Expertise + Power Attack

[Elder-Basilisk]

Also useful if you are foolish enough to fight a gelatinous cube with melee weapons. It's hard to miss so power attack to your heart's content but use expertise too so that the AoO misses you when you retreat to avoid the envelopment attack.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Both Expertise and Power Attack, in their description, state that they cannot exceed your BAB. If they cannot do it singly, I would rule as a DM that they certainly cannot do it in tandem.

I look at like this.

Your BAB represents how much skill you have at fighting. Normally all this skill is devoted to attack. With Expertise and PA you can devote that skill to defense or damage, at the expense of your attack. You cannot, however, exceed your level of skill. You are so good, and until you learn more, no better.

If you were a PC in my group, I would rule that your BAB is a pool that can be drawn down to 0, and no further.

However, I am an accomodating fellow. If you really wanted to both Expertise and PA in the same round, after your drew your BAB down to 0, you could start lowering your AC as your fighting style becomes reckless and you leave yourself open to attacks. Obviously, this makes Expertise useless, but you could continue to devote points to PA if you so wished.

<gavel> BANG, BANG!! </gavel>

This court is ajourned.

Irda Ranger

 

[AuraSeer]

Interesting theory, Irda, but it doesn't appear to be supported by anything in the books. Can't have a court case without evidence, now can we?

 

[doktorstick]

FWIW, I emailed the Sage. I don't expect a response, because I never get one. I have a feeling that he would side with it as written--you can go as far into the negatives as possible using two, three, or twenty feats that reference BAB in this way. Anything else would be introducing a new concept (the "BAB pool"), and that would be more trouble than it is worth.

/ds

 

[Vaxalon]

Yes, you can. This is especially nice when you want to CDG a helpless foe. It is not so effective in most situations, though.

You can't use power attack or expertise when you coup de grace because CDG isn't an attack action, it's its own action.