Hypothetical max damage in a round for a martial

So I would have thought at level 20 the max possible damage a martial could do is playing a reach lunging dueling fighter Multiclass paladin using a flickmace (preferably embiggened by an ally for that sweet 25ft reach) and making hay with combat reflexes (extra aop per turn) improved combat riposte (extra riposte per turn) and Boundless Reprisals (extra reaction per enemy turn) and the paladin defensive reaction.

Assumimg teleport are not ubiquitous melee enemies would have to go to a lot of trouble to avoid triggering aop if you have maxed reach even at level 20, so you should be getting 1 to several extra attacks without penalty per turn.

So has anyone yet got to level 20 and does this play out or is it just theory crafting?

You have to consider that

All lvl 20 monsters have reach.
All lvl 19 monsters have reach.
All lvl 18 monsters have reach ( at least 10 feet. And ranged weapons if enemies has higher reach and they prefer to use actions to attack and not to step forward )

That said, depends how your DM plays.
You know the enemy reach, and the enemies know yours.

So stepping to avoid a zero map attack is always a good choice.

I prefer a champion to play with reactions, because he could easily trigger them ( the enemy has to hit, and he will ) and also you could prevent enemies oneshotting a character by lowering their initiative and focusing one.

2x champion reaction
Eventually 1x AOO ( combat reflexes )if you prefer not to take shield paragon feat by lvl 20.

Also, since it is map zero, critical hits are more likely to occour.

And with a Flickmace + instrument of Zeal you will have

1d8 extra damage + stunned 1 on enemy + knockdown from critical spec + 5 feet forced movement from grevious rune.

1 action to stand, and 1 to step back. No more actions to attack.

I know it only occours on criticals, but with a keen rune it is a 10% 2 times per turn. With heroism hightened lvl 9 should be a 20% or 25%.

Ps: remember that by taking the paladin reaction as a fighter, or as any other class, you will have an extra choice among your reactions.

Not an extra reaction.

A level 17 Sorcerer can deal 150 + 15d4 damage with magic missiles. I know, you asked for martial damage, but I like this one :)

Does dangerous sorcerery apply to each missile if it does its a much better spell.

Yes, but only if you target different opponents. So, it's true this example considers 5 of them, so it's a bit of an extreme number. But it's a whole bunch of damage :)

I mean at level 20, a Fighter can AoO once per each opponent's turn, so effectively the maximum damage against an infinite amount of opponents is infinity! Math finished! Much winning!

EDIT: Hmm, unless you have a way on each of those attacks to do an infinite amount of damage... that would actually be bigger than infinity...

I mean at level 20, a Fighter can AoO once per each opponent's turn, so effectively the maximum damage against an infinite amount of opponents is infinity! Math finished! Much winning!

EDIT: Hmm, unless you have a way on each of those attacks to do an infinite amount of damage... that would actually be bigger than infinity...

I wouldn't say it could be infinite. Enemies (usually) take up space and have limited movement.

So the enemies would have to form a queue and walk one by one through the fighter's reach. Let us make them flying, burrowing creatures too so that we can have them use three dimensions of movement.

tivadar27 wrote:

I mean at level 20, a Fighter can AoO once per each opponent's turn, so effectively the maximum damage against an infinite amount of opponents is infinity! Math finished! Much winning!

EDIT: Hmm, unless you have a way on each of those attacks to do an infinite amount of damage... that would actually be bigger than infinity...

I wouldn't say it could be infinite. Enemies (usually) take up space and have limited movement.

So the enemies would have to form a queue and walk one by one through the fighter's reach. Let us make them flying, burrowing creatures too so that we can have them use three dimensions of movement.

Nonsense, the enemies have an infinite amount of allies teleport them in one at a time, then they walk past the fighter into a sphere of annihilation. :p

Who ever said theorycrafting was worthless!

lemeres wrote:

tivadar27 wrote:

I mean at level 20, a Fighter can AoO once per each opponent's turn, so effectively the maximum damage against an infinite amount of opponents is infinity! Math finished! Much winning!

EDIT: Hmm, unless you have a way on each of those attacks to do an infinite amount of damage... that would actually be bigger than infinity...

I wouldn't say it could be infinite. Enemies (usually) take up space and have limited movement.

So the enemies would have to form a queue and walk one by one through the fighter's reach. Let us make them flying, burrowing creatures too so that we can have them use three dimensions of movement.

Nonsense, the enemies have an infinite amount of allies teleport them in one at a time, then they walk past the fighter into a sphere of annihilation. :p

Grade A call back there.

Other ones for Sorcerers:
3 1-action 9th level Harm spells with Undead Bloodline and Dangerous Sorcery:
27d8 + 54 = 175.5 damage, basic Fortitude save.

Double Wand of Manifold Missiles (7th level spell) + Dangerous Sorcery:
8d4 + 64 = 84 damage each round.

When it comes to obliterating things, I really find the Sorcerer efficient.

So is this maximum average damage? Or "program the dice" maximum damage?

So is this maximum average damage? Or "program the dice" maximum damage?

Looks like it using average for d8s (4.5).