Barbarian-offense or defense

N

Not a Hobbit

Explorer

• Oct 6, 2016

• #1

Dear Enworlders:

I am going to be playing a barbarian. His base stats give him st-17 dx-16 and cn-19, which gives him an AC of 17. At 3rd level I will take the bear totem warrior path, and at 4th level I am thinking of taking Toughness (for various reasons, I'm not able to add ASI until 8th level). At 8th level, I would up strength and constitution +1 each.

So my dilemma is whether I should persue the stereotypical barbarian route and use a Greataxe to inflict great damage on my foes, or be a defender and use a shield and battleaxe. With the shield, I would do less damage, but would have 20 AC and 120 HP, and have resistance to all but psychic damage. For this I would lose d4 damage per attack.

The rest of the party consists of a Paladin, longbow Ranger, and a couple of squishies, if that matters.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, so I'm sure I must be missing something.

Any advice would be welcomed. Thanks.

--Scott

 

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Leatherhead

Possibly a Idiot.

• Oct 6, 2016

• #2

The shield isn't worth it.
Even though you aren't using the great weapon feet: Having super defenses only works so long as you can make the enemy attack you. Which you can't until level 10 or if you take the Sentinel Feat.

Granted, you have a Paladin next to you, and they aren't soft targets by any means. But unless you two are colluding to keep the enemy stuck between a rock and a hard place, then the enemy is just going to eat the (weaker) OAs you are presenting in order to squish the squishies.

 

mellored

Legend

• Oct 7, 2016

• #3

Agreed. Shield barb's are only good with sentinel or party help.

Also, I would take Polearm Master instead of toughness.

You could also try out both. Until you take a feat, there's nothing stopping you from swithing, and your DM may obey your OA even without sentinel.

 

W

WarpedAcorn

First Post

• Oct 7, 2016

• #4

One of the players in my game has been playing a Barbarian (currently level 5) and honestly she is super tanky just with her Rage ability. She alternates between using a Maul and double handaxes, and on the damage front pretty much annihilates anything in front of her (with the exception of enemies with resistance to non-magical weapons). She *could* use a shield, but I don't really see the point.

However, if you wanted to be super cheesy and just game the system then you could have your Barbarian start with a Shield and a 1-Hander so that you have the bonus AC pre-Rage, then when you Rage drop the shield and/or weapon and go with you dual wield or 2-Hand set up.

 

U

UngeheuerLich

Legend

• Oct 8, 2016

• #5

take polearm master and great weapon master or you are gimping yourself... or so you will be told soon enough.

On a more serious note: Shield may be nice if the DM does not tend to just overrun melee characters and eating opportunity attacks. If the DM plays wvery encounter tactically no matter what the enemies should rather be doing, you should use a great axe or two handaxes. The shield is not really useful then. You may take shield master to bring the enemy down if you really want to be a bit stickier with a shield however and get advantage without using reckless attack.

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2016

Y

Yunru

Banned

Banned

• Oct 8, 2016

• #6

I'd say go shield for Shield Master. But that's just because I like to play loli barbarian grapplers.

 

N

Not a Hobbit

Explorer

• Oct 9, 2016

• #7

Thank you all for the advice. I've gone with the two-handed (maul, since I like mauls more than axes). I'll probably have to wait until 12 to take great weapon master, since it doesn't make sense to take it at 4 (low proficiency would be like using a straight die role), and I can bump both str and con to higher modifiers at 8. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again.

--Scott

 

R

RulesJD

First Post

• Oct 10, 2016

• #8

Scott Powell said:

Thank you all for the advice. I've gone with the two-handed (maul, since I like mauls more than axes). I'll probably have to wait until 12 to take great weapon master, since it doesn't make sense to take it at 4 (low proficiency would be like using a straight die role), and I can bump both str and con to higher modifiers at 8. We'll see how it goes.


Thanks again.

--Scott

Click to expand...

You're forgetting Reckless Attack. That (mathematically) cancels out the -5 penalty. Obviously you won't always be using it, but against enemies with AC of 13-14~ or less, rock that Reckless + GWM. Especially once you get level 6 and start getting +1 from the increase in proficiency bonus.

Also, more importantly, GWM gives you a Bonus attack when you crit or kill, which you'll be doing a lot of. The -5 to hit can be largely negated through a lot of various means (Bless spell, prone, etc) while you can't easily pick up a way to do an additional 3d6 damage at-will.

The only "defense" that a Barbarian needs is Bear Totem. After that, your AC and getting hit largely don't matter.

 

U

UngeheuerLich

Legend

• Oct 10, 2016

• #9

RulesJD said:

You're forgetting Reckless Attack. That (mathematically) cancels out the -5 penalty. Obviously you won't always be using it, but against enemies with AC of 13-14~ or less, rock that Reckless + GWM. Especially once you get level 6 and start getting +1 from the increase in proficiency bonus.

Also, more importantly, GWM gives you a Bonus attack when you crit or kill, which you'll be doing a lot of. The -5 to hit can be largely negated through a lot of various means (Bless spell, prone, etc) while you can't easily pick up a way to do an additional 3d6 damage at-will.

The only "defense" that a Barbarian needs is Bear Totem. After that, your AC and getting hit largely don't matter.

Click to expand...

Bear totem does not help you in most situations where AC would normally matter. Your normal resistances are enough. Bear totem helps most against spellcasters and maybