Dealing the MOST DAMAGE in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D 5e, Rules as Written, No Items, Fox Only)
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- Power building your Dungeons & Dragons character to deal the most damage is not a new idea. People have been doing it forever. But they've been doing it wrong, because there is one weird quirk of Rules as Written that pushes things further. Check it out, the Biggest Hit possible in D&D 5e.
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No wonder this build is completely overpowered! Not because of the damage it can do in a single turn, but because from the third level of battle master it gets CALLIGRAPHY PROFICIENCY, therefore giving it the powers of a GOD
Edit: spelling
This comment needs more thumbs up.
Have you watched Log Horizon? Cause it kinda feels like it.
The edit made this comment ten times better
Tulok is one of the few DnD UA-camrs I trust to actually understand the rules when they power build, even when he's just being silly about it.
Well unfortunately he's completely wrong about path to the grave, giving vulnerability to a creature doesn't override their resistance and immunity, the dmg has the order that they get applied for damage calculation
@@onappap At about 0:45 he says he's reading them RAW, not RAI. Unless it's actually specified somewhere in the rules, his interpretation there is perfectly valid (and in my opinion cleaner than the solution Jeremy Crawford rules. Maybe less balanced, but design-wise it's cleaner and probably more fun to play.)
@@MrAwesomeTheAwesome I’m aware but it’s not RAW go read the resistance and vulnerability section of xanathar’s guide which is the same book that the feature in question came from it specifically explains that vulnerabilities don’t override resistance or immunity
@@onappap Apparently it's also in the PHB. I didn't know that. Fair enough. For once the rules aren't half-baked. Wish they could do something about making the stealth rules better elucidated, rather than making us staple together a bunch of inferences based on feats like Skulker and whatnot.
@@MrAwesomeTheAwesome totally agree
This build originated from a sniper who was both surrounded and out of ammo, but he was not out of options.
"Well, I can still smack you around with this" Denzel Crocker.
Even if you only deal average damage, it’s still 354 which is a crazy bonkers number.
If you can hit with your -10 and how much setup time it would take, sure.
The setup is just hold monster, and the attak is made by slamming someone with a crossbow xD
Which is hilarious
You'd have advantage on the attack and still a positive attack modifier overall
I mean you can build 1k dmg lol
I actually like the idea of negative 10 to hit for 20 damage
But my War domain Cleric/Valour Bard uses war gods blessing to negate the -10 penalty anyways!
@@deancarruthers444 No, you’re also taking -10 to hit to do 20 damage, that’s how you win dnd
Fun fact, the only thrown weapon you can use sharpshooter on is the Dart, because it's the only weapon with both the Thrown and Ranged weapon tags. Aside from nets, which dont do damage and are typically useless unless hunting boars
Secondary fun fact: extra damage from a weapon attack doesn't actually require the attack itself to do damage. A goblin rogue-battlemaster could in theory add sneak attack, a maneuver and fury of the small on a net attack! Why? Because RAW can be very, very weird.
Sokka would like to know your location. You forgot boomerang.
@@alexgruel9932 The battle master is dubious, since you add the d8 to the "damage roll" rather than as additional damage like a sneak attack or fury of the small. Also, sharpshooter may or may not apply, depending on how you interpret "to the attack's damage". It does not specify a roll, but of course the sneak attack and fury of the small are additional damage, not the attack's damage which is still I guess 0.
@@alexgruel9932 IIRC one of those (I think fury of the small) does require you to do damage first, and i dunno, but I think "extra damage" or "additional damage" or whatever phrasing the rules use does kind of necessitate some initial damage.
@@pedrogarcia8706 "I think "extra damage" or "additional damage" or whatever phrasing the rules use does kind of necessitate some initial damage." I don't see why.
"Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage."
The damage from something like sneak attack, which uses the wording "extra damage" is extra to the effect of the weapon hitting. That effect is usually damage, but not always.
Because the heavy crossbow is a ranged weapon it can work with a Rogue's sneak attack, although multi classing minimums prevent it's inclusion in this build
It's Rogue. Like "roguish charm."
Rouge is red.
@@nucleargoofball8043 I get that wrong every time...
@@nucleargoofball8043 Red in french to be particular. Or at least that's where it probably came from when seen in other languages.
@@nucleargoofball8043Rogues paint the walls rouge.
"I don't usually use optimized builds, but when I do, I prefer gimmicky ones dripping with satire"
-Bazooka, the himbo-lock: the character inspired by this video
This entire video can be described as “hold up, let him cook”
Personally, I like to optimize for the only feature that really matters: Derailing the narrative… I mean persuasion.
Hexblade/Samurai/Eloquence Bard with maxed out Wis/Chr. You can’t roll lower than a 10 because Eloquence. You add your Wisdom modifier because Samurai. You’re proficient in both Persuasion/Deception because we took that invocation. You have expertise in both because Bard. You’re guaranteed a 27. You can turn a cleric into an atheist
Edit:32
One of my funniest short campaigns was when I decided to play a Warlock who couldn't speak that got a sprite familiar to speak through. He was a pretty strong character cuz hexblade is good, but it didn't take long for everyone to figure out I was playing Link from the Legend of Zelda.
