Power Attack

[Seeten]

I constantly power attack with my barbarian for 2-5 points. My BAB is so ridiculous I almost never miss, even with it, and with my huge...whatever weapon I have that day, the dmg output is insane.

 

[Nail]

I constantly power attack with my barbarian for 2-5 points. My BAB is so ridiculous I almost never miss....

Right......and your DM is throwing creatures at you that have ridiculously low ACs. He should know better. Don't let him see MM III, BTW.

Studies? On Power Attack? Not in the traditional, scientific sense, no. Lots of people have access to spreadsheets tho', so it's easy enough to find out for yourself. Just don't call it a "study" please.

I use frisbeet's spreadsheet, as it does all the things mine does, and it's prettier. (Being neat and tidy is a spreadsheet virtue!) In general, Power Attack is only a good idea if:

• You are using a two-handed weapon, or get a 2-for-1 trade-off, and
• Your target's AC is in the "I'll hit it more than 75% of the time normally" category, or
• You think you can take out your opponent in one round (or a Std Action, if you charge).

Anything other than that isn't worth it....or so the numbers say.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Power Attack is also good when you're only going to get one attack that round. If you have multiple attacks, its less helpful, because you lose out on the possible hits from the 2nd or 3rd or 4th attacks.

 

[Brain]

Power Attack (CAd) increases PA too.

I think you mean Leap Attack here.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I've never liked the idea of using a Power Attack calculator in-game. As an academic exercise, sure, and it helps understand how the feat works... but using a spreadsheet to allocate exactly the right number for any given round feels 'wrong' to me.

My in-game Power Attack with my current character is fairly simple. If the opponent is hard to hit, no PA. If he's easy to hit, PA for -3/+6.

... unless I'm Raging, in which case PA for max every round, and damn the maths!

-Hyp.

 

[Seeten]

I'm level 7 with a +14-+16 bab(depending on if I am raging or not). CR 7-9 ish monsters are supposed to have AC's in the 30's? Or were you just exaggerating? Because if so, the cleric, rogue and wizard will never hit anything ever again. Heh.

 

[Nail]

Right. I don't use a PA calculator in game. But I've looked at the numbers long enough to guess pretty well for my Barbarian friend:

"Power attack for three! No, no,: 3! The number after 2, comes before 4? You know...... ah, ferget it......."

 

[Nail]

I'm level 7 with a +14-+16 bab(depending on if I am raging or not). CR 7-9 ish monsters are supposed to have AC's in the 30's?

Using just the MM:

CR 7 monsters have an AC of about 19
CR 9 monsters have an AC of about 21

....but if you look in Dungeon, or in MM III, you'll notice the ACs are higher by 1 to 3 points. The designers are currently saying this is not power creep, but rather "the designers are becoming more comfortable designing higher CR monsters". And frankly, it makes sense: it's clear that PCs at APL 7 can have attack rolls of +14 (as you've mentioned).


All of this is not including the fact that many "monsters" are intelligent enough to use some of their treasure to increase thier power.

Wouldn't that Frost Giant (CR 9) be better off in Full Plate? (AC goes from 21 to 25)

How about a Lillend (CR 7) with a potion of Mage Armor? (AC goes from 17 to 21)

Then let's give the monsters a potion of Prot/Good (or whatever).......

Etc.

(DMs: keep in mind some of these creatures need to change their feats around in order to be proficient with armors.)

 

[iwatt]

All power attack, all the time is a fun tactic. But studies have shown that power attack provides its benefit (increased average damage) when used conservatively in small increments.

Depends on what you define as optimal.

If you want to maximize the potential damage in a round, yes tehri is an optimal power attack that is a function of BAB, AC, Strength, Magic, and Miscelanoeus bonuses, and if you have more than 1 attack. It's pretty easy to calculate . (it's a quadratic function by the way). When you apply the fact that 1 always misses and a 20 always hits, their is correction for the extremes cases: i.e. if you only hit on a 20, max power attack. If you only miss on a 1....max power attack.

If you want to try to kill something in one blow (i.e. a mind-flayer whos about to eat your buddy's brain this round), the optimal power attack is all out.

OPtimal solutions depend on what you are rtying to optimize in the first place.

 

[Jack Simth]

I've never liked the idea of using a Power Attack calculator in-game. As an academic exercise, sure, and it helps understand how the feat works... but using a spreadsheet to allocate exactly the right number for any given round feels 'wrong' to me.

Require an INT of 13+ to pull it off at all, and an appropriet Knoweledge check to properly guess at the target's AC for selected attacks. Otherwise require a few Trial-and-error rounds with power attack before simply letting the player pick - unless (s)he uses a standard amount, in which case (s)he can use the standard.