SRD Talk:Attack Damage

Dealing Damage

When you attack, land a hit, and deal your damage, you apply your attack bonus to damage correct? Say a character with a Greatsword deals damage and has a Attack Bonus of 9, is the damage 2d6+9 in all? --Penske 18:36, 25 January 2008 (MST)

Definitely not. If it is a melee attack you add your strength modifier for one-handed weapons, 1.5x your strength modifier for two-handed weapons, and half your strength modifier for off-hand weapons (two-weapon fightning). You also add in your weapon bonus (+1 sword gives +1 for example). Power attack is a great way to pump out damage for this reason (for meleers). --Aarnott 19:02, 25 January 2008 (MST)

Okay, thank you. I was curious because our groups' DM believed that you added Attack Bonus to your damage, and I thought something was up with Power Attack for that very reason. My how we've been cheating the game! --Penske 20:56, 25 January 2008 (MST)

What about bows? Will I'll be adding my DEX Bonus to the damage in place of STR, right? --Penske 21:02, 25 January 2008 (MST)

Nope. What the rules say is what you get. —Sledged (talk) 22:35, 25 January 2008 (MST)

Unless the bow is a strength bow you will not add anything. --Green Dragon 12:50, 26 January 2008 (MST)

2dx

My last game was ended in an arguement related to this. My DM says that 2dx means rolling two x-sided die, but the local munchkin says it means twice the value of one x-sided die. I'm too new to be sure, but I think my DM was right. Please put this one to rest. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 50.47.156.144 (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

First rule of D&D is the DM is always right. In this particular instance, if your weapon (like a great sword) says you deal 2d6, then you actually roll 2 dice. Under some circumstances people will just roll one die, and then double it (like for a short sword that scored a critical hit), as it saves time. I'm not very good at probability, but I'm guessing any difference is trivial (if anything). In my experience, munchkins typically roll their damage once, and if it is a high number they claim you're supposed to double it, but if it rolls low, they claim you get to roll twice and add them together. Anyway, like I said before, the DM is right, unless someone else paid for all the pizza (in which case he gets a vote too). --Badger 13:11, 25 August 2011 (MDT)

Well we didn't have pizza and mountain dew, we had nachos and sasparilla, but since the DM payed for those he's the only that gets a vote then, eh? In any case, the difference between the two methods is the results possible. Double face value for a D6 provides 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Rolling two D6s allows 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 as well. The average is 7 either way, but the results are more varied. No idea why the munchkin had to make a game-ending arguement over it as soon as he got a greatsword. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 50.47.156.144 (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

Of bigger importance is the distribution of values. If you roll (1d6) * 2, you will get the minimum, maximum, and everything inbetween (well, all even numbers), with even probability. I.e. you are exactly as likely to roll a 2 as a 6 as a 12 (1/6, or ~ 16%). If you roll 2d6, you have the highest chance of rolling a seven (1/6 again), but the chances of rolling the other numbers goes down as you go away from seven (2 and 12 are 1/36, or ~3%). This makes a much bigger difference the more dice you roll; imagine rolling 3d6 for Stat generation. Rolled properly, you are most likely to get a 10 or 11, and while you probably won't get an 18, you probably won't get stuck with a 3 either. If you roll it your munchin's way, there's a 1-in-6 chance that you will get that 18 -- or that 3. It doesn't really affect game balance, though. It just makes everything much more extreme -- you'll either destroy or be destroyed, with nothing in between. JazzMan 13:45, 25 August 2011 (MDT)

BTW the official answer you are looking for can be found here. There's no math, but there are some pretty indisputable rules. JazzMan 13:47, 25 August 2011 (MDT)