Sawtooth Sabre and Power Attack - How do they work together?


Rules Questions

Scarab Sages

If I have a sawtooth sabre (1d8 19-20/x2) and do not have the EWP, it is treated as a longsword which would be a medium weapon.

Combining Power attack with this would be the standard -1/+2 (if used in one hand). Correct?

If you have the EWP (sawtooth sabre), the weapon is then treated as a light weapon.

How would Power Attack work with the weapon now? Would it be -1/+2 or -1/+1?

Thank you.

The Exchange

Power Attack wrote:
Benefit: You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon. When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the bonus to damage increases by +2. You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage.

It only states that off-hand or secondary natural weapons have the damage decreased. It doesn't specify a difference between light and 1-handed weapons so it should follow the same rules for a 1-handed weapon. So according to power attack you should be able to Power Attack with a dagger. Nothing in the text excludes light weapons from being used.

EDIT- So it should be a -1/+2 power attack situation.

Liberty's Edge

that is correct, power attack has nothing to do with weapon size just the stren mode applied to damage.

half stren -1/+1
full stren -1/+2
1.5 stren -1/+3

that is why double slice is amazing for power attack now. =)

Scarab Sages

midnight756 wrote:

that is correct, power attack has nothing to do with weapon size just the stren mode applied to damage.

half stren -1/+1
full stren -1/+2
1.5 stren -1/+3

that is why double slice is amazing for power attack now. =)

So, if using twf and power attacking with two sawtooth sabres without double slice it would be:

primary: -1/+2
offhand: -1/+1

with double slice:

primary: -1/+2
offhand: -1/+2 ?

Liberty's Edge

yep

Scarab Sages

midnight756 wrote:
yep

Very nice.

Thank you.


midnight756 wrote:

that is correct, power attack has nothing to do with weapon size just the stren mode applied to damage.

half stren -1/+1
full stren -1/+2
1.5 stren -1/+3

that is why double slice is amazing for power attack now. =)

I'm pretty sure that's wrong. Power Attack description only says main hand and off-hand, says nothing about how much Str bonus is applied and how that affects it. Unfortunately when power attacking, even with Double Slice, you only get -1/+2 for MH and -1/+1 for OH. Unless you can quote me some rules from the PRD that say otherwise that's how it works. The only thing that changed in this regard is that you can add SOME power attack damage to attacks with light weapons, where in 3.5 you would get the penalty to attack but no benefit, which is one reason TWF was so horrible.


For flavor and the sawtooth saber, I think it should do an additional 1d4 damage at it is taken out and that is when the crit should be rolled...

The Exchange

Huh, as I just looked over it, meatrace is actually right. The RAW states that you get less power attack with your off hand, and nothing about the str multiplier enters into it. I guess I glossed over it and assumed that the formula to get your damage was to multiply the bonus from power attack by your weapon's str mod to damage.

Liberty's Edge

power attack:

Spoiler:

Benefit: You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon. When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the bonus to damage increases by +2. You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage.

the +50% for using a 2 hand/nat attack which all use x1.5 stren primary weapons use x1 stren and default off-hand weapons do x0.5 stren

to me it seem that this needs more clarification because it suggest it works of stren mod to damage based off the first half of the discription.

The Exchange

Well, it does suggest that it works off of the str multiplier, but RAW specifically state the bonuses for two-handed, primary hand, and off hand. In my games, I'm definitely going to be keeping it with whatever the str multiplier is at time of hitting, but the RAW only states specific bonuses for off-hand weapons.

Of course, this means that power attack is actually better for monks, who have no off hand when flurrying.


This is a matter of correlation not causation.
When fighting with two weapons and power attacking you 1)get -1/+2 for your mainhand and -1/+1 for your offhand and 2)get full strength to your mainhand and half strength to your offhand. Double Slice lets you add your full Str modifier to damage with both hands, it does not say it lets you add any more for Power Attack.

I can see where the confusion lies, but 1 does not arise from 2, they are individual rules governing similar mechanics but they do not interact.

Sczarni

I have two more questions about the Sawtooth sabre that probably don't warrant a whole new thread.

1) In the description of sawtooth sabre it says that it is treated as a light weapon for the purpose of two weapon fighting.

Does this mean that if you have the Weapon Finesse feat (in addition to EWP: Sawtooth Sabre) you could apply your DEX mod to attack rolls while two-weapon fighting with sawtooth sabres (but at no other time)?

2) Hoping to clarify if the following scenario would play out as I think it would (hope it would);

In a round when you perform a charge you could attack with a sawtooth sabre weilded using 2 hands, thereby gaining a -1/+3 Power Attack modifier and +1.5 x STR mod.

Presuming you have the 'Quickdraw' feat, once the charge attack is resolved you could end your turn by using a free action to draw a second Sawtooth sabre.

On your intiative count in the following round you could make a full attack with both Sawtooth sabres. If you used Power Attack the damage modifers would be -1/+2 primary hand & -1/+1 off-hand. Presuming you had the Double Slice feat you would add full STR mod to damage on both attacks.

Does that sound correct? If so it would synergize nicely with the Scout Archetype from the APG 'Scout's Charge' class feature...

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