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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 7045710" data-attributes="member: 6777737">On the contrary, that's precisely what I mean.  Take a moderately optimized Fighter at level 10-12 and calculate the average damage you deal on a hit both with and without power attack.  Then multiply those values by the percentage chance of hitting the target respective to whether or not you're using power attack.  This is your average damage per attack and it accounts for the reduced hit rate.  The value for power attack is greater for all AC values from roughly AC 20 and below.  That's what "it's mathematically correct to use power attack on any creature with AC 20 or less" means.  Yes, you might miss more often, but the amount of damage you gain when you hit makes up for it.  You're no longer gambling on rolling well and hoping that luck results in the extra damage taking your target down before your attack rolls regress to the mean.  You do enough extra damage that in the average case you deal more overall damage in spite of the misses from using power attack.  When you get to these levels, power attacking is the safer bet.I'm playing a level 15 Fighter with Great Weapon Mastery right now.  I haven't not used power attack since about level 11 when I found a +2 maul.  In another campaign we have a Fighter with Sharpshooter.  He's had the same experience, if not more so because bows deal less damage than heavy weapons and the Archery style offsets the attack penalty from power attack.You want to know when to use -5/+10?  It's easy:  (2 x Attack Bonus - Average Damage per Hit + 32) / 2 rounded down is the maximum AC your character should power attack against.  By the time you get to level 10, the result of that formula is going to be 18+ for a GWM character, or 21+ for a Sharpshooter.  The only way it won't be is if you manage to get a flame tongue greatsword or some similar item that adds to damage without adding to attack bonus.The closest thing to a defensive reaction that I see monsters and NPCs possessing is "thorns" damage where an attacker takes automatic damage on a hit, such as a Fire Elemental, Black Pudding, or Barbed Devil.  That type of defense favors power attack, since you need fewer hits to deal lethal damage.  Excepting spellcasters, I'm not aware of any monsters that have reaction abilities beyond opportunity attacks.  So I'm not sure what you're talking about here.  And, sure, if you have disadvantage, you don't use it, but that is not that common.  It comes up during a few rounds in a limited number of encounters.  If it's coming up every round or even every combat, then your DM is running an unusual game.  In other words, your DM is "fixing" the problem by changing the playing field, which is like "fixing" fireball by making every enemy resistant to fire.</blockquote>

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