Now we just need Pack Tactics to put out a video about how to roleplay interesting characters and come up with fun backstories, and our journey to the Bizarro Universe will be complete!
I love the breakdown of different attacks. I had a player use a bathrobe to towel-whip a mind witness. He was a paladin and, since it was an improvised weapon, I allowed him to use smite with his attack. Of course, he critted and obliterated the mind witness with a freaking bathrobe!
Wanna see me obliterate someone with a bathrobe?
Wanna see me do it again with the BBEG?
He used 3 different classes to make the best archer possible, and not once was ranger mentioned.
Well the original Ranger, Aragorn from lord of the rings, the actual inspiration for the Class, mostly fought with a sword (though he did occasionally use a bow)
What's hilarious is i made a build for the highest potential Persuasion roll that i could think of, and it used the same 4 classes. Reborn as race, 10 Battle Master Fighter, 6 Fiend Warlock, 3 Redemption Paladin, 1 Peace Cleric. Lets say all dice rolled as high as possible. 20 + 12 (Expertise from Skill Expert) + 10 (Fighter Commanding Presence Maneuver) + 10 (Dark One's Own Luck) + 6 (Reborn Knowledge from a Past Life) + 5 (Redemption Channel Divinity) + 5 (Ability score at lvl 20) + 4 (Guidance from Cleric) + 4 (Cleric Emboldening Bond) = 76 for Persuasion AND if that fails, + 4 (Warlock Pact of the Amulet) for a grand total of 80!
I made a similar build once, but I used Samurai Fighter 7/Fey Wanderer Ranger 3, because they both let you add your wisdom modifier to your Persuasion checks. Fey wanderer adds Wisdom to all Charisma checks, and Samurai adds Wisdom modifier to just Persuasion, hence they are not the same ability and should thus stack. With Superior Technique fighting style, you can still pick Commanding Presence, albeit only a 1d6 bonus, which is offset by the flat +10 bonus you get instead. With 20 Wisdom and Charisma, you'd have a base Persuasion modifier of +27, thanks to this and the skill expertise Ranger gets from Deft Explorer. That's a +10 flat bonus, plus an extra 1d6 once per rest meaning a base of 82, or 86 on a failure.
Problem is, you get a mess of a character build unless you have some really good rolls, you'll need have 20 Wis and Cha, but also need at least 13 Str & Dex. Picking up Shillelagh from the Druidic Warrior fighting style is recommended since this allows you to still do some martial stuff if diplomacy fails. Although, with a Persuasion this high, you might as well be able to politely ask any and all foe to kindly back off and never enter a fight. Pretty fun character idea, though.
@@samvanderstaak7296 Fantastic build!! I didn't know Samurai got that ability... well, time to do a deep dive into the books again to see if we can improve further!
Who else wants to see Tulok adapt the show-stealing canine from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish?
I can’t wait to see what he does with Perrito.
Bard, obviously
Do you mean that metaphorically, rhetorically, theoretically, poetically, or in any other fancy way?
*Who is your favorite fearless herooo*
@@grandarkfang_1482 I suppose Tulok could adapt Death too.
@@LocalMaple Death is Definitely the one I want to see...
I totally lost it when I realized all the damage would be dealt by THROWING A CROSSBOW! 🤣
Absolutely amazing.
nah, hitting with a crossbow in melee, not throwing it
And it has divine smite, so at least one god looked at this man about to fling a crossbow at some poor tarrasque and said: you know what, he looks like he looks like a completely pure hearted and worthy man, I’m gonna give him some help
So, are you thinking of optimizing a character for the biggest heal, or most heals in one turn in order to heal the whole party as much or as quickly as possible?
Heals are suboptimal. The best heal is massive damage because if you kill an enemy, that's the same as healing for all the damage they would have done if you hadn't killed them.
@@Anergyne You know, you have a VERY valid point, assuming you have initiative or aren’t ambushed. BUT…what if the boss has first initiative, and has a high damage build? (Something like this build) Is healing still suboptimal/pointless?
@@DMJDizzi Healing is valuable, definitely, but the issue is even a first level healing word will get someone back in the fight and let them act at full capacity. It's often most efficient to just mash healing word when someone drops to 0, rather than fill them back up. In the actual fight at least, between combats it matters more. Divine souls sorcs are pretty good at that, being able to generate spell slots out of thin air and twinning the cast to get 2 people back up.
Great video and thanks for the build, I had to stop a 10:05 but I got all the important stuff! Gonna show this to my friends and get them to play the support roles for optimal damage output in our gm's political campaign!
According to Jeremy Crawford, weapons like the heavy crossbow don't use traits (unless your DM says otherwise) when being used as an improvised weapon, so when used as club it wouldn't be able to apply SS or GWM because it is neither a ranged weapon nor does it have the heavy trait at that point.
