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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DM_Blake" data-source="post: 3914649" data-attributes="member: 57267">That's only part of the point.It doesn't have to be about number crunching.What if the rules for PA said "Apply a penalty to your attack roll and add half that amount to damage"?Would you take it then because it was cool?What if it only added 1/4 the amount of the attack penalty? Would you take it then? 1/5? 1/8? 1/10?At some point, even the most die hard roleplayer says "Wow, this power attack feat sounds cool and my barbarian would really love it, but it's just such a crummy feat and would ruin his damage output. Using it would turn him into a wimp. I can't justify spending a valuable feat slot to take this miserable feat"The problem with the actual mechanics of Power Attack is that it already does this. You don't have to actually play the game as a number cruncher. You don't have to sit at the game table this saturday with your calculus and your spreadsheets and try to "beat the system".The simple fact is that you have to spend a precious feat slot. You could have taken something else, but you took Power Attack. And now, most of the time, it's giving you less damage improvement than you think it is. In fact, sometimes, it is actually making you do less damage because over time, you will certainly have some encounters where the total damage you do to the monsters is less with PA than it would have been, with the same rolls, without PA.So, because the Power Attack mechanic is capable of reducing your damage output, or basically breaking even, it IS ALREADY an unwise choice for a feat.At this point, the only justification for taking it, other than to gain access to Cleave, is if your defiinition of fun is "I will gladly take weak feats, even if they limit my character or make me weaker, just because they are fun and I like to roleplay that fun."By that same logic, why not arm your barbarian with a dagger and roleplay him as believing it holds the spirit of his father. Make him afraid of all magic because magic killed his father, so he will never equip an item he knows to be magical. And he comes from a tribe that believes only sissies wear armor, so he prefers to fight in a loincloth. And let him use Power Attack at its maximum penalty/bonus because he "swings for the bleachers" every time. Oh, and when you build the character, use STR as a dump stat and load up his CHA and INT because he's a clever and friendly barbarian determined to outsmart all those mean old mages who killed his father.I mean, if it is "just for fun" and your decisions are not based on doing what works and avoiding what doesn't work, then why not?I myself am not a number cruncher. I play to have fun. I don't play to beat the system. But on the other hand, I do intend for my character to be good at what he does. He chooses his stats, class, skills, feats, spells, and equipment based on what will make him better at achieving his goals as an adventurer.Power Attack, as designed, falls short of this expectation.</blockquote>

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