Expertise & Power Attack: Will they work together?

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Just wondering here. I'm considering this as an option for a very high level tank type.

TIA

 

Don't know. In HOF, your BAB might already be so high, that you could afford to max out both power Attack and Expertise (assuming that they'll work together). One suggestion if you try it, don't use any of those uber-high level "sure-striking" weapons that have a +5 enchantment, but no Attack Bonus. If you're gonna risk taking a hit of -10 to your AB for Power Attack and Expertise, you might as well get as much of it back with your weapon's AB to alleviate the pain a little.


I've never been one to use Power Attack much. Could never be bothered. But I've recently come to the conclusion that by the time you're in HOF, your BAB is so high that you're not likely to miss all that often anyways, so you might as well push Power Attack to the max and get that extra +5 HP of damage.

Of course, if you're going to try to use Expertise as well, your tank's gonna need an INT of 13. But I'm sure you know that.


Good question, Klorox. With so much BAB to spare in HOF, you might as well trade in some of it for some extra damage and AC.

 

Activating Power Attack will deactivate Expertise and vice versa. They do not work simultaneously.

On when to use Power attack and when not: It all depends on your stats and whether you use lots of buffs that give you attack bonus.

Reasons to AVOID using Power Attack:
- You already do high damage per hit without it
- You have low Attack bonus
- Your enemy has very high AC

Noteworthy extreme case: If you can buff your Attack Bonus to the sky and above (think +15 or more WITHOUT considering Base attack bonus from character levels), you'll hit almost any enemy you meet all the time anyway, so Power Attack becomes free extra oomph for you.

 

Rechet, I'm not sure that having an uber-high BAB is all that "extreme" in HOF. I suspect that you might be able to have Power Attack maxed out with little worry about losing any hits except all except the nastiest enemies.

 

Use Expertise for your uber AC decoys. Use Power attack on helpless foes (stunned, held, hopeless foes, or an asleep orc, for instance.) for that little extra kick at low levels, at high levels, always use it! This is how I use these feats anyway, and I am happy with their effectiveness.

 

My tanks have power attack maxed out through most of HoF. I turn it off for a few situations such as to fight Cheopek, try to hit a construct with the Keg Splitter, or goblins with the Goblin Slayer.

I'm not sure if Expertise and Power Attack work together - I've rarely used Expretise and never tried them together...in HoF your BAB could take the -10 hit, especially if you use a +5 weapon.

 

Crucis, note the difference between +15 attack bonus and the same WITHOUT considering bonus from your levels. Yes, I know, all it really takes is someone with STR 30+ and weapon with +5 enchantment, but that's also the bare minimum where upping Power Attack to max can be done without thinking about consequences that much. The nastier the monster, the more you need to be carefull about it.

All I'm saying, any decent tank with a few buffs (bless, prayer, recitation, Emotion:Hope) should be able to pass this requirement easily in HOF mode, just don't expect a non-buffed mid-level guy to do the same without suffering some misses.