While this is true and is definitely the sane ruling, what Jeremy Crawford says isn't RAW.
@@sofer2230 Absolutely, just wanted to point it out in case DMs wanted a ruling on this. I personally think SS + GWM on one attack is functionally silly, but if a heavy crossbow is heavy, I think it's silly for it to briefly no longer be heavy if you swing it like a weapon. For what it's worth, the build only loses about 20 to 40 damage after vulnerability and if you replace the heavy crossbow with just an ordinary greatsword and GWM, you're now dealing a max of 12 + 10 instead of 4 + 10 + 10 (2 less weapon damage). Also, you aren't getting the Archery fighting style, but you're also only reducing accuracy by -5 and not -10, so that doesn't matter much. After crit and vulnerability your max damage goes down by 8, and your average damage only goes down by 5.5 (17 vs 22.5). It's negligible to make this build without Tavern Brawler but still requires a minimum of level 11 Hexblade warlock minimum, 2 grave cleric, 3 battlemaster fighter, and 2 paladin since you need 3 pact slots (hold monster, eldritch smite and divine smite).
This is really a DM's discretion type of build, in my opinion.
This whole video, I feel, is a monument to how Jeremy Crawford needs to get better at writing the rules for the game he writes the rules for.
this is correct, when you use an improvised weapon, it is a weapon that deals 1d4 damage with no traits, unless your DM rules it is similar to another weapon, such as a club. When you use a heavy crossbow to make a melee attack, it is no longer a heavy crossbow but, at most, a club, making it not a ranged weapon. The rules are clear once you understand them, people just assume that being an improvised weapon isn't changing the weapon mechanics itself, only the damage, but "improvised weapon" is basically an extra entry on the weapons table.
"heavy" weapon trait is not about weight. An oversized scimitar is heavier than a greatsword, but does not have the heavy trait. Do not make the mistake of assuming mechanics from feature names. The "heavy" trait could be called glipglop and absolutely nothing would change.
*_NOW THAT'S A LOTTA DAMAGE!!!_*
_actually watches the video now_
6:59 Path to the Grave does not remove immunity or resistance to damage. It does matter if they are resistant or immune. Sentence from XGE "The next time you or an ally of yours hits the cursed creature with an attack, the creature has vulnerability to all of that attack's damage, and then the curse ends." Other than that great vid!
Ok I’m DEFINITELY playing a character that beats people to death with the blunt end of a heavy crossbow in my next one shot
Bugbear Assassin Rogue 17/Grave Cleric 2/Fighter 1. Get the Sharpshooter, Gunner, Piercer and Fey Touched (for Hunter's Mark) feats, and a single regular ASI should get your Dex up to 20 even if using point buy. Make sure you are hidden from your target before entering combat. Use Path to the Grave, Hunter's Mark as a bonus action, and attack with a musket during your suprise round, guaranteed advantage since the enemy hasn't acted yet and automatic crit if they're surprised, so 9d6 sneak attack, plus the 2d6 from Bugbear's trait, plus 1d6 from Hunter's Mark, plus 1d6 from your maneuver (Trip attack or Menacing attack, doesn't matter as long as you can add the die to the damage roll and it can be used at range), on top of the 1d12+15 from the musket with sharpshooter, all doubled since it crits, doubled again if the target fails a DC 19 Constitution save due to the Assassin's Death Strike ability, and doubled again from Path to the Grave.
Oh and I almost forgot the extra 1d12 from Piercer (which only gets quadrupled, not octupled).
This all equates to 3d12 + 4d6 + 18d6 + 2d6 + 2d6 + 15 = 207 , x 2 = 414 x 2 again = 828 damage with max rolls. Which is enough to instakill a Tarrasque...if it magically used up all its legendary resistances before combat, somehow. Yeah that is the main problem here, it can't instakill a lot of high HP monsters because the big bois all have Legendary resistance. Still halves their HP tho.
And imagine this with the Topaz Annihalator or even a modern or futuristic firearm from the DMG if your DM allows it.
Great video! Dnd optimization is a lot of fun, but in the name of big numbers I do have a few notes on how to get that 570 a good chunk higher.
Using a heavy crossbow as an improvised melee weapon for double plus 10's from sharpshooter and GWM is cool, but for the sake of the calculation you do at the end, suboptimal. This is because the crossbow uses a d4 damage die. A melee weapon with a d12 damage die would only do an average of 4 more damage than a d4, but since you assume maximum rolls it's actually 8 more damage. Factor in the fact that all die damage is doubled from your critical hit and the d12 does 16 more damage than a d4. This means that switching to a d12 (or a d10 for that mater) over a d4 is worthwhile. Even if we lose sharpshooter it will still do an extra 6 damage. (Or 12 once the grave cleric vulnerability applies)
It also means we no longer have to take the sharpshooter or tavern brawler feats. If we use a Lance as our d12 melee weapon, we can take the piercer feat instead of sharpshooter. Adding a third d12 on a crit nets us an extra 24 damage, putting the Lance at 36 points more than the crossbow.
