I've heard that you must power attack for full, is it still that way? Is it that you also have to Combat Expertise for full, or is that now adjustable?
For full what?
The full amount you're allowed. The problem is in Pathfinder there isn't any variable at all.
They've simplified the mechanic now. The penalty is always the same and is based on your BAB. Then your bonus damage (or AC bonus) is based on how much of a penalty you take.
See? No more variable.
The penalties and bonuses for both Power Attack and Combat Expertise are based solely on BAB. You no longer choose how much of a penalty you wish to take to your attack rolls, it is simply set and you turn it on or off.
There is also a "power attack for archers" feat called Deadly Aim which functions the same way.
For those unaware, in 3.5, the attacker chose how much of a penalty they wanted to take from Power Attack/Combat Expertise and this translated into a bonus to damage/AC. It could be changed from round to round, even between attacks on iterative attacks. However, many of the Pathfinder Devs felt that this was too metagamey since you basically figured out the opponents AC or attack bonus and tailored your own attack penalty to suit. Now it's just a boolean state: either on or off.
MMMMMMM.... Booooolean.
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I've heard that you must power attack for full, is it still that way? Is it that you also have to Combat Expertise for full, or is that now adjustable?For full what?
See, someone showed me that Jason Bhulman posted that you had to use power attack at its full amount. You couldn't use a little minus to your attack, you had to use the full minus to your attack no matter what level you were. I'm wondering if he has changed that or, is it still the same. Same goes for Combat Expertise.
You have to take the full penalty or no penalty. Some people houserule that you can take any penalty up to the maximum allowed by your BAB and get the corresponding bonus for that penalty (-1/+2 in most instances), but that is a houserule and not RAW. RAW simply asks you what you BAB is and then tells you what the attack penalty and damage/AC bonus is. No variables, just set states.
Compare:
Power Attack (Combat)
You can make exceptionally deadly melee attacks by sacrificing accuracy for strength.
Prerequisites: Str 13, base attack bonus +1.
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.
Power Attack [General]
PrerequisiteStr 13.
BenefitOn your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all melee attack rolls and add the same number to all melee damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next turn.
SpecialIf you attack with a two-handed weapon, or with a one-handed weapon wielded in two hands, instead add twice the number subtracted from your attack rolls. You can’t add the bonus from Power Attack to the damage dealt with a light weapon (except with unarmed strikes or natural weapon attacks), even though the penalty on attack rolls still applies. (Normally, you treat a double weapon as a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. If you choose to use a double weapon like a two-handed weapon, attacking with only one end of it in a round, you treat it as a two-handed weapon.)
A fighter may select Power Attack as one of his fighter bonus feats.
In 3.5, you were allowed to take any number as a penalty up to your BAB. You could change this penalty from round to round. Pathfinder gives you a set number. Note the wording "the penalty increases by -1" which lacks any conditional modifier like "may increase" or any specification that the combatant may choose to take all or only part of the penalty/bonus. This was an intentional change by the folks at Paizo.
Aha. I actually skipped a generation of D&D's development (I dropped out during 2e and then came back for Pathfinder) so this is all news to me!
Aha. I actually skipped a generation of D&D's development (I dropped out during 2e and then came back for Pathfinder) so this is all news to me!
3.x Power Attack was apparently a big problem. Some people would take forever to calculate the best amount of PA to use, maximising damage output and so on.
No worries. Lots of little things changed from 3.5 when Paizo got a hold of it made Pathfinder. Some of them are pretty obvious, others are not.
There is a decent thread over at the Giant in the Playground forums. You can read it here. It's a little old and came pretty soon after Pathfinder hit shelves, but it should cover most of the commonly missed things.
There is a decent thread over at the Giant in the Playground forums.
So did the place improve? The last thing I heard, it was a den of people foaming at the mouth over Pathfinder and throwing hissy fits about it. It's been some time since I heard that, and maybe the troublemakers were all neutered or something.