Assisting with Rycon stats please?

[Starsign]

I've noticed that Rycon's feat total adds up to 14 rather than 16, so I have an extra 2 pp to add. I was thinking of Hide in Plain Sight (goes well with her stealth rank) and either Power Attack, Sneak Attack or All-Out Attack. could I have some advice on this please?

More questions will come as Rycon acquires more pp.

[Geez3r]

Hide in Plain Sight is almost mandatory for anyone using Stealth. And I suggest that any build takes Power Attack. Just my 2 cents.

[angrydurf]

Geezer pretty much summed it up.

If you're under caps 1 rank of sneak attack is quite efficient for a character with good stealth or bluff.

[Starsign]

OK, so sounds like HiPS is choice number one.

Now can I take both Power Attack and Sneak Attack and use them both on the same round? Rather, is it a good idea to take both Power Attack and Sneak Attack for a character like Rycon?

[angrydurf]

For clarification Sneak attack counts against you caps at all times even when you don't meet the requirements for it.

thus when not able to Sneak attack you will be effectively 2 below PL cap. You can use power attack on a sneak attack but you don't in general activate sneak attack so much as you get its bonus when you meet the requirements (You're opponent being denied their dodge bonus to defense).

[Geez3r]

Power Attack, Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, and All Out Attack basically allow you to change your trade-offs on the fly. And you can mix and match those feats as you like, with all bonuses and penalties stacking.

So we'll look at Atlas for an example. Mechanically speaking, he is PL 11, with the Trade-offs: -5 Attack, +5 DC, and -5 Defense, + 5 Toughness. So at his base he has +6 to hit, +16 DC modifier, +6 Defense and +16 Toughness.

Let's say Atlas is having trouble hitting a fast moving enemy. So in this round he decides he'll use Accurate Attack 4. This will give him a +4 bonus to hit, in exchange for lowering the DC by -4. So his bonus to hit would become +10, and his DC modifier would fall to +12. You'll notice he is still PL 11 effectively, he just meets the PL 11 cap differently.

If Atlas is still having trouble hitting the enemy he could use Accurate Attack 4 like in the above, but also use All Out Attack 4. All Out Attack 4 gives Atlas an additional +4 to hit, but lowers his Defense bonus by -4 as well. With these two feats in play, Atlas has +14 to hit, +12 DC modifier, +2 Defense and +16 Toughness.

Note: All of these feats go up to 5. I used 4 due to it being rounder numbers.

[Starsign]

OK, thanks Geez and Durf.

Rycon will take HiPS and Power Attack (she may need the extra DC for her attacks, her knives should be sufficient for hitting opponents).