What are the "rules" of power attacking?

[SteveC]

Hi everyone,
In every discussion about builds that are designed to do a lot of damage in hand to hand combat, the power attack feat comes up. It's one of the primary reasons that the two-handed fighter is described as reigning supreme in terms of damage potential.

From running and playing in a lot of campaigns, I'm wondering what I'm missing. I know there are obvious cases like Wraithstrike, Truestrike and so forth, where power attacking can be extremely effective in causing extra damage. Outside of those cases, I just don't see it.

I ran a campaign where I offered a FREE power attack feat to anyone (it did not serve as a prerequisite for other feats--it was just a tactical option) and never in my GMing days have I seen so much "wiffing--" and this was coming from experienced players. If you added up the damage caused by power attack and subtracted off the damage lost from missing due to power attack (something I actually did for several sessions) the group did a net less damage.

So obviously, we were doing it wrong. Actually, since I was the GM, my evil plan worked very well for my badguys... So educate me, please!

--Steve

 

[Quartz]

PA is very good at high levels. But one of the keys of PA at low levels is knowing how much to PA. Just a point or two can make a big difference. Especially if you're using a weapon with a large crit range.

 

[Mort]

I've never seen power attack itself to be a problem. It's when feats and PrC's that augment it are allowed in that you have issues. consider this(a favorite on the wizards optimization boards): 2 handed weapon with power attack, shock trooper, leap attack - when you charge you get a 4-1 return on your power attack and you have no to hit penalty. Yes your AC's in the gutter but that doesn't matter much if your target is a pile of goo.
For extra brokeness add in a pounce ability (Bo9S has at least one manuever that allows a pounce and there are some PrCs that allow it - don't have my books here so can't get more specific) - now you get multiple attacks on your charge - all adding the power attack damage without any to-hit penalty (at 20th level this comes out to +80 to damage on each of 4 attacks).

 

[BadMojo]

I can only speak anecdotally, but PA has worked well with my current character (Barbarian/Sorcerer) and this is without True Strike or any other spells that enhance attack bonus.

I tend to use PA when I have a bonus to attack from things like flanking or having the high ground (I learned that one from Obi Wan). Power Attacking with the Great Axe has served me well so far (up to 5th level now).

I'm not sure, but there may have been some statistical analysis of Power Attack in the old Sword & Fist splat book. I know they had one for the monk's Flurry of Blows.

 

[irdeggman]

Well it is situational and class and weapon specific as the whether or not it is powerful.

POWER ATTACK [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Str 13.
Benefit: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all melee attack rolls and add the same number to all melee damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next turn.

Special: If you attack with a two-handed weapon, or with a one-handed weapon wielded in two hands, instead add twice the number subtracted from your attack rolls. You can’t add the bonus from Power Attack to the damage dealt with a light weapon (except with unarmed strikes or natural weapon attacks), even though the penalty on attack rolls still applies. (Normally, you treat a double weapon as a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. If you choose to use a double weapon like a two-handed weapon, attacking with only one end of it in a round, you treat it as a two-handed weapon.)

A fighter may select Power Attack as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Using a two handed weapon, or a weapon in two hands is where it really pays off.

If the character si a barbarian who is raging (thus getting a bonus to Str which translates into an attack/damage bonus) the character can use the rage bonus to make up for what was lost off of his BAB and get twice the result in damge

 

[Darklone]

Perhaps an example helps:
Friend had a bbn1/Bard4 with str 18. Rage, bards song, a bulls strength cast on him and he could Power Attack with his glaive for 1d10+21 damage and still hit awfully good (+10 even with a MW weapon). That's enough damage to kill many level 4 opponents with one hit and that build is far from being optimized. Since the bulls strength was usually cast from the priest or sorcerer of the group, he didn't even have to wait till he was buffed.

Give that bard build Extra Rage and Combat Reflexes and it gets even better.

 

[Thanee]

Punching through DR, attacking low-AC opponents. There are many situations, where Power Attack is *great*. It's not a no-brainer, always-on feature (it can be, for fun; it's just not effective then ).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Hypersmurf]

It's not a no-brainer, always-on feature (it can be, for fun; it's just not effective then ).

Heh. The last barbarian I played, my rule of thumb was to use Power Attack tactically, unless I was Raging. In which case it was FPAATT.

-Hyp.

 

[Endur]

"Full Power Attack, All the Time" works best with a character with high strength (so the strength bonus to hit replaces the lost BAB). And it can really work well with a high strength.

It also helps if the Player behind the PC is mature enough to handle missing. Because you will miss more often than the PCs who use their high BAB to hit. With cleave and great cleave, though, a full power attack can wreck havoc upon the enemy.

 

[Stalker0]

Power attack also becomes extremely powerful when you can power attack for a "death attack."

If you get hit with a couple of normal blows, you pull back, and your cleric heals you up. But if a big fighter is swinging for the fences, one blow can kill you. That means your cleric can't help you, and while your not likely to get hit, one hit is all it takes. That's a scary power.