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I don’t even play D&D. I found your channel when BG3 came out. Now I just watch your build videos because they’re interesting, and you have a ton of knowledge
As a forever dm, I watch these videos as a means to provide my players a wide assortment of optimized builds. Except those cheese grater builds. I steer clear of those 🧐
Yes, that's such a great improvement! Thanks for taking the time to go through the cumbersome implementation for the other 2024 builds - I'm excited for the comparison video!
My thought was Graze. You are a whirlwind of attacks, slicing and churning up foes on the battlefield. A humanoid blender if you will. You are going to miss sometimes, but did you really?
Not that homebrew really matters for these kinds of things, but we homebrewed a "Double-Edged" mastery that lets you get the bonus attack without a Bonus Action. One thing I like about the mastery system, despite my misgivings about it, is that it makes it really easy and fun to add new weapons and meaningful to combine different properties.
Some homebrew ones we've enjoyed: Balanced - The weapon has the Finesse and Thrown properties, with a regular range of 15 feet and a long range of 30 feet. Binding - When you hit with this weapon, you can choose to Grapple with it. If you do, do not add your Ability Modifier to the damage roll. The grapple ends if you drop the weapon or attack a different creature with it. Brutal - basically exploding dice. Roll the highest result, roll another die of the same type. Max number of add'l dice per attack equal to your Proficiency Bonus. We put it on the Battleaxe and the Sickle. Double-Edged - Once per turn, when you Attack, you can immediately make another attack against the same target, but it deals half as much damage and you do not add your ability modifier to the damage. Double-Bladed Scimitar and a 4e Import called the Mordenkrad. Flex (Versatile) - When wielded in one hand, it gains the Light property, and when wielded in two hands, you can treat it as having the Heavy property and you have +1 to your AC. WotC had a version of this that people hated, but we found this worked, and put it on the Longsword. Precision - When you miss with an attack using this weapon, you can roll a d6 and add the total to your attack roll, providing you didn't roll a 1. If you successfully convert a miss into a hit, don't add your Ability Modifier to the damage roll of that attack. We actually put this on the Rapier and the Musket/Rifle. Repeating (Ammunition/Ranged) - After Attacking with this weapon, you can immediately use a Bonus Action to make another attack, providing you have Ammunition available. Do not add your Ability Modifier to the additional attack (Double-Edged but for Range). Returning - After you throw this weapon to make a Ranged attack, it immediately returns to your open hand. (Boomerangs, mostly, but also silly stuff like Xena/Blade-style chakrams). I really wanted a lot more choice and options for weapon users. It's their primary form of identity expression, and it felt pretty crap to me that there are 300+ spells or whatever and basically only a handful of mastery properties, so I wanted to really expand the list
@ the problem is that you’d need to completely reword Nick or write in a specific exception in the DBS description. Obviously not an insurmountable problem, but I doubt they’ll do it. More likely, they would put a Nick-like ability in the Revenant Blade feat.
My shadar kai in a friends campaign weilds a double bladed scimitar that can be split apart into dual blades. When together the dm gave them topple and when apart 1 blade has vex and the other nick.
I made a magic DBS in a game I ran that had the ability to be separated into two scimitars and back again at will. Think Cal Kestis' lightsaber from Jedi Fallen Order / Survivor. It was for a Dex-based fighter and worked out pretty well.
One of these days you have to start your intro with, "Do you like Pina Coladas? Do you like getting caught in the rain?" :p I'm not sure what kind of build that could possibly represent, but I believe in you x) Great build, as always!
Sounds like a drunken master Monk or maybe even Swashbuckler Rogue. Could maybe try and make a bard of some sort with fighter mix to be like Starlord from GoTG.
As someone with lots of friends who suffer from IBS, all that came to mind hearing "DBS" all the time was "Disembowel Syndrome". Which, y'know, kind of fits the build.
I'll say that as a blind person, audio elements are more important to me, and your voice is indeed incredibly soothing and gives me all of the happy brain tingles
Since you *LOVE* reckless attack so much, i just wanted to point out that the shifter race from mordenkainens book offers a wild hunt option that negates advantage on anyone within 30 feet of you. So you get advantage but no one gets advantage on you...
I get a lot of vibes in this build for a dancer that gets into The Zone and overdoes what their body should do. They start dancing with passion, and progressively they learn steps to control and direct their dancing partners, and they practice reading their partners to react just at the right moment.
It is here! At long last the Berzerker has come in swinging and man does he hit good! Cheer brothers! For battle shall be ours! I absolutely will play this build in the future, maybe only change to a great sword for ease of play? Thank you for putting up with my nonsense for all these months Colby, I love that afro hairdo
You create the perfect Build for a Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Boss. I can't say vey much without spoilers, but is essentially what you created here.
Curious what you think the odds are that this build actually outdamages Barbarian (Berserker) 17 straight levels with a Greatsword at any of the damage report levels?
