When playing Dungeons & Dragons (DnD), players are often looking for ways to enhance their characters’ abilities, create powerful synergies, and make their gameplay more exciting. One such feature that can turn the tide of a battle is the “Savage Attacker” feat. If you’ve found yourself wondering how this feat can benefit your character, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll explore everything about Savage Attacker in DnD, its mechanics, how to optimize it, and why it might just be the missing piece in your character’s arsenal.
What is Savage Attacker?
Savage Attacker is a feat in Dungeons & Dragons that allows a player to re-roll the damage dice of their weapon attack and choose the higher result. This can be an incredibly useful ability, especially for characters who rely on strong weapon-based attacks. The feat essentially gives players a second chance to land a bigger hit with their weapon damage, boosting the overall effectiveness of their attacks.
Mechanics of Savage Attacker
The official rule for Savage Attacker is simple but effective:
> “When you roll damage for a melee weapon attack, you can re-roll the weapon’s damage dice, and you must use the new roll. You can use this feature once per turn.”
What does this mean for your character? Every time you land a melee weapon attack, you now have the option to roll the damage dice again, and keep the higher of the two rolls. This gives a chance for more consistent and higher damage, especially with larger dice (like a d12 or d8 for typical weapon attacks).
Why Should You Consider Savage Attacker?
If you’re playing a character that focuses on dealing damage through physical combat, Savage Attacker can be an absolute game-changer. Whether you’re a Fighter, Barbarian, or another melee-focused class, this feat offers you a better chance of landing higher damage rolls. But let’s dive deeper into the specific benefits and strategies you should consider.
1. Increased Damage Consistency
In DnD, a common complaint is the randomness of dice rolls. One moment, you might land a fantastic critical hit, while the next, you’re left with a barely noticeable damage roll. Savage Attacker minimizes this randomness, giving you a reliable way to increase your damage output. By allowing you to re-roll damage dice, you’re more likely to achieve higher rolls, smoothing out the fluctuations that can often frustrate players.
2. Complementing Critical Hits
While Savage Attacker doesn’t directly affect critical hits (since a critical hit already doubles the damage dice), it does enhance the overall damage consistency of your character’s attacks. Even without a critical hit, you can re-roll your damage and still get a better result. Over time, this can significantly increase your overall damage output, especially during longer combat encounters.
3. Synergy with Other Abilities
Savage Attacker becomes even more potent when combined with other feats, class abilities, or magical items. For example, if you’re playing a Barbarian, whose rage boosts your damage, Savage Attacker becomes an even more powerful tool for dealing massive amounts of damage. Additionally, this feat pairs well with high-damage weapons like greatswords or mauls, where the damage dice are larger, giving you a better chance of benefiting from a re-roll.
Who Should Take Savage Attacker?
Savage Attacker is most beneficial for characters who focus on physical combat, especially those who have high attack frequency. It works well with:
– Barbarians: Their rage already provides bonus damage, and Savage Attacker amplifies this even further, making your hits feel truly savage.
– Fighters: With extra attacks per turn, Fighters can take full advantage of re-rolling damage dice to maximize their damage output each round.
– Paladins: Their smite abilities rely on adding radiant damage, so being able to re-roll damage dice gives them a better chance to land powerful hits.
On the other hand, spellcasters like Wizards or Sorcerers won’t benefit as much from this feat, as their primary damage comes from spells rather than physical attacks.
How to Optimize Savage Attacker
While Savage Attacker offers substantial benefits, its full potential is unlocked when used in synergy with other elements of your character build. Here are some ways to optimize this feat:
1. Focus on Melee Weapons with Large Damage Dice: Greatswords, mauls, and other weapons with high damage dice (like 2d6 or d12) provide the most significant gains when re-rolling damage dice. The higher the dice, the greater the potential for Savage Attacker to boost your total damage output.
2. Enhance Your Attack Rolls: Pair this feat with abilities or magic items that increase your attack rolls. The more attacks you land, the more chances you have to re-roll and maximize your damage.
3. Rage or Power Attack: If you’re a Barbarian or Fighter, coupling Savage Attacker with a rage or power attack option (like the Barbarian’s Frenzy or the Fighter’s Action Surge) makes your attacks even more brutal and consistent.
Final Thoughts on Savage Attacker
Savage Attacker is one of those feats that can genuinely alter the course of a battle by making your physical attacks much more reliable and deadly. By providing a re-roll for damage, it ensures that you consistently deal meaningful damage each round. Whether you’re fighting off hordes of enemies or engaging in one-on-one duels, this feat can turn the tide in your favor.
If your character is heavily invested in melee combat, there’s little reason not to consider adding Savage Attacker to your repertoire. Its ability to smooth out the chaos of dice rolls can be the key to ensuring your character remains an unstoppable force on the battlefield.
In the end, Savage Attacker is a simple yet powerful tool for anyone looking to up their damage potential in Dungeons & Dragons. If you want to see your warrior or barbarian leave their enemies trembling in fear, this feat is one of the best ways to make that a reality.
