User:Guybrush42/DamageExamples

Test run for damage example tables.

Damage Expressions

The intent is to replace the paragraph of examples in the Damage rolls article with a table, so that the full in-game style damage expression can be shown for each example.

Table of examples

Examples of damage expressions

Source	Simple expression (no modifiers)	Dice	Damage range
Dagger	1d4 (1~4) Piercing damage	One four-sided die	1 to 4 piercing
Greatsword	2d6 (2~12) Slashing damage	Two six-sided dice	2 to 12 slashing
Fireball	8d6 (8~48) Fire damage	Eight six-sided dice	8 to 48 fire

Current example paragraph

For example, a successful attack with a Dagger does a base of 1d4Piercing damage (1~4). This means a single four-sided die is rolled to determine the damage, for a total of 1 to 4 piercing damage. Most weapons use a single damage die, but some two-handed weapons use two: a successful attack with a Greatsword does 2d6Slashing damage (2~12), rolling two six-sided dice for a total of 2 to 12 slashing damage. Damaging spells typically roll more dice: for example, being caught in a  Fireball will cause 8d6Fire damage (8~48), though a successful Saving Throw can reduce it to half.

A note on multiple damage dice

A re-write of the "A bit of Mathematics" section to use a more realisitic example of greataxe vs greatsword.

Weapons and spells that roll multiple dice for damage have higher minimum damage, but also a different probability curve. A single die is equally likely to produce any result, since there is exactly one chance of rolling each number. When adding dice together, there are multiple dice rolls that add up to the same total. Those results are equivalent (ie they have the same functional effect), meaning that some results - especially those in the middle of the damage range - are much more likely to occur.

For example, Greataxes do 1d12Slashing damage, and are equally likely to roll a 1, a 12 or anything in between. Greatswords deal 2d6Slashing, and cannot roll lower than 2 damage - but they are statistically much more likely to roll 7 damage than either 2 or 12.

This is most easily explained with a table of all possible outcomes:

Possible results of a 2d6 roll
(intersections are totals)

First roll	Second roll
	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
6	7	8	9	10	11	12

The 7 appears as the result in 6 out of 36 possible rolls, while the 12 appears only once. This means a 2d6 roll has a 16.6666% (1 in 6) chance of resulting in 7 points of damage, but only a 2.7777% (1 in 36) chance of resulting in 12 points of damage. By contrast, a greataxe actually has a higher chance of rolling maximum damage, since 1 out of 12 possibilities (8.3333%) result in an 12. But it has an equal chance of rolling a 1.

Thus greataxes and other single die weapons are equally likely to deliver medium, high or low damage, and feel "swingier" or more random. Greatswords and other multiple dice weapons are more consistent: they're more likely to produce a result in the middle of their damage range, and only rarely roll very high or low.