Calculating Attack & Damage bonuses - Rules & Game Mechanics - Dungeons & Dragons Discussion - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

It automatically combines your ability modifier plus proficency for attacks.

So say you have a +3 to strength it adds proficency bonus and gives you an attack modifier of +5 to hit. When your stat or proficency bonus increase so will the attack modifier.

Damage is your weapons damage dice plus the ability modifier associated with the attack, but not the proficency bonus.

Hope this helps.

ok

Quote from Fattsgalore >>

It automatically combines your ability modifier plus proficency for attacks.

So say you have a +3 to strength it adds proficency bonus and gives you an attack modifier of +5 to hit. When your stat or proficency bonus increase so will the attack modifier.

Damage is your weapons damage dice plus the ability modifier associated with the attack, but not the proficency bonus.

Hope this helps.

ok so when I roll my D20 dice to hit in combat, my proficiency bonus is already calculated in the D&D beyond character creator. But I would manually add in my ability (ie. strength for melee) modifier to that D20 roll. So like it says with my Club I have a +5, and my strength modifier is +3, so my roll would be 1d20+5+3? ...And then let's say my hit dice is 1d4+3, I would roll the d4+3+3 from my strength modifier but that proficiency bonus has automatically not been calculated into the damage roll? Thanks for your help!

When displaying things for you, D&D beyond already adds all bonuses. Just use what it shows you.

If you want, you can verify by doing the calculation yourself. When attacking with a weapon, your bonus to hit is equal to your proficiency modifier plus your ability modifier (so at level 1, your proficiency modifier is +2, you said your strength is +3, so the total bonus is +5 - what D&Dbeyond is showing you). Your bonus to damage is just your strength bonus, so it's +3. You would add +3 to whatever damage die is specified by the weapon you're using. So if you were using a dagger, it would show "1d4 + 3" and that's what you would use. (This is not your hit dice, hit dice are something else).

I'll just clarify also some terminology that you're using, because you're confusing some things.

Your proficiency modifier is a static bonus based on your level. At level 1 - for all characters - it's +2. See https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#ProficiencyBonus .

Your ability modifier for each ability is that ability, minus 10, divided by 2, rounded down. So your strength modifier for a strength of 16 is +3, as you've calculated.

Your hit dice are what you use to restore hit points during a short rest. You gain them as you level up (starting with 2 of them at level 1) and tankier classes get bigger hit dice. (They also determine your maximum hitpoints.)

A weapon also specifies its damage dice - for example, 2d6 for a greatsword or 1d4 for a dagger. This does not change as you level up, it's fixed for the weapon.

Dnd beyond character sheet has added all your modifiers and done all the calculations for you.

That +5 is your attack. So d20+5 on attack.

Damage is weapon die + ability modifier. For a club its d4 plus your strength modifier so d4+3.

If your like me I recommend youtube for learning dnd (learning everything to be honest) i'm a big visual learner. If it wasnt for YouTube I'd have no clue what I was doing. For basics I recommend "don't stop thinking" he'll get you started with easy to understand animated tutorials.

For more indepth rules and the minutiae of the game "dungeon dudes". They are a bit dry, but they know their stuff.

Tell me if this helps.

Also hit die aren't to hit. Certain terminology is confusing, but then again this game was created in 1974 modeled after table top strategy games.

If you've every seen the letters "hp" in a video game it actually stands for hit points. I grew up thinking it was "health points"...which makes way more sense.

So "hit die" are actually "health die".

Quote from ftl >>

Your hit dice are what you use to restore hit points during a short rest. You gain them as you level up (starting with 2 of them at level 1) and tankier classes get bigger hit dice. (They also determine your maximum hitpoints.)

It's 1 hit die at level 1, as your number of hit dice is equal to your character level.

As to the OP, if you have a club, a strength of 16 and you're a level one character, when you attack you will do the following: Roll a d20 (you get an 11), you add you to hit bonus. (your ability modifier and, if you are proficient with the weapon, your proficiency bonus. Your ability modifier for melee weapons will be +3 because of your strength and 1st level proficiency Bonus is +2 for a total of +5. This is what DnDBeyond shows you in the "To hit" for each weapon.) Thus far, you rolled an 11 and you add 5 to it, giving you a 16. You report this to the DM, who compares it to the AC of the creature and tells you whether you hit the creature or not. When the DM reports a hit, you then roll the damage dice and add the modifier (unless the attack specifically says you don't). In this case, you roll a 1d4 for the club (4, nice!) and add 3. The creature takes 7 damage.

Let's now say you are a high elf wizard and your DM has allowed you to select a Moon Touched Sword. You but a 14 in dexterity, a 15 in intelligence and on down the line until your 8 in strength. With your racial bonuses, you have a +3 in dex and int and a -1 in str. You look at wizard and can see that they are proficient withDaggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, and light crossbows. Not what you had in mind. However, high elves haveElf Weapon Training: "You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow." You also want to consider the greatsword because you've heard it does a lot of damage.

