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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NewfieDave" data-source="post: 4219203" data-attributes="member: 56969">Congrats to the winners!Since the contest is over, here's my full submission (Entry C). It answers a lot of the problems that people expressed in the voting thread..[sblock]As much as I love the concept of Power Attack, I hate it's current version in the 3.5 RAW. One of the most common reasons players in my gaming group choose to play Fighters or Barbarians is because they want a simple class. Scream, charge, and make attack rolls until the monsters are dead (or deaf from your screaming) can be contagious. This play style is also easy for new players to pick up because they don't have to worry about the bookkeeping involved with spell casting. Have you ever tried to get somebody who is 100% new to pen and paper games to create a Wizard as their first character? It's not something that's easy to "pick-up and play." Unless they spend some time getting acquainted with the rulebooks or are an exceptionally fast learner, they will likely be lost at the table.I want Power Attack to be a gift to the fans of scream, charge, attack. I also want it to be completely obvious to a new player. The current version doesn't work very well for either of these causes. A character attempting a Power Attack is currently doing one of three things: using up excess attack bonus on a target with low AC, gambling for a big hit, or using a spreadsheet to get an optimized amount of average damage based on the attack power for damage trade-off. Power Attack should not require a spreadsheet to optimize it's damage; the decision should be easy for anybody to make at the table. It also doesn't make sense that by "gambling" for a bigger hit, you are decreasing your odds of actually hitting. Consider the analogy of a slot machine. You have a choice to insert one quarter, or up to four quarters. Inserting more quarters increases your payout if you win, but doesn't effect your chance to win in general. The trade-off is staying power (your supply of quarters) for a chance at a bigger payout. This makes me want to take away the attack roll penalties and replace them with AC penalties.Making a Power Attack should be a worthwhile choice in nearly any situation, at any level. Currently it only works well when you are attacking a very low AC relative to your attack bonus. Keeping these issues in mind, here is my reworked version of Power Attack:Power AttackThis mighty blow deals extra damage at the expense of opening up your defenses.Requirements: Strength 13Benefits: As a standard action, you may choose to make a single melee attack at your highest base attack bonus. Damage dealt with a one-handed weapon is increased by one and a half times your strength modifier, and damage dealt by a two-handed weapon is increased by twice your strength modifier. You have -2 AC until the start of your next turn. You cannot make a Power Attack with a weapon that uses your dexterity modifier on attack rolls.Normal: Attacks with one-handed weapons add your strength modifier as damage, and attacks with two-handed weapons add one and a half times your strength modifier.The changes address several issues:No sliding math mechanism. Power Attack functions the same every time you use it with no meta-gaming or spreadsheets involved.Problems with iterative attacks. Forcing a standard action to use a Power Attack eliminates the excessive time taken by making iterative attacks in a single round and promotes movement in combat.Works best for "brutes". The image that should come to mind when a character performs a Power Attack should be a mighty blow from a strong warrior. Tying the increased damage to the character's strength solves the problem where Power Attack actually worked best for low-damage characters. It doesn't make sense for a dexterity-based attack to make use of this feat, so it is restricted for them. Two-weapon fighters are also not the target of this feat, since they will be unable to make attacks with their off-hand weapon if they make a Power Attack. It is built with two-handers in mind, but is also...An interesting choice for shield-users. No need to drop your shield mid-combat, just trade the 2 AC it's giving you to gain extra damage. This benefit is even better once you get a magic shield.Scales with levels. As your strength score goes up, so does your Power Attack damage.Doesn't effect the attack roll. If you want to make a strong attack to try and finish off the DM's villain, you've got to hit him first. You shouldn't have your attack roll penalized for trying to make a stronger attack. A trade-off of damage for AC is more fitting to the theme of the feat (a warrior with reckless abandon trying to take your head off).Not dependent on other feats/abilities. Power Attack should be effective without having to resort to Leap Attack, Shock Trooper, or Wraithstrike cheese. Allows for a more evocative feat chain. The old sliding mechanism didn't have much room for expansion. The feats following Power Attack in the RAW chain are Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, and Improved Sunder. Only Cleave makes sense as a follow-up to a big, powerful swing, but it's not tied mechanically to Power Attack at all. I would move the three "Improved" feats to a separate feat chain (perhaps after Combat Expertise) and create the following feat chain based around Power Attack:CleaveYour Power Attacks cleave through your target to strike nearby enemies.Requirements: Power Attack, Base Attack Bonus +4Benefits: When you hit with a Power Attack, deal damage to another single target in melee range equal to your strength bonus to damage.Great CleaveYour mastery of Power Attacks allows you to make sweeping swings with your weapon.Requirements: Cleave, Base Attack Bonus +8Benefits: When you hit with a Power Attack, deal damage to all enemies in melee range equal to your strength bonus to damage.These two feats benefit from the changes to Power Attack. Rather than trigger on a killing blow, they provide more consistent "splash damage" for a big hitting warrior. They also function with fewer dice rolls which speeds up combat. The extra damage being tied to your strength modifier has synergy with Power Attack's multiplication of the strength modifier, and will scale as you level up.Here are some more examples of feats that could be in the Power Attack chain:Balanced Power AttackYour experience utilizing Power Attacks allows you to maintain your balance and reduce the openings in your defenses.Requirements: Power Attack, Base Attack Bonus +6Benefits: You no longer receive a -2 AC penalty while Power Attacking.Staggering Power AttackYour Power Attacks strike with surprising force.Requirements: Power Attack, Base Attack Bonus +2Benefits: After successfully dealing damage with a Power Attack, the target must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 Base Attack Bonus + Strength Modifier) or be stunned for one round.Mighty Power AttackYour Power Attacks and Cleaves cause devastating amounts of damage at the expense of further opening your defenses.Requirements: Power Attack, Cleave, Base Attack Bonus +6Benefits: Add your character level to the damage you deal with Power Attacks and Cleaves. All critical hits with Power Attacks are automatically confirmed. You receive an additional -2 penalty to AC when Power Attacking (total -4 AC).Special: A character with this feat and Balanced Power Attack has a total -2 penalty to AC when Power Attacking.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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