As a continuation of my previous threads for 4e, this thread is meant to provide an arena for damage-focused builds. Post your build in whatever format you like targeting specific levels and using agreed upon standards to calculate expected damage. Below you'll find guides on calculating damage and a glossary for various terms we find useful or tactics often found cheesy. I don't usually ban cheesy tactics, but instead try to make it easy for lurkers to filter builds they don't like.
Click Here to See or Edit the source of truth Google doc spreadsheet
What is KPR? Why not DPR? Why not raw damage?
KPR, or Kills Per Round, is a measurement of the percent of a standard monster's health you can reasonably be expected to blast through each round.
DPR is an older metric that represents the expected damage a character could put out, taking into account only the monster's AC.
It may seem daunting seeing all these percentages, AC models, expectations when all you want to do is punch the bad guy in the face. But this rigor pays off as we identify options that are superior to others.
Let's take a Barbarian/Paladin wielding a greataxe and blowing a 3rd level slot on a smite when he crits. While the damage is awe-inspiring, he isn't going to be doing it consistently. He may be great at going nova, and while there is a place for Nova builds, if he spent all his levels on multiclassing instead of getting multiple attacks he isn't going to be critting confidently. This is why we take crit chance into account, and why we take AC into account.
We build Models for what AC we can reasonably expect a PC to face, and use it to calculate the chances of hitting. We multiply these chances by your average damage, assuming you do hit. This is roughly your DPR, or expected Damage Per Round. This is going to go up with level.
To account for DPR going up with level, we even they playing field by accounting for the monster's expected HP at that level, by calculating DPR / HP. This results in a fraction of the monster's HP that you can expect to slice through each round, or how much of a monster you can kill, thus KPR.
More accurate calculations take into account KPR boosts from crits. Other builds may need to know how much to spread their resources. A reasonable DM won't make the mage wade through 12 encounters just because the fighter still has HP. And not day will you have one BBEG
How do I submit a build?
Either reply to this thread with what feats/classes/options you took and some calculation [the more annotations the better] of your DPR and/or KPR.
OR
Reply with a link to the thread that outlines what your build is all about. I don't care if it is hosted in Giantitp.com, or enworld.com, or wherever.
OR
Edit the above spreadsheet and add a new row, adding yourself as the author, linking it to some website that details your build, and adding any relevant tags. It may take me a month or 2 to get around to copying them into the main thread here. But rest assured that this spreadsheet will outlive even wizards of the coast.
What are tags? Is this too cheesy?
Tags are a way to annotate builds that employ various combos that are commonly viewed as cheesy or requiring DM approval. This is targeted at lurkers that feel certain combos are too much, while still allowing builders the freedom to build against some interpretation of RAW (rules as written).
We usually stay away from RAIWTTB (rules as I want them to be), and gravitate to RAW, but sometimes the outcomes can get a bit silly.
When you make a build that uses combos that are commonly accepted as cheesy, or unearthed arcana that needs DM approval, just add the tag to your build, or put UA as a tag like this
Name: Fighty McFingers
Cleric 1/ Fighter 19 ...
KPR: .22 Tags: UA, PAMWC
Where is a good place to start?
Start Simple
Start with a simple Warlock build that spams Eldritch Blast every round. We'll then add more complexity.
Warlock 3 with a 16 Charisma and Agonizing Blast.
To Hit: +2(prof) +3(cha) = +5 vs. 14 AC (see here for what AC to use for your level), meaning we need a 9 to hit, or 60% hit chance.
Damage: 1d10 + 3(cha) = 5.5+3 = 8.5
DPR: .6 * 8.5 = 5.1
KPR: 5.1(DPR) / 40 = 12% KPR
Step it up
Now to try to analyze a basic 1st level fighter.
Then we pull in Action Surge, which begs the question, how can a 1/short rest damage boost contribute to my at-will damage. This is where we pull in our first standard, Rounds per encounter. See this sheet for various standards I will use in this thread. If we assume this many rounds per encounter we can average our damage over the whole encounter.