It only makes sense if you really want to make a beeline for *Sentinel.* I have a hard time imagining this will do more damage than a *Graze* weapon with *PAM* and/or *GWM.*
@@TreantmonksTemple yeah I’d need to crunch the numbers though it shouldn’t be too difficult (except for Graze, which is a pain). But maybe that depends on if we’re allowing for a use of action surge and superiority dice, if we’re comparing this one? If so, my hunch is that they would leap frog each other, depending on level…
I actually took Colby's strategy and crunched it with Chris' assumptions and, while I still need to go back and double-check the numbers, the Refined Barbarian looks like it's ahead *most* of the time. The straight Berserker has most of Tier 2. And at the damage report levels, the only one that the straight Berserker wins is at level 9. 9's a big level for a straight barbarian with GWM. Both rage damage and proficiency go up at the same time, and that includes the Frenzy damage as well. And then even without Graze, the greatsword ekes out slightly more damage than the double-bladed scimitar in a single attack. I will say that considering a 4-combat day with 1 SR does put a bit of a damper on the damage. Action Surge and Combat Superiority both only count half as much. At level 6 looks like this build takes it because Frenzy applies (and crits) more reliably with 3 attacks per turn, plus he has Sentinel at that level to offset the 5-ish damage GWM applies after considering hit chance. At level 13 this build has Sentinel, Retaliate, and Riposte, so with Colby's anticipated 90% reaction attack (which may be high, especially with the 4C/1SR day, but it's in the ballpark I think) he's almost getting 4 attacks per turn, and the bonus maneuver damage goes a long way. And even though the two are about tied at level 16, 1.9x sneak attack edges it up and over at 17.
I love the theme of this build, you have som many interesting things to do and skill monkeys are my favourite characters. Good damage, skill flexibility and nice flavour. I want to play it ❤
If I had to give the double blades scimitar a property I think I'd probably give it the graze mastery and I feel like most dms would be willing to let you give it a mastery property if you ask too
I think there's an argument to be made around the nick property, considering that the fantasy for using this (at least for me) is rapidly twirling it around slashing with both ends, so it would basically represent hitting with the blade on one side and following up quickly with the other.
I played a 2014 DBS dex based pally that was a lot of fun. Took the revenant feat. Only went to level 5 but I'd imagine adding some rogue and fighter levels to them would be fun.
Tip: if you have spare weapon masteries and don't know what to do with them, maybe put one on the trident. Its a thrown weapon with a chance to make enemies prone, meaning you can shoot flying enemies out of the sky so they take fall damage and makes it easier to enter melee! Haven't heard anyone talk about this, but I feel like that's pretty powerful
19:33 Colby's been working out. Also, I find it hilarious that the modern and futuristic firearms have weapon masteries already, but the Double-Bladed Scimitar doesn't. Very weird.
I actually think Nick (Special) would be perfect for the DBS. The weapon itself already basically gives you two-weapon fighting; having a weapon mastery that allows you to make that bonus action attack fits very thematically, and still isn't crazy powerful because you can't use the Dual Wielder feat for the extra attack as a bonus action. If it's not going to be a heavy weapon (although a Heavy Finesse weapon is design space I would love to see filled so I don't have to do it myself XD), then allowing it a pseudo-Nick really helps close the gap while feeling unique.
I've spent the past week theorycrafting an archfey warlock with DBS specifically because of how it interacts with GWFS, so it's funny that this build popped up. I've also lamented, profoundly, the fact that it doesn't interact with GWM and doesn't have a Mastery. If I could give it a Mastery, I'd give it Vex and take Elven Accuracy so that - even if I can't use GWM - I get super advantage on basically all the attacks lol
FYI the only reason I can pretend to get away with giving it vex is because vex is assigned to finesse weapons and it can TECHNICALLY be a finesse weapon with the right feat XD
I feel like giving the DBS the same weapon mastery as the single-bladed scimitar is something most DMs would be down with. Edit: Yeah, it'd need modified. But I think it would make some sense for the 1d4 attack to not cost a bonus action if you had mastery. You're proficient enough with it that you can swing both blades faster, thereby not costing a BA. As an alternative, maybe mastery lets the BA attack do the full 2d4 instead.
Love your videos. I do have a weird gripe, not just with your new videos, but with all new D&D, but for some reason I notice it more with yours: As all my favorite creators have been around for a bit, they have a ton of great content. With the new rule set, I sometimes get confused on the thumbnails, as too which rule set. I check the pub date and that normally solves it, but down the road I can easily see confusion and possibly loss of newer version users. Keep up the great work, and can't wait to dive into your double scimitar (which is why I love your channel...I still remember you making the net and trident work...love it)
I might separate them into separate playlists one day, but for now just know that everything after #175 is 2024 :) (and you can see the break if you look at the table of contents link)
Couldn't help giggling when you used the term "butt action". With the Helix Sleep sponsor you are most definitely now a D&D ASMR youtuber. Jokes aside, great video as always Colby
Honestly, I'd love for you and Treantmonk to do some number crunching of how a combat will change if your build is in 3 different types of fight: 1) small room / close quarters with little cover (barbarian playpen) 2) medium ground with plenty of cover / paintball course / forest / warehouse with lots of line of sight breaks and possible elevation changes (best mix) 3) the wide open field (range, mounts, and speed will be essential) I think the 2024 rules were thinking there will be more fights where melee isn't immediately engaged and range has a chance to shine by nearly always being able to hit something while the melee fighters are having to cover ground. It also gives the builds needing setup time to get ready.
While I’m not sure about how much damage it could produce I’m curious about how an echo knight and world tree barbarian would look. Being able to be in multiple places at once, constantly teleporting, and moving guys from different locations could be a lot of fun.
The weapon mastery we had for the Double-Bladed Scimitar for my table was a pseudo nick mastery. Essentially you could make the bonus action attack as part of your attack action once per turn. Seemed to work fine, but I could see it being to powerful to some DMs.
