What's better Power Attack vs. Weapon Focus

[Sejs]

Power Attack.

It's versatile and it leads to other things.

 

[Fishbone]

Unless I'm going down the Weapon Mastery tree I'd take Power Attack. Bread and butter feat for melee fighters and I've yet to be disappointed with it.
Edit:And this is why at low levels you learn to love your drum playin' Song of the Heart Inspirational Boost bard buddy. Technically he'll be doing more damage than the mainline meleers!

 

[pawsplay]

Just curious to find out which you would tak as a 1st level fighter if you could only take one. So tell me is it Power Attack or Weapon Focus.

At 1st level, Weapon Focus unless you are using a two-handed weapon and already have at least a 16 Str.

 

[Razilin]

Power Attack is variable. The penalty and bonus are meted out as needed; it is not static like Weapon Focus. However, unless I need to qualify for a PrC, I never take it until at least 6th level, because its utility is hampered by a low BAB. Cleave and Great Cleave are useful, but only early on; more powerful monsters at higher levels will respond better to Improved Sunder, Improved Bull Rush, the ever-important Leap Attack, and tactical feats like Combat Brute.

Weapon Focus' tree ultimately yields +2 to attack rolls, +4 to damage--static. This is pretty much sparrow's piss in a bucket compared to the typical buff spell, much less something with the versatility of Power Attack.

Weapon Focus supposedly makes a comeback in Player's Handbook 2 with high-level feats like Slashing Flurry and the like. However, I would still go with the Power Attack tree because its cheaper (fewer feats), and those extra feats can be spent on the equally utilitarian Combat Expertise and Improved Combat Expertise (or Defensive Strike, if you prefer).

 

[Jubilee]

If I'm starting at first level, I ask the GM if retrain rules from the PHB II will be allowed, and if so, I will take weapon focus and change it out for power attack as soon as I get a magic weapon.

/ali

 

[The_Gneech]

1st level fighter = Power Attack + Cleave. It's just too good not to have at that level.

Weapon Focus can come w/ the 2nd level feat -- unless you're a human, as mentioned above.

If it weren't a stepping stone to Cleave, tho, I wouldn't bother w/ Power Attack before 5th level. But at 1st level, Cleave is da bomb.

-The Gneech

 

[RFisher]

A few years ago, I made a spreadsheet that calculates the average damage of an attack, taking attack bonus, average damage roll, damage dice that aren't multiplied in a crit, target's AC, threat range, and critical multiplier into account.

Cool. Now you need to add minimum, maximum, & standard deviation!

 

[krunchyfrogg]

Power Attack.

Heck, All Power Attack, all the time.

 

[Mokona]

I would have picked Weapon Focus (few player know when or how much Power Attack to take) but Power Attack gets you to better feats like Cleave.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Yep, PA---> CLeave is one of the best setups for a 1st level fighter, and he should never use the PA until at elast 3rd level or against something with a pathetic AC, like a door

Weapons focus is a waste of a feat, IMHO, unless you are going for Specialization and Mastery, or neeed it for a prestige class (lots of them do) +1 to hit is just not impressive at all.