Power attack, Furious focus, and cleave question

[Rexfuzz]

okay so I can't seem to find an answer for this anywhere. Hopefully someone can help me out.
say I have power attack and furious focus, and cleave. Does the furious focus effect work on the second power attack being provided by the cleave?

[Nefreet]

Furious Focus wrote:

When you are wielding a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon with two hands, and using the Power Attack feat, you do not suffer Power Attack's penalty on melee attack rolls on the first attack you make each turn. You still suffer the penalty on any additional attacks, including attacks of opportunity.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Furious Focus and Cleave each on their own are cool enough even without their stacking.

Great Cleave is almost as cool as Whirlwind Attack, except as we see right here.

If you had Furious Focus and Whirlwind Attack, you could attack every adjacent opponent. You would get your Power Attack Bonus, and you would not take any attack penalty because the Whirlwind Attack action only requires 1 attack roll as opposed to the several attack rolls granted by Great Cleave. With Whirlwind Attack, you'd also enjoy the benefit of other effects like True Strike and I think Shocking Grasp for every opponent. That might be a very solid choice for a Magus build.

The problem with that is that it is expensive. Furious Focus Requires Power Attack. Whirlwind Attack Requires Spring Attack and Combat Expertise. Spring Attack Requires Mobility. Mobility requires Dodge. So it'd better be cool for requiring 7 Feats to pull off!

Great Cleave and Furious Focus are cheaper: Power Attack, Furious Focus, Cleave, Great Cleave, 5 feats, but they start paying with the big hits right away, whereas Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack are incongruous feats for a Greatsword-wielding Tank Fighter who wants to wade into the middle of a line of warriors and scythe through them like wheat.

One way to spread the Furious Focus love between more than 1 opponent would be with the Mirror Strike Spell, which lets you divide the damage of 1 strike between more than 1 opponent.

If I were developing a build from Furious Focus and Cleave, I'd take the 2nd Chance Feat or maybe Vitals Strike and Great Cleave (of course). That would give a nice combination of tactical tricks to play for when I'm fighting 1 opponent or several. The 2-handed Fighter Archetype gives bonuses to Sundering, so it would make sense to develop that. If it’s a homespun campaign, I’d take Master Craftsman Weapons and customize a magic item that is optimized for Sundering, and adamantine Earthbreaker or Greatsword that combines the ‘of the Titans and Shatterspike enchantments with maybe just a +1 enhancement bonus to save money. Then I’d Sunder for triple damage, and the residual damage would pass through to the wielder, poor wielder. Quick Bull Rush would be a solid choice for that build as well as it would let you crowd-control the battlefield and set yourself up for those Great Cleaves.

I hope you find my advice welcome and helpful.

[Emmanuel Nouvellon-Pugh]

No, furios focus only works on the first attack, I advise that if you are a Half-Orc to pair this with the feat surprise follow-through.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Surprise Follow through! That's a good one.