Just to boost the consistency of the damage: we have house-ruled Graze for the DBS. But competing with Nick is a tough job to pull off when DBS ties up your BA every round.
Darn you @dnddeepdive! I love this and am doing something similar with DBS as I convert my Hexasorcadin to 2024 rules for our campaign. My DM has agreed to grant DBS the nick weapon mastery property. I’ll be casting Divine Favor and go on smiting and quickening GFB/BB cantrips.
I think they changes the GWM fighting style wording on purpose to allow for this kind of creativity. As everyone states it is overall still not good but if it allows all other attack bonus rolls to become stronger it suddenly is great in the right circumstances.
I liked the look of sentinel on my berserker, but I was worried its opportunity attack would conflict with my reaction use from my lv. 10 retaliation feat.
I’m actually using a DBS on my Githzerai Paladin! I was debating on taking the Great Weapon Fighting style but the consistency does actually feel nice in game
I would love to see a whirling dervish build that is a Monk Ranger. Mostly Monk that dips one level of ranger for a fighting style, weapon masteries, and hunters mark. Level 6 is making 5 attacks that apply hunter's mark. Level 13 making 6 attacks with the monk's d10 martial arts die and applying hunter's mark. Sounds fun. A fighter needs to expend action surge at this level to make 6 attacks, whereas this build just needs 1 itty bitty focus point to make happen. 6d10 + 6d6 +30 sounds like a recipe for some nice consistent damage. (Yes it does take a round to setup applying hunters mark, but we're no strangers to setup rounds here, haha. And even then you don't deal no damage, only like half damage)
On the question of if the Great Weapon Fighting style rerolls all damage dice or just the weapon ones - maybe the Savage Attacker feat can provide a clue. Savage Attacker explicitly says "the weapon's damage dice". Great Weapon Fighting says "you can treat ANY 1 and 2 as a 3", providing you meet the prerequisites of the weapon and the number of hands for the attack xD So, if it were up to me, smites, the berserker's extra d6s, anything similar would be subject to this rule. E.g. if you do a barbarian/rogue mutliclass with the Double-Bladed Scimitar, potentially all sneak attack dice would also be affected.
Hey Colby, after watching Treatmonk's videos on the Ranger, I went, "wow... Ranger is badly designed after teir 1. But in teir 1, they do really, really good damage. That sounds like fertile ground for multiclass dips! I bet Colby could come up with some wild ideas for how to make people value DnD's problem child class." Can you show up a Ranger dip that shows how useful it can be?
Yeah, I doubt we'll see many mostly-rangers in the wild, but 1 level for Weapon training and masteries, armor and shield proficiency, a caster progression level, and two free casts of Hunter's Mark means I think we'll see a fair few dips, especially from clerics and druids who want a little more martial or fighters or monks who want a little more utility (and Hunter's Mark). Two levels also gets you a fighting style if you're a caster who's looking to gish it up a little bit. Definitely a front-loaded class.
For weapon mastery, I'd homebrew something that allows you to make the bonus action attack as part of the attack action. Makes it similar to nick but you only get it with the dbs attacks. Call it twirl or something
I know most campaigns never get to level 20, but if there is any possibility of getting there i have a really hard time with giving up the Barbarian (and Monk!) capstone. I'm not going to do the math on it compared to picking up those maneuvers, but 24 strength is so amazing!
Of note: the wording of great weapon fighting was changed and it could be interpreted to include extra dice like Hunter's Mark and Smite because it doesn't reference/single outweapon damage dice. Plus I have to believe that the wording change is deliberate since they could have copy+pasted the old language.
If I should give Double-Bladed Scimitar a weapon mastery I think it would be Sap. The alternatives I would consider would be Vex and Graze, but I would be a little concerned if they could become too strong with the bonus action attack - maybe if I made the weapon as a special magic weapon I would consider giving it Graze.
For my players I would homebrew the DBS to have a special version of the Nick property where it triggers its own second attack without using your Bonus Action. I think it's a cool tradeoff considering that other 2WF builds will take the Dual-Wielder feat to double up on the BA attack, and this weapon cannot do that.
Nice to see some love for the Great Weapon style, as its never been as bad as the community always seems to claim - at least with the 2D6 weapons. Reliability and actually doing almost exactly the mean damage everyone calculates at as a MINIMUM damage is so much more powerful than most of the melee fighting styles for damage (but its absolutely garbage if your using a single large die weapon!). Most combats only last a few rounds and in those few rounds you might roll very poorly on damage on every attack quite reasonably statistically, across the whole campaign if your party survives the mean average is a good measure - you'd get in enough attacks you'd have to be really really unlucky for it not to be, but in each individual combat the probably spread of damage is far more important than the mean average.
You should try out a Barbarian Monk with GWM using the new Draw/Stow attack rules. You don’t have very high AC but the consistent damage output is ridiculous, especially with Berserker. 4 levels in Barbarian with the rest in Monk seems to work the best. You can give up some damage output to wear Medium Armor for more AC if it’s a big concern.
