Prerequisites: Str 15
Benefit: When making a melee attack, you can take a −2 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll (or a +3 bonus to the damage roll with a two-handed weapon). This extra damage increases by level, as shown on the table below, but the attack penalty remains the same.[PH:199]
| Power Attack Damage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Attack penalty | One-handed damage bonus |
Two-handed damage bonus |
| Heroic (1st–10th) | −2 | +2 | +3 |
| Paragon (11th–20th) | −2 | +4 | +6 |
| Epic (21st–30th) | −2 | +6 | +9 |
Notes
While the damage bonus may be nice, the average damage per round gained is somewhere between 0.5 (heroic tier) and 2.5 (at epic tier), assuming that you would hit on a natural die roll of 10. The bonus quickly fades on hard-to-hit targets or if using an encounter power and a hard-hitting weapon. There is more often than nor a more reliable means to inflict additional damage.
If you can get accuracy high enough to consistently hit on a low die roll (such as with an Avenger's Oath of Enmity), feel free to take the feat. Otherwise, it's not a worthwhile investment.