Combining voluntary penalties

[Kylas]

If I have Power attack and Combat Expertise can I take a -5 to attack and gain a +5 to damage and AC? If no, is this a flavor thing or is there an actual prohibition?

Secondly, I know there is a feat that allows a penalty to AC for power attack. Can you split this penalty up e.g. -3 AC and -3 Attack and gain +6 damage for PA?

Thanx.

 

[Nebten]

You cannot voluntary combine penalties, otherwise they are not that bad. All penalties stack.

1) So if you have combat expertise: you can take up to -5 to hit for +5 AC. If you do this and then power attack for 5, then you have-10 to hit with +5 to AC and +5 (or +10 for 2 hand weapon) for damage.

2) The feat I think you are talking about is called Shock Trooper from Complete Warrior. You have to take at least a -5 penalty to your attack roll, but this penalty can be split between AC and Attack Bonus up to your Base Attack Bonus. This has action can only be performed at the end of a charge using the power attack feat.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Nebten's right. Full PA, full CE is useful if you can' hit the enmey except on a 20 anyway (or can very easily hit, possibly including the touch attack of a trip attempt). My Warblade also frequently did that on rounds he was attacking merely to recover maneuvers.

In addition to Shock Trooper, the Warchanter prestige class (C.Warrior) has a ardic music that lets allies each round take a penalty to AC and add it to damage, to a limit of their BAB. I think it's called Inspire Recklessness. Note this is not PA, so no getting double for a 2H weapon, but is along the same lines of what you're looking for.

 

[Deset Gled]

All penalties stack.

Nitpick: Penalties follow the same stacking rules as bonuses (i.e. modifiers of the same named type don't stack). But almost all penalties are unnamed, so they stack. The only examples of named penalties I can think of in the core rules are the Belt of Dwarvenkind, which bestows a Competence penalty on some checks, and Armor Check penalties.

These are the things I think about when I have trouble sleeping...

 

[junkielectric]

Wait, so armor check penalty from armor and shields dont stack? Have I been playing it wrong all these years? Or am I missing something stupid right now?

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

Wait, so armor check penalty from armor and shields dont stack? Have I been playing it wrong all these years? Or am I missing something stupid right now?

No, they stack:

If a character is wearing armor and using a shield, both armor check penalties apply.

 

[Runestar]

Penalties from the same source do not stack as well (so you merely use the better of 2 rays of enfeeblement on the same target), but penalties from different sources do stack.

 

[junkielectric]

Alright, so I just forgot something simple. Thanks.