Two Weapon Fighting or Power Attack.. (both?)

[jrs]

I´ve seen a lot of discussions about whether two weapon fighting or power attack is the best choice. Most threads prefer the last.. but why?

If we use a L8 human as an example, with two flaws= 6feats.

Fighter (scimitar/rapier): twf+ improved twf +weapon focus+ weapon specialization+ improved critical+ two weapon pounce.. then fighter bonus feats(5), melee weapon mastery+ power critical+ (3 feats).

barbarian (greattsword) power attack+ battle jump+ leap attack+ leap of the heavens+ cleave+ greater cleave, (then rage+ skill trick extreme leap)

The fighter gets lots of attacks, lots of crits, and retains ability to move.
But the rest of the party must deal with "immune to crit" encounters.
The barbarian kicks ass, but he will not hit as often as the fighter and needs space.

I´ll put in the math later.

NB. (now we only need to invent a feat to bring BELKAR to life.
Feat: sexy shoelees god of war.
when not wearing shoes you can use power attack with daggers, and combine it with the two weapon fighting feat. (I know "ranger".. but would you trust him not to be lying?))

 

[Dandu]

There was an interesting discussion about this on BG.

 

[Jhaelen]

I´ll put in the math later.

Bring it on, then!

IME, Power Attack gets better the higher your to-hit bonus, i.e. the higher your STR modifier and level. It's quite possible that at low-mid levels it's not better than a TWF build, but it's definitely better at higher levels.