The problem is that this advantage that the Greataxe has over the Greatsword, only comes into play when a Barbarian and/or Half-Orc rolls a critical hit. Now, a Half-Orc Barbarian that can consistently score critical hits would be a thing to see. Greataxe: 1d12 + 1d12 (crit) + 3d12 (extra weapon damage dice) = 32.5 + relevant ability modifierĪs you can see, the average damage of the Greataxe exceeds that of the Greatsword and at higher levels the difference is significant. Greatsword: 2d6 + 2d6 (crit) + 3d6 (extra weapon damage dice) = 24.5 + relevant ability modifier Greataxe: 1d12 + 1d12 (crit) + 2d12 (extra weapon damage dice) = 26 + relevant ability modifier Greatsword: 2d6 + 2d6 (crit) + 2d6 (extra weapon damage dice) = 21 + relevant ability modifier Greataxe: 1d12 + 1d12 (crit) + 1d12 (extra weapon damage die) = 19.5 + relevant ability modifier Greatsword: 2d6 + 2d6 (crit) + 1d6 (extra weapon damage die) = 17.5 + relevant ability modifier To make an example of how this would actually play out, I'll use the Barbarian's ability. The Half-Orc race has the Savage Attacks trait that gives a similar effect in allowing you to roll one your weapon's damage die one additional time when getting a critical hit with a melee weapon.At higher levels this bonus increases to two and eventually three extra dice. A Barbarian's 9th level ability, Brutal Critical lets him roll one additional weapon damage die, on top of the normal extra dice gained from a critical hit.Mechanically, there are some ways to take advantage of the inherently higher damage die of the Greataxe though. Other than the high risk/high reward nature of the Greataxe, explained in ravery's answer, the Greatsword is usually the better option. It is only if you have Barbarian-style abilities that boost the Greataxe more than the Sword that it is a better choice. There is no reasonable trade off to be have with high risk, high reward. So, in summary, the Greatsword is simply a better weapon. And, lest you think this is restricted to this one example, consider this graph of mean hits to kill across a range of hitpoint totals (shown with +3 to damage but the effect is similar at all adds) and notice that the Greataxe lags at every hitpoint total shown: That increased chance of requiring many more hits hurts you much more than the increased chance of killing in 2. The greataxe has a slightly increased chance to kill in 2 hits, but a much reduced chance to kill in 3 hits and a longer tail of 5 or more hits. HPs done in damage over a monsters' hitpoint total are wasted while a blow that fails to fall a monster means they stand for another hit, maybe round.Ĭonsider this graph, showing the distribution of frequencies of number of hits required to kill a 20hp monster with a greataxe or greatsword: The reason for this is simple: low rolls count against you more than high rolls count for you. Randomness counts against the player in the long run and, unlike monsters who appear, die and are never seen again, players are around long enough for the long run to count. It is common for people to wrongly believe that the randomness "balances out" so that it's simply a matter of taste whether you prefer. The second of these points is often misunderstood. For classes that can take Great Weapon Fighting, it has an additional edge in the dice re-roll mechanics since each die can be re-rolled on a 1 or a 2. The Greatsword has two big benefits: (1) it has a higher average, and (2) it has a tighter and less random distribution. The Greatsword is a better weapon than the Greataxe unless you are playing a Barbarian. Others accept the risk of a low roll with the Great Axe in order to have a better chance at high damage. Some prefer the Greatsword because the high chance of average damage is "slow but steady". But when you are in a battle and need a 12, your chances are better with the axe. You have a better chance of rolling higher than average, but also a higher chance of rolling lower than average. Only one quarter of your rolls will be a 6,7, or 8. 4d6 would have an average about 14 (1 in 36) and a max of 24 (1 in 648) 1d12Īll numbers have an equal chance of occurring (a uniform distribution), thus your chance of a 12 is 1 in 12. With the addition of more dice this curve gets steeper. In this case the average (7) has a chance of 1 in 6, while the max has a chance of 1 in 36. Rolling 2 dice creates a bell curve distribution of the possible values. While Netzach makes a very good point, I'd like to add in the die dynamics.Īlthough the average is very similar the two situations behave very differently.
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