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Ive noted in Dungeon adventures its marked how much a creature will generally Power Attack for.How is this decided? As I write up stat blocks in the new format I see lots of creatures with the feat and would like to incorporate this into the write up, but I'd like to know a little more. I assume that there is a formula, though I havent discounted personal preference.
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Remember that you don't HAVE to stick to what it says in the adventure, and you can adjust the amount of Power Attack that's used (or even change it to a different feat).
True, but sometimes the feat just makes sense for the type of creature, and would like to use the feat, but not miss all the time and make the creature look like a wuss and cause the encounter to suck.
I don't know how adventure writers do it, but if I were to write one, I'd assume that PCs (or at least the PCs which monsters will most often attack) will have an AC of 14-18 + level. From that, I compare a monster's AB and then apply PA until the monster has a decent chance of hitting. For example, if an adventure is designed for PCs of 8-12 level I'd assume that the melee types will have an AC of 22-26. So if a monster's AB is +20, I'd assume a PA of 4.
In the end, PA guidelines really aren't important because even if the DM follows them, the monster will most likely adjust its PA after the first round of combat.
For monsters in adventures, I think it sometimes has to do with the monster's individual personality and how the monster is encountered. For example, a cocky and arrogant gnoll bandit might only use half his Power Attack, because he thinks there's no way the PCs could be a real threat to him. On the other hand, a gnoll guarding her children, suddenly ambushed by the PCs would probably go all out (her would probably raise an alarm and fight to the death too, whereas the gnoll bandit might run away when reduced to below half hit points).
This links into the Tactics section in the new monster stat blocks. For example, in D0 and D1 there are at least two creatures who use Power Attack. Both their Tactics sections list how much they use, but not why. However, you can kinda work it out from reading the personality and Morale of that creature. Check out D0, page 14 and D1, page 20.
I don't know if this is really a spoiler, but better to be safe than sorry. It's just the example from D1 about Power Attacking.
You're right though, it does get confusing. The Tactics section lists how much Power Attack is used, but no reasons for that precise amount. Why only X amount of points and not Y? That's where CR and formulas come in, I would think.
Good question. Personally, it does depend on the monster/NPC doing the Power Attack. For very strong creatures with a good attack bonus, I'll generally go as high as 10-points if it brings its attack bonus to around a 50/50 chance of hitting an average AC of the level PCs I'm designing the adventure for. At higher levels, it usually means that the PCs can at least take a couple of those kind of hits and be very worried about taking more before they collectively take the opponent down.
For lower level big hitters, it's usually going to be a 5-point power attack. It comes down to the same reason as above.
Generally, most of the creatures employing Power Attack in combat are usually going to be big hitters. Others that have the feat won't normally have it incorporated in their stat block as a default attack mode.
And that's pretty much all I've got.
::Smacks hands together George Castanza style::
I'm out.