chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
    
 | | 06/30/2006 7:49 PM |
| | I have a question for campaigns. I am a fighter lvl 8 and i was wondering if i could do combat expertise and power attack all on one turn. so say i take a -8 for each which adds to -16 atk, can i do that? | |
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IHawk
Underboss
1054 Posts
Lisle, Illinois
| | 06/30/2006 11:29 PM |
| There is nothing that prevents you from taking negatives to
your attack bonus in order to do both Power attack & combat
expertise (although you can only take a max -5 for combat
expertise no matter what your level is).
so your example, you would add -13 to your attack roll
and add +5 dodge to AC & +8 to damage...depending on you
weapon/hand choice.
Your overall attack bonus will not be stellar by any means, but
if you are shooting for the moon, go with it.
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chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
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chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
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Mrfurious
Warrior
344 Posts
| | 07/08/2006 4:00 PM |
| Rules as written, you can do what you suggest.
But I could see someone logically ruling otherwise. To me it seems the idea between each feat is that you trade away your attack training and skill (BAB) for either greater defense or damage. Since each of these feats seems to be dipping into the same justifcation for their effects, one could justify limiting combines power attack and combat expertise to be no greater than BAB.
That being said, taking a -16 penalty to hit, barring fighting a low AC ooze or having a high bonus to hit from other means (flanking, higher ground, +5 weapon, really high str score, etc), you are not going to hit a gosh darn thing. | |
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stonefro2000
Sergeant
465 Posts
| | 07/09/2006 3:46 AM |
| | how we run it is, you can only take up to your base attack. ie: 8lvl fighter could do -4bab to power attack and -4 bab to combat expertise. you can't use more than you have. but like i said thats how we run it. | |
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chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
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Malin Lug
Sergeant
742 Posts
| | 07/17/2006 12:40 PM |
| The real question is why would you? By eigth level, you are fighting some decent strength monsters with reasonably high AC's. If you are taking a -16 to hit (we'll say you have a +4 str bonus, +8BaB, +1 for weapon focus, and a +2 weapon that would give you a total attack bonus of +15) Even if you got a +3 weapon and had a +5 Strength bonus that is only +17) You would be rolling for natural 20's on almost every attack. Then you would need a natural 20 again to confirm a crit.
The monsters on the other hand... say they have a total attack bonus of +14. For arguements sake your AC is 21. Your +8 for combat expertise would mean that your AC of 29 would be hit with a roll of 15 or higher. Statistically speaking, he would be hitting you six times for every hit you landed. That is bad math for you.
Either fight with combat expertise or power attack, doing both at once is really ineffective. | |
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Malin Lug
Sergeant
742 Posts
| | 07/17/2006 12:45 PM |
| I play a very mobile fighter type (Level in fighter, survivor (ranger variant), tempest, pathwarden) and I use combat expertise a good amount but mostly when I move up and draw all of the AoO's from our oppenents. My AC is normally around 38 - 40 for those. I rarely hit with my charge, but it allows my party members to get in postition with out getting hit. The next round, I throw in power attack and hit for as much damage as possible. It has worked reallly, really well for us.
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chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
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Nobody Important
Sergeant
718 Posts
| | 07/17/2006 8:55 PM |
| By the Rules you can combine them as desired. If you want even more AC just add Fighting Defensively to the mix as well.
I find maximizing damage potential (vs average dealt) while maximizing AC to be an interesting tactic when you want fights to last longer. Yes, the big hit may end it quickly but there should be a lot more attacks required before then. When you start getting multiple attacks the strategy may work even better. If at Lv 20 your first attack needs 15+ to hit you should dump everything into damage AND AC; your itterative attacks keep the same chance to hit but do far more damage and you shouldn't be taking as much damage until then.
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chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
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Nobody Important
Sergeant
718 Posts
| | 07/17/2006 11:16 PM |
| Fighting defensively is a standard (non-feat) option that can be used when making a standard or full attack. By taking a -4 on ALL attacks you get a +2 Dodge bonus to AC. If you have 5 RANKS in tumble that goes to +3.
Another option normally avaible is Total Defence. With it you give up all attacks form +4 Dodge AC (or +6 with tumble). Total Defence can NOT be used with Combat Expertise however.
Both of these options can be found in your Player's Handbook although the exact section/page numbers eludes me at present.
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Korhal_IV
Sergeant
852 Posts
| | 07/19/2006 1:53 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Malin Lug
The monsters on the other hand... say they have a total attack bonus of +14. For arguements sake your AC is 21. Your +8 for combat expertise would mean that your AC of 29 would be hit with a roll of 15 or higher. Statistically speaking, he would be hitting you six times for every hit you landed. That is bad math for you.
Either fight with combat expertise or power attack, doing both at once is really ineffective.
If you're engaging a monster who's hard for you to deal with, it might not be a bad idea, though - say, you can block a corridor for some kind of high-AC, high-HP monster while the spellslingers try to nail it from behind you. | |
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chrisman321
Warrior
308 Posts
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