D&D 5e DPR CALCULATOR

Understanding Damage Per Round in D&D 5e

DPR, or Damage Per Round, is the average damage your character deals in a single round of combat once you account for how often you hit, how hard you hit, and what happens on a critical. It is the most useful number for comparing builds, because a big damage die is worthless if you rarely connect. A fighter who hits 65 percent of the time for 11 damage is out-performing a glass cannon who hits 40 percent of the time for 14. DPR captures that trade-off in one figure.

How this calculator works

You enter four things: your attack bonus, the target's Armor Class, your damage dice plus modifiers, and your number of attacks. Toggle advantage or disadvantage, set your critical range if you have an expanded crit like a Champion Fighter, and the calculator returns your expected damage per round. Under the hood it runs the probability math most players estimate by feel.

The math behind the number

Three pieces combine into DPR. The first is hit chance. On a d20 you hit when your roll plus your attack bonus meets or beats the target's AC, so the roll you need is the AC minus your attack bonus. Your hit chance is 21 minus that needed roll, divided by 20, clamped between 5 and 95 percent, because a natural 20 always hits and a natural 1 always misses.

The second is damage per hit, which is your average dice roll plus your fixed modifiers. A greatsword is 2d6, averaging 7, plus your ability modifier. The third is critical hits: on a natural 20 you roll your damage dice twice, so a crit adds one extra set of dice but not the flat modifiers, and that happens 5 percent of the time with a normal crit range.

Advantage changes the hit chance itself. Instead of one d20 you roll two and keep the better, so your chance to hit becomes 1 minus the chance of missing twice.

Worked example

A level 5 Fighter swings a greatsword with a plus 7 to hit and a plus 4 Strength modifier, making two attacks from Extra Attack, against a target with AC 15.

• Needed roll: 15 minus 7 is 8, so you hit on an 8 or higher. Hit chance is 21 minus 8, divided by 20, or 65 percent.
• Damage per hit: 2d6 averages 7, plus 4 Strength, for 11.
• Crit bonus: a natural 20 adds another 2d6, an extra 7, occurring 5 percent of the time.
• Expected damage per attack is about 0.65 times 11, plus 0.05 times 7, roughly 7.5.
• With two attacks, your DPR is about 15.

Now turn on advantage and watch the hit chance climb from 65 percent to about 88 percent, taking your DPR with it. That is why sources of advantage are often worth more than a bigger weapon.

How to use it at the table

1. Pick a preset that matches your class, or enter your own numbers.
2. Set the target AC. If you do not know it, AC 15 is a fair mid-tier benchmark.
3. Compare two builds side by side by changing one variable at a time.
4. Use the result to decide between feats, weapons, or fighting styles before you commit a level-up.

Ways to raise your DPR

• Chase advantage. As shown above, it often beats raw damage.
• Feats like Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter trade accuracy for damage, and the calculator shows exactly when that trade pays off against a given AC.
• More attacks usually scale better than bigger dice, because every attack carries its own chance to crit.

Frequently asked questions

Does this follow official 5e rules? Yes, it uses standard SRD attack, damage, and critical hit rules.

Does it handle advantage and disadvantage? Yes, both adjust the hit chance using the roll-twice math above.

Can it do multiple attacks? Yes, set your attack count and it multiplies expected damage per attack.

What AC should I test against? AC 13 to 15 for early tiers, and 17 to 19 for tougher mid and late-game foes.

Related Reading

• → D&D Character Optimization