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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 3335474" data-attributes="member: 3146">I've done some thinking about this on my own and, combined with strategy from the miniatures game, I've come to the conclusion that maximum average damage per round is not the same as optimal use of power attack.The optimal use of Power Attack is the amount that gives you the best chance of winning the battle at the lowest cost. In some cases, that means taking a huge risk of accomplishing nothing because anything less than a huge hit won't accomplish anything and the enemy is very likely to end the fight next round if you don't end it this round. In most cases, however, the optimum power attack is going to be the one that gives you the best chance to drop the greatest number of foes over a relatively short time frame (usually 1-3 rounds).your optimal use of Power Attackdepends upon the target's hit points as well as their AC, your feats,etc. This is further complicated by variable (rather than fixed damageoutputs) Let's look at an example:Your greataxe wielding fighter--let's call him Roy-- is fighting agroup of hobgoblins with class levels. Because Roy is 4th level andhas a 16 strength, weapon specialization, and a +1 greataxe, hisattack bonus is +9 for 1d12+7 damage--an average of 13.5 points ofdamage. (Roy has decided to use a greataxe for this simulation to makethe math simpler). It he's up against AC 20, he deals (excludingcriticals) an average of 6.75 damage per attack. If he uses two pointsof Power Attack, that goes up to 7 damage per attack. Wohoo. He scoresan extra 0.25 damage per attack--that was sure worth spending a feat.Well, maybe not. Now, let's imagine that the hobgoblin fighters he isfighting have 17 hit points. If we just look at average damage, Roywill need two hits to drop each hobgoblin unless he Power Attacks for2. So, instead of going from 6.75 to 7 damage, he is really going froma 25% chance of dropping a hobgoblin every two rounds (with a 50%chance of injuring but not killing the hobgoblin and a 25% chance ofdoing nothing to the hobgoblin) to a 64% chance of dropping at leastone hobgoblin every two rounds (with a 16% chance of killing twohobgoblins and a 36% chance of accomplishing nothing). Now PowerAttack is starting to look a lot better.But since D&D uses variable rather than fixed damage, that's not quitetrue. The without Power Attacking, Roy has a 17% chance of dropping ahobgoblin to negatives with a single hit. If he power attacks for two,that chance goes up to 50% rather than 100%. In fact, in order to getthe number to 100% of hits dropping a hobgoblin, he needs to PowerAttack for 5 (which he can't do).It turns out that, while Power Attacking for four decreases hisaverage damage per attack from 6.75 to 6.45, it actually increases hischances of dropping the hobgoblin in a single attack from 8.3% to 25%.In two rounds, Roy's chance of dropping at least one hobgoblin go from25% (including a 2.7% chance of dropping two hobgoblins) to 43.75%.(including a 6.25% chance of killing two hobgoblins). On the otherhand, Roy's chances of leaving the hobgoblin completely uninjured areabout 55% rather than 25%.What about a situation where average damage is enough to drop the badguy outright. Revising out scenario to give the hobgoblin 13 hitpoints, it turns out that Roy has a 25% chance of dropping a hobgoblinon each attack if he does not Power Attack at all. However, he managesa 35% chance to drop a hobgoblin if he Power Attacks for three points.In two rounds, the percentages are:Drops 2 hobgoblins: no PA=6.25%; PA=3 12.25%Drops 1 hobgoblin: no PA=37.5%; PA=3 45.5%Injures 1 hobgoblin: no PA=12.5%; PA=3 0%Accomplishes nothing: no PA=43.75%; PA=3 42.25%All this, despite the fact that Power Attacking for 2 is the optimalaverage damage per round number.Now there are also situations where the Power Attack math doesn't workout this way. If, for instance, we have a troll instead of a hobgoblinand the chance for a one-shot kill becomes negligable, we would needto figure out the odds that power attacking would take a three-hitkill and make it a two-hit kill. If the hobgoblin had 8 hit points(where one result in 12 on the greataxe die leaves it staggered ratherthan down), then the odds of one-shotting it actually go down by PowerAttacking (from 45.833% to 45%). Since we don't know the actual hitpoint totals of our enemies in D&D (unless we have Combat Awarenessfrom the PHB II), we're making a lot of these decisions in the dark.That said, it appears that power attacking for enough to make sure youdrop an enemy on every successful hit (and, yes, things like fireballand magic missiles from your allies can make Power Attack unnecessaryfor this goal, but they can also take a tougher foe and make itpossible to one-shot them, so in general, I think they wash out in theadventuring environment) seems to be a pretty good plan if you canmanage it.</blockquote>

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