Add more AoE martial abilities

[Ooblagato]

Once you thoroughly optimize your build, martials are decent enough at fighting single targets, and two handed fighting and such aren't the worst for clearing small groups, but when we start comparing to casters at fighting groups of 5+ enemies the damage output is just abysmal. The raw per hit damage balance and such is not necessarily in a bad place, just the ability to clear hordes of enemies favors casters a little too heavily considering how frequent it is presented as a challenge in dungeons.

The AoE availability for martials should be expanded to close the caster-martial clear time gap. Adding a few more abilities that provide cool AoE martial scaling damage/effects would be great for the game balance. Introducing them as general feats, universal trees, and reworking some of the existing less significant single target martial abilities to be AoE should bring them into a similar playing field.

 

[Crustbucket]

Cleave .... Great Cleave ... Whirlwind attack are 3 feat based items, Two Handed fighting as a style has it built in. Lots of T5 abilities are cleaves or AoE and almost all melee Epic Strikes are AOE, Fury of the Wild and Fatesinger have additional cleave abilities. Vanguard has some AOE charges i believe. I think there is plenty, and honestly there is a lot to click these days.

If your looking for an ability that clears a pack per say then i would agree as the closest thing we have is FOTW "The Great Leveler" which has a forward conical damage zone with decent +W dice. Like a slam ability that stuns in a cone shaped AOE infront of you would be cool allowing for Helpless damage to be used by most martial classes etc. If you mean things like this then a few wouldnt hurt.

More than anything though casters used to have a cost to their spells, Spell points total bloat and SLAs are what are causing this divide, before CC used to be SP efficient and casters worked in tandem with melees, you dont see this until mid Reaper mode anymore. I think casters need to be addressed moreso but melees need some cake too.

 

[Fulchrum]

Time to crack open the Tome of Battle for maneuvers!

 

[rabidfox]

Cleave .... Great Cleave ... Whirlwind attack are 3 feat based items

Spring attack too. I wonder how many people are just skipping the feats for options that they find better.

 

[Ooblagato]

It's fairly easy to get doing 15~25k damage on an acid well or other level 9 spell with easier targeting and a larger area of effect. While I have played every class and do have completionist, I don't claim to be an expert on end game martial builds; but from my experience cleave, great cleave, and whirlwind attack despite their heavy feat investment requirements, don't come anywhere close to that. And let's not get started on the current options for ranged builds.