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One of my players is a samurai with a 20 (ugh!) in STR. He's lvl 6, and he's got a Katana that he's using 2-handed. He also has the Weapon Specialization, Power Attack and Vital strike feats.
Here is the damage we came up with.
1d8 +7(base) +2(weapon spec)= 1d8+9
With Vital Strike and Power Attack:
2d8 +7(base) +2(Weapon spec) +6(power attk 2 handed)= 2d8+15
Crit damage would then be 3d8+30.
If this is wrong, please tell me how so I can explain it properly. Thanks!
It doesn't look wrong at all.
What's bad about a 20 at level 6?
Yep, your math is correct. Be glad he didn't have 20 str at level 1. Unless he did, in which case be glad he hasn't gotten a Str belt by now.
One of my players is a samurai with a 20 (ugh!) in STR. He's lvl 6, and he's got a Katana that he's using 2-handed. He also has the Weapon Specialization, Power Attack and Vital strike feats.
Here is the damage we came up with.
1d8 +7(base) +2(weapon spec)= 1d8+9
With Vital Strike and Power Attack:
2d8 +7(base) +2(Weapon spec) +6(power attk 2 handed)= 2d8+15
Crit damage would then be 3d8+30.
If this is wrong, please tell me how so I can explain it properly. Thanks!
1d8 + 7(Base)?
I do not know the Sam that well but... 20 str is +5 where is the other +2 on the base damage coming from? The challenge is +1 / Level (in this case +6) so I'm lost?? Like I said I do not the SAmurai that well.
Never mind....1 1/2 x Str stupid me!
I'm not impressed.
I'm not impressed either, mostly because he took vital strike. He could do more damage with two attacks. By swing twice he also doubles his chance to crit which is the best reason to take a high crit weapon.
I'm not impressed either, mostly because he took vital strike. He could do more damage with two attacks. By swing twice he also doubles his chance to crit which is the best reason to take a high crit weapon.
Yeah. I've had a couple players seem determined to go the Vital Strike route. With archery even!!! I don't know why it takes such effort to convince them it's a trap feat.
I'm not impressed either, mostly because he took vital strike. He could do more damage with two attacks. By swing twice he also doubles his chance to crit which is the best reason to take a high crit weapon.Yeah. I've had a couple players seem determined to go the Vital Strike route. With archery even!!! I don't know why it takes such effort to convince them it's a trap feat.
Depends on what you take it for. If you still intend to full attack when possible and intend Vital Strike as something to use when you can't, and you expect a fair number of such situations, it isn't a trap at all.
Depends on what you take it for. If you still intend to full attack when possible and intend Vital Strike as something to use when you can't, and you expect a fair number of such situations, it isn't a trap at all.I'm not impressed either, mostly because he took vital strike. He could do more damage with two attacks. By swing twice he also doubles his chance to crit which is the best reason to take a high crit weapon.Yeah. I've had a couple players seem determined to go the Vital Strike route. With archery even!!! I don't know why it takes such effort to convince them it's a trap feat.
One of the biggest benefits of archery is being able to almost always full attack. The only time I've seen Vital Strike be viable is with a character that wielded a Swatter (Dark Sun weapon with 2d8 base damage) and routinely enlarged himself. Rolling 6d8 for weapon damage is actually pretty cool and viable because it allows you to be mobile. Shooting one arrow at 2d8+X vs 1d8+8 isn't spectacular when your strength is in shooting as many as possible.
For the record though, this was a player who thought he could make a "sniper" type archer who would get one big attack with a load of dice. I gave him 3.5 scout skirmish ability and he took vital strike and STILL did far far less damage than if he just full attacked.
Vital stike is a great feat in my opinion. If you know your second attack is going to miss anyway doing more damage with the first is a safe bet. With archery it is great for snipper characters. For one you save alot of arrows. two, don't forget about DR. If you shoot two arrows both have to deduct DR from the damage. But if you shoot one arrow that does the damage of two the DR is only subtracted once. Depending on the DR this can help you cause alot more damage while saving arrows. From a game standpoint rolling only one attack roll can speed up your turn, making combat faster. More dice isn't the only answer to combat and alot of feats become alot more useful when used creatively.
I like for my feats to remain useful throughout my career, and if I can only hit something with the first attack at higher levels then I am getting out of melee, and not taking any feats that go towards melee.
Vital stike is a great feat in my opinion. If you know your second attack is going to miss anyway doing more damage with the first is a safe bet. With archery it is great for snipper characters. For one you save alot of arrows. two, don't forget about DR. If you shoot two arrows both have to deduct DR from the damage. But if you shoot one arrow that does the damage of two the DR is only subtracted once. Depending on the DR this can help you cause alot more damage while saving arrows. From a game standpoint rolling only one attack roll can speed up your turn, making combat faster. More dice isn't the only answer to combat and alot of feats become alot more useful when used creatively.
If you're a full BAB class and your second attack is almost certainly going to miss, then you're in trouble. If you're a 3/4 BAB class, then you generally have some kicker that applies per attack or that requires you to make a full attack (sneak attack, flurry, spell combat). For those 3/4 classes that don't (like a bard), and for 1/2 classes that feel the need to use weapons extensively, it's can be useful. Likewise, in situations where you're usually going to be moving, it could be useful even for the full BAB classes, but Spring Attack would be even moreso, and mobile-focused archetypes tend to have their own answers to the move-and-no-full-attack issue.
The one time it's useful is when you have to move to get to a new target. So it effectively becomes "On any round in which you move, add 4-5 damage." Which is not a great feat, although a situationally useful one.
As for DR, there's an archery feat which lets you subtract DR once from the total of all your shots, rather than individually from each one.
All that being said, it's actually a valid choice as a fighter bonus feat at first level, with the intent to retrain it away at level 6. Until you get the second attack, there's never a reason not to use it.
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Vital stike is a great feat in my opinion. If you know your second attack is going to miss anyway doing more damage with the first is a safe bet. With archery it is great for snipper characters. For one you save alot of arrows. two, don't forget about DR. If you shoot two arrows both have to deduct DR from the damage. But if you shoot one arrow that does the damage of two the DR is only subtracted once. Depending on the DR this can help you cause alot more damage while saving arrows. From a game standpoint rolling only one attack roll can speed up your turn, making combat faster. More dice isn't the only answer to combat and alot of feats become alot more useful when used creatively.If you're a full BAB class and your second attack is almost certainly going to miss, then you're in trouble. If you're a 3/4 BAB class, then you generally have some kicker that applies per attack or that requires you to make a full attack (sneak attack, flurry, spell combat). For those 3/4 classes that don't (like a bard), and for 1/2 classes that feel the need to use weapons extensively, it's can be useful. Likewise, in situations where you're usually going to be moving, it could be useful even for the full BAB classes, but Spring Attack would be even moreso, and mobile-focused archetypes tend to have their own answers to the move-and-no-full-attack issue.
The one time it's useful is when you have to move to get to a new target. So it effectively becomes "On any round in which you move, add 4-5 damage." Which is not a great feat, although a situationally useful one.
As for DR, there's an archery feat which lets you subtract DR once from the total of all your shots, rather than individually from each one.
All that being said, it's actually a valid choice as a fighter bonus feat at first level, with the intent to retrain it away at level 6. Until you get the second attack, there's never a reason not to use it.
Clustered shots is the feat you are looking for against DR. Also fighter bonus feats still require pre-reqs and vital strike needs a BAB of +6.
Also fighter bonus feats still require pre-reqs and vital strike needs a BAB of +6.
It does? Oh, I take it back then. I thought it had BAB +1, and I didn't check. It makes more sense at +6, though.