Next is to attack with advantage. Attacking with advantage affects our hit chance, and crit chance. Instead of asking what are the chances of hitting with advantage, we ask a double negative: What are the chances of not (not hitting twice)? Not hitting is pretty simple, it is 1-hit chance. Let's say we had a 60% chance of hitting, meaning we have a 40% chance of missing. What is the chance you miss 2 times in a row? 40% * 40% = 16%. This means you have a 100% - 16% of hitting, or 84%. We could simply use this new hit chance in our DPR calculations.
However, attacking with advantage also means we have a much greater chance of critting. In 5e, due to the way that crit damage works we can simply multiply the chance of critting by the added damage from critting. Feel free to ask some math nerds, but it works out that way. Normally you only crit on a 20, meaning you have a 5% chance of critting, but with advantage it goes up. We use the same technique as above. What are the chances of not (not critting twice). Not critting is 95%. Not critting twice is 95% * 95% = 90.25%, meaning we have a 9.75% chance of critting. We multiply 9.75% * (normal damage), and we add this to our total DPR.
Next we try to calculate what a Battle Master would do with his Superiority Dice. A good tactic is to trip, and hit. But how often will I be able to trip the foe. I can't do it every round, for sometimes I want to use the dice for ripostes. This sheet shows what Kryx chose to optimize the fighter's DPR. Feel free to use these same numbers on how he spent his dice. If your build eeks out more damage, feel free to comment on his sheet, submit an alternative (if it gives more then 2% more KPR), or ignore it.
lastly we try our hand at the most complicated, the spell casters. You may think that casters are no good in dishing out single target damage, and they can't do it every round, but that's where 2 standards come into play: Encounters per day, and targets in area attacks. While it may seem unfair to magically add mooks under their fireball to inflate their damage, the caster is the one that wears down the mooks so you can Cleave your way through them. In the end of the day, XP is correlated to total monster HP, thus the more total damage you dish out, the faster you level. I for one welcome casters warming up the enemy on a silver platter.
See this sheet for examples of how a damage-focused wizard and sorcerer would plan out how to make their spells stretch. Now Imagine a Warlock 3/Sorcerer 17, and start planning out each encounter, where his bonus actions would go for quickening Darkness or Hex. Start making assumptions and post your build justifying your assumptions. Who knows, we may come with other standards that others can use or debate on. We may make polls and you can help with the statistics.
What are the Rules?
I use this sheet to base these rules on. Feel free to debate them here, or bring them up with Kryx. He and I are different people, so we end up with different standards due to different goals we have. But in the end, most of the time it won't matter that much. Other feats/class combos usually blow others out of the water.
These numbers are based on averages of observed Monsters from official material.
Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Enemy AC
13
13
14
14
14
14
15
15
16
16
16
17
17
17
18
18
18
19
19
19
Enemy HP
39
42
48
53
62
70
81
98
112
121
134
144
160
173
185
204
218
234
272
295
The following are based off the samesheet, but rounded. Many number are based on some discussion. I'm happy to continue those discussions here, or there. I figure they are a good start.
The day will be as follows:
Encounter then
10 minute Breather
Encounter then
Short Rest
Encounter then
10 minute Breather
Encounter then
Short Rest
Encounter
Sleep
Rounds per encounter: 5 Number of Rounds per Day: 20 (4 rounds per encounter if you like) Opportunity Atk Chance: 10% Polearm Opportunity Atk Chance: 15% Cover: Assumes the enemy has half cover 30% of the time and 3/4 cover 10% of the time Polearm Provoke(How often an enemy will provoke an OA for Polearm Master): 50% Provoke Normal OA %(how often a normal opportunity attack will proc): 7.5% Chance to Kill Multiplier: 80% (the chance that any given round you finish off your foe. Mostly needed for GWM) Melee Concentration Duration(number of rounds that a concentration spell will last in melee): 2.94 Ranged Concentration Duration(same as above but for a ranged char): 3.78
Rogues may assume an ally for Sneak Attack. Combat advantage must be proven just like the rest of us.
If you are a spellcaster, please see the same sheet to calculate expected saving throws from monsters. You may need to go to the source material for non-standard stats(con, wis, dex) that you attack (mystic I'm looking at you).
PAM: Polearm Master(feat) WC: Warcaster PAMWC: Assuming you can cast a spell when a foe enters your reach with a glaive, halberd, or quarterstaff, with or without mike mearl's twitter answers. GWM: Great Weapon Master(feat) Sorcadin, Paladork, Sorlock...: Some combination of Sorcerer, Warlock, Paladin, and maybe a 1/2 orc. EB: Eldritch Blast AC: Armor Class (see rules above to see what AC you should be targeting) AB: Attack Bonus DPR: Damage Per Round (see above for description) KPR: Kills Per Round(See above for description) Gish: Warrior that uses magic to enhance combat ability multiclassing 0-20 levels of caster SA: Sneak Attack (rogue class feature)
FAQ
Booming Blade, Do I get the secondary damage too? If you can ensure the target can't reach you, then you may assume the secondary damage takes place.
You have 2 rounds with just you an a block of tofu with appropriate AC for his level. He is at whatever distance you like, with an ally in melee combat, who doesn't care if he is in the blast radius. He knows you'll try. The whole day has been leading up to this one battle, and you're fresh out of bed.
If you are an assassin, or otherwise need it, assume you got surprise, and I'll tag your build accordingly.
Cast Magic Missile as a 9th and add 8 Harvest Scythe dice for 11(1d4+1+8d10) for 522.5 avg damage. Then Action Surge and cast MM as an 8th, adding 8 HS dice for 10(1d4+1+8d10) for 475 avg damage. In total, 997.5 average damage in a round. Can be split to kill ~3.3 enemies in a round. No attack, no save.
Tags: UA, Nova Cheese level: Bleu. Consider pairing with a dry Grave Cleric for an extra 522.5 avg damage.
Magic Missile rolls a single damage roll and applies that result to each missile (http://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/10/17/magic-missile-do-you-roll-the-same-d4-for-all-darts/). Harvest Scythe adds its damage to a damage roll. Is this stupid? Yes. Should anyone allow this in their game? No. RAW, this is how these features interact. If Twilight Druid ever gets published, looks at Lore Wizard's Alchemical Casting for an example of wording that cannot be abused with Magic Missile.
Nuclear druid. Ugh. It's based upon purposefully misinterpreting a poorly worded clarification.
Ok, so Sage Advice is not RAW, it's the opinion of the game designer, rather than what was published. Unfortunately Jeremy has (imho) misinterpreted his own rules on several clarifications to date and this is one of them (Goodberry for Life domain clerics is another). PH 196 clearly states that you should roll the dice once where damage is applied to multiple creatures. If you take the interpretation that he uses for this clarification, then a high level fireball wouldn't be 10d6 damage. It would be 1d6 damage multiplied by 10. We all know that's not how it works.
The build still does respectable burst of 11d4+11+8d10 for 82.5 average, then the 2nd spell for 10d4 + 10 + 8d10 for 79.
Magic Missile functions uniquely. I suspect it was intended to work as it does so that it could pair well with Evocation Wizard's Empowered Evocation (where it gets a good boost compared to other spells, but doesn't go overboard). Harvest Scythe didn't forsee the implications, but that's why we have UA disclaimers. Like I mentioned, I suspect WotC saw the unintended functionality and that helped determine the wording for Lore Wizard's Alchemical Casting. Unlike Harvest Scythe, Alchemical Casting is added after the MM damage roll, not multiplied within it, so the tumors are benign.
Magic missile strike simultaneously, is just one damage roll for all missiles. so if you aim in just one target with Harvest Scythe, would do 11d4+11+8d10. But looks like you could target 11 creatures for 1d4+1+8d10 each, that looks a nice use for Harvest Scythe.
Can be discussed if in cases like scorching ray or eldritch blast the damage bonus would be applied to each roll (if the trigger is one damage roll or the spell). Definetly Harvest Scythe could be clear.
So the tags line wouldn't include Nova, as it is implied with the build. The build would go into a separate section just for nova builds. They often do end up getting rediculous levels of damage. Perhaps prefacing saying this is a nova build, or something, but not necessary. In this case just UA would be the tag. While it is a bit cheesy, unless there are many builds that end up using magic missile in this way, or there seems to be a divide in the community on how to interpret the rules, I'd just end up leaving it out of the tags, or any cheese line.
