Maximizing the yield of Power Attack... a formula!

[DracoSuave]

I did a couple of comparisons and the gist of it is that it's usually useful so long as you're:

A) Not attacking a soldier or higher level monster and

B) Don't get some bonus effect for hitting

Since B happens a lot, I'm going to save my feat for something that is always good.

It depends on the value you put on that bonus effect, actually. At least now you can -quantify- that value and say 'Is it worth x many hps of damage?'

That said, going back to the one-handed equation

D < 19 + A - x

We convert it back to this:

D - A < 19 - x
H < 19 - x (where H is the number you need to hit.)

Two-handed becomes:

H < 19 - 2x/3

The big question then is when is H in the optimal range? What is the maximum difficulty of hit you want to endure before you decide that Power Attack is useless?

One handed:
x < 19 - H
Two handed:
x < 3(19 - H)/2

Looking at a level 1 fighter using a longsword (the optimal weapon for one-handed power attack), he'll have 18 Str, giving him a total to hit of +8.

According to DMG, it's reasonable for AC to be between 17 and 13, leaving the to-hit range at about 9 or better to 5 or better, with average being 15.

That means you can powerattack safely on any monster so long as your average damage to hit is lower than 10, or 15 for two handed weapons.

So, assuming a steady to hit progression in line with the monsters, you can safely power attack:

One Handed:
Soldiers if your average damage for the attack is 10 or lower
Most stuff if it is 12 or lower
Brutes and Artillery if it is 14 or lower

Two Handed:
Soldiers if your average damage is 15 or lower
Most stuff 18 or lower
Brutes and Artillery if it is 21 or lower.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

It's ironicly less useful the larger your weapon damage is. But given the average damage of a weapon, you could simply plug in the numbers, and compare.

This has been known since the 3.0 Power Attack feat came out, of course. But back then all your melee attacks were STR based (barring Weapon Finesse) and there weren't varying levels of accuracy of weapons. So it's a more important point now, though.


(I wonder if the ideal Power Attack user might not be a two handed fighter but instead a brutal rogue using a dagger, who can easily hit +8 vs AC or even Reflex at first level, which is more accurate than your typical Maul fighter is doing... Probably only good if you can't get Sneak Attack, though.)