Power attack rules question

[darkbard]

Say a fighter power attacks with reaping strike, which does STR damage on a miss. Does the fighter add the extra damage from power attack to damage inflicted? Thanks in advance!

 

[Fredrik Svanberg]

Apparently not, but in my opinion that's ridiculous.

 

[DracoSuave]

Say a fighter power attacks with reaping strike, which does STR damage on a miss. Does the fighter add the extra damage from power attack to damage inflicted? Thanks in advance!

Benefit: When making a melee attack, you can take a –2 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll (or a +3 bonus to the damage roll with a two-handed weapon).

When you miss, you don't make a damage roll, so there's nothing to which to add +2 damage.

 

[Dalzig]

No. Power Attack specifies "...+2 bonus to the damage roll..."

If you don't roll the dice, you can't add Power Attack to it.

 

[NorthSaber]

Yeah, I'd like to add that 95% of all damage bonuses specify "damage roll" or only apply when the attack actually hit - some (Pit Fighter features, for instance) seem to apply to all damage, but these are pretty rare.

 

[darkbard]

Thanks, folks. That's what the player and I were inclined to rule, especially noting the phrasing "damage roll" cited above.

 

[Jhaelen]

Apparently not, but in my opinion that's ridiculous.

What is ridiculous about power attack not adding damage on a miss? Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Runestar]

Well, reaping strike lets you do damage on a miss, so evidently, you still manage to hit in some way even though the die says that you technically missed. If you interpret reaping strike as some sort of partial hit, that might be sufficient justification to allow additional damage modifers to be tacked on.

 

[SadisticFishing]

It's arguable, but if you swing mildly, you miss more wildly. My response.

And Power Attack + Reaping Strike is DAMN good already.

 

[Victoly]

Well, reaping strike lets you do damage on a miss, so evidently, you still manage to hit in some way even though the die says that you technically missed. If you interpret reaping strike as some sort of partial hit, that might be sufficient justification to allow additional damage modifers to be tacked on.

That's a pretty big "if". Suffering damage in fourth edition doesn't necessarily mean that you have been physically harmed in any way, so Reaping Strike could very easily be an attack that comes so close or is so fierce that it shakes up its target whether or not it hits.