With that asmr comment i got the idea of you, one day, singing Chop Suey by System of a Down (specifically the "Wake Up!" Part just as a prank around April Fool's Day)
If there was a 3d4 weapon, it would've been strong, but 5 (2d4) + 1.5 + Bonus action attack without shield vs 4.5 (or 3.5 + bonus action attack)+ 2 + shield
I agree with you on the wording of great weapon fighting, frankly I think the old way they ruled it was wrong but that's I'm the past. By that logic rogues would be the best DBS users by far because those 3s would apply to sneak attack damage too
WOTC announced a new player guide for the forgotten realms in 2025, where they are pretty likely to give double bladed scimitars a mastery property, so you probably should have waited until it is out to do a build for that weapon.
I'd suggest the wording of the fighting style should apply to any die rolled as part of that attack so those 2D6 from the barbarian subclass would count as long as you meet the requirements of 2 handed weapon attack. As that would be fairly inline with everything else and seems to match the wording to me - they are 'a damage die'. As for instance Critical hits apply to the Sneak attack or Smite die (unless that isn't as clear any more - not read the new PHB)
Oooh that rouge dip at the end is really inspired with that that combo - now your sneak attack can't roll snake eyes either! Though I'd want to read the current version of all the elements involved to make that possible and consider if it actually works, but assuming it actually does work your minimum damage is getting crazy.
I think topple would be the best mastery for dbs. The imagery the weapon evokes is swiftly spinning and slashing with the blade to use both ends effortlessly. The only other weapon that really appeals to that fantasy in dnd is the quarterstaff; which has topple.
i really wonder what your sword and board build you mentioned you wanna do is. maybe a paladin? maybe a vengeance one? or devotion :D excellent work as always! keep it up
Weapon mastery for DBS? Topple like the quarterstaff or battle axe. I've just played a deep gnome barbarian who even knocked over a frost giant - twice - gaining advantage on attacks against it for the whole party
Ok hear me out I think the DBS should get the Cleave property. The DBS to me represents elegance and spinning blades and using both ends of the weapon to attack. Cleave just feels right to me, I wouldn't even go with a modified Nick attack that lets you attack with the bonus attack as part of the main attack because bonus action attacks are so rare now
I never thought about great weapon fighting style used alongside a great Club. I'm not sure how you would calculate the average damage, since the damage variation is between 6 and 8
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Nick, if You take a Revenant Blade Feat, and both sides then count as light weapons for two weapon fighting rules. How does it sound?
I don’t even play D&D. I found your channel when BG3 came out. Now I just watch your build videos because they’re interesting, and you have a ton of knowledge
I found the channel around the same time, lol. I dont get a chance to play DnD any more but if I ever do I'll be prepared 😂
As a forever dm, I watch these videos as a means to provide my players a wide assortment of optimized builds. Except those cheese grater builds. I steer clear of those 🧐
@@djmor693 I, on the other hand, use these builds on NPCs I don't want my players to kill 😶
also, bosses.
also assassins.
Someone get this man in a campaign!!!
I found this channel during the OGL fiasco when i looked for a guide to PF2e's rules
I love the new rules for the Damage Report!
Yes, that's such a great improvement! Thanks for taking the time to go through the cumbersome implementation for the other 2024 builds - I'm excited for the comparison video!
Huge improvement! It's been my biggest bugaboo about this channel. Now, no matter what else happens today, I'll have one thing to celebrate.
I love that he has fully given into the asmr bit. Well im getting sleepy now so goodnight everyone
My thought was Graze. You are a whirlwind of attacks, slicing and churning up foes on the battlefield. A humanoid blender if you will. You are going to miss sometimes, but did you really?
For those of us in the US, today is a very nerve-wracking day… thanks for making it a little bit lighter, Colby :)
So stressful! Hard to not keep checking exit poll results every 5 minutes
@@DnDDeepDive Exactly! I’m using this video and older build vids of yours to distract myself throughout the day. Fingers crossed!
Not that homebrew really matters for these kinds of things, but we homebrewed a "Double-Edged" mastery that lets you get the bonus attack without a Bonus Action. One thing I like about the mastery system, despite my misgivings about it, is that it makes it really easy and fun to add new weapons and meaningful to combine different properties.
Some homebrew ones we've enjoyed:
Balanced - The weapon has the Finesse and Thrown properties, with a regular range of 15 feet and a long range of 30 feet.
Binding - When you hit with this weapon, you can choose to Grapple with it. If you do, do not add your Ability Modifier to the damage roll. The grapple ends if you drop the weapon or attack a different creature with it.
Brutal - basically exploding dice. Roll the highest result, roll another die of the same type. Max number of add'l dice per attack equal to your Proficiency Bonus. We put it on the Battleaxe and the Sickle.
Double-Edged - Once per turn, when you Attack, you can immediately make another attack against the same target, but it deals half as much damage and you do not add your ability modifier to the damage. Double-Bladed Scimitar and a 4e Import called the Mordenkrad.
Flex (Versatile) - When wielded in one hand, it gains the Light property, and when wielded in two hands, you can treat it as having the Heavy property and you have +1 to your AC. WotC had a version of this that people hated, but we found this worked, and put it on the Longsword.
Precision - When you miss with an attack using this weapon, you can roll a d6 and add the total to your attack roll, providing you didn't roll a 1. If you successfully convert a miss into a hit, don't add your Ability Modifier to the damage roll of that attack. We actually put this on the Rapier and the Musket/Rifle.
Repeating (Ammunition/Ranged) - After Attacking with this weapon, you can immediately use a Bonus Action to make another attack, providing you have Ammunition available. Do not add your Ability Modifier to the additional attack (Double-Edged but for Range).
