[3.5] Power Attack - can this possibly be right?

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

One thing to consider is that while DRs appear to be uniformly dropping in value, it seems that more monsters will be getting DRs, and at lower challenge ratings too. I'm thinking that Power Attack is going to come into play more often than it does in 3E, to beat those more-common DRs.

 

[EtherHulkRending]

as a player of a melee machine, I found that up until ninth level, I only power attacked once, and that was to hammer through a sewer grate ASAP. Once I hit ninth, the people I started to play with included bards and clerics who had no trouble inspiring greatness, singing, and casting blesses and recitations, etc...


once a few party buffs go up, power attack comes into play more often....I mean, how else do you drop a basilisk in two hits by yourself with out critting?

 

[Kershek]

I think it's not a problem of AC but a problem of the BAB rising to fast. You can't give all your 10th level Rogue NPC's a chainshirt +5 and a ring of deflection +3 only to let them survive 1 round of combat ... well, ok, you can but it seems a little bit magic overloaded to me.
Just my 2 cents.
BYE

Overloading on magic items can be easier when you make them. Since they only cost 1/2 market to make, you're doubling your wealth when you convert that cash to an item. With two expensive items, that could make you rather wealthy quickly. Add Magical Artisan to further reduce costs by 25% and you're looking at a pretty wealthy party for less cost from the spellcaster.

 

[Cedric]

your berserking fighter, optimally designed for damage, will be dishing out nearly as much as a wizard would be able to. Which isn't a bad thing, by any stretch.

The character in this example is 9th level. If that group also had a 9th level wizard, who used his 5th level spell for an Empowered Fireball...that fireball would average about 48 points of damage.

This compared to the Fighter who can average something like 70 I think someone said?

No, wizards just get the shaft in 3.0 and 3.5...

Cedric

 

[Hypersmurf]

This compared to the Fighter who can average something like 70 I think someone said?

To one target...

-Hyp.

 

[Kershek]

Bad example. That fireball applies damage to a 20-foot radius area.

 

[Cedric]

Yes, 20 foot radius area...once per day. Then he can drop back to doing an average of 31 points of damage a few more times a day....if he can find the free area in which to land his spells without hurting his friends.

But is there a limit to the number of times a Barbarian can swing his sword in a day?

My only point..this game has changed to become something I no longer find very fun. It has at the same time become a much better game mechanically while also becoming much less fun to play.

Cedric

 

[Hypersmurf]

My only point..this game has changed to become something I no longer find very fun.

Of course... the game that you used to find fun still exists, and nobody's holding a gun to your head...

-Hyp.

 

[hong]

Yes, 20 foot radius area...once per day. Then he can drop back to doing an average of 31 points of damage a few more times a day....if he can find the free area in which to land his spells without hurting his friends.

But is there a limit to the number of times a Barbarian can swing his sword in a day?

Yes, when he runs out of hit points. Because if the barbarian is drawing attention to himself by dishing out gobs of damage, it's only natural that the enemies are going to be trying their best to take him down. And if you're optimised for damage, that means you're probably missing out on full plate armour, shield, feats like Expertise, and other stuff that makes you harder to hit.

I run a combat-heavy game even by D&D standards, and the barbarian damage machine isn't close to being able to solo the dungeons. He regularly goes to single-digit hit points or lower, and his Ref save is comparatively crap, so he certainly isn't going to be plowing through monsters all day long. IME, the group tends to stop just as often because the barb is almost dead, as because the spellcasters have run out of spells.

 

[ForceUser]

The reason I don't like the new Power Attack is because it screws over dual-wielders (as if dual-wielders needed to be any crappier than they already were...)

The design team's theory on that is that you get to attack more often with dual wield. You have more attacks, so I guess in 3.0 that meant Power Attack worked out mathematically better for dual-wielders than greatsword wielding barbarians. I'm sure you can agree that just ain't right. Hence the change.