Level 20 Hexblade/Devotion demonstration (with GWM, Elven Accuracy and Devil's Sight, concentrating on darkness, not going over all the invocations I took and why because that would take too long and this is just a demonstration):
(One small note actually, I'm not sure if Hex Warrior and Sacred Weapon stack. I believe they do, but I'm not certain.)
First off, 5 poison damage from Cloak of Flies.
Assuming the first attack crits, damage (eldritch smiting and divine smiting): 26 magical slashing, 5 necrotic (10 if crit would double lifedrinker damage), 44 force damage, 22 radiant damage
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Now obviously this isn't that practical and relies on luck and burning 6 spell slots in one turn, but assuming all hit that's a total of 97 slashing, 15 necrotic, 110 force and 63 radiant. It can be more if you're using a flame-tongue or +2 or higher magic weapon, or if you forgo Elven Accuracy for half-orc crits. Or if you get luckier on damage rolls. Anyways.
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
It seems extremely suspect to suspect a high AC meta and encourage people to go for GWM and Sharpshooter. If people are doing things like Plate Armor+Defensive Fighting Style+Shield spell in Tier 1 then you’re looking at at best +7 to hit with Archery (+2 after sharpshooter) so if you sharpshooter you only hit on a crit and need a 17+ to even force them to use the shield spell.
You also might want to cover designing a decent set of rules for all the weirdness around subjective spells. Is casting Suggestion with “Concede, this tournament isn’t worth dying for” allowed?
Rules around start position are very important too. If you start at 20 feet away that’s very different from starting at 100 feet away and makes a huge difference to power balance.
Also extremely important is whether flying races are allowed. Being able to fly can completely disable or almost completely disable all melee approaches to the game so knowing whether it’s allowed matters a lot to players. You definitely don’t want flying players to be a surprise for some players.
Level 20 Hexblade/Devotion demonstration (with GWM, Elven Accuracy and Devil's Sight, concentrating on darkness, not going over all the invocations I took and why because that would take too long and this is just a demonstration):
(One small note actually, I'm not sure if Hex Warrior and Sacred Weapon stack. I believe they do, but I'm not certain.)
First off, 5 poison damage from Cloak of Flies.
Assuming the first attack crits, damage (eldritch smiting and divine smiting): 26 magical slashing, 5 necrotic (10 if crit would double lifedrinker damage), 44 force damage, 22 radiant damage
Second attack: 17(13(24) Damage: 22 magical slashing, 5 necrotic, 11 force, 13 radiant
(There should actually be another +12 magical slashing total so far for Hexblade's Curse which I forgot about)
Bonus action attack: 30(19)(23) Damage (another crit, lol): 33 magical slashing, 5 necrotic, 51 force, 28 radiant
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Now obviously this isn't that practical and relies on luck and burning 6 spell slots in one turn, but assuming all hit that's a total of 97 slashing, 15 necrotic, 110 force and 63 radiant. It can be more if you're using a flame-tongue or +2 or higher magic weapon, or if you forgo Elven Accuracy for half-orc crits. Or if you get luckier on damage rolls. Anyways.
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Guide is done.
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
You missed a link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/34666-the-arenaalways-recruiting
Extended Signature
I mean . . .
I honestly forgot I had that many pages of it.
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
It seems extremely suspect to suspect a high AC meta and encourage people to go for GWM and Sharpshooter. If people are doing things like Plate Armor+Defensive Fighting Style+Shield spell in Tier 1 then you’re looking at at best +7 to hit with Archery (+2 after sharpshooter) so if you sharpshooter you only hit on a crit and need a 17+ to even force them to use the shield spell.
You also might want to cover designing a decent set of rules for all the weirdness around subjective spells. Is casting Suggestion with “Concede, this tournament isn’t worth dying for” allowed?
Rules around start position are very important too. If you start at 20 feet away that’s very different from starting at 100 feet away and makes a huge difference to power balance.
Also extremely important is whether flying races are allowed. Being able to fly can completely disable or almost completely disable all melee approaches to the game so knowing whether it’s allowed matters a lot to players. You definitely don’t want flying players to be a surprise for some players.