Returning - After you throw this weapon to make a Ranged attack, it immediately returns to your open hand. (Boomerangs, mostly, but also silly stuff like Xena/Blade-style chakrams).
I really wanted a lot more choice and options for weapon users. It's their primary form of identity expression, and it felt pretty crap to me that there are 300+ spells or whatever and basically only a handful of mastery properties, so I wanted to really expand the list
For weapon mastery, I would say Topple. Picture the Bat’leth fights on Star Trek; they always use it to trip enemies.
I like the idea of topple for one end and nick for the other.
@ the problem is that you’d need to completely reword Nick or write in a specific exception in the DBS description. Obviously not an insurmountable problem, but I doubt they’ll do it. More likely, they would put a Nick-like ability in the Revenant Blade feat.
My shadar kai in a friends campaign weilds a double bladed scimitar that can be split apart into dual blades. When together the dm gave them topple and when apart 1 blade has vex and the other nick.
Weapon wise the Batleth is not a great weapon
@ it’s an excellent weapon. If your criteria for what makes a weapon good is weighted mostly towards looking cool and unique. Which, for me, it is.
The Refined Berserker? Like Grog, Grand Poobah de Doink of All of This and That? 💕
Bidet 🧐🎩
Grogory Strongjaw if I may 😅
I would argue that the bonus action attack that's baked into the DBS should be its unique Weapon Mastery, and I'm willing to die on this hill.
I made a magic DBS in a game I ran that had the ability to be separated into two scimitars and back again at will. Think Cal Kestis' lightsaber from Jedi Fallen Order / Survivor. It was for a Dex-based fighter and worked out pretty well.
One of these days you have to start your intro with, "Do you like Pina Coladas? Do you like getting caught in the rain?" :p I'm not sure what kind of build that could possibly represent, but I believe in you x) Great build, as always!
Totally doing this
Circle of the Sea
Sounds like a drunken master Monk or maybe even Swashbuckler Rogue. Could maybe try and make a bard of some sort with fighter mix to be like Starlord from GoTG.
I love that art for this character. I can practically hear them saying “That fool said WHAT about my thesis statement?”
Rage lasts for 10 mins now. So even better!
Great build as always.
As someone with lots of friends who suffer from IBS, all that came to mind hearing "DBS" all the time was "Disembowel Syndrome". Which, y'know, kind of fits the build.
The worst bowel-related syndrome of them all.
Thank you for the 4 round damage report. I’ve been doing this myself for builds of yours I’m interested in playing so this is icing on the cake.
I’m here for BOTH the amazing content and the nerdy ASMR, thank you
I'll say that as a blind person, audio elements are more important to me, and your voice is indeed incredibly soothing and gives me all of the happy brain tingles
You know, a topple weapon with hamstring is really good.
Not lulling to sleep! Keeping me company while I change faucets on my day off! Thank you!
I have to admit, I think your voice could pretty easily lull me to sleep if I wasn't always having lunch when I watch your videos. It's very...gentle.
I can't believe my favorite DND-Infused ASMR channel is back again with another video so soon
Since you *LOVE* reckless attack so much, i just wanted to point out that the shifter race from mordenkainens book offers a wild hunt option that negates advantage on anyone within 30 feet of you. So you get advantage but no one gets advantage on you...
That bicep tho 19:32, coby strong
Having more weapon masteries from the fighter class is very helpful for all the ranged attacks the character will encounter
Not falling asleep, just woke up in fact. Listening while I work on a character sheet
I get a lot of vibes in this build for a dancer that gets into The Zone and overdoes what their body should do. They start dancing with passion, and progressively they learn steps to control and direct their dancing partners, and they practice reading their partners to react just at the right moment.
It is here! At long last the Berzerker has come in swinging and man does he hit good! Cheer brothers! For battle shall be ours!
I absolutely will play this build in the future, maybe only change to a great sword for ease of play? Thank you for putting up with my nonsense for all these months Colby, I love that afro hairdo
Oooh, at the ad break i thought he was coming out of the swingers closet
You create the perfect Build for a Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Boss. I can't say vey much without spoilers, but is essentially what you created here.
Curious what you think the odds are that this build actually outdamages Barbarian (Berserker) 17 straight levels with a Greatsword at any of the damage report levels?
It only makes sense if you really want to make a beeline for *Sentinel.* I have a hard time imagining this will do more damage than a *Graze* weapon with *PAM* and/or *GWM.*
@@TreantmonksTemple yeah I’d need to crunch the numbers though it shouldn’t be too difficult (except for Graze, which is a pain). But maybe that depends on if we’re allowing for a use of action surge and superiority dice, if we’re comparing this one? If so, my hunch is that they would leap frog each other, depending on level…
I actually took Colby's strategy and crunched it with Chris' assumptions and, while I still need to go back and double-check the numbers, the Refined Barbarian looks like it's ahead *most* of the time. The straight Berserker has most of Tier 2. And at the damage report levels, the only one that the straight Berserker wins is at level 9. 9's a big level for a straight barbarian with GWM. Both rage damage and proficiency go up at the same time, and that includes the Frenzy damage as well. And then even without Graze, the greatsword ekes out slightly more damage than the double-bladed scimitar in a single attack.
I will say that considering a 4-combat day with 1 SR does put a bit of a damper on the damage. Action Surge and Combat Superiority both only count half as much.