But thats not all, because we don't need tavern brawler we don't need to be custom lineage. Instead the aasimar from volo's guide to monsters will let us add our level in damage to one attack each round while our racial ability is active, at level 20 with vulnerability this means another 40 damage on our big attack.
So anyways, I was able to squeeze out an extra 76 damage for this build. If anyone else has anything they can add I would love to hear it!
Edit:
I forgot that a Lance doesn't have the heavy property, meaning it doesn't work with GWM. Numbers-wise the best thing to do here is use a pike. A d10 piercing melee weapon that has the heavy property. Meaning our extra damage is actually 64 instead of 76.
He has evolved into Tulok the Mathematician!!
I wonder how this build fares up against Brennan's Harringon sorceror rogue paladin
My only problem with this build is that bit about Vulnerability against Resistance/Immunity.
They apply at the same time and the Grave Cleric does not state it removes resistance/immunity so the creature still keeps said resistance/immunity. So you can hit an angel with radiant damage but it'll get doubled then set to 0 because of immunity. At least, that's as far as I remember from the rules.
Yeah the books states an order of application.
@@The_Crimson_Witch The order of application states that you deal with numerical modifiers (like +5) first, and then you apply resistant or vulnerability. There is no mention in the PHB of what happens if a creature has vulnerability and resistance to the same type of damage. With that said, there's no reason to assume immunity to damage would be counteracted by vulnerability, since it is not even mentioned in the same chapter.
@@jamesbedwell8793 "Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage."
So what happens would be you'd half the damage then double it again.
As for immunity and vulnerability, I don't see why there's any room for doubt. Regardless of which order you apply it, if you apply vulnerability first the damage is doubled then reducef to 0, if you apply immunity first then double 0 is 0.
prediction, 2 levels fighter (action surge), 4 levels cleric(grave: path to the grave CD + higher level spell slots), 13 levels paladin(divine smite + 4th level Staggering Smite), 1 level warlock(hexblade+booming blade)
edit: 2 levels in and I'm Instantly wrong!! :D you always surprise me tulok, you sly fox you. keep up the great builds!!
You said this was only about good math and not good characters but a warlock fighter who runs out of bolts after their patron refuses to help sounds like just the perfect moment to find out if their crossbow really slaps.
These new videos are really fun. The exploit with the improvised crossbow is bonkers and hilarious. Totally caught me off guard
I found that GWM and sharpshooter combo literally just last week. I didn't see it get talked about hardly anywhere.
This is a common incorrect ruling, but you actually can use divine smites on your fists
Divine Smite specifies hitting a creature with a melee weapon attack, not an attack with a melee weapon. Your fists are natural weapons and as such they count as melee weapon attacks when you hit with them, much like a dragons bite and claws both count as melee weapon attacks.
So, Divine Smite punch actually does work RAW
Edit: Also, resistance and vulnerability stack, and vulnerability doesn't do anything to creatures with damage immunity.
I've tried convincing DMs or people online that a character (like a monk for example but doesn't have to be a monk) can divine smite with fists for reasons along the lines of what you just said but to no avail.
Monks get a specific feature allowing them to treat their unarmed attacks as weapon attacks, don't they? Or am I remembering wording from 4e for that...
@@cad97 you're remembering wrong
There is one note to be had about the vulnerability from grave cleric, though. RAW, it's not ADDING Vulnerability, thus stacking with resistance or immunity... it says "the creature has vulnerability to all of that attack’s damage". If it were to say gains vulnerability, it'd be a problem, but this is a replacement effect that changes their entire damage. However, the sage advice from Crawford (RAI) does say it does not remove resistance or immunity. Technically, you can argue the RAW should still be this way, as they did remove text explicitly stating removal of current damage set from it's UA counterpart, but it still isn't written correctly to keep them, either... On an interesting note about that, however, the original version in the UA also said "The vulnerability applies only to the first time that source inflicts damage, and then ends" And the current version does not... So that could now definitely be abused, depending on the situation.
I'm afraid fists are not considered Natrual Weapons RAW. They are only Natural Weapons if part of a monster statblock, or are specifically called out as such, ie Tabaxi claws and Lizardfolk fangs. Unarmed Strikes are Melee Weapon Attacks because there are only 2 broad categories of attacks, Weapon and Spell, and as much as we all love to cast Fist, punching isn't a Spell. It may be more intuitively called Spell and Physical attacks, or Mundane, or something aside from Weapon.
And while yes, you can technically use a Spell Slot to Divine Smite on any Melee Weapon Attack, the rules are intentionally written so that they add damage to a weapon. If there is no weapon, then you used a Spell Slot and got no additional damage. This is confirmed RAI because of the fantasy of a Paladin smiting evil *with their sword/weapon,* and was not in any way a balance decision, and houseruling it to work with fists would be perfectly fine from a balance perspective.
*Me playing a Bladesinger 6/Fighter 2 that can hit 3 times with a shadowblade and 2 times with GFB/BB in a single round:* I feel attacked.