Shortsword has the finesse property, meaning you can use your strength or your dexterity for it. Thanks to Elf Weapon Training, you are proficient.

For strength, you would have a to hit bonus of +1 and your attacks will deal 1d6-1 damage. To hit an AC 13 creature, you must roll a 12 (45% hit rate) and will deal (3.5-1) 2.5 average damage. (Average damage can be determined by adding the maximum damage and the minimum damage and then dividing by two, then adding any damage modifiers). A Critical Hit (d20 roll is a 20) is automatically a hit and you roll twice as many damage die. In this case it would be 2d6-1 (7-1=6 average damage) for a strength roll.

For dexterity, you would have a to hit bonus of +5 and your attacks will deal 1d6+3 damage. DnDBeyond automatically chooses this to report for you. Here you need an 8 to hit an AC 13 (65% hit chance and deal (3.5+3) 6.5 average damage. A crit would be 10 average damage

The longsword is not a finesse weapon, but you are proficient with it. Therefore, you must use strength for your attack and damage rolls. It does have the versatile property meaning you can wield it with two hands for additional damage. +1 to hit and 1d8-1 for 1 hand attacks and +1 to hit and 1d10-1 for two hand attacks. You must still roll a 12 to hit an AC 13 creature (45% hit rate) and deal (4.5-1) 3.5 or (5.5-1) 4.5 average damage on a hit. Crits would be 8 or 10 average damage.

A greatsword requires strength and you would not be proficient. You'll have a -1 to hit and 2d6-1 damage. That's still 35% hit chance and (7-1) 6 average damage. A crit would give 4d6-1 (14-1=13 average) damage.

I think that should give a decent idea of what to expect. The TLDR version is just add the to hit number to your d20 attack roll and follow the damage formula given when you hit, doubling the number of dice (but not the modifier) in the event of a critical.

Quick follow up question, do you need “proficiency” in a weapon in order to have the proficiency bonus added?

And I guess another example that confuses me. I’m looking at the pre-generated Human Fighter character sheet that comes with the starter kit. They have a +3 dexterity modifier and as a level 1 a +2 proficiency bonus. But then they have a +7 Atk Bonus to their Longbow attack...where did 7 come from?

Quote from shawnrevfit >>

Quick follow up question, do you need “proficiency” in a weapon in order to have the proficiency bonus added?

And I guess another example that confuses me. I’m looking at the pre-generated Human Fighter character sheet that comes with the starter kit. They have a +3 dexterity modifier and as a level 1 a +2 proficiency bonus. But then they have a +7 Atk Bonus to their Longbow attack...where did 7 come from?

Yes you need to be proficient to add the proficiency bonus. See my greatsword example. The +2 for the longbow is because the fighter has the Archery Fighting Style which adds +2 to the to hit bonus. Thus +3 dex modifier, +2 proficiency bonus, and +2 Archery Fighting Style Bonus.

Why is my Damage Bonus +5 instead of +3?

https://ddb.ac/characters/26921288/UZfU9Z

Can somebody tell me why I have to hit +6 and +4 damage on all weapons when the character only has 3 strength? I really do not get it

Edit: nevermind I got it

I have a Barbarian Lvl 6.

It shows 1d6+3 for my single handaxe attack ( I imagine the +3 is from my strength modifier) However, in rage I also get +2 Melee damage with strength weapons. So does mean I get 1d6 +5 when raging?

Quote from Qizicxz >>

So how does this work with magic weapons? I have a STR Mod of +3 a proficiency bonus of +3 and the sword is +2 magic sword (+2 to attack and damage rolls when weilding the weapon) would the attack bonus be 1d20 +8, whereas the 'to Hit' modifier would be +5? Thanks!

The "To-hit" modifier for a weapon you are proficient with is stat_mod (usually dex or str depending on the weapon but some classes can use int or cha) + proficiency + magic_modifier. In your example the sword would be +3 (str) +3 (proficiency) +2 (magic) = +8 to hit.

Damage does not use proficiency so the damage bonus is +3 (str) +2 (magic) = +5 damage.

Your rolls would be 1d20 +8 to hit a target AC and the damage rolled would be the damage die for the weapon - typically d8 for a long sword used with one hand = d8+5

Ok, I have a Tabaxi Rogue/Bard, level 10. He has 20 Dex so +5 modifier. So his proficiency bonus is +4. Why does DND Beyond report his base to hit bonus for finesse and ranged weapons as +12? Shouldn't it be +9?

https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/52757686

I really wish the character sheet had hover tooltips that showed the math for each bonus.

Edit:

I added customizations to reduce my to-hit bonuses down to correct values, but I still don't understand why it would be needed.

Definitely shouldn't be +12. You have no extra magical item or features/traits that increase your attack rolls, so your DEX+5 and Prof.+4 will be your only hit bonus to your attack rolls.

I've seen other instances of bugs when using DnD Beyond to auto-calculate these things, so you can try and refresh everything (character sheet, website, computer) and see if that helps, or just work with it like you did with Customizations.