At level 6 looks like this build takes it because Frenzy applies (and crits) more reliably with 3 attacks per turn, plus he has Sentinel at that level to offset the 5-ish damage GWM applies after considering hit chance.
At level 13 this build has Sentinel, Retaliate, and Riposte, so with Colby's anticipated 90% reaction attack (which may be high, especially with the 4C/1SR day, but it's in the ballpark I think) he's almost getting 4 attacks per turn, and the bonus maneuver damage goes a long way.
And even though the two are about tied at level 16, 1.9x sneak attack edges it up and over at 17.
@@DnDDeepDive Yeah, I also haven't punched the math, but I'm inclined to agree.
I love the theme of this build, you have som many interesting things to do and skill monkeys are my favourite characters. Good damage, skill flexibility and nice flavour. I want to play it ❤
Great episode as always, Colby! Cheers… 🍻😎🌴
Loved the new way to make the damage report!!!
If I had to give the double blades scimitar a property I think I'd probably give it the graze mastery and I feel like most dms would be willing to let you give it a mastery property if you ask too
I think there's an argument to be made around the nick property, considering that the fantasy for using this (at least for me) is rapidly twirling it around slashing with both ends, so it would basically represent hitting with the blade on one side and following up quickly with the other.
I would have to agree with the above. I think the nick property makes sense, but if we grabbed the feat for this weapon, we get an extra BA attack.
I honestly love the changes for the Berserker Sub class.
You had me at the dichotomy between the monocle in the thumbnail & the berserker in the title.
Loved this build, ive always wanted to do a DBS build and this looks just like the sort of thing id enjoy. Really like your new damage report idea too
I played a 2014 DBS dex based pally that was a lot of fun. Took the revenant feat. Only went to level 5 but I'd imagine adding some rogue and fighter levels to them would be fun.
Tip: if you have spare weapon masteries and don't know what to do with them, maybe put one on the trident. Its a thrown weapon with a chance to make enemies prone, meaning you can shoot flying enemies out of the sky so they take fall damage and makes it easier to enter melee! Haven't heard anyone talk about this, but I feel like that's pretty powerful
19:33 Colby's been working out.
Also, I find it hilarious that the modern and futuristic firearms have weapon masteries already, but the Double-Bladed Scimitar doesn't. Very weird.
A “once you see it you can’t unsee it”: Colby would make a great live action handsome Fix-it Felix😅
Aka: the Grog Strongjaw specialty.
I actually think Nick (Special) would be perfect for the DBS. The weapon itself already basically gives you two-weapon fighting; having a weapon mastery that allows you to make that bonus action attack fits very thematically, and still isn't crazy powerful because you can't use the Dual Wielder feat for the extra attack as a bonus action. If it's not going to be a heavy weapon (although a Heavy Finesse weapon is design space I would love to see filled so I don't have to do it myself XD), then allowing it a pseudo-Nick really helps close the gap while feeling unique.
I've spent the past week theorycrafting an archfey warlock with DBS specifically because of how it interacts with GWFS, so it's funny that this build popped up. I've also lamented, profoundly, the fact that it doesn't interact with GWM and doesn't have a Mastery. If I could give it a Mastery, I'd give it Vex and take Elven Accuracy so that - even if I can't use GWM - I get super advantage on basically all the attacks lol
FYI the only reason I can pretend to get away with giving it vex is because vex is assigned to finesse weapons and it can TECHNICALLY be a finesse weapon with the right feat XD
I feel like giving the DBS the same weapon mastery as the single-bladed scimitar is something most DMs would be down with.
Edit: Yeah, it'd need modified. But I think it would make some sense for the 1d4 attack to not cost a bonus action if you had mastery. You're proficient enough with it that you can swing both blades faster, thereby not costing a BA. As an alternative, maybe mastery lets the BA attack do the full 2d4 instead.
Sure, but they will have to redesign the *Nick* mastery quite a bit to work. It would be nice if the extra attack didn't take up a Bonus Action.
Yeah, I may have not actually processed the implications of that before I wrote it 😂
Love your videos. I do have a weird gripe, not just with your new videos, but with all new D&D, but for some reason I notice it more with yours: As all my favorite creators have been around for a bit, they have a ton of great content. With the new rule set, I sometimes get confused on the thumbnails, as too which rule set. I check the pub date and that normally solves it, but down the road I can easily see confusion and possibly loss of newer version users.
Keep up the great work, and can't wait to dive into your double scimitar (which is why I love your channel...I still remember you making the net and trident work...love it)
I might separate them into separate playlists one day, but for now just know that everything after #175 is 2024 :) (and you can see the break if you look at the table of contents link)
Ah, my weekly dose of enemy deleting asmr
Thanks, Colby
Glad you had a good time in Tennessee! I've never heard someone pronounce it "Voles" before 😂 We say it closer to "Vawls"
Couldn't help giggling when you used the term "butt action". With the Helix Sleep sponsor you are most definitely now a D&D ASMR youtuber. Jokes aside, great video as always Colby
I built a 2014 rule valenar elf echo knight fighter with the feats: revenant blade, defensive duelist, and sentinel. It was pretty awesome.