Okay, here is a new idea Im working on, using the XGE rule on simultaneous effects. The super bubble mage. You take 7 levels of sorcerer (to generate level 5 spell slots) You take 3 levels of warlock (you will be adding those spell slots to your Pact Magic total, not the Spellcasting table and you need the Moon invocation to prevent long rest issues) You take 9 levels of divination wizard (for portent and Wall of Force). Use your last level for either sorc or warlock just for an ASI.
The combination: you generate effectively infinite 5th level pact magic slots using the coffee-lock model. You use those slots so that every other round you cycle the following combo: Polymorph target into normal spider. Wall of Force (sphere version 1 inch diameter) around said spider. Breaks concentration on polymorph simultaneously, but its your turn, so you decide to have the wall appear first, then end the polymorph. Creature is condensed to a kids marble. The divination wizard gives you good odds of doing this at least once a day, otherwise you will need to factor in save reducing nonsense for the polymorph.
Note, for a purely 2 round infinite damage nova (without worrying about being able to do this infinite times), its just Wizard 9. I feel bad for the Gargantuan block of tofu.
PH 196 clearly states that you should roll the dice once where damage is applied to multiple creatures. If you take the interpretation that he uses for this clarification, then a high level fireball wouldn't be 10d6 damage. It would be 1d6 damage multiplied by 10. We all know that's not how it works.
Dice is plural.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I think we have a new king for Level 5. Druid 5, metamagic adept feat (reach spell). Conjure Animals: 8 giant owls at maximum height (40-120 feet in a column). Command all owls to fly upward as far as they can, then drop on target. Per Tasha's each owl will deal half its falling damage to whoever it lands on. Net result is half of 16d6+17d6+18d6+19d6+4X(20d6). Total average damage is 262.5. And 8 saves or be knocked prone, but presumably you kill anything you deal 262.5 damage to. This can also effect up to 4 targets at a time since owls are large (ie they land in 4 squares, not one).
Every 4 levels, your damage doubles (more or less) as your number of owls doubles. Though mileage here may vary because you can only stack 12 owls in a single vertical line - you can always drop them one at a time though, so i think you can have parallel vertical lines of 12 owls without any issue.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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KPR King Candidates
As a continuation of my previous threads for 4e, this thread is meant to provide an arena for damage-focused builds. Post your build in whatever format you like targeting specific levels and using agreed upon standards to calculate expected damage. Below you'll find guides on calculating damage and a glossary for various terms we find useful or tactics often found cheesy. I don't usually ban cheesy tactics, but instead try to make it easy for lurkers to filter builds they don't like.
Click Here to See or Edit the source of truth Google doc spreadsheet
What is KPR? Why not DPR? Why not raw damage?
KPR, or Kills Per Round, is a measurement of the percent of a standard monster's health you can reasonably be expected to blast through each round.
DPR is an older metric that represents the expected damage a character could put out, taking into account only the monster's AC.
It may seem daunting seeing all these percentages, AC models, expectations when all you want to do is punch the bad guy in the face. But this rigor pays off as we identify options that are superior to others.
Let's take a Barbarian/Paladin wielding a greataxe and blowing a 3rd level slot on a smite when he crits. While the damage is awe-inspiring, he isn't going to be doing it consistently. He may be great at going nova, and while there is a place for Nova builds, if he spent all his levels on multiclassing instead of getting multiple attacks he isn't going to be critting confidently. This is why we take crit chance into account, and why we take AC into account.
We build Models for what AC we can reasonably expect a PC to face, and use it to calculate the chances of hitting. We multiply these chances by your average damage, assuming you do hit. This is roughly your DPR, or expected Damage Per Round. This is going to go up with level.
To account for DPR going up with level, we even they playing field by accounting for the monster's expected HP at that level, by calculating DPR / HP. This results in a fraction of the monster's HP that you can expect to slice through each round, or how much of a monster you can kill, thus KPR.
More accurate calculations take into account KPR boosts from crits. Other builds may need to know how much to spread their resources. A reasonable DM won't make the mage wade through 12 encounters just because the fighter still has HP. And not day will you have one BBEG
How do I submit a build?
