Brutal Strike Questions

[Gecks]

OK, so I have a few quick questions about the brutal strike feat from PHB II:

1. As per the description of Stone Power from ToB, the stone power feat can be used in place of power attack to qualify for feats requiring PA. However, as per the brutal strike feat description, it is only usable "when you use the power attack feat to cause extra damage". So as per RAW, it appears Stone power would allow a character to qualify for the brutal strike feat, but not actually use it in play. Is this correct?

2. As a houserule, would allowing Stone Power to power this feat, with a DC of (10+the extra HP from Stone Power) be reasonable? Normally a PA would be with a 2-hnd weapon and have a 2-1 return on the DC anyway, so the only advantage would be being able to brutal strike with a fairly high DC while still holding a shield or other weapon (not a huge advantage). Any flavour issues with said houserule?

3. RAW, would brutal strike work with a ToB strike (I am like 99% sure, since brutal strike occurs once per round during an "attack action", but I wanted a second opinion)?

4. RAW, if the answer to question 3 is "yes", would the “sickened” status occur before or after the strike? I am asking mainly to see if the -2 on saves from the sickened status effect could be used to increase the odds of a save-or-suck maneuver working.

5. Is brutal strike, in general, a feat worth taking? Sickened does not seem like a very strong effect, and saves targeting fortitude are less than ideal for a front-line fighter, but the penalty to saves is intriguing and being able to stack an extra effect on top of a maneuver appeals to me.

Thanks in advance for any replies- I am currently putting together a warhammer-and-board crusader for my next campaign (staying away from reach weapons or 2-hnd fighting so as to not completely outshine the party ranger in combat- or at least to limit the gap :smallwink:), and I have a free feat slot around level 6 or 9, and am kind of kicking the tires on this feat.

[Cog]

1) Correct.

2) I don't see any particular need to do that. As for flavor, it's clearly about hitting so hard that you sicken your foe, so that's off too. I'm not sure why you should get a benefit for using Stone Power one handed over using PA one handed, considering it's less of a match in the first place, though admittedly even a 1h PA-powered Brutal Strike would still benefit from PA multipliers.

3) Yes, it would work.

4) You are the attacker, and so are controlling the order you subject your foes to your various abilities. You can apply Brutal Strike first.

5) Sickened isn't a strong debuff, and I suspect there's a lot of immunity to it as well. In a campaign that tended to focus more on humanlike opponents, it would be more worthwhile, or as part of a build that focused on stacking penalties where every additional -2 would help.