Pathfinder 1E Furious Finish ... or not?

[Systole]

I've got a barbarian that's approaching level 7, at which point I need to decide whether I'm going for Vital Strike -> Furious Finish or not. I'm building toward a Horizon Walker rage cycler at level 9, so my barbarian could potentially Furious Finish every round.

Assuming 26 ragestrength (20 base + 4 rage + 2 belt of strength) and a +1 furious earthbreaker, a Furious Finish attack is going to be 24 (4d6 maxed) + 9 Power Attack + 12 Strength + 3 magic weapon = 48 per Furious Finish. On the other hand, a regular attack is going to be 7 (2d6 average) + 9 Power Attack + 12 Strength + 3 magic weapon = 31 per regular attack. Which means that with iterative attacks, it's already fairly competitive.



So the pros and cons of getting Furious Finish are:

• High, solid damage
• Only requires a standard attack, allowing more battlefield positioning
• Not raging during opponents' turns, meaning normal AC
• Also means that Elemental Kin usually won't trigger
• And AoO's are made with no rage bonuses
• Requires 2 feats, and more for Imp. Vital Strike

Pros and cons of not getting Furious Focus:

• Standard attack is less than Vital Strike
• Full attack are competitive with or possibly more than Vital Strike. Will definitely outpace Furious Finish at higher levels.
• Full attacks require full round actions
• Feats not required
• Iterative attacks also allow use of Knockdown rage power.

The more I look at it, the more I think that it's great situationally, but I'm not sure if the usefulness is worth the investment.

 

[Ramaster]

In my opinion: No.

Vital strike is good, Furious finish is unnecessary. Sure, you can pull off 10+ damage on the attack, but the investment is just too great. You get fatigued (that means no running or charging) and you end your rage. The -2 AC rage penalty is partially replaced by the -2 dex from the Fatigued condition.

Perhaps on higher levels, the additional d12s will mean a TON of extra damage... but there are just much better options. Step up is devastating, for example. Furious focus is deadly and Reckless Abandon (the rage power) is brutal, take your pick!

Man.. I found myself recommending reckless abandon to someone AGAIN... is it that time of the month already?

 

[Systole]

If you've got fatigue immunity due to Horizon Walker or Oracle, it changes the ball game. The extra damage is something you can potentially pull off every round. Start rage -> Furious Finish/rage ends. Rinse, repeat.

 

[Ramaster]

Quote from the SRD (emphasis mine):

"Benefit: While raging, when you use the Vital Strike feat, you can choose not to roll your damage dice and instead deal damage equal to the maximum roll possible on those damage dice. If you do, your rage immediately ends, and you are fatigued (even if you would not normally be)."

You are fatigued no matter what you do.

 

[Systole]

The fatigue from the Furious Finish is explicitly to counter the level 17 barbarian class ability where you don't get fatigued after raging. Fatigue immunity still applies.

 

[akbearfoot]

Isnt that pretty clear?

fatigue immunity means you wouldnt normally be fatigued....the feat specifically says it still affects you if you normally wouldn't.

Feats do everything they say. Sometimes they have drawbacks.

Also...munchkin sense is tingling.

 

[deadlogic]

James Jacobs already ruled on it in the paizo forums fatigue immunity protects you from the furious finish drawback. http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&page=375?Ask-James-Jacobs-ALL-your-Questions-Here#18721