diff --git a/sbin/reboot/reboot.8 b/sbin/reboot/reboot.8
--- a/sbin/reboot/reboot.8
+++ b/sbin/reboot/reboot.8
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 .Op Fl k Ar kernel
 .Op Fl o Ar options
 .Nm
-.Op Fl cDdflNnpqr
+.Op Fl cDdflNnqr
 .Op Fl e Ar variable=value
 .Op Fl k Ar kernel
 .Op Fl o Ar options
@@ -156,11 +156,7 @@
 .It Fl p
 The system will turn off the power if it can.
 If the power down action fails, the system
-will halt or reboot normally, depending on whether
-.Nm halt
-or
-.Nm
-was called.
+will halt normally.
 .It Fl q
 The system is halted or restarted quickly and ungracefully, and only
 the flushing of the file system cache is performed (if the
diff --git a/sbin/reboot/reboot.c b/sbin/reboot/reboot.c
--- a/sbin/reboot/reboot.c
+++ b/sbin/reboot/reboot.c
@@ -306,6 +306,9 @@
 		errx(1, "-r cannot be used with -c, -d, -n, or -p");
 	if ((howto & RB_REROOT) != 0 && kernel != NULL)
 		errx(1, "-r and -k cannot be used together, there is no next kernel");
+	if ((howto & RB_POWEROFF) != 0 && dohalt != true)
+		errx(1, "cannot poweroff (-p) when rebooting; "
+		     "must power cycle (-c) or halt instead");
 
 	if (Dflag) {
 		if (unlink(PATH_NEXTBOOT) != 0 && errno != ENOENT)