said, 2 levels of grave cleric can benefit any build, because you simply double damage. That is the most broken ability in the game, mate.
The Divine Soul Sorcerer is there for Booming Blade, Absorb Elements and Favored by the Gods (to help your attack hit). I am not taking it to get metamagic. Thats why I said to use a ASI to grab the Metamagic Adept feat.
Well if we want to do big damage in 1 round with no prep and no surprise how about this stupid mishmash of a multiclass of 15 Whispers Bard 2 Grave Cleric 2 Fighter and 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer. You will need a vial of acid.
You play a Goblin for Fury of the Small. Your 3 ASIs will be spent on maxing your Dex and picking up Metamagic Adept for Quickened Spell.
This is what you do. Use an Action to use Path to the Grave on the unlucky Sod thats about to get mugged. Use Action Surge to drink your vial of acid, use your reaction to cast Absorb Elements with a 9th lvl spell slot. Now use Quickened Spell to cast Booming Blade on that poor sucker.
Now with a rapier you will be doing: 1d8 + 9d6 acid damage (Absorb Elements) + 8d6 psychic damage (Psychic Blades) + 3d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) + 20 (Fury of the Small) + 5 (Dex modifier) + 2 (Dueling Fighting Style) all of which they are vulnerable to.
And if they survive and move during their turn they take another 4d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) just to rub it all in.
Unfortunately, a level 1 divine soul can't use metamagic, as you start getting them at level 3. sacrificing 3 levels of bard for it would still be effective, averaging 215 damage. That being said, 2 levels of grave cleric can benefit any build, because you simply double damage. That is the most broken ability in the game, mate.
The Divine Soul Sorcerer is there for Booming Blade, Absorb Elements and Favored by the Gods (to help your attack hit). I am not taking it to get metamagic. Thats why I said to use a ASI to grab the Metamagic Adept feat.
oops im blind, sry. That being noted, the damage is moderately better, at an average of 235 damage.
Actually, I'm realizing that It can be pushed even further by putting hold person/ monster on the target beforehand. now it's all a crit, so you roll twice the dice (rhyme not intended). That means you deal 418 damage in one hit on average.
Actually, I'm realizing that It can be pushed even further by putting hold person/ monster on the target beforehand. now it's all a crit, so you roll twice the dice (rhyme not intended). That means you deal 418 damage in one hit on average.
A Hold spell would require a turn of prep or help from another party member. My stupid mismash is suppose to do it all in 1 turn without any surprise or help from another party member.
While I don't think damage calculations are the sole answer to finding the most powerful builds, I do find these quite fun to entertain. I was already thinking about posting a Grave domain abusing build. Seems like perfect timing.
Basic premise: Stack a metric shit ton of extra damage die on the Assasssin auto crit and then multiply it again with Grave Domain's Path to the Grave. Force multipliers baby.
Routine: Bonus action, cast 5th level Branding Smite. Action, target enemy with Path to the Grave. Action Surge: Action, attack said enemy piling on Psyhic Blades, a 3rd level Eldritch Smite and a 4th level Divine Smite on the poor soul being hit by your Assassination attempt. Divine Soul Sorcerer is not necessary to the build but helps win initiative or hit the all important attack roll with favored by the gods.
Damage Source Base Damage Crit Damage Average Damage
Rapier 1d8+5 2d8+5 14
Branding Smite (5th level) 5d6 10d6 35
Eldritch Smite (3rd level) 4d8 8d8 36
Divine Smite (4th level) 5d8 10d8 45
Psychic Blades 3d6 6d6 21
Sneak Attack 2d6 4d6 14
Total Average Damage = 165
Average Damage with Path to the Grave: 330
Edit: Somehow I completely missed all of these posts with Grave builds and that one incredibly similar had already been posted. Muh Bad.
Some thoughts on the others:
nat1allday: Love the heavy focus on assasin but I don't like that the enemy has to fail a con save for you to get that last x2 to your damage. Enemy con saves are so high on average at super high levels. Also, without action surge you can't do everything you want in one turn.
TheLonelyMagi: It seems you've watched Minmax Munchking's video as well! 😂 That dude is hilarious. So yeah, both of our builds are direct descendant's of that madman's work. You've presented the fully cracked out build. I wanted to avoid the drinking the vial shenanigans because I wasn't sure how it would be recieved but goddamn does it make me giggle. Also went with a hexblade base (with custom lineage) to not be a total dumpster fire when it comes to maxing out an attack stat and have an actually reasonable tier 1 and 2 build (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 5/Bard 3/Paladin 2)
Vince don't come in here and spew your vitriol. If you don't like these threads just don't comment. No one cares you think this is stupid and coming in to say as such is rude and unproductive.
Her’s one: +3 Special paladin thingy greatsword 18 warlock/ 2 paladin. 9d8+2d6+strength+6+3 and 18+2+6+3 AC. 56 Avergage damage and you’ll never get hit
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Helper of Create a World thread/Sedge is Chaotic Neutral/ Mega Yahtzee High: 34, Low: 14/I speak English, je me parle le Francais, agus Labhraim beagan Gaeilge
What you do is you multi-class 18 levels of assassin rogue with 2 levels of grave domain cleric. The grave domain's channel divinity allows you to mark a creature, and the next attack you or a friend makes against it deals double damage. Now assassin's ability assassinate allows you to crit on a surprised creature when you hit. Then death strike lets you double the damage again for some stupid reason, meaning you deal 8 times damage.
In case you didn't hear, 8 TIMES DAMAGE.
If you don't realize the magnitude of such a damage bonus, then either you didn't go to elementary school, or you need to play more D&D.
The damage breakdown, with a rapier:
4(2d8+18d8+5)
This averages 379 damage, and as stated on the website, it's capable up to 516 damage. Meaning 90% of the time, you could bloody a tarrasque in one hit.
18d6 not 18d8. I don't think Sneak Attack is a d8 anyways, Average goes down to 308.
I guess you could stack like Magic Initiate (Booming Blade), Spiritual Weapon (cause your a cleric, though it wouldn't be multiplied as much, still extra damage), Race, and some other stuff and beat Zot's build pretty easily.
Pure DPS races are rare to find and doesn't really make this build stand out overly much among all the other DPS builds out there. Of which there are a lot. It's better to think of overpowered build in more of a versatile light.
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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.
Oh there are plenty of ways to get more damage out of the build I presented 4yulming4. The behind the scenes of my build that I didn't include is that I cut some of the shenanigans to make a build that has a tier 1 and 2 progression that isn't a total trashheap. Making a 7 class build decently playable from level 1 was a fun challenge.
The real trick to maximizing the one hit wonder damage is what ThelonelyMagi touched on in their build: drinking a vial of acid as a free action (since drinking a flagon of ale is considered one) and then casting a super high level absorb elements in response to the damage. It's cheesy and I love it, but I also wanted to focus on a build that wouldn't need to have a DM in a particularly good mood to let happen.
Goblin is also definitely the race to pick if you want to maximize damage as it represents +40 against anything medium or bigger, but again, I went with custom lineage for the playability factor. The build is still suspect as hell with a terrible con score, but it at least functions as an EB spammer with the ability to go ham on someone's face with smites when the opportunity arises.
If anyone is interested this is the video that inspired our builds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx7geLdeGmU&t=1886s. For anyone that likes this sort of stuff I highly recommend checking out MinMax Munchking's channel.
It's better to think of overpowered build in more of a versatile light.
100% agree with this sentiment.
Here's a build that follows that idea that still has the potential to deal ludicrous damage:
The Army Killer, AKA Darth Sidious
Cleric (Tempest) 2/ Wizard (Order of the Scribes) 18
Change Meteor Swarm's Damage type to Thunder or Lightning and then maximize it with Destructive Wrath. 240 damage on a failed save, 120 on a success, to every target in Meteor Swarm's massive potential area of effect. From a mile away.
