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McGeachie's Multi-Class Average-Case 5e DPR Calculator
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Purpose
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This is an average-case Damage-per-Round (DPR) calculator for multiclass builds in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
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Disclaimer
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Damage per round is not everything. This calculator only considers damage done using the elements modeled herein. Damage is averaged over the expected length of the fight. DPR is only one tool that may help you to design a character that is enjoyable for you. Only you can pick the character right for you.
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Instructions
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To edit this spreadsheet, download a copy to your device or drive in Microsoft Excel format. Then open that file using MS Excel or Google Sheets. You can then edit your own copy!
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the main DPR is done on the page called "Sorcadins." To model a character, edit the Green Box areas in the first 100-150 rows of the sheet. The DPR is listed at the very bottom of the sheet, and at the top row, and is also graphed at the top right.
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Each column from E to X represents the character and the character's DPR at a specific level, from Level 1 to Level 20.
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Step 1. Enter multiclass levels
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The character's levels in various classes are represented in the green box labeled Class from E7 to X19. At each Character Level, a character can have Class Levels in one or more classes that sum to the Total Character Level.
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Input the level of the corresponding class in the column for character level.
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For example, if at Level 1, your character will have one level of Paladin, enter a "1" in box E7. Make sure there are no non-zero entries in the rows corresponding to other classes.
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Then at Level 2, if you will have two levels of Paladin, enter a "2" in box F7. If the character will progress only as a Paladin, continue entering the class level of paladin in the column corresponding to total character level, in other words enter the sequence of numbers from 1 to 20 in boxes E7 to X7.
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Multiclass characters are entered in the same way. At each level, the character's total class levels must sum to the character's Total Character Level.
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For example, suppose the Paladin at Level 3 decides to multiclass into Warlock. In the column for Character Level 3, enter a "2" in the Paladin row and a "1" in the Warlock row to indicate they have 2 Levels of Paladin and 1 Level of Warlock.
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Step 2. Indicate Subclasses
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Character subclasses are indicated in the green and white striped boxes from rows 40 to 90.
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A character's subclass is indicated by a "1" for having the subclass and a "0" for not having the subclass.
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There should be only one subclass with a "1" indicated for each class at each level.
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If you wish to model the DPR of a subclass that doesn't contribute to DPR, such as a Bear Totem Barbarian, simply place "0"s in all barbarian subclasses.
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Step 3. Feats and Ability Score Increases (ASIs)
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Feats and ASI's are indicated in the green box from B5 to B29.
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The total number of ASI's and/or feats your character has at each Total Character Level is shown in Row 22. This is a guide for you. If your DM awards other ASI's/Feats, it's ok to deviate from this number. This does not include Level-1 Feats awarded by certain races.
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A feat or ASI is indicated with a non-zero number for the Total Character Level at which the feat or ASI is obtained.
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For example, if the Paladin/Warlock character takes the Great Weapon Master (GWM) feat at L6, enter a "6" in box B6.
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If the Paladin/Warlock character is a race that provides a Feat at Level 1, then enter a "1" in (for example) box B8 to indicate that Pole Arm Master feat was taken at Level 1.
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Ability scores are all treated as having a 16 (or a +3 bonus) at character creation. This is a reasonable assumption if this score is important to the class.
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For each additional ability score increase resulting in an increase of the ability score bonus (increases to a score of 18 and then to 20), indicate the Level at which this is obtained in the same manner as Feats.
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For example, if the Paladin/Warlock takes an ASI for Charisma at Level 12, then enter a "12" in box B10.
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If the Paladin/Warlock's DM lets players roll for stats or start with stats much higher than 16, then indicate this with Level 1 ASI increases.
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For example, if the Paladin/Warlock started with a 20 charisma, enter a "1" in box B10 and also a "1" in box B11. This shows that at L1, this character has a +5 bonus to Charisma-based abilities and attacks.
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Half Feats.
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If a character obtains a Half-Feat (such as Piercer, or Elven Accuracy) and this also results in an increase in an ability score to the next even number, these must be indicated separately.
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For example, if the Paladin/Warlock is an Elf and at Level 10 takes Elven Accuracy with a +1 Charisma bonus, and this increases his/her charisma to 18, indicate this with a "1" in box B7 and a "1" in box B10.
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Step 4. Weapon Choice
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Weapon choice is indicated in the green box from B32 to B40. Use a "1" to indicate that the character will use this type of weapon, and a "0" to indicate that he/she will not.
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Indicate only one weapon!
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Step 5. Fighting Options
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In the green box from B43 to B48, certain strategic options can be indicated.
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These are indicated with a "1" for something the character will do, and a "0" for something the character will not do
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Indicate "Use 2 Weapons" if the character will dual-wield melee weapons
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Indicate "Force Range" or "Force Melee" if the character will exclusively fight from range or in melee. If both are "0" then DPR simulator will try to guess based on feats and weapon selections.
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Indicate "Exclude Eld Blast" if your character would qualify for the Eldritch Blast cantrip, but you do not want this to be a source of your DPR.
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Indicate "use a shield" to indicate your character will fight with a weapon and shield. This disables dual weidling, which is assumed with one-handed weapons in some cases.
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Indicate "use Shilalegh" if you will start every combat by using a bonus action on the Druid Cantrip of the same name. This makes WIS your main attack stat.
