Vital strike clarification


Rules Questions


Vital strike is a standard action, which means you can take a move action in addition to vital strike. If a character has multiple attacks (from having a high BAB), he cannot use them with vital strike.

Attacking multiple times is a full-round action.

It's the same thing with cleave (and no, they cannot be combined)


Jonne Karila wrote:

Vital strike is a standard action, which means you can take a move action in addition to vital strike. If a character has multiple attacks (from having a high BAB), he cannot use them with vital strike.

Attacking multiple times is a full-round action.

It's the same thing with cleave (and no, they cannot be combined)

I figured that much :)

Ok, so, speaking of cleave - you get to move and do a cleave attack (if you hit) which is fine. What about great cleave? Same thing? Seems odd that if you choose to great cleave and miss, you don't get your extra attacks (for being high level, for example). So if you choose to take a standard action, you can't then go and continue on with your extra attacks, you can only move, yes?

And I seem to have deleted my first post hehe.


Jonne Karila wrote:
Vital strike is a standard action, which means you can take a move action in addition to vital strike.

I had not realised this through the blinding awe of options. Vital Strike just became a necessary feat for my character. Thanks!


Wasn't all this the purpose of vital strike? Giving melee characters something to do with their standard actions?

Seems the casters had a monopoly on standard actions past 6th or 8th level, given BAB. It's nice to see true skirmish builds emerging.


Sean FitzSimon wrote:

Wasn't all this the purpose of vital strike? Giving melee characters something to do with their standard actions?

Seems the casters had a monopoly on standard actions past 6th or 8th level, given BAB. It's nice to see true skirmish builds emerging.

Quite so, I really like it.

The guy I was having a discussion about it with was winning the argument that vital strike was on an attack - i.e. the first attack in a round, until I found on page 182 that an attack IS a standard action ;)


Savant1974 wrote:

I figured that much :)

Ok, so, speaking of cleave - you get to move and do a cleave attack (if you hit) which is fine. What about great cleave? Same thing? Seems odd that if you choose to great cleave and miss, you don't get your extra attacks (for being high level, for example). So if you choose to take a standard action, you can't then go and continue on with your extra attacks, you can only move, yes?

And I seem to have deleted my first post hehe.

Cleave and great cleave are both sort of gamble. If you hit, it's fine, but there's the chance that you don't. Whirlwind attack would become totally useless if you'd still get the extra attacks from Great cleave.

Also note that when cleaving, the opponents must be adjanced to one another. And you cannot move between hits when cleaving. But in my gaming group, we've house ruled that the enemies only have to be adjanced to you, not to each other.

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