Honestly, I'd love for you and Treantmonk to do some number crunching of how a combat will change if your build is in 3 different types of fight:
1) small room / close quarters with little cover (barbarian playpen)
2) medium ground with plenty of cover / paintball course / forest / warehouse with lots of line of sight breaks and possible elevation changes (best mix)
3) the wide open field (range, mounts, and speed will be essential)
I think the 2024 rules were thinking there will be more fights where melee isn't immediately engaged and range has a chance to shine by nearly always being able to hit something while the melee fighters are having to cover ground. It also gives the builds needing setup time to get ready.
I never thought in a dice game, that the aim was to not roll dice.
@@trevorgreenough6141 oh it is. I just want all my rolls to be good ones 😉
@DnDDeepDive hahaha. I know.
Brilliant video, I've currently got an Intelligent barbarian and it's a blast. This build fits rather well.
While I’m not sure about how much damage it could produce I’m curious about how an echo knight and world tree barbarian would look. Being able to be in multiple places at once, constantly teleporting, and moving guys from different locations could be a lot of fun.
The weapon mastery we had for the Double-Bladed Scimitar for my table was a pseudo nick mastery. Essentially you could make the bonus action attack as part of your attack action once per turn. Seemed to work fine, but I could see it being to powerful to some DMs.
I feel like the DBS getting Cleave thematically makes the most sense.
The Treantmonkification of Colby's damage calculations lol
Just to boost the consistency of the damage: we have house-ruled Graze for the DBS. But competing with Nick is a tough job to pull off when DBS ties up your BA every round.
Darn you @dnddeepdive! I love this and am doing something similar with DBS as I convert my Hexasorcadin to 2024 rules for our campaign.
My DM has agreed to grant DBS the nick weapon mastery property. I’ll be casting Divine Favor and go on smiting and quickening GFB/BB cantrips.
Watching while I am on the gym and then 19:33 showed up, so I paused I focused on the gym, got back now to finish the video
@@lucaseder 😂
0:00 that’s me. I’m all of them.
I think they changes the GWM fighting style wording on purpose to allow for this kind of creativity. As everyone states it is overall still not good but if it allows all other attack bonus rolls to become stronger it suddenly is great in the right circumstances.
I liked the look of sentinel on my berserker, but I was worried its opportunity attack would conflict with my reaction use from my lv. 10 retaliation feat.
I’m actually using a DBS on my Githzerai Paladin! I was debating on taking the Great Weapon Fighting style but the consistency does actually feel nice in game
I would love to see a whirling dervish build that is a Monk Ranger. Mostly Monk that dips one level of ranger for a fighting style, weapon masteries, and hunters mark. Level 6 is making 5 attacks that apply hunter's mark. Level 13 making 6 attacks with the monk's d10 martial arts die and applying hunter's mark. Sounds fun. A fighter needs to expend action surge at this level to make 6 attacks, whereas this build just needs 1 itty bitty focus point to make happen. 6d10 + 6d6 +30 sounds like a recipe for some nice consistent damage. (Yes it does take a round to setup applying hunters mark, but we're no strangers to setup rounds here, haha. And even then you don't deal no damage, only like half damage)
Huzzah for the multi-round average! It's what WotC does for monster design (well they do a three-round average, but it's close).
On the question of if the Great Weapon Fighting style rerolls all damage dice or just the weapon ones - maybe the Savage Attacker feat can provide a clue. Savage Attacker explicitly says "the weapon's damage dice". Great Weapon Fighting says "you can treat ANY 1 and 2 as a 3", providing you meet the prerequisites of the weapon and the number of hands for the attack xD So, if it were up to me, smites, the berserker's extra d6s, anything similar would be subject to this rule. E.g. if you do a barbarian/rogue mutliclass with the Double-Bladed Scimitar, potentially all sneak attack dice would also be affected.
Hey Colby, after watching Treatmonk's videos on the Ranger, I went, "wow... Ranger is badly designed after teir 1. But in teir 1, they do really, really good damage. That sounds like fertile ground for multiclass dips!
I bet Colby could come up with some wild ideas for how to make people value DnD's problem child class."
Can you show up a Ranger dip that shows how useful it can be?
Yeah, I doubt we'll see many mostly-rangers in the wild, but 1 level for Weapon training and masteries, armor and shield proficiency, a caster progression level, and two free casts of Hunter's Mark means I think we'll see a fair few dips, especially from clerics and druids who want a little more martial or fighters or monks who want a little more utility (and Hunter's Mark). Two levels also gets you a fighting style if you're a caster who's looking to gish it up a little bit. Definitely a front-loaded class.
I like how your working friendship with Chris has started to bleed into your math.
For weapon mastery, I'd homebrew something that allows you to make the bonus action attack as part of the attack action. Makes it similar to nick but you only get it with the dbs attacks. Call it twirl or something
I know most campaigns never get to level 20, but if there is any possibility of getting there i have a really hard time with giving up the Barbarian (and Monk!) capstone. I'm not going to do the math on it compared to picking up those maneuvers, but 24 strength is so amazing!
Of note: the wording of great weapon fighting was changed and it could be interpreted to include extra dice like Hunter's Mark and Smite because it doesn't reference/single outweapon damage dice. Plus I have to believe that the wording change is deliberate since they could have copy+pasted the old language.
One quick note rage can last for 10 minutes now not just 1 min!
I think Sap makes the most sense for the DBS Mastery, but Graze is a close second
If I should give Double-Bladed Scimitar a weapon mastery I think it would be Sap. The alternatives I would consider would be Vex and Graze, but I would be a little concerned if they could become too strong with the bonus action attack - maybe if I made the weapon as a special magic weapon I would consider giving it Graze.
