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*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Coup de Grace and Power Attack
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<blockquote data-quote="FrankTrollman" data-source="post: 1161177" data-attributes="member: 14225"><p>But Henry - that's largely irrelevent. Power Attack is and always has been a prerequisite of <em>Cleave</em> - it's a feat used for clearing away large numbers of zombies, and other inconveniences.</p><p></p><p>When you have Cleave, it is <em>better</em> to have a lower chance of hitting and a higher chance of killing your target in one hit. When you have Great Cleave - even more so. "Average Damage" is completely irrelevent, it's a feat which feeds into the strategy of attacking weak creatures.</p><p></p><p>So people can go ahead and do statistical analysis on how much damage you do per round against a heavily armored BBEG. While it doesn't come out especially favorably - that's a meaningless comparison. The question is <em>not</em> "how much damage do I do to the BBEG in five rounds" - it's "what are my odds of killing a zombie in one attack?"</p><p></p><p>Let's say you are a 4th level Warrior-type and have an attack bonus of +10 with your Greatsword (2d6+7 damage on a hit). In order to kill a zombie in one attack you need to <em>hit</em> (which you do on a 2+), and then <em>inflict 16 damage</em> (which you do if you roll a 9+ on 2d6). So without Power Attacking you kill a zombie in one attack 19/72 times - which is 26.3% of your attacks. If you power attack for everything you need to roll a 5+ on a d20 and then a 5+ on 2d6 - which is 26/45 of your attempts - which is 57.8%.</p><p></p><p>That's <em>old</em> Power Attack - the one that is supposed to be underpowered and in fact doubles your chances of getting a cleave every time you attack a zombie. Power Attack delivers on the Zombie Killing. That's what it is for and it does the job exceptionally well. It delivers <em>huge</em> on the thing it is actually supposed to do. So acting like it is underpowered is either ignorant or dishonest.</p><p></p><p>And yes, powering it up until it is a good idea all the time will make it even better at what it was already good for - and then it is completely overpowered.</p><p></p><p>-Frank</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FrankTrollman, post: 1161177, member: 14225"] But Henry - that's largely irrelevent. Power Attack is and always has been a prerequisite of [i]Cleave[/i] - it's a feat used for clearing away large numbers of zombies, and other inconveniences. When you have Cleave, it is [i]better[/i] to have a lower chance of hitting and a higher chance of killing your target in one hit. When you have Great Cleave - even more so. "Average Damage" is completely irrelevent, it's a feat which feeds into the strategy of attacking weak creatures. So people can go ahead and do statistical analysis on how much damage you do per round against a heavily armored BBEG. While it doesn't come out especially favorably - that's a meaningless comparison. The question is [i]not[/i] "how much damage do I do to the BBEG in five rounds" - it's "what are my odds of killing a zombie in one attack?" Let's say you are a 4th level Warrior-type and have an attack bonus of +10 with your Greatsword (2d6+7 damage on a hit). In order to kill a zombie in one attack you need to [i]hit[/i] (which you do on a 2+), and then [i]inflict 16 damage[/i] (which you do if you roll a 9+ on 2d6). So without Power Attacking you kill a zombie in one attack 19/72 times - which is 26.3% of your attacks. If you power attack for everything you need to roll a 5+ on a d20 and then a 5+ on 2d6 - which is 26/45 of your attempts - which is 57.8%. That's [i]old[/i] Power Attack - the one that is supposed to be underpowered and in fact doubles your chances of getting a cleave every time you attack a zombie. Power Attack delivers on the Zombie Killing. That's what it is for and it does the job exceptionally well. It delivers [i]huge[/i] on the thing it is actually supposed to do. So acting like it is underpowered is either ignorant or dishonest. And yes, powering it up until it is a good idea all the time will make it even better at what it was already good for - and then it is completely overpowered. -Frank [/QUOTE]
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Coup de Grace and Power Attack
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