Help me understand Sharpshooter feat pls

[pyremind]

So + 10 damage :Homer: "That's good!" but -5 to attack rolls.. "That's bad..."

What is this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ feat about lol. It will hit really hard but miss a lot? That sounds like asking to be annoyed by RNG.

[Mack]

That implies the character is trying to do a harder shot (eg a headshot), making them less likely to hit, but if they do, they do more damage.

[Ragnin]

Pretty much, in 5e its good because you take the fighting style archery which gives you a plus 2 to hit, making sharpshooter more like -3 to hit for +10 damage. It pays off more at later levels when you also have +1/2/3 bows helping you hit even more or other ways to get advantage often.

[Recjawjind]

Let's assume you have 20 dex and are using a heavy crossbow, literally the most damage you can do off of weapon attacks alone, without other boni.
Your average damage per shot is 10 (1d10 + 5).
Sharpshooter doubles this average per shot to 20
-5 to hit means (since its a d20 system) -25% chance to hit.
So, if you have a chance to hit above 50% with sharpshooter turned off, it is on average a damage increase.
If you have other sources of damage, it becomes a bit less impactful (% wise increase speaking), but if your chances to hit without it are high to very high, it will still increase you average damage significantly.

[pyremind]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Let's assume you have 20 dex and are using a heavy crossbow, literally the most damage you can do off of weapon attacks alone, without other boni.
Your average damage per shot is 10 (1d10 + 5).
Sharpshooter doubles this average per shot to 20
-5 to hit means (since its a d20 system) -25% chance to hit.
So, if you have a chance to hit above 50% with sharpshooter turned off, it is on average a damage increase.
If you have other sources of damage, it becomes a bit less impactful (% wise increase speaking), but if your chances to hit without it are high to very high, it will still increase you average damage significantly.

Woah percentages! Now you're speakin my language.

Boni?.. hmm boni.. yes

[Tyra]

It works fine in tabletop rpg because when you attack you can choose to turn it on or off for that attack, so if you are in a bad position, and you need to do at least some damage, you can choose not to use it, but if you are attacking with advantage, or you have a lot of bonuses going on, you can turn it on. Larian needs to put a toggle on the feat so you can choose when to use it.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by pyremind:

Woah percentages! Now you're speakin my language.

Boni?.. hmm boni.. yes

Glad this helped :>

[WeAreVortex]

Originally posted by Tyra:

It works fine in tabletop rpg because when you attack you can choose to turn it on or off for that attack, so if you are in a bad position, and you need to do at least some damage, you can choose not to use it, but if you are attacking with advantage, or you have a lot of bonuses going on, you can turn it on. Larian needs to put a toggle on the feat so you can choose when to use it.

There is a toggle - you find it in the "passives" tab.

[Ratilt]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Let's assume you have 20 dex and are using a heavy crossbow, literally the most damage you can do off of weapon attacks alone, without other boni.
Your average damage per shot is 10 (1d10 + 5).
Sharpshooter doubles this average per shot to 20
-5 to hit means (since its a d20 system) -25% chance to hit.
So, if you have a chance to hit above 50% with sharpshooter turned off, it is on average a damage increase.
If you have other sources of damage, it becomes a bit less impactful (% wise increase speaking), but if your chances to hit without it are high to very high, it will still increase you average damage significantly.

True... but not really
Fight in D&D works in way, where you have to roll higher attack than enemy Armour class
If enemy has 10AC (standard cloth, no other bonuses) and you have +5 to attack roll, you still need to roll 6 or above to score hit. That means you have 75% chances to hit.
But if you will take this talent, you need to roll at least 11 to score hit. That means 50% chance to hit. -25% as you said, but if you look at this 75% as "basic" (means 1) it shows you that it decrease your chances of hit by 33% (0,66 of base)
After 100 attack you will deal, without talent, 75x10 = 750dmg
with talent you will deal 50x20 = 1000dmg so it is good

But things get worse if enemy have high AC
At 19AC you have to roll at least 14 or above to score hit. 30% chance
BUT
with talent you need to score 19 or 20 to score hit. 10% chacne
that means with talent you will score hit 3x times less than without it.
After 10 attacks, without talent you will deal 30x10 = 300dmg
With talent you will deal 10x20 = 200dmg

Quick calculation and it shows that, in this situatuion, if enemy has AC 16 or above, this talent is lowering your dmg output

[Boss]

Basically you're supposed to use it when you have a really good chance to hit, so you increase your damage output. Use it when you have advantage and/or are attacking low AC enemies. Otherwise, attack normally. Do this right, and statistically speaking, you'll boost your output significantly.

Same with Great Weapon Master

[pyremind]

Well at least there's the high ground penalty it takes away, so that's gotta be worth something

[Something completely different]

It's good for a rogue using it when hidden with advantage on the roll.

Otherwise it's good fighting low armour, high hp monsters such as zombies.

[Dagungus]

As someone with 9 years of experience in 5e, Sharpshooter and Great weapon master are more or less the same thing, for different weapons.
Step #1, the rules. you take -5 to hit (more or less disadvantage) for +10 dmg (Huge).
So the easiest way to manipulate this into your favor, is to use it when you have advantage, like with reckless attack, oath of vengeance channel divinity, or with precision attack for battlemaster fighter.

You will miss A L O T if you try this on enemies with 18 ac or higher, because the math gets wild.
In short, if you like to gamble, or have a way to give yourself advantage, (like cunning action hide for sharpshooter). This is a must have feat for dps builds. But you gotta earn it.

Try casting BLESS (1st gate cleric / paladin spell) on these units to potentially turn their -5 attack into just a -1. Stacking +1/2/3 weapons on these units will also slowly turn the -5 into just a -2, or even back into the positives.
The more advantages you stack, the more likely you are to hit. Blinding a target, knocking them prone (for melee only), stunning them, etc. Try to find the perfect combo to destroy them.

[Captain Awesome]

multiclass with Rogue + Ranger, you get the Archery +2 so it makes it -3. But also as a Thief rogue, you get the 2 bonus actions, so you %90 of the time be in hiding meaning your attack will be in advantage. In this case (you have to be at level 7... 3 of rogue, 4 of ranger), the -5 becomes insignificant.

[Shizkazam]

Originally posted by Tyra:

It works fine in tabletop rpg because when you attack you can choose to turn it on or off for that attack, so if you are in a bad position, and you need to do at least some damage, you can choose not to use it, but if you are attacking with advantage, or you have a lot of bonuses going on, you can turn it on. Larian needs to put a toggle on the feat so you can choose when to use it.

There is a toggle under the passives tab. Didn't see if anybody replied yet but i wanted to make sure you knew this so you could better enjoy the game.

[xcenic]

Pro tip: If you dual handcrossbow the offhand dont take penalties from feat but have the damage bonus.