This build also has all of the generic greatness of a wizard with 9th level spells AND gets to play with the utter brokeness that is Manifest Mind. I don't even feel the need to get into other Awakened Spellbook shenanigans since those are more controversial and I don't feel like rehashing the debate around damage types (you know 4yulming4, you know 🤣), but let's just say this build is capable of other ludicrous shenanigans as well.
In either case, it's wrong. The wizard crushes the paladin like an insect. The might of the level 20 wizard is beyond the comprehension of mere paladins!
While I don't think damage calculations are the sole answer to finding the most powerful builds, I do find these quite fun to entertain. I was already thinking about posting a Grave domain abusing build. Seems like perfect timing.
Basic premise: Stack a metric shit ton of extra damage die on the Assasssin auto crit and then multiply it again with Grave Domain's Path to the Grave. Force multipliers baby.
Routine: Bonus action, cast 5th level Branding Smite. Action, target enemy with Path to the Grave. Action Surge: Action, attack said enemy piling on Psyhic Blades, a 3rd level Eldritch Smite and a 4th level Divine Smite on the poor soul being hit by your Assassination attempt. Divine Soul Sorcerer is not necessary to the build but helps win initiative or hit the all important attack roll with favored by the gods.
Damage Source Base Damage Crit Damage Average Damage
Rapier 1d8+5 2d8+5 14
Branding Smite (5th level) 5d6 10d6 35
Eldritch Smite (3rd level) 4d8 8d8 36
Divine Smite (4th level) 5d8 10d8 45
Psychic Blades 3d6 6d6 21
Sneak Attack 2d6 4d6 14
Total Average Damage = 165
Average Damage with Path to the Grave: 330
Edit: Somehow I completely missed all of these posts with Grave builds and that one incredibly similar had already been posted. Muh Bad.
Some thoughts on the others:
nat1allday: Love the heavy focus on assasin but I don't like that the enemy has to fail a con save for you to get that last x2 to your damage. Enemy con saves are so high on average at super high levels. Also, without action surge you can't do everything you want in one turn.
TheLonelyMagi: It seems you've watched Minmax Munchking's video as well! 😂 That dude is hilarious. So yeah, both of our builds are direct descendant's of that madman's work. You've presented the fully cracked out build. I wanted to avoid the drinking the vial shenanigans because I wasn't sure how it would be recieved but goddamn does it make me giggle. Also went with a hexblade base (with custom lineage) to not be a total dumpster fire when it comes to maxing out an attack stat and have an actually reasonable tier 1 and 2 build (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 5/Bard 3/Paladin 2)
Vince don't come in here and spew your vitriol. If you don't like these threads just don't comment. No one cares you think this is stupid and coming in to say as such is rude and unproductive.
Quite simply, it got lost in the shuffle. I also forgot to add in Dueling Style. So that's 6d8 (27) + 2 = 29 x 2 = 58 damage. So really, Stabberson is dealing 388 damage with his one juicy ass attack.
If anyone is interested this is the video that inspired our builds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx7geLdeGmU&t=1886s. For anyone that likes this sort of stuff I highly recommend checking out MinMax Munchking's channel.
I freakin love MinMax Munchking. He's entertaining as shit. And without a doubt, I shamelessly ripped off his ideas. My build ends up looking just a little different because I highly value playability from low levels and wanted to see if I could make a structurally similar build that wasn't a complete dumpster fire when considering the level up process. Also avoided the drinking the acid vial shenanigans because I wanted my pseudo-playable build to fly without the extreme generosity of the DM. But man do I love that tech. I would never in a million years try to run that by a DM, but my goodness is it fun to think about.
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Well if we want to do big damage in 1 round with no prep and no surprise how about this stupid mishmash of a multiclass of 15 Whispers Bard 2 Grave Cleric 2 Fighter and 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer. You will need a vial of acid.
You play a Goblin for Fury of the Small. Your 3 ASIs will be spent on maxing your Dex and picking up Metamagic Adept for Quickened Spell.
This is what you do. Use an Action to use Path to the Grave on the unlucky Sod thats about to get mugged. Use Action Surge to drink your vial of acid, use your reaction to cast Absorb Elements with a 9th lvl spell slot. Now use Quickened Spell to cast Booming Blade on that poor sucker.
Now with a rapier you will be doing: 1d8 + 9d6 acid damage (Absorb Elements) + 8d6 psychic damage (Psychic Blades) + 3d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) + 20 (Fury of the Small) + 5 (Dex modifier) + 2 (Dueling Fighting Style) all of which they are vulnerable to.
And if they survive and move during their turn they take another 4d8 thunder damage (Booming Blade) just to rub it all in.
Unfortunately, a level 1 divine soul can't use metamagic, as you start getting them at level 3. sacrificing 3 levels of bard for it would still be effective, averaging 215 damage. That being said, 2 levels of grave cleric can benefit any build, because you simply double damage. That is the most broken ability in the game, mate.
The Divine Soul Sorcerer is there for Booming Blade, Absorb Elements and Favored by the Gods (to help your attack hit). I am not taking it to get metamagic. Thats why I said to use a ASI to grab the Metamagic Adept feat.
oops im blind, sry. That being noted, the damage is moderately better, at an average of 235 damage.
Actually, I'm realizing that It can be pushed even further by putting hold person/ monster on the target beforehand. now it's all a crit, so you roll twice the dice (rhyme not intended). That means you deal 418 damage in one hit on average.
A Hold spell would require a turn of prep or help from another party member. My stupid mismash is suppose to do it all in 1 turn without any surprise or help from another party member.
yeah in that case just use path to the grave
While I don't think damage calculations are the sole answer to finding the most powerful builds, I do find these quite fun to entertain. I was already thinking about posting a Grave domain abusing build. Seems like perfect timing.
Basic premise: Stack a metric shit ton of extra damage die on the Assasssin auto crit and then multiply it again with Grave Domain's Path to the Grave. Force multipliers baby.
Routine: Bonus action, cast 5th level Branding Smite. Action, target enemy with Path to the Grave. Action Surge: Action, attack said enemy piling on Psyhic Blades, a 3rd level Eldritch Smite and a 4th level Divine Smite on the poor soul being hit by your Assassination attempt. Divine Soul Sorcerer is not necessary to the build but helps win initiative or hit the all important attack roll with favored by the gods.
Total Average Damage = 165
Average Damage with Path to the Grave: 330
Edit: Somehow I completely missed all of these posts with Grave builds and that one incredibly similar had already been posted. Muh Bad.
Some thoughts on the others:
nat1allday: Love the heavy focus on assasin but I don't like that the enemy has to fail a con save for you to get that last x2 to your damage. Enemy con saves are so high on average at super high levels. Also, without action surge you can't do everything you want in one turn.
TheLonelyMagi: It seems you've watched Minmax Munchking's video as well! 😂 That dude is hilarious. So yeah, both of our builds are direct descendant's of that madman's work. You've presented the fully cracked out build. I wanted to avoid the drinking the vial shenanigans because I wasn't sure how it would be recieved but goddamn does it make me giggle. Also went with a hexblade base (with custom lineage) to not be a total dumpster fire when it comes to maxing out an attack stat and have an actually reasonable tier 1 and 2 build (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 5/Bard 3/Paladin 2)
Vince don't come in here and spew your vitriol. If you don't like these threads just don't comment. No one cares you think this is stupid and coming in to say as such is rude and unproductive.
