Man-At-Arms Damage questions

[elsteveo]

Hi Guys I am playing a MAA want to go straight 30 as it suits the RP I have and its just a flat out fun class.

I want to get an idea of what is the best feat to take to increase my damage?
I am really happy with AC, AB and saves but find it takes an age to kill almost anything.

Northlander Hewing looks the most promising but after reading the description I am not sure it is worth the loss of the attacks.

Athkatlan Triparite also looks good.

I use a battle axe and shield and have the shield bash feats if that helps.

I am only level 17 so have options with a few feats left to go on this build.

[Bobthehero]

Northlander is worth it, as the attacks you'll lose will have -15 -20 and -25 to hit, so they'll miss out more often than not.

[izzul]

Sometimes people go EDM with Blackguard or Paladin or Cleric. gives a good boost of damage. can even go Divine Shield for boost of AC with decent duration

[Blaze]

MaA 30 is one or the best debuffer in game.

I tried it with 36 charisma and the DCs are awesome even in epics.

MaA is usually a tank, but you can do some hybrid build with bastard sword (1d10), improved power Attack (+12 damage 2handed) and NH (double str mod to damage)

Use ICE and shield when your party need a tank or IPA+NH when they need more dps.

Taunt skill helps, do not forget it !

Recommended feats: LoH, CE, ICE, shield bash, tower shield (+2 AC), exotic weapon prof
Epics: armor skin, Epic charisma

[MrSmith]

30 levels of MaA is enticing. Unfortunately, because the greater weapon focus feat requires 8 levels of Fighter and is a prerequisite for the greater weapon specialization feat, which requires 12 levels of Fighter, there is no easy way to increase damage.

Shield Bash is a great start. I like to play the Cavalier class because it provides Shield Slam as a free feat. This feat is EPIC. Unfortunately, to acquire this feat on your own you would have to take Knockdown and Shield Charge (in addition to Shield Bash). To be really helpful, Shield Bash/Slam requires Agile Shield Fighter to lessen any negative impacts.

I have a 20 MaA/ 10 Dwarven Defender who is a blast to play. I took advantage of the 100% RCR to offload Northlander Hewing. NH provided me a +7 damage modifier, but I found, in the end, Athkatlan Tripartite was the better option. For toon's spreading points across STR & CON or CHA, 3 additional points of damage (for me) was not worth the loss of -2 AC. My 20/10 can now toggle on a +3 AC with a +4 Damage modifier with no impact to AB... and, AT stacks with CE/ICE. So, that's a difference of five points of AC for a -3 damage hit. I opine that is not a bad trade-off.

If you figure out how to do this... please post a follow-up. I for one would benefit from the insights.

Cheers!

[elsteveo]

Thanks guys I am leaning towards Northlander Hewing now as my AC is great already.

A MAA with DD would be be a monster.

Anyone think a MAA and WM could work? Would you even get enough Feats with a few levels of fighter?

[Tyrpaladin2000]

Hi Guys I am playing a MAA want to go straight 30 as it suits the RP I have and its just a flat out fun class.

I want to get an idea of what is the best feat to take to increase my damage?
I am really happy with AC, AB and saves but find it takes an age to kill almost anything.

Northlander Hewing looks the most promising but after reading the description I am not sure it is worth the loss of the attacks.

Athkatlan Triparite also looks good.

I use a battle axe and shield and have the shield bash feats if that helps.

I am only level 17 so have options with a few feats left to go on this build.

Since the shield changes to shield bash, I wouldn't recommend shield bash unless you plan to get 4 levels of Fighter. You can also get level of cleric for EDM, Expose Weakness (through water domain), and Divine Shield. A good build would be MAA 23/Fighter 4/Cleric 3, which gives you three attacks with shield bash along with EDM for your main hand.