Can a character use Power Attack to deal extra damage while making a coup de grace?
A coup de grace doesn’t require an attack roll, but the text doesn’t specify one way or the other. Power Attack allows a character to subtract some desired amount from all her attack rolls in a round and add it to all her damage rolls. Nowhere does it specify that the character must actually make an attack roll to gain this benefit — automatically hitting the target does not invalidate the Power Attack. Since a character deals maximum damage with a coup de grace and can use it only against a helpless target, I see no reason that she couldn’t use Power Attack. (Indeed, it seems likely that headsmen do exactly that for executions.) Yes, this ruling makes a coup de grace more dangerous, but unusual peril is the harsh reality of being helpless before foes. Do you have a rules question about the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game? Send it to bulletpoints@wizards.com. For the quickest possible answer, please put the topic of your question in the subject line and keep the question as succinct as po