No, you're the one doing the attacking! Embrace the feeling of numbers rising to unreasonable heights!
Now you must take a level in Hexblade, concentrate on Spirit Shroud, and use Hexblade's Curse + Action Surge + Scorching Ray x2 for the not-quite-point-blank lazor beam death barrage.
At level 20, with Foresight and a lot of upcasting, that build can actually do more damage than the one in this video. It takes more turns to set up though.
@@lucario5748
The problem with taking a dip into Hexblade is I don't have the Cha score to do it hahahah I have the potential to pump my Int to 22 tho since we found a Tome of Clear Thought.
Simply fight a Tarasque whilst playing a level 20 open hand monk- OH GOD THE SUBOPTIMAL POLICE ARE AFTER ME FOR SAYING MONK
I wish monk wasn’t as weak as it is and everyone would stop bashing it. It’s not fair that a lot of other classes and builds could basically do monk better than monk itself. I mean the only thing that really beats it out is the fact of having to rely on magic and magic items for most others unlike monk who really only has to rely on certain magic items to help some qualities, everything else is also ASI and feat dependent. I would make my own version of the monk class that uses a lot of qualities that I have seen D&D experts do in their “Fixing monk” vids while also making some adjustments to Way of sun soul specifically so it can be better and not shit but I can only do the way of Sun soul change in D&D beyond, and even that won’t be able to fix the monk itself if I am unable to fix the monk class itself
.... its like Darth Vader force choking someone to keep them in place and then blasting them with a Kamehameha.
Idk, tbf the way I read it xbow becomes an improvised melee weapon, and I'm almost sure JC kinda confirmed it in a tweet
The description of booming blade specifically says that you have to use a melee weapon.
Jeremy Crawford also said that Natural weapons can be paired with something like booming blade. That was his ruling of it and it makes sense since it’s still a weapon you are using
I never realize that the optimal way of using a Heavy Crossbow was to bash with it...Thanks, Tulok!🤯
“Battle Master is the only martial archetype that matters”
*sweats in Eldritch Knight*
I love this so much, for all the 'punching isn't a weapon attack' DMs...
Not sure but I think Tulok might need to take a Big Long Mulligan on this one.
my first character was a hexblade paladin because i thought it sounded cool.
the dm also gave me illusionist's bracers. and a vorpal longsword.
i still wonder wtf he was thinking to this day
d4 can eat his heart out
So- to hit us +CHA+2-10. Ultimately, -3 to hit. It’d be explosive if you get it off, but it’s going to be hard against high AC monsters.
Wouldn't it be 5 (CHA) + 6 (prof) + 1 (improved pact weapon) - 10 (GWM & SS)?
@@raxenladevaldak1749 this is true. My b. +2 is from archery, though, so that stays as well.
5(CHA)+6(Prof)+2(Archery)+1(IPW)-10(GWM/SS)
14-10
+4 total.
Okay, still positive, but you may still have a rough time on higher ACs.
Sharpshooter and GWM wouldn't mix because to use GWM with the ammunition property the weapon changes from a ranged weapon to a improvised weapon, for purposes of that attack, thus excluding it from sharpshooter, not becoming both a Ranged and improvised weapon.
I'm currently playing with this kinda build.
GWM+TAVERN+LONGBOW
ngl I'd play this character *solely* because smacking people with the broad side of a crossbow as your main method of attack sounds absolutely hilarious, and a DM who's never seen this video before would never see the damage potential coming until it's too late
Most dpr in one round build, 11 fighter echo knight, 3 paladin conquest, 1 hexblade, 3 gloomstaller ranger, 3 barbarian zealot
*sees Rem body pillow*
Rem build when?
If tulok wasn't good enough, now that I see he used a Rem pillow for his video I'm convinced of his greatness
Have you considered prismatic wall in sphere form above a group of helpless chaps that are about to learn about reverse gravity and no action drop concentration?
I love this idea, unfortunately when you start using the crossbow as an improvised weapon it stops being a ranged weapon, and depending on how your dm rules it, a melee weapon as well. Also now I want to play a grave cleric because that just sounds cool.
I had no idea where this was going when we started but I'm glad I stuck around for the wild ride, this is awesome
I have never been threatened to "Not have my bottom smacked" and i liked it.
Love this is absolutely a great build with exactly the craziest damage you can find.
Assassin 5 for sneak attack and autocrits. Paly 2 for smite and searing smite, Warlock 5 for eldritch smite, Grave Cleric 4, Sorc 4. Pre combat, L5 searing smite (subtle spell to not prompt combat early). On a surprise round, path to the grave, quickened booming blade 1d8 Rapier +3d8 booming blade, 5d6 from searing smite, 5d8 from Divine smite (4th level slot), 4d8 Eldritch Smite, 3d6 sneak attack, all doubled twice. Average damage 356, max rolls, 618
5:46 I love the righteous indignation in Tulok's eyes as he explains that you can use both GWM and SS in the same attack with enough buffoonery.
