A number of factors has made the current cleave even less useful than the original. This is disconcerting as the feat was hardly useful at the high levels as it was.
Here is what is wrong with the current PDnD Cleave, and probably Great Cleave.
* Targets need to be standing right next to each other.
* Feat takes up a full round action.
* You can not combine these actions with a charge.
* The originals were week feats choices to began with.
Great Cleave (Combat)
You can strike a number of adjacent foes with a single
mighty swing.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Cleave, Power Attack, base attack
bonus +4.
Benefit: As a full-round action, make a single melee attack against a foe within reach. If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (at the same bonus) against a foe that is adjacent to the previous foe and within reach. If you hit, you can continue to make attacks against foes adjacent to the previous foe, so long as they
are within your reach.
If your base attack bonus is +6 or higher whenever you deal a creature enough damage to make it drop (typically by dropping it to below 0 hit points or killing it), you get one, for that round, an immediate, extra melee attack against another creature within reach. You cannot take a 5-foot step before making this extra attack. The extra attack is with the same weapon and at the same bonus as the attack that dropped the previous creature. You cannot attack an individual foe more than once in a round with this feat.
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Simple and long, but it does make the feat better over all. I don't claim to have the best idea here, but I think this is a decent start.
And then there is making Great Cleave truly GREAT.
Great Cleave (Combat)
You can strike a number of adjacent foes with a single
mighty swing.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Cleave, Power Attack, base attack
bonus +4.
Benefit: As a full-round action, make a single melee attack against a foe within reach. If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (at the same bonus) against a foe that is adjacent to the previous foe and within reach. If you hit, you can continue to make attacks against foes adjacent to the previous foe, so long as they
are within your reach.
Also when your base attack reaches +11, whenever you deal a creature enough damage to make it drop (typically by dropping it to below 0 hit points or killing it), you get an immediate, extra melee attack against another creature within reach. You may take one 5ft step between these attacks if you have not taken that action yet. You may perform extra attack as many times as the option occurs in a turn. You cannot attack an individual foe more than once in a round with this feat.
Too much?