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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6645432" data-attributes="member: 42582">Just a little bit of advocacy here for dropping the mathematical inanity of power attack altogether, which encourages players to get bogged down in statistical calculations, and doesn't correspond to anything in the fiction.My maths (spreadsheet attached) tells me that at 5th level, from AC 10 through AC 17, the -5/+10 gives an average +2 expected DPR. (That is without advantage, Bless etc.)From 20th level, from AC 10 through 22, it gives an expected average DPR of better than +5.Above those ACs there is no expected gain in DPR, so the feat would not be used (assuming perfect information on the part of the player).In both cases I'm treating each AC as equally likely; at 20th level in particular that's obviously not so, which means the actual experienced DPR boost would be less.If you want rationed spike damage, I'd suggest trying +5 damage on an even-numbered attack roll that hits. At 5th level, that's an expected boost in DPR of around +1.5, which is weaker than the current feat on low ACs but obviously better on high ones. At 20th it's weaker than currently - about +2 DPR against all ACs - but that's not necessarily a bad thing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6645432, member: 42582"] Just a little bit of advocacy here for dropping the mathematical inanity of power attack altogether, which encourages players to get bogged down in statistical calculations, and doesn't correspond to anything in the fiction. My maths (spreadsheet attached) tells me that at 5th level, from AC 10 through AC 17, the -5/+10 gives an average +2 expected DPR. (That is without advantage, Bless etc.) From 20th level, from AC 10 through 22, it gives an expected average DPR of better than +5. Above those ACs there is no expected gain in DPR, so the feat would not be used (assuming perfect information on the part of the player). In both cases I'm treating each AC as equally likely; at 20th level in particular that's obviously not so, which means the actual experienced DPR boost would be less. If you want rationed spike damage, I'd suggest trying +5 damage on an even-numbered attack roll that hits. At 5th level, that's an expected boost in DPR of around +1.5, which is weaker than the current feat on low ACs but obviously better on high ones. At 20th it's weaker than currently - about +2 DPR against all ACs - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. [/QUOTE]

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