Either reply to this thread with what feats/classes/options you took and some calculation [the more annotations the better] of your DPR and/or KPR.
OR
Reply with a link to the thread that outlines what your build is all about. I don't care if it is hosted in Giantitp.com, or enworld.com, or wherever.
OR
Edit the above spreadsheet and add a new row, adding yourself as the author, linking it to some website that details your build, and adding any relevant tags. It may take me a month or 2 to get around to copying them into the main thread here. But rest assured that this spreadsheet will outlive even wizards of the coast.
What are tags? Is this too cheesy?
Tags are a way to annotate builds that employ various combos that are commonly viewed as cheesy or requiring DM approval. This is targeted at lurkers that feel certain combos are too much, while still allowing builders the freedom to build against some interpretation of RAW (rules as written).
We usually stay away from RAIWTTB (rules as I want them to be), and gravitate to RAW, but sometimes the outcomes can get a bit silly.
When you make a build that uses combos that are commonly accepted as cheesy, or unearthed arcana that needs DM approval, just add the tag to your build, or put UA as a tag like this
Name: Fighty McFingers
Cleric 1/ Fighter 19
...
KPR: .22
Tags: UA, PAMWC
Where is a good place to start?
Start Simple
Start with a simple Warlock build that spams Eldritch Blast every round. We'll then add more complexity.
Warlock 3 with a 16 Charisma and Agonizing Blast.
To Hit: +2(prof) +3(cha) = +5 vs. 14 AC (see here for what AC to use for your level), meaning we need a 9 to hit, or 60% hit chance.
Damage: 1d10 + 3(cha) = 5.5+3 = 8.5
DPR: .6 * 8.5 = 5.1
KPR: 5.1(DPR) / 40 = 12% KPR
Step it up
Now to try to analyze a basic 1st level fighter.
Then we pull in Action Surge, which begs the question, how can a 1/short rest damage boost contribute to my at-will damage. This is where we pull in our first standard, Rounds per encounter. See this sheet for various standards I will use in this thread. If we assume this many rounds per encounter we can average our damage over the whole encounter.
Next is to attack with advantage. Attacking with advantage affects our hit chance, and crit chance. Instead of asking what are the chances of hitting with advantage, we ask a double negative: What are the chances of not (not hitting twice)? Not hitting is pretty simple, it is 1-hit chance. Let's say we had a 60% chance of hitting, meaning we have a 40% chance of missing. What is the chance you miss 2 times in a row? 40% * 40% = 16%. This means you have a 100% - 16% of hitting, or 84%. We could simply use this new hit chance in our DPR calculations.
However, attacking with advantage also means we have a much greater chance of critting. In 5e, due to the way that crit damage works we can simply multiply the chance of critting by the added damage from critting. Feel free to ask some math nerds, but it works out that way. Normally you only crit on a 20, meaning you have a 5% chance of critting, but with advantage it goes up. We use the same technique as above. What are the chances of not (not critting twice). Not critting is 95%. Not critting twice is 95% * 95% = 90.25%, meaning we have a 9.75% chance of critting. We multiply 9.75% * (normal damage), and we add this to our total DPR.
Next we try to calculate what a Battle Master would do with his Superiority Dice. A good tactic is to trip, and hit. But how often will I be able to trip the foe. I can't do it every round, for sometimes I want to use the dice for ripostes. This sheet shows what Kryx chose to optimize the fighter's DPR. Feel free to use these same numbers on how he spent his dice. If your build eeks out more damage, feel free to comment on his sheet, submit an alternative (if it gives more then 2% more KPR), or ignore it.
lastly we try our hand at the most complicated, the spell casters. You may think that casters are no good in dishing out single target damage, and they can't do it every round, but that's where 2 standards come into play: Encounters per day, and targets in area attacks. While it may seem unfair to magically add mooks under their fireball to inflate their damage, the caster is the one that wears down the mooks so you can Cleave your way through them. In the end of the day, XP is correlated to total monster HP, thus the more total damage you dish out, the faster you level. I for one welcome casters warming up the enemy on a silver platter.
