"All Power Attack, All the Time?"

[Drowbane]

Some folks think "That is cool" others think "his sword should have snapped."

I'm guessing people type 2 shouldn't be watching anime in the first place... or be playing D&D (dragons can't fly because...)

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Besides the fun factor...

Maximizing average damage is not necessarily the tactically optimal choice. In fact, it probably is not the majority of the time.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Because I played a APAATT Orc Fighter with a Scythe and everyone remembers his one-shot-one kill on a Colossal Centipede as a 6th level character.

Nobody remembers the 100 times he missed guys he otherwise might have hit.

DS

 

[Olaf the Stout]

If I ever played a Barbarian, I would be tempted to use APAATT. I would certainly do that when he raged. I might try throwing one up against my PC's. I don't think the Sorcerer will appreciate it much though!

Olaf the Stout

 

[wildstarsreach]

It's great for certain character concepts, especially half-orc barbarians. It's also great fun if you're a patient guy. I'm not sure I could do it, myself; my tactical side would keep twitching.

This would work best with a PC who has a lot of non-BAB bonuses to hit. Strength, magic, insight (like a psi-warrior). . . all these would make the concept a lot more feasible.

I'm with you myself as I would optimize.

 

[Felix]

.... another successfully necromanced thread ....

 

[pawsplay]

I've seen several people mention that when they use Power Attack, they use it at "full;" i.e., converting all of their BAB to damage. Unless I'm missing something subtle, this is a serious tactic.

Why would people do this? There's a demonstrably optimum amount to Power Attack, when the goal is to maxmize damage against a given AC, and that number is usually fairly small. So what's with APAATT?

Average damage calculations don't take into account the fact that if you smear the other guy, you don't take any damage at all. If your damage is big enough, you can just wait and wait and wait for that one hit. So I'm not convinced it's a bad tactic.

 

[pogre]

.... another successfully necromanced thread ....

It brought back some great memories - so I'm grateful

 

[Shadeydm]

I <3 Thog!

 

[frankthedm]

So I'm not convinced it's a bad tactic.

It is bad when it is overkill on your foes. Doing 50 damage on a hit is worthless when the foe only had 20 HP. High multiplier crits waste even more damage. Sure you might gigasplat a BBEG, but chances are you mulch an orc mook.