Power Attack and such

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by blackjack, Oct 12, 2012.

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  1. blackjack

    blackjack Member

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    So in my various forum reading it seems universal that Power Attack is a great feat. I'm not sure I understand why. Let me first say I'm not a number cruncher and I'm guessing someone has looked at the numbers and figured out it was better to get the extra damage and lose a chance to hit. However in games such as WOW it was widely believed that HIT was the most important part of the DPS role. Power attack and others like it seem to fly in the face to this logic. Can someone explain?
     
    blackjack, Oct 12, 2012
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  2. Gehennis

    Gehennis Established Member

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    Sorry I can't explain the numbers but I usually get Power Attack to get to Cleave and Great Cleave- I rarely actually use it myself...
     
    Gehennis, Oct 12, 2012
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  3. Nightcanon

    Nightcanon Garrulous Halfling

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    I have to say this was my initial analysis, too, particularly for implementation in a CRPG (Perhaps in PnP one could use it in a more nuanced manner so e.g. prone opponents etc). Then I ran into an opponent early in the game with the cleave feat (maybe it was even great cleave?) who slew my whole party in short order as I naively tried to mob him because he couldn't kill all of my party at once...
    Power attack is basically a way of charging 2 feats for Cleave.
    If you find a way of guaranteeing hits later in the game (level of wiz and true strike?) then Power attack becomes useful in its own right.
     
    Nightcanon, Oct 12, 2012
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  4. Caelen

    Caelen Member

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    The real benefit of power attack comes when you have a two-handed weapon. You get more damage out of it, for the same penalty to hit.
     
    Caelen, Oct 13, 2012
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  5. blackjack

    blackjack Member

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    In reading the tooltip for Power Attack it says "If you attack with a 2h Weapon add twice the # subtracted for your attack rolls. No Power Attacks with light weapons"

    So is this the case in TOEE? Do you subtract even more from a 2her?
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2012
    blackjack, Oct 13, 2012
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  6. Goshi3156

    Goshi3156 Dire Badger

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    That's referring to damage rolls. Its add twice what you subtract from attack to your damage rolls. And yes, it is implemented in ToEE.

    As for Power Attack, its not very useful early game since accuracy is more important than anything. During the middle and late game though its not a bad idea to start subtracting small amounts from your attack bonus. You'll eventually reach the stage where your AB is so high you may as well lower it a notch. By WotGS my Paladin was subtracting 12 from her rolls and still had an AB of +18 and had no difficulties hitting the enemy. +24 damage man. +24 damage!!!! WOAAAAAHHHHHHH
     
    Goshi3156, Oct 13, 2012
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