A friend and myself were having a discussion and we had a small disagreement about a rule. He says that if he has a high base attack bonus, say 20/15/10/5, and has a special ability that is activated as a standard action that he can use it 4 times on his round similarly to a full attack action. My argument is that the high base attack bonus only applies to attacks. He says that since a single attack is a standard action the 4 attacks can be replaced by standard actions.
More specifically he says that his god character can use the Hand of Death salient divine power 5 times in a round, 4 for base attack bonus and 1 for haste.
Which one of us is right?
Best Answer
The short answer is that you are right. In your turn you may make 1 standard action and a move action, or a full round action, along with one or more free actions - source
A single attack is a standard action, as is using an ability. When used as such you get a single standard action, plus a move. That means you can only use your ability once per round (certain abilities may have limits on number of times per day or length between uses) - source
When using your BAB to get more than one attack, you don't get as many standard actions as you have attacks in your BAB, but take a full round action. This is the same if you get multiple attacks from BAB, or whether it's from a haste spell, or from a double weapon, such as a quarter-staff. Other abilities that specifically say 1 round for time it takes to complete, rather than standard, also use a full round action. - source
TLDR; Your BAB only counts for a full round action, it doesn't give you many standard actions.