Her’s one: +3 Special paladin thingy greatsword 18 warlock/ 2 paladin. 9d8+2d6+strength+6+3 and 18+2+6+3 AC. 56 Avergage damage and you’ll never get hit
Helper of Create a World thread/Sedge is Chaotic Neutral/ Mega Yahtzee High: 34, Low: 14/I speak English, je me parle le Francais, agus Labhraim beagan Gaeilge
Dream of Days Lore Bard 9/Wizard 4 Baulder's Gate: Descent to Avernus (In Person/Over Zoom)
Saleadon Morgul Battle Smith Artificer 11 Tyranny of Dragons (In Person/Over Zoom)
Hurtharn Serpti Ghostslayer Blood Hunter 7 Spelljammer (Over Zoom)
Ex Sig
18d6 not 18d8. I don't think Sneak Attack is a d8 anyways, Average goes down to 308.
I guess you could stack like Magic Initiate (Booming Blade), Spiritual Weapon (cause your a cleric, though it wouldn't be multiplied as much, still extra damage), Race, and some other stuff and beat Zot's build pretty easily.
Pure DPS races are rare to find and doesn't really make this build stand out overly much among all the other DPS builds out there. Of which there are a lot. It's better to think of overpowered build in more of a versatile light.
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.
Oh there are plenty of ways to get more damage out of the build I presented 4yulming4. The behind the scenes of my build that I didn't include is that I cut some of the shenanigans to make a build that has a tier 1 and 2 progression that isn't a total trashheap. Making a 7 class build decently playable from level 1 was a fun challenge.
The real trick to maximizing the one hit wonder damage is what ThelonelyMagi touched on in their build: drinking a vial of acid as a free action (since drinking a flagon of ale is considered one) and then casting a super high level absorb elements in response to the damage. It's cheesy and I love it, but I also wanted to focus on a build that wouldn't need to have a DM in a particularly good mood to let happen.
Goblin is also definitely the race to pick if you want to maximize damage as it represents +40 against anything medium or bigger, but again, I went with custom lineage for the playability factor. The build is still suspect as hell with a terrible con score, but it at least functions as an EB spammer with the ability to go ham on someone's face with smites when the opportunity arises.
If anyone is interested this is the video that inspired our builds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx7geLdeGmU&t=1886s. For anyone that likes this sort of stuff I highly recommend checking out MinMax Munchking's channel.
100% agree with this sentiment.
Here's a build that follows that idea that still has the potential to deal ludicrous damage:
Change Meteor Swarm's Damage type to Thunder or Lightning and then maximize it with Destructive Wrath. 240 damage on a failed save, 120 on a success, to every target in Meteor Swarm's massive potential area of effect. From a mile away.
This build also has all of the generic greatness of a wizard with 9th level spells AND gets to play with the utter brokeness that is Manifest Mind. I don't even feel the need to get into other Awakened Spellbook shenanigans since those are more controversial and I don't feel like rehashing the debate around damage types (you know 4yulming4, you know 🤣), but let's just say this build is capable of other ludicrous shenanigans as well.
Was that a pun or was that spell intentional...
:)
In either case, it's wrong. The wizard crushes the paladin like an insect. The might of the level 20 wizard is beyond the comprehension of mere paladins!
Nice build dude, but where is your Booming Blade?
Uhhh....
good question.
Quite simply, it got lost in the shuffle. I also forgot to add in Dueling Style. So that's 6d8 (27) + 2 = 29 x 2 = 58 damage. So really, Stabberson is dealing 388 damage with his one juicy ass attack.
I freakin love MinMax Munchking. He's entertaining as shit. And without a doubt, I shamelessly ripped off his ideas. My build ends up looking just a little different because I highly value playability from low levels and wanted to see if I could make a structurally similar build that wasn't a complete dumpster fire when considering the level up process. Also avoided the drinking the acid vial shenanigans because I wanted my pseudo-playable build to fly without the extreme generosity of the DM. But man do I love that tech. I would never in a million years try to run that by a DM, but my goodness is it fun to think about.