I have a player with an agile elven curve blade.
He is thinking about taking power attack to amplify his damage. He qualifies for power attack, with a STR of 15.
I believe it should work, allowing him to trade a -1 to hit for a +2 to damage, but I am unsure about the additional 50% text.
Since the text calls out he only gets a 50% increase to his STR modifier, would he get the +2 but not the +3? That seems to be a strict reading of the rule.
Right now, he has a BAB of +5. So, if I am correct, he would take a -2 penalty on attack, but only receive a +4 to damage, even though he is using a two handed weapon.
To clarify, he should normally get a +6 to damage with a BAB of greater than +4, but since he only has a STR modifier of +1, there is no increase to damage.
This seems wonky... I never thought of the 50% increase of damage to be a component of your STR modifier, but of the additional power attack damage.
Help me get this straight in my head...
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.
The bit about two-handed weapons is competely separate from the part about "a primary natural weapon that adds 1 1/2 times your Strength modifier. It's just listing the three situations where you would get to add 1 1/2 times your Strength, and saying that you get 1 1/2 times the Power Attack bonus as well. Two-handing an Elven Curved Blade would qualify for the extra damage, even with the Agile enchantment.
That makes sense to me. Sometimes all the added clarification in the text only serves to confuse.
Thanks for the quick response.
I completely agree, enchantments won't change Power Attacks extra bonus for two-handed weapons. Another way to think of Power Attack is attacking a vital area of the body (similar to a called shot, hence the penalty to attack with the bonus damage) rather than a reckless attack that yields more damage. It's a nice way for Dex based fighters to keep the flavor of their character and skill keep the ever essential PA feat for melee.
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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 any of the following:
1) a two-handed weapon
2) a one handed weapon using two hands
3) 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.
Slightly changed the wording for clarity, but the rider is on natural attacks, since most do not get the 1-1/2 times Str damage rider. That is usually added by a special quality of the monster, that adds the rider to a specific natural attack that it does 1-1/2 times damage.
Most natural attacks fall into light and one-handed weapon categories, so would do either normal PA damage, or even halved like an off-hand weapon.
Dragons, IIRC, might get a special called Powerful Bite which lets them do the 1-1/2 damage with their bite.