For my players I would homebrew the DBS to have a special version of the Nick property where it triggers its own second attack without using your Bonus Action.
I think it's a cool tradeoff considering that other 2WF builds will take the Dual-Wielder feat to double up on the BA attack, and this weapon cannot do that.
Nice to see some love for the Great Weapon style, as its never been as bad as the community always seems to claim - at least with the 2D6 weapons. Reliability and actually doing almost exactly the mean damage everyone calculates at as a MINIMUM damage is so much more powerful than most of the melee fighting styles for damage (but its absolutely garbage if your using a single large die weapon!). Most combats only last a few rounds and in those few rounds you might roll very poorly on damage on every attack quite reasonably statistically, across the whole campaign if your party survives the mean average is a good measure - you'd get in enough attacks you'd have to be really really unlucky for it not to be, but in each individual combat the probably spread of damage is far more important than the mean average.
I think Double-Bladed-Scimitar should have the Vex property
You should try out a Barbarian Monk with GWM using the new Draw/Stow attack rules.
You don’t have very high AC but the consistent damage output is ridiculous, especially with Berserker.
4 levels in Barbarian with the rest in Monk seems to work the best.
You can give up some damage output to wear Medium Armor for more AC if it’s a big concern.
Ngl I totally thought “The Brains AND The Brawn” would have at least been floated as a possibility 😢
With that asmr comment i got the idea of you, one day, singing Chop Suey by System of a Down (specifically the "Wake Up!" Part just as a prank around April Fool's Day)
Yes, I like Barbarians. Also yes, also yes, uh... also yes.
If there was a 3d4 weapon, it would've been strong, but 5 (2d4) + 1.5 + Bonus action attack without shield vs 4.5 (or 3.5 + bonus action attack)+ 2 + shield
The Refined Berserker: D&D Ep #190
Level 01 (see above) [barbarian 1, background, species & weapon mastery]
Level 02 (see above) [barbarian 2]
Level 03 (@17:44) [barbarian 3 & subclass]
Level 04 (@20:06) [barbarian 4 & feat]
Level 05 (@20:45) [barbarian 5]
Level 06 (@21:00) [fighter, fighting-style 1 & weapon mastery]
Level 07 (see above) [barbarian 6]
Level 08 (@29:50) [barbarian 7]
Level 09 (@30:14) [barbarian 8 & feat]
Level 10 (see above) [barbarian 9]
Level 11 (@33:09) [barbarian 10]
Level 12 (@34:14) [fighter 2]
Level 13 (@35:56) [fighter 3 & subclass]
Level 14 (see above) [barbarian 11]
Level 15 (@41:33) [barbarian 12 & feat]
Level 16 (@42:18) [fighter 4 & feat]
Level 17 (@42:56) [rogue 1 & expertise]
I agree with you on the wording of great weapon fighting, frankly I think the old way they ruled it was wrong but that's I'm the past. By that logic rogues would be the best DBS users by far because those 3s would apply to sneak attack damage too
Ten to go till 200!
Monetise your ASMR skills, Colby! I recommend the channel name "Deep Dive ASMR". Great build too!
WOTC announced a new player guide for the forgotten realms in 2025, where they are pretty likely to give double bladed scimitars a mastery property, so you probably should have waited until it is out to do a build for that weapon.
DBS is from Eberron, so don't expect to see a new version anytime soon
Double-bladed scimitar is from Eberron, not Forgotten Realms.
I'd suggest the wording of the fighting style should apply to any die rolled as part of that attack so those 2D6 from the barbarian subclass would count as long as you meet the requirements of 2 handed weapon attack. As that would be fairly inline with everything else and seems to match the wording to me - they are 'a damage die'. As for instance Critical hits apply to the Sneak attack or Smite die (unless that isn't as clear any more - not read the new PHB)
Oooh that rouge dip at the end is really inspired with that that combo - now your sneak attack can't roll snake eyes either! Though I'd want to read the current version of all the elements involved to make that possible and consider if it actually works, but assuming it actually does work your minimum damage is getting crazy.
BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! 3 seconds into video
I think topple would be the best mastery for dbs. The imagery the weapon evokes is swiftly spinning and slashing with the blade to use both ends effortlessly. The only other weapon that really appeals to that fantasy in dnd is the quarterstaff; which has topple.
i really wonder what your sword and board build you mentioned you wanna do is. maybe a paladin? maybe a vengeance one? or devotion :D excellent work as always! keep it up
Was waiting for this. I was too lazy to figure a decent DBS build myself.
Hulk has PhD. Nuclear physicist in spare time
Eat, algorithm, eat!
Weapon mastery for DBS? Topple like the quarterstaff or battle axe. I've just played a deep gnome barbarian who even knocked over a frost giant - twice - gaining advantage on attacks against it for the whole party
Ok hear me out I think the DBS should get the Cleave property. The DBS to me represents elegance and spinning blades and using both ends of the weapon to attack. Cleave just feels right to me, I wouldn't even go with a modified Nick attack that lets you attack with the bonus attack as part of the main attack because bonus action attacks are so rare now
14:36 Rage lasts 10 min in 2024 PHB
I never thought about great weapon fighting style used alongside a great Club. I'm not sure how you would calculate the average damage, since the damage variation is between 6 and 8
15:55 I think graze or cleave would be on point / thematic for the dbs.