Was that a dark cloud reference at 3:46? The style was so similar to how the fairy king gave his tutorials, even down to the little 2 frame angling animations
This video prices that it is time for the ultimate build. You've built for extreme damage, but that's clearly only the second best. Now it's time to build a god: a writer who is a master of both calligraphy and the decimation of their foes
So here is the thing, if you take the Superior Technique fighting style instead of Archery and the PSI Warrior subclass instead of Battle Master you can deal even more damage (2d6 instead of 1d8)
What you can also do is instead of maxing out Charisma you could start as an Aasimar adding +20 to all attacks by level 20 which is 18 more than what the final ASI would give
This would increase the damage to 622
if you want to do the most possible damage in one turn with a combo that might actually work do an 18th level divine soul sorcerer with 2 levels in fighter. The only thing you need to do is make sure you take 2 levels in fighter first before you take your sorcerer levels. Once you reach level 3 sorcerer pick up scorching ray and when you hit level 5 sorcerer pick up Spirit Shroud. For the combo to work even better I would highly advise you be a variant human and with the extra feat pick up eldritch blast with magic initiate from warlock. The 1st level spell you pick doesn't matter but Hex, Shield, and Armor of Agathys are all good choices. Personally I prefer Hex since it gives you extra damage in the early levels. This combo does take 2 turns to pull off since you can't cast spirit shroud and your combo in the same turn. In the first turn cast spirit shroud (do this at the highest odd level spell slot you can cast it at) and get ready to get into position. You can do whatever you want with your action. On the second turn get exactly 10 feet away from your target to make sure you aren't within 5 feet for disadvantage on a ranged attack and not farther then 10 feet because then spirit shroud wont buff your attacks. Then on the turn you go off you cast scorching ray at the highest level possible action surge and then do it again. (this doesn't break the rule for casting 2 leveled spells in a turn since you are using 2 actions not an action and a bonus action. Also yes this is the way it is intended to be.) Then you quicken cast eldritch blast on your target as well. This combo is great because it works at every level past 7 and scales multiplicatively with spell slots so the combo will only get more effective the higher level spell slots you have. For example at 7th level this combo on average does (assuming you hit with all the rays) about 100 points of damage (If you can use your sorcery points to get a third level 3 spell slot it would be more. However, I am not sure about the rules for having more spell slots of a level then you start with. For now I am going to assume you can't.) At 20th level this combo does 519 points of damage on average using your highest level spell slots. The max damage at level 20 would be 916 points of damage (all the damage calculations including the max given assume they are regular hits and not crits).
I should say that Tulock is wrong about how grave cleric works.
It does matter if they have resistance or immunity because vulnerability doesn't override that.
If you have both vulnerability and resistance (somehow), you take half the damage you normally would, and then that damage gets doubled. So if I would take 10, I instead take... 10. This interaction only really matters on odd numbers, as I can't recall whether you apply resistance or vulnerability first, but if it is resistance first you'd take 1 point less because you'd half the damage, then round down, then double it.
If you have immunity, it doesn't matter how much damage you would normally take or what the order of operations is. For example: a red dragon deals 90 points of fire damage to me, and the grave cleric used path of the grave on me.
But uh oh! I'm a pit fiend with immunity to fire damage. This means either A) The damage gets doubled to 180, then negated to 0.
Or
B) The damage gets negated to 0, then doubled to... 0.
A few weeks ago. On my hexblade. Managed to do a banishing/eldritch smite crit combo for 167 damage with one hit. Just blew a hole in the purple worm we were fighting.
I'm at work, and I just watched this. Laughed my ass off so loud the whole building could hear it (its big and echoy anyway) and wanted to applaud it. Great damn video
This feels like that video of someone just stuffing every shape of block into the square hole. It's by no means what the creators intended but still perfectly allowed within the rules they set out
I swear there's gotta be SOMETHING in the rules that clarifies that improvised weapons are melee weapons. How is that not a thing
There are. Improvised weapons do not carry any special property tags (such as ranged, heavy, special, etc...) making them melee by default. Also, if the weapon sufficiently resembles and/or can be used as an existing weapon mechanically, then it takes on the stats of that weapon. So using a heavy crossbow in the proposed matter makes it just an improvised melee weapon without any special properties OR a club, which both have the exact same mechanical applications.
@@nickbohannon2184 Correct except that the same rule leaves this up to the DM, so a DM could allow what's in this video to happen. As much as I'd want to reward theory crafting and allow it, I don't think I would as a DM since it makes no physical sense, but some DM's might. It is sort of how a player doesn't get to choose which creatures are summoned by some spells but the DM still can so unless you have a jerk as DM they will usually just choose what you wanted and then ask you later to stop summoning a bunch of pixies etc.
@@Tletna I mean, not really. A heavy crossbow used as a heavy crossbow is a heavy crossbow. A heavy crossbow used as an improvised melee weapon automatically negates it being classified as a heavy crossbow and moves it into improvised weapon rules. In that moment of an improvised melee attack, it is a 1d4+ strength improvised weapon with no other properties that you likely aren't proficient in. If you are to rule it as a heavy crossbow, then you can no longer make a melee attack with it since a heavy crossbow has the ranged property.
