Is Power Attack balanced?

[Quartz]

You could always simplify Power Attack:

Power Attack applies to all melee weapons with which you have proficiency plus thrown weapons with which you have proficiency. For a -1 to your BAB you gain +1 to damage if the weapon is wielded with one hand and +2 to damage if the weapon is wielded in two hands. You cannot Power attack for more than your BAB.

Nice and simple, and means that you can stab someone with extra force by having two hands on the dagger.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Huh?

The fighter can benefit just as much from Power Attack as the barbarian, since he has the feats to back it up even more...you know, like Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Great Cleave, Weapon Specialization, and so on.

Brad

Those feats which you listed have nothing to do with Power Attack however. Your Fighter is not benefiting from Power Attack, he is benefitting from Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, etc.

On average, a Barbarian w/ Power Attack will deal more damage when using Power Attack than a Fighter using Power Attack.

 

[Darklone]

On average, a Barbarian w/ Power Attack will deal more damage when using Power Attack than a Fighter using Power Attack.

.... It's the second time I hear this now... does this take Melee Weapon Mastery into account? I think not.

 

[DungeonMaester]

Power attack is balanced.

Splat books (Core or OGL) That exploit Power Attack are not.

---Rusty

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Those feats which you listed have nothing to do with Power Attack however. Your Fighter is not benefiting from Power Attack, he is benefitting from Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, etc.

As I mentioned, they SUPPORT it, by allowing the Fighter to hit more often and turn more of his BAB into damage. You know, like how the Barbarian's Strength does for him.

On average, a Barbarian w/ Power Attack will deal more damage when using Power Attack than a Fighter using Power Attack.

Quite possibly.

However, the fighter has more feats available to back it up, and do other fun things with it. It's not likely to be a very great difference.

Brad

 

[Infiniti2000]

On average, a Barbarian w/ Power Attack will deal more damage when using Power Attack than a Fighter using Power Attack.

One of the fighter's class features is obtaining extra feats. If you want to use the class feature of one (rage), then you have to allow the class feature of the other (extra feats). Otherwise, your comparison is flawed.

 

[Egres]

I've updated the script to handle up to 6 attacks (adding more is trivial - it just takes more space on the page). Let me know if it'd be useful to have more slots.

After the update the feat appears slightly more useful, but there's still the main problem: the stronger you are, the worse.