jgsugden
Legend
If you think about it, Power Attack doesn't really scale as much as people assume.
What is the benefit of power attack? Extra damage.
When you're low level you can use PA to gain a little extra damage, but as you advance in level you can use it to gain more and more damage. This follows the trend for damage in general: At low levels your character does basic weapon damage plus a little bit of strength damage, but as you advance that damage increases in include greater strength, magic, other feats and other special abilities.
So as your base damage increases, your PA damage also increases. The rate at which they change is different, but they are both growing. So, as a percentage of total damage, power attack damage often does not change too much. Especially when we consider that the usual circumstance is that a fighter-type should not be full out power attacking in most battles.
Let me give you an example: A third level fighter with an 18 strength with his +1 2 handed sword power attacks for 3 points. His damage is 2d6 (average 7) + 1 magic + 6 strength + 6 power attack increase = 20. Power attack is 30% of that total damage. Now, consider a 15th level fighter with a 26 strength, a +4 holy (or flaming and shocking) two handed sword, weapon specialization, and +3 to damage from his cohort bard's song. His average damage without power attack is 2d6 (average 7) + 11 magic/holy/energy from the weapon + 12 strength +2 from specialization + 4 from bard song & other effects = 36 damage. He can power attack for between 2 and 30 points of damage. If he power attacks for 7, his average damage is 50 - so roughly 30% of his damage would come from power attack (the same as our third level fighter). If he power attacks for the maximum, his damage increases by 30, so roughly 45% of his 66 damage will come from the power attack, but power attacking for your maximum amount is a rare situation in most games. More ofthen than not, players power attack for 5 or 10 points instead of going 'balls to the wall' and all out power attacking.
In other words, for reasonable uses of power attack, the bonus damage as a percentage of total damage stays roughly the same throughout most of the life of the PC. Not exactly the same, but close enough that it doesn't throw balance way out of whack.
What is the benefit of power attack? Extra damage.
When you're low level you can use PA to gain a little extra damage, but as you advance in level you can use it to gain more and more damage. This follows the trend for damage in general: At low levels your character does basic weapon damage plus a little bit of strength damage, but as you advance that damage increases in include greater strength, magic, other feats and other special abilities.
So as your base damage increases, your PA damage also increases. The rate at which they change is different, but they are both growing. So, as a percentage of total damage, power attack damage often does not change too much. Especially when we consider that the usual circumstance is that a fighter-type should not be full out power attacking in most battles.
Let me give you an example: A third level fighter with an 18 strength with his +1 2 handed sword power attacks for 3 points. His damage is 2d6 (average 7) + 1 magic + 6 strength + 6 power attack increase = 20. Power attack is 30% of that total damage. Now, consider a 15th level fighter with a 26 strength, a +4 holy (or flaming and shocking) two handed sword, weapon specialization, and +3 to damage from his cohort bard's song. His average damage without power attack is 2d6 (average 7) + 11 magic/holy/energy from the weapon + 12 strength +2 from specialization + 4 from bard song & other effects = 36 damage. He can power attack for between 2 and 30 points of damage. If he power attacks for 7, his average damage is 50 - so roughly 30% of his damage would come from power attack (the same as our third level fighter). If he power attacks for the maximum, his damage increases by 30, so roughly 45% of his 66 damage will come from the power attack, but power attacking for your maximum amount is a rare situation in most games. More ofthen than not, players power attack for 5 or 10 points instead of going 'balls to the wall' and all out power attacking.
In other words, for reasonable uses of power attack, the bonus damage as a percentage of total damage stays roughly the same throughout most of the life of the PC. Not exactly the same, but close enough that it doesn't throw balance way out of whack.