Aside from the blatant obvious rules regarding improvised weapons and improvised weapon attacks, all the other rules pertaining to weapon attacks and their properties, as well as the wording of the feats, all state pretty clearly this interaction does not work RAW. If a DM allows it, it is purely because they are bending the rules for it to work.
This build is hilarious, janky, and freaking beautiful all at once. 🤣🤣🤣
Whacking someone with a heavy crossbow sounds painful, especially if you stack all the smites in the cosmos on top.
Came across this damage while making a speedster. 17 levels Wizard/Clockwork Sorcerer for longstrider and ashardalon's stride. Mobile feat, wood elf or satyr. 3 levels scout rogue for a cheeky 52.5 feet movement as a reaction (while still dealing damage). 105 feet of movement, action and bonus action dash, you are traveling 315 feet, effectively creating two 315 foot lines, which according to dmg will hit 1 creature every 30 ft (even though with this you can curve the line to hit more). That means we hit on average 10.5 people x2, 21 people per turn. Since we upcast AS, we deal 7d6 fire (or other type with the transmuted spell metamagic) to each target, no save so no damage mitigation, with an average of 25 damage. Thus on average you can deal 515 damage. You are by no means guaranteed to fight 21 creatures, so this damage is really much lower.
If you want more speed, you can drop 2 levels of wizard for 2 levels of monk to increase your movement to 110 ft.
Further optimization if your dm allows UA, ardling dasher instead of wood elf. Reduces your base speed to 100 ft, but up your double dash speed to 420 feet.
Beautiful single target build Tulok
The most amount of damage you can do on one turn is a a prismatic wall vibration.
If you are 17 wizard, 2 fighter you cast prismatic wall them telekensis. Which can move someone at 1 inch intervals 30 feet in and out 180 times.
9000d6 total (save or half)
Booming blade spell uses a "melee weapon worth at least 1 sp" as a component. Which does not apply to heavy crossbow.
Wizards with meteor swarm:
Rookie numbers
5:05 or a paladin grabbing a vampire to use it as a improvised club to smite another vampire
Also valid
If ya doing team, put path to the grave on someone else, take most levels in assassin rogue with 3 levels on hexblade warlock and go way over 1140 damage.
You loose on the gwm and ss damage and downgrade a bunch of d8s to d6s but then you add a cantrip (such as booming blade or gfb and then double all the damage again (so x4 instead of x2) which makes up for the difference
Also if we are doing raw, have someone else also cast max level shadow blade or the other 9th level one and "lend it to you". Since it is not being thrown you can use it without it going back to its owner. Also let someone else do the hold person (or if you and the cleric go first, and surprise the target, take advantage of the assassinate feature. Along the way ya can pick the feat that gives you battle master manuvers and ya can skip on the fighter levels to bet everything on a single hit
I can't imagine that police take up any more than 40 percent of the cities budget everyone who reads this should Google 40% of police for more information about cops and what they do
This is one of the most complicated bills I have ever seen
7:46 don't threaten me with a good ti- oh... 👉👈
Yessss, Grave Domain Cleric showing up, I love that subclass and that wild ability.
A truly optimal video.
Hexblade Warlock 6, Echo Knight 3, Gloom Stalker 3, Paladin 2, DS Sorcerer 6 is also pretty good.
only character you should ever play???
bladesinger 15, hexblade 3, fighter 2 (remove 1 bladesinger for blood domain cleric if u allow it) with the crossbow expert feat, metamagic adept feat (quickened spell) and 20 in cha, next up bump int as much as u can
have your party tank whatever you want to fight so you can set up:
Hexblade's curse
7th level spirit shroud
ask a party member to hold person / monster if you're insecure
after which you can:
Eldritch Blast + 2 handed longsword weapon attack (Action)
Eldritch Blast + 2 handed longsword weapon attack (action surge)
quickened 8th level scorching ray (bonus action)
for a total of 19 attacks which all have a bonus of 3d8+6 (more if you used blood domain cleric)
damage would be something like...
10d10 + 18d6 + 50 from the attacks (more if blood domain)
57d8 + 114 from spirit shroud and hexblade's curse. (more if pre hotfix blood domain)
double dice if u were insecure and had a party member hold person/monster
for a total of a lot of damage
I did a similar thing some years ago, and then again when Monster of Multiverse came out (RIP +20 on damage aasimar ._. ).
Bugbear (+2 on Cha, +1 on Str)
Make sure you have 13 on STR, INT and WIS for multiclass. Any stat other than CHA barely matters.
For levels, as long as you get hexblade as soon as possible, any order is fine (although getting diviner before lv5 is good too)
Battlemaster Fighter 4 (start as Fighter or Paladin if you want heavy armor prof, but jump to warlock as soon as possible)
Hexblade 5
Whisper Bard 5
Paladin 2
Grave Cleric 2
Divination Wiz 2
For feats, get GWM, Piercer, and Alert.
Instead of looking for a Hold Person angle, wait for a day in which you roll a 20 and another high number on you diviner. You might think it isn't that reliable, but the same can be said about Hold Person.
On initiative, use the high diviner die + Alert to make sure you go first (you may even have some Dex depending on how you arranged the stats).
As an action, use your grave cleric power on the target.
As a bonus, cast Branding Smite.
Action surge into Booming Blade.
Use your pre-rolled 20 for a crit.
Add a fighter maneuver, any that deals damage.
For weapon, use a Pike, that is both Heavy, and deal piercing damage, thus, getting the Piercer feat crit special.
You acted first in combat, so your Bugbear sneak attack also triggers.
You have
26d8 + 20d6 + 3d10 + 10 + 4, all times 2, for a total of 744 maximum damage (the average would be 372, and the minimum assuming you roll 1 on everything is 66).
You can take the Alert feat away for an extra d8 of damage (that would crit and then doubled) for an extra 16 average damage, but that would make really hard for you to go first, and given your hitpoints and overall AC/Saves, you want to go first, blow a moon sized hole on the highest treat on your melee range, and hope your party deal with the rest, cuz you can do that only once a day.
If anyone is interested (*wink* Tulok *wink*) , I also have a variant of that build, that would deal way less total damage on the burst round (bit less than 400 total, 200 average), but could do that twice, and dish a minimum of 50 damage before any dice roll, every turn, for the entire combat, more than once a day. Pretty fun concepts.
How do you arrive at 26d8 + 20d6 + 3d10 + 10 + 4 ?
@@hendric-juliuslange5446
bugbear = 2d6
eldritch smite = 4d8
psychic blades = 3d6
divine smite = 5d8
branding smite = 5d6
booming blade = 3d8
pike = 1d10
fighter maneuver = 1d8
a CRIT (that you guarantee with diviner) DOUBLES all those die (and add a third d10 on the pike)
Great Weapon Master = 10
CHA = 4
I'm pretty sure I have a better version of that build lost somewhere on my folder (writing this answer made me realise I could easily fit a bit more damage into that, so I probably had the same thought before), but this one is still pretty funny!
@@eduardopereiradossantosmel7403 Thank you. Appreciated! I am still new to DnD, so things need to be named or I am losed. I go though different builds on the net to get a hang of it.
@@hendric-juliuslange5446 no worries, this is an unnecessary complicated build anyways.
Piece of advice; If you're new, don't try to copy those over the top builds right from the start. They're more of a mental exercise on what the system support, than actual fun to play builds. Best you can do is look for what you want your character to do. If the character can do it ok on an average basis, then it is a good build.
This was really great. I dont know what else to say, but heres a comment to boost the algorithm
It seems arguable whether you could still consider the heavy crossbow a ranged weapon when smacking someone with it. After all, the only reason you can use it like that is because you have proficiency in improvised weapons. That implies that it is an improvised weapon in this context.
Not to spoil the fun but great weapon master actually states Before you make a ((melee)) attack with a heavy weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage. So dose not completely work.
I clicked on this video just to see if hexblade warlock had any part in the 500+ damage that was purported and was vindicated in the first 2 minutes! LOL!
THOSE GOSH DARN OVERFUNDED BODIES OF AUTHORITY! Run!
You have to use a melee weapon for booming blade
Could you call a party of adventurers? Sure, or you could call this one guy and your problem is gone.
I love the smash reference in the title :)
Dude i came up the heavy crossbow sharpshooter+gwm combo AGES ago but morons on reddit said it couldnt be done by raw. Shows what they knew
So RAW it wriggles it's way into nasty damage.
Imagine slapping Tiamat with a crossbow and she just explodes
Pro tip: as a warlock you can take polymorph and transform any non-bipedal creature into a creature of equal CR or level such as an elf, human, or vampire. Did he fail one wisdom save? Great! Now that pesky beholder is hold person sized and you get auto crit on him now in Drow form.
The last time I saw a hexadin deal more than 100 damage with a single critical smite, they felt so bad they decided to play a new character so the DM would have less of a headache.
Let us all come together and build the one optimization that Tulok cannot, the youtube algorythm optimization.
Step 1: Watch the video at its full lenght, no skipping anything.
Step 2: Leave a like. I already subscribed, so that's the equivalent of a wish spell scroll I'm not getting back, but it already contributed to it purpose so it's fine.
Step 3: Leave a decently sized comment.
I'm still working on steps 4 to 20, but I'll get there someday.
(Great video as always, thank you so much for all your work and inspiration, okay bye!)
This is a heck of a build
If you check DnD Beyond, it lists under Divine Smite "When you hit with a melee weapon attack" on my character sheet for my Paladin. So....if an unarmed strike counts as a melee weapon attack, I should be able to smite yeah? I mean, not that I would bother using unarmed strikes, but just like to learn new things.
This is the best video on the whole Internet
He's in the walls...HE'S IN THE GOD DAMN WAAAALLLLSS!!!