Flurry of Blows + Power Attack

[Ross Thompson]

A 4th level monk has a BAB of +3, which means that Power Attack will give him a -1 to hit and a +2 to damage. However, when using Flurry of Blows, "for the purpose of these attacks" he has a BAB of +4. Does this mean that if Power Attack is used with a FoB it gives a -2 to hit and a +4 to damage?

It does say that "for all other purposes, such as qualifying for a feat", the monk uses their listed BAB, but this isn't a case of qualifying for a feat, but adjudicating its effect.

I realise that there are very few circumstances in which this would come up, and I think that either interpretation would be valid, but what do you guys think? Are there any good arguments either way?

[Chris P. Bacon]

Oo, that's a good one. I hadn't thought of that.

I think the phrase "For all other purposes" encompasses calculating the bonus and penalty from Power Attack (meaning that you should use the "real", lower BAB to determine the bonus/penalty). That's how I interpret what's written, but I can imagine other interpretations.

[Ross Thompson]

Having been thinking about this for a while, I'm leaning towards the -2/+4 interpretation. My main reason for this is the iterative attack progression for FoB. The two-weapon fighting based attacks appear when your normal BAB is high enough to qualify for the feats (i.e. levels 8 and 15); but the standard iterative attacks appear when your FoB BAB is high enough to generate them (i.e. levels 6, 11 and 16).

This implies to me that features that are calculated from the BAB at the time the attack is made (such as iterative attacks or Power Attack effects) would use the FoB BAB rather than the regular BAB.

Does that make sense to people? Any counter-arguments?

[Kryzbyn]

My 2 cents is, Power Attack uses the FoB BAB if he's flurrying in a round he opts to use Power Attack. Same as if you were to Power Attack while fighting defensively, I'd imagine. You'd calculate the penalty for fighting defensively, then for power attack.

[Alexander Kilcoyne]

I completely disagree, Just because the Monk's treated "as though his BAB was equal to his character level" doesn't mean his BAB ACTUALLY increases. Its always been pretty clear cut for me.

As for the other point, Power Attack effects all of your attacks equally, it doesn't change the ratio because its an iterative attack etc.

[ItoSaithWebb]

I think that it could be interpreted either way and it is entirely up to the GM in question.

However, I see it this way: Since power attack is generally announced before any attack is made this would mean that it would be based off the actual BAB of the Monk first and therefore the penalties and bonuses would be applied first before any other attack action. Power attack applies to all attacks for the round it is announced for, at least that was always my understanding, so with that in mind the same penalties and bonuses for flurry of blows should be the same for normal attacks and thus it would just be a -1 to attacks and +2 to damage.

It is a pretty good question that does cause you to pause and think about it.

[Ross Thompson]

Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

As for the other point, Power Attack effects all of your attacks equally, it doesn't change the ratio because its an iterative attack etc.

Yeah, that wasn't meant to imply that the modifiers would be different for different attacks, but to point out that there are other BAB-based effects that key off the FoB BAB.

[Alexander Kilcoyne]

While this question comes up frequently, an 'official' ruling hasn't been given (i've searched the forums too). I would suggest anyone who reads this topic please click the FAQ button on the first thread of the topic.

[Sean K Reynolds]

FAQ!

[Anburaid]

Boy, hitting all the gofers with the mallet today, aren't we? :D