Failure This attack does not count toward your multiple attack penalty
I think so. "The Strike gains the following failure effect" means "in case it fails" I guess. So if your attack fails, you can make a second attack without the attack penalty.
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It has the Press Trait as which means it can't be your first attack, but if you wanted to attack multiple times it would be
lvl 1
+9 = 4(str) + 5 (lvl + prof)
+4 (Exacting strike)
+4 (If exacting strike missed)
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So you have to make a strike first. Then on the second attack (at -5), if you fail, you can make a 3rd attack at -5?
Is that how it works? If so, seems pretty underwhelming.
Thanks for the clarification
How do you mean? -5 vs -10 is a pretty huge difference. It's the equivalent of getting a +5 bonus on your third attack.
Its purpose it to give you better odds of hitting twice in the round.
Swing once with full attack bonus.
Swing again with the -5 penalty using Exacting Strike.
- If you miss, swing again with a -5 penalty, effectively gaining a +5 bonus to the third attack.
- If you hit, you have done the two hits that you wanted. You still have one action to spend as you like. Raise shield or whatever.
In either case, you have good odds of doing two strike's worth of damage. Hopefully enough to finish the thing off before it gets another turn.
Not blindingly awesome, sure. But not without purpose either.
If you read the full entry for Press on page 143 it says on a critical failure you don't apply the failure effect, meaning I would think that you lose the benefit of not taking the extra -5 to hit for the third attack.
I just started my first PF2.0 fighter and I picked an Elven Curved Sword for my primary (Finesse / Forceful) and I picked my 1st lvl feat as Exacting Strike. I thought the synergy would be sweet between Forceful and Exacting Strike. Then I actually realized how "meh" Exacting Strike is in play.
ROUND 1
Action 1: Move to Melee
Action 2: Attack!!! (...and hit or miss... doesn't matter)
Action 3: Attack Again at -5 (feat does not come into play)
ROUND 2
Action 1: Cast Shield (hey i'm an Elf!)
Action 2: Attack!!! (maybe hit or maybe miss... don't matter)
Action 3: Attack Again at -5 (feat does not come into play)
ROUND 3
Action 1: Attack!!! (skip the shield spell, I'm an Elf)
Action 2: Attack at -5! (hit! yay!)
Action 3: Attack at -10 (sad trombone feat doesn't come into play again)
I guess my point is that this feat rarely is useful. I've gone almost all the way through 1st level and I think its triggered twice.
It is actually mathematically pretty solid, compared to other at-level attack options. But it does require starting your turn adjacent and dedicating a whole turn to attacks (note: can be used for ranged attacks too) . This is where tactics come into play: if you want to Exacting Strike often, delay and have the enemies come to your team (maybe even instead throw a ranged attack first round to entice them before drawing melee weapon).
Also, if you want to exacting strike often, plan to have backup third actions like Intimidate for when the Exacting Strike hits and the -10 strike won't be worth it.
Level 1 fighter w/ Exacting strike VS Power attack and strike VS three strikes:
Targeting AC 18. Bonus to hit +8. Damage 1d12+4, average 10.5, let's say greatsword or greataxe.
Exacting Strike:
First attack 0.5 to hit, 0.05 to crit. 0.5 * 10.5 + 0.05 * 21 = 6.3
Second attack (Exacting strike) 0.25 to hit, 0.05 to crit. 0.25 * 10.5 + 0.05 * 21 = 3.675
Third attack: a little more complicated. If the first attack missed, which was a 0.7 chance, then this is also 3.675. Otherwise, this is 0.05 * 21 = 1.05. So third strike is 0.7 * 3.675 + 0.3 * 1.05 = 2.8875
Total for Exacting Strike: 12.825
Power attack: Damage for power attack is 17.
First attack (power attack) 0.5 to hit, 0.05 to crit. 0.5 * 17 + 0.05 * 34 = 10.2
Second attack 0.05 to crit, for 1.05 (done above)
Total for power attack: 11.25
Three strikes:
As Exacting strike, but without the chance of more damage on attack three. So attacks are 6.3 + 3.675 + 1.05 = 11.025
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This obviously isn't conclusive, the numbers I picked were arbitrary but kinda close to what a first level combat might be. However, the point being made is that if you want your strategy to be standing in place and attacking a bunch, Exacting strike is the way to go. Power attack is better than 3 regular strikes, but its real value is front loading damage to free up the third action for something else, and it doesn't serve the "full attack" as well.
Against a higher AC the power attack sequence probably does best, because it puts all its damage on the highest bonus.
Edit: As you rise in levels, power attack falls off due to the increase in non-weapon-die damage bonuses which PA doesn't increase. It takes the niche of the "nutcracker", most useful against high AC enemies with resistances you can't get around. Exacting strike stays strong in its full attack niche, however. I actually suspect it does even better when you get haste and can use it twice per round, but I'm not confident enough in my numbers to do that calculation.
I was about to post how lame this feat is but here we go you beat me to it LOL.
With this one i just don't feel it, i mean its only useful on your 3rd attack and that's only IF you missed on your 2nd attack and its not useful at all if you moved, raised a shield etc as part of your total 3 actions that round - Really wow and somebody thought I should spend one of my precious feats on this, instead of prity much anything else at the same Level pick?
Anyway
cheers
The beauty of the feat system is that if you don't like something for your build, you don't have to take it. This one is for people who are actively planning to stand in place and full attack as part of their tactics. They'll probably get a high damage weapon and have friends to debuff the target with flanking, tripping, etc so they can just focus on DPR. Not every fighter will want to play like that (in fact most won't) but this feat is for those who do.
Trying to make every feat good for every character just gives you a bunch of overpowered feats. It's OK for some to be niche.
The beauty of the feat system is that if you don't like something for your build, you don't have to take it.
This is pretty much how I view the feat system.