See this sheet for examples of how a damage-focused wizard and sorcerer would plan out how to make their spells stretch. Now Imagine a Warlock 3/Sorcerer 17, and start planning out each encounter, where his bonus actions would go for quickening Darkness or Hex. Start making assumptions and post your build justifying your assumptions. Who knows, we may come with other standards that others can use or debate on. We may make polls and you can help with the statistics.
What are the Rules?
I use this sheet to base these rules on. Feel free to debate them here, or bring them up with Kryx. He and I are different people, so we end up with different standards due to different goals we have. But in the end, most of the time it won't matter that much. Other feats/class combos usually blow others out of the water.
These numbers are based on averages of observed Monsters from official material.
The following are based off the samesheet, but rounded. Many number are based on some discussion. I'm happy to continue those discussions here, or there. I figure they are a good start.
The day will be as follows:
Rounds per encounter: 5
Number of Rounds per Day: 20 (4 rounds per encounter if you like)
Opportunity Atk Chance: 10%
Polearm Opportunity Atk Chance: 15%
Cover: Assumes the enemy has half cover 30% of the time and 3/4 cover 10% of the time
Polearm Provoke(How often an enemy will provoke an OA for Polearm Master): 50%
Provoke Normal OA %(how often a normal opportunity attack will proc): 7.5%
Chance to Kill Multiplier: 80% (the chance that any given round you finish off your foe. Mostly needed for GWM)
Melee Concentration Duration(number of rounds that a concentration spell will last in melee): 2.94
Ranged Concentration Duration(same as above but for a ranged char): 3.78
Rogues may assume an ally for Sneak Attack. Combat advantage must be proven just like the rest of us.
If you are a spellcaster, please see the same sheet to calculate expected saving throws from monsters. You may need to go to the source material for non-standard stats(con, wis, dex) that you attack (mystic I'm looking at you).
Area Attacks
Level 3
Level 9
Level 15
Level 20
Glossary
PAM: Polearm Master(feat)
WC: Warcaster
PAMWC: Assuming you can cast a spell when a foe enters your reach with a glaive, halberd, or quarterstaff, with or without mike mearl's twitter answers.
GWM: Great Weapon Master(feat)
Sorcadin, Paladork, Sorlock...: Some combination of Sorcerer, Warlock, Paladin, and maybe a 1/2 orc.
EB: Eldritch Blast
AC: Armor Class (see rules above to see what AC you should be targeting)
AB: Attack Bonus
DPR: Damage Per Round (see above for description)
KPR: Kills Per Round(See above for description)
Gish: Warrior that uses magic to enhance combat ability multiclassing 0-20 levels of caster
SA: Sneak Attack (rogue class feature)
FAQ
Booming Blade, Do I get the secondary damage too?
If you can ensure the target can't reach you, then you may assume the secondary damage takes place.
Nova Builds
Rules
You have 2 rounds with just you an a block of tofu with appropriate AC for his level. He is at whatever distance you like, with an ally in melee combat, who doesn't care if he is in the blast radius. He knows you'll try. The whole day has been leading up to this one battle, and you're fresh out of bed.
If you are an assassin, or otherwise need it, assume you got surprise, and I'll tag your build accordingly.
Level 3
None Yet
Level 9
None Yet
Level 15
None Yet
Level 20
My favorite perma-banned build: Nuclear Druid
Twilight Druid 17/Arcana Cleric 1/Fighter 2
Cast Magic Missile as a 9th and add 8 Harvest Scythe dice for 11(1d4+1+8d10) for 522.5 avg damage.
Then Action Surge and cast MM as an 8th, adding 8 HS dice for 10(1d4+1+8d10) for 475 avg damage.
In total, 997.5 average damage in a round. Can be split to kill ~3.3 enemies in a round. No attack, no save.
Tags: UA, Nova
Cheese level: Bleu. Consider pairing with a dry Grave Cleric for an extra 522.5 avg damage.
Magic Missile rolls a single damage roll and applies that result to each missile (http://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/10/17/magic-missile-do-you-roll-the-same-d4-for-all-darts/). Harvest Scythe adds its damage to a damage roll. Is this stupid? Yes. Should anyone allow this in their game? No. RAW, this is how these features interact. If Twilight Druid ever gets published, looks at Lore Wizard's Alchemical Casting for an example of wording that cannot be abused with Magic Missile.
Nuclear druid. Ugh. It's based upon purposefully misinterpreting a poorly worded clarification.
Ok, so Sage Advice is not RAW, it's the opinion of the game designer, rather than what was published. Unfortunately Jeremy has (imho) misinterpreted his own rules on several clarifications to date and this is one of them (Goodberry for Life domain clerics is another). PH 196 clearly states that you should roll the dice once where damage is applied to multiple creatures. If you take the interpretation that he uses for this clarification, then a high level fireball wouldn't be 10d6 damage. It would be 1d6 damage multiplied by 10. We all know that's not how it works.
The build still does respectable burst of 11d4+11+8d10 for 82.5 average, then the 2nd spell for 10d4 + 10 + 8d10 for 79.
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
Magic Missile functions uniquely. I suspect it was intended to work as it does so that it could pair well with Evocation Wizard's Empowered Evocation (where it gets a good boost compared to other spells, but doesn't go overboard). Harvest Scythe didn't forsee the implications, but that's why we have UA disclaimers. Like I mentioned, I suspect WotC saw the unintended functionality and that helped determine the wording for Lore Wizard's Alchemical Casting. Unlike Harvest Scythe, Alchemical Casting is added after the MM damage roll, not multiplied within it, so the tumors are benign.
Magic missile strike simultaneously, is just one damage roll for all missiles. so if you aim in just one target with Harvest Scythe, would do 11d4+11+8d10. But looks like you could target 11 creatures for 1d4+1+8d10 each, that looks a nice use for Harvest Scythe.
Can be discussed if in cases like scorching ray or eldritch blast the damage bonus would be applied to each roll (if the trigger is one damage roll or the spell). Definetly Harvest Scythe could be clear.
So the tags line wouldn't include Nova, as it is implied with the build. The build would go into a separate section just for nova builds. They often do end up getting rediculous levels of damage. Perhaps prefacing saying this is a nova build, or something, but not necessary. In this case just UA would be the tag. While it is a bit cheesy, unless there are many builds that end up using magic missile in this way, or there seems to be a divide in the community on how to interpret the rules, I'd just end up leaving it out of the tags, or any cheese line.
Okay, here is a new idea Im working on, using the XGE rule on simultaneous effects. The super bubble mage.
You take 7 levels of sorcerer (to generate level 5 spell slots)
You take 3 levels of warlock (you will be adding those spell slots to your Pact Magic total, not the Spellcasting table and you need the Moon invocation to prevent long rest issues)
You take 9 levels of divination wizard (for portent and Wall of Force).
Use your last level for either sorc or warlock just for an ASI.
The combination: you generate effectively infinite 5th level pact magic slots using the coffee-lock model. You use those slots so that every other round you cycle the following combo:
Polymorph target into normal spider. Wall of Force (sphere version 1 inch diameter) around said spider. Breaks concentration on polymorph simultaneously, but its your turn, so you decide to have the wall appear first, then end the polymorph. Creature is condensed to a kids marble. The divination wizard gives you good odds of doing this at least once a day, otherwise you will need to factor in save reducing nonsense for the polymorph.
Note, for a purely 2 round infinite damage nova (without worrying about being able to do this infinite times), its just Wizard 9. I feel bad for the Gargantuan block of tofu.
Thoughts? comments?
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Tooltips (Help/aid)
I think we have a new king for Level 5. Druid 5, metamagic adept feat (reach spell). Conjure Animals: 8 giant owls at maximum height (40-120 feet in a column). Command all owls to fly upward as far as they can, then drop on target. Per Tasha's each owl will deal half its falling damage to whoever it lands on. Net result is half of 16d6+17d6+18d6+19d6+4X(20d6). Total average damage is 262.5. And 8 saves or be knocked prone, but presumably you kill anything you deal 262.5 damage to. This can also effect up to 4 targets at a time since owls are large (ie they land in 4 squares, not one).
Every 4 levels, your damage doubles (more or less) as your number of owls doubles. Though mileage here may vary because you can only stack 12 owls in a single vertical line - you can always drop them one at a time though, so i think you can have parallel vertical lines of 12 owls without any issue.