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Step 6. Racial Traits
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Racial traits that impact DPR are indicated in the green box from B51 to B55.
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These are indicated with a "1" for an ability the the character has, and a "0" for an ability the character lacks
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Step 7. Fighting Style (Martial Classes)
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In the green box from B58 to B66, indicate at what level the character obtains a martial fighting style. These styles are granted from Classes: Fighter, Paladin, and Ranger. Fighting Styles can also be granted by Feats.
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Indicate in the corresponding box what level the character obtains a particular fighting style. Characters can potentially obtain more than one. Leave other fighting styles with a "0" to indicate the character does not have them.
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If you wish to model a fighting style that does not contribute to DPR, such as the Defensive style which adds +1 to AC, simply do not select a fighting style. Place "0" in all fighting style boxes.
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Step 8. Spell Casts per Day
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The large green and white striped box from E94 to X148 indicates which spells will be cast per day.
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For each spell the character wishes to cast every day, indicate the number of times this spell will be cast.
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There is some checking for available spells and spell slots, but this works best if the number of spells cast is kept under the limit of spells that the character would have from their class abilities.
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Spells that can be upcast using a higher level slot for a numerical benefit will automatically be upcast to the highest available slot.
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Spells take higher priority than other actions, such as attacking. Thus casting a spell that has a sub-optimal effect may decrease your total DRP.
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At the bottom of the Spells section, there are certain spell-like actions and strategic options.
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"Favored Foe Ranger marking ability (c)" and "Bonus Action to provide Advantage (Spell-like action: Rogue, Ranger)" are like spells. Indicate the number of times per day your character will use them.
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"Use GWM only with Advantage" and "Cleric Blessed Strikes (Tasha's) instead of Divine Strikes/Potent Spellcasting" are binary options. Indicate with a 0 or 1 if these options are ones you would like the character to use.
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Step 9. Warlock Invocations
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In the green box from B68 to B75, indicate at what level the character obtains particular warlock invocations. Thses are generally restricted to Warlocks, but can also be granted by Feats.
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Step 10. (Optionally) Adjust magic item progression
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The yellow box from E20 to X23 can be used to indicate when your character will (likely) obtain a magical weapon of a particular bonus to hit or damage.
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For example, if you expect that at L6 your character will have a +1 magical weapon, enter a "1" in boxes J20 (for +1 to hit) and J21 (for +1 to damage). Note this includes +1 spell attack for spells which make attack rolls.
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Enter the average damage dice for "Magic Weapon Avg Dice Damage Bonus", for example for a Flame Tongue weapon which does 2d6, enter the average damage "7". For a weapon that adds 1d6 to each hit, enter "3.5"
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Step 11. Done! (optionally look at Simulation Parameters)
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There's no need to look at any sheets besides the main one, "Sorcadins", and the base parameters sheet, "Base Numbers".
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Advanced DPR Simluation Parameters ("Base Numbers")
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The "Base Numbers" sheet has many parameters used by the DPR calculations here. These can be edited to match the expectations of your DM, playgroup, and adventuring style.
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The most important numbers for the DPR simulation are the number of fights per day (or per long rest, these terms are used interchangably), the length of those fights in rounds, and the number of short rests per adventuring day.
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These numbers are in boxes C5 to C7 on the "Base Numbers" sheet
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Your campaign and DM's style will determine how many fights you have per long rest (or per day). WOTC recommends 9 fights per day, popular DND podcasts such as Critical Role are closer to 1.5 per day. A more typical number is probably 4 or 5 fights per long rest.
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The average DND combat encounter lasts 3.5 rounds. You can adjust this number based on your DM's style: maybe fights are long and involved, maybe they're more typical.
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The number of short rests per long rest will determine how effective short-rest characters (monks, warlocks, certain fighters) are relative to long-rest characters (barbarians, paladins, sorcerers, wizards, etc). WOTC recommends 2 short rests per long rest (or 2 short rests per 9 fights), but most campaigns seem to have fewer.
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Percent of Fights with a Buff Round is the proportion of fights where casters will have a round to prepare and cast something like Bless without taking up an action during the fight itself.
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Some general modifiers can be set for the DPR simulation, these include global changes to enemy's armor class.
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The chance for Booming Blade to deal it's secondary damage, triggered upon the target's voluntary movement, is entered in the "booming blade secondary damage percent" box. This is meant to include choosing to cast GFB or BB based on which will likely cause secondary damage. This may be character driven if you play as a character with movement skills or taunt skills; and may also be DM dependent if your character tends to be attacked more or less frequently than others in your party.
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Since the publication of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, it has been against Rules As Written for booming blade to be cast using a shadowblade as the weapon. It seems to be allowed by Rules As Intended, since Jeremy Crawford himself has said he would allow it at his table. There is an option here for you to indicate the ruling used by your DM: enter a "1" if allowed and a "0" if disallowed.
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There are a number of parameters that reflect the likelihood of a character to be able to execute an opportunity attack on an opponent's turn, and these may be edited. It is recommended to leave them as is.
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A number of parameters relating to Area of Effect attacks can be indicated.
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The total number of opportunities to use each Area of Effect skill can be indicated. This limits the total number of, for example, fireballs that can be usefully cast on multiple targets.
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The number of targets effected by each ability is also indicated here. This is sometimes increased by certain skills which have much larger areas of effect (such as fireball).