Which Is Better...

[Ganolyn]

Something that does 4d6 extra damage every hit or something that does 3d6 extra damage every hit with a 10% chance to do a total of 7d6 extra damage on a crit? The big wad sounds better, but math can be funny like that.

[PolarisNC]

4d6: 4 x 3.5 = 14 avg damage per hit

3d6, + 7d6 on 19-20: 3 x 3.5 + (10% x 7 x 3.5) = 10.5 + 2.45 = 12.95 avg. damage per hit

Almost even, but 4d6 every time is a little better. (You'd need an extra 10d6 10% of the time to make things even.)

Of course, this is in a vacuum, so there's all kinds of other factors that could impact your choice of weapon.

[DrNuegebauer]

Something that does 4d6 extra damage every hit or something that does 3d6 extra damage every hit with a 10% chance to do a total of 7d6 extra damage on a crit? The big wad sounds better, but math can be funny like that.

Some basic math.... let's see

over 20 hits, the first gets 80d6 damage.
The second gets 60d6 damage + bonus.
bonus is dependant on crits - from the above posts I can't tell if it's a 10% chance to crit and then give 7d6 OR a 10% chance to give 7d6 on a crit? Taking first option is 2 crits in 20, so 14d6

If you then take 1 in 20 swings as a miss, you lose 4d6 and 2d6 respectively:

So the comparison is 76d6 vs 71d6.

"Big wad" falls short if you're hitting on a 2. If you hit less often, it catches up 1d6 for every number you're short - and takes the lead when you're missing 40% of the time.

[Ganolyn]

Thanks for the replies. Basically I'm trying to figure out if (energy, non-burst) of Greater Bane is better over all to Holy Burst of Pure Good with a 19-20 crit and x3 multiplier.

[Kinerd]

Another thing to keep in mind is the Greater Bane will almost certainly have a higher effective enhancement bonus to damage. Holy Burst of Pure Good is +5 to BPM, energy of Greater Bane is only +4, so on equal-BPM weapons you would have another +1 to start, +4 from Greater Bane for a total of +5 extra damage on every swing.

[Loromir]

Would also depend on your threat range. If you only crit on a 20, then the 4d6 is obviously better. If you crit on 18-20, then then numbers get much tighter.

[yawumpus]

it will depend on the enemies ability to self heal*. There is a good chance that the burst damage will simply amount to a large amount of overkill, thus wasting time and damage. The catch is if the AI likes to heal itself when highly damaged, there is a better chance of surprising it with a big burst and taking away the chance to heal.

*I have no idea if the AI actually works this way.

[PopeJual]

One other thing to keep in mind is whether that 10% is coming from a crit - because there are things available to cause auto-crit situations, I'd MUCH rather have the 3d6 always + 7d6 on crit than the 4d6 always if I'm using my Fighter. If I'm using any character other than my fighter, then I'd rather have the 4d6 constant.

[kernal42]

it will depend on the enemies ability to self heal*. There is a good chance that the burst damage will simply amount to a large amount of overkill, thus wasting time and damage. The catch is if the AI likes to heal itself when highly damaged, there is a better chance of surprising it with a big burst and taking away the chance to heal.

*I have no idea if the AI actually works this way.

I disagree - if you're having trouble getting down a self-healing enemy, a few extra burst damage on a crit won't be very helpful. The higher damage on every swing you take will be more beneficial.

-Kernal