Power Attack when needing natural 20

[Herzog]

Would you allow this?
1. A fighter encounters a monster with high AC. To hit, he needs a natural 20.
2. Since he needs a natural 20 anyway, he goes full power attack.

More specific: fighter with Bab +10, Monster with AC 35.

Herzog

 

[hong]

Sure.

Why is this in House Rules?

 

[Cheiromancer]

That's a standard tactic against very tough monsters. Of course I'd allow it.

 

[Ilium]

I think it's in House Rules because Herzog is considering House Ruling it away.

As far as I'm concerned, if the PC has to get a natural 20 to hit he can go ahead and drop a piano on the monster. While he swings away for 5-15 rounds trying to hit, the monster is cutting him into chutney.

 

[arnon]

I see no problem there...

 

[Thanee]

When you do not like the automatic hit on a natural 20 (and the automatic miss on a natural 1), you can house rule them in a number of fashions, for example...

- a natural 20 counts as 30, a natural 1 counts as -10; otherwise calculate hit and miss normally
- when you roll a natural 20 or 1 you add/subtract 1d10 (or 1d20) to/from the total (rolls of 10 (or 20) let you roll another die and add/subtract again); otherwise calculate hit and miss normally

Bye
Thanee

 

[Rhun]

I'd allow it...think of it this way: Skill and finess are not enough to allow the fighter to penetrate the creature's defenses, so he decides to use full-on brute force instead.

 

[ValhallaGH]

I've seen characters power attack for so much that they ended up needing a natural 20 to hit. It's never been a problem, from a balance perspective, though it can make for some truly amazing shifts in the battle when the character crits (with a scythe).

 

[StGabe]

IMC, natural 20's where 20 is not enough to hit outright aren't automatic hits. Instead, they allow you to then roll another d20 and add that to your total. So in this case, yes he could use power attack but he would still see a reduction in his likelihood of hitting.

In general I agree with the notion that this seems a bit cheap. Power attack allows a tradeoff and it should apply even in this case (I'd even say *especially* in this case).

 

[Nifft]

Seems like the only sane thing to do. If you're not going to hit very often, make sure you hit hard.

Remember that Orcs will do the same thing if they see their companions missing a lot.

Cheers, -- N