Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Igfig2 Feb 28, 2015 7:41:41	I put together a spreadsheet to calculate when exactly it's to your benefit to use Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter. The results are kinda interesting.   Basically, the more damage you deal, the better you'll need to be at hitting for it to be worthwhile. If you only deal 1 damage (before the bonus from GWM), it's beneficial as long as you're able to hit at all; if you deal 12 damage per attack, though, you'll only want to use it if you would have hit on a 10+ or better before applying the penalty from the feat. Once you're dealing more than about 30 damage per attack, you'll basically never want to use GWM unless you have advantage.   GWM is still a nice boost against mooks, it's true. But against, say, a dragon (i.e. the very sort of place where you'd most want to maximize your damage), the benefits are decidedly more modest. All in all, I don't think that feats like this are nearly as much of a problem as people think.   EDIT: Okay, maybe it is actually a problem when you stack enough accuracy boosts onto it. For day-to-day use it's not so bad, but if you build a party around the feat things do get out of hand.
#2 1eejit Feb 28, 2015 9:35:13	Looking at it in isolation is a bit white room. In play you'd be more likely to pick and use it with reliable buffs to boost hit (at least for the fights that matter). Things like Bless, advantage, War Cleric divinity, precision strike, bard dice.
#3 FrogReaver Feb 28, 2015 10:24:36	Igfig2 wrote: