Attack and damage on a character build

[Jonno]

Building a character and I need a clear up please.

Main hand is a heavy spiked shield bashing +2 (2d6), off hand I'm using +1 spiked armour (1d6)

I am level 7, strength mod of 4, fighter (brawler)so BAB is 7/2 and I have close combatant

I have TWF and power attack

Am I correct that my end attack rolls will be +9 and +4 for shield and +2 for armour?

Also 2d6+14dmg for shield and 1d6+10 for armour, is that also correct?

Thanks in advance.

[Derklord]

Bashing and shield spikes don't stack as per this FAQ, thus the shield's base damage is 1d8. Furthermore, a bashing shield counts as a +1 weapon; unless the shield spikes or armor spikes are enchanted as weapons, they don't grant any other enhancement bonus.

Attack roll: 7(BAB) + 4(str) +2(Close Combatant) +1(bashing) -2(Power Attack) -2(TWF) = +10, with an additional -5 on the iterative attack. The Armor spikes lack the bonus from bashing, and thus are made at +9.

Damage roll shield: +4(str) +4(Close Combatant) +1(bashing) +4(Power Attack) = +13
Damage roll armor spikes: +2(str) +4(Close Combatant) +2(Power Attack) = +8

Your attack routine thus looks like this:

+1 bashing shield +10/+5 (1d8+13), armor spikes +9 (1d6+8).

[Jonno]

Appreciate the response and the clarification.

Another quick one, if I had +1 armour spikes, as opposed to +1 armour, that would increase the damage by 1 and also make the attack magical am I correct?

And the spikes as they are on the shield are basically useless for attack purposes, would it increase the attack by 1 if they were +1 spikes or would they count as a separate attack?

[Scott Wilhelm]

The specific builds I plan out for these sorts of things are very complicated and involve extensive multiclassing. But maybe some of my ideas will be useful to you.

The Spikes on the shield aren't useless per se. You can enchant your shield as a Weapon, spiked shields, too.

Yes, you can enchant Armor Spikes as a Weapon.

There is a reason to use a Spiked Shield.

How open are you to using other weapons?

If you take the Shield Brace Feat, or if you take the Phalanx Soldier Fighter Archetype for 3 levels, you can fight with a Pole Arm in 1 hand and a Shield in the other.

I'm thinking you fight with Halberd and Shield. But you don't Shield Bash. Your off hand weapon is your Armor Spikes. Use a Heavy shield like you used to, don't put spikes on it. The Halberd is Piercing or Slashing, the Shield is Blugeoning, so your base kit will let you bypass 3 types of DR. Plus, you get the Shield Bonus for AC + you get 2 Weapon Fighting. Armor Spike Damage is 1d6. Halberd Damage is 1d10, respectable.

Later, you can invest in Grappling and take Hamatula Strike. Every time you hit with a Piercing Weapon like Halberd or Armor Spikes, you get a free Grapple, and every time you make a successful Grapple Attack, you get Armor Spike Damage, so now you are getting like 4 attacks/round not counting iteratives for high BAB.

If you want things to stay simpler, you can just 2 weapon fight with Armor Spikes and still do the Hamatula Strike thing and still use a Heavy Shield. Maybe be a Warpriest so your Armor Spike Damage will go up.

[Derklord]

Jonno wrote:

if I had +1 armour spikes, as opposed to +1 armour, that would increase the damage by 1 and also make the attack magical am I correct?

Correct on both accounts. Note that weapon enchantments cots twice as much as armor/shield enchantments, though - +1 armor spikes should probably have a total cost of 2350gp in addition to the armor (50 base cost, 300 for masterwork, 2000 for +1).

And the spikes as they are on the shield are basically useless for attack purposes, would it increase the attack by 1 if they were +1 spikes or would they count as a separate attack?

Currently, they're redundant unless you're fighting something with DR/piercing. The bashing enchantment already counts as a +1 weapon, so you'd need to enchant the shield spikes (or the shield as a weapon) with +2 to get a benefit. However, the Shield Master feat lets you apply the shield's normal enhancement bonus to shield bashs as well (which means you get triple value - once for defense, and again at half cost for offense).

[Jonno]

Excellent responses, thanks again. Scott I appreciate the food for thought, I could still go with my same initial character build but switching to a pole arm and having the benefits of that. Derklord I think you and I are on the same wavelength. The build is a novelty one really just because it's simple and I think it would be fun after playing a druid in a near 2 year campaign. I've submitted my character to an online game needing a front liner so I guess I'll wait and see.

[Slim Jim]

Derklord wrote:

"...the Shield Master feat lets you apply the shield's normal enhancement bonus to shield bashs as well (which means you get triple value - once for defense, and again at half cost for offense).

Is there any exploit that gets that feat earlier than BAB11?

[avr]

Slim Jim wrote:

Derklord wrote:

"...the Shield Master feat lets you apply the shield's normal enhancement bonus to shield bashs as well (which means you get triple value - once for defense, and again at half cost for offense).

Is there any exploit that gets that feat earlier than BAB11?

A ranger combat style allows it at level 6 for rangers, slayers or nature fang druids. The last could have as little as +4 BAB when they get shield master.

[Slim Jim]

Good; that's actually low enough for a shield to become a viable primary weapon rather than having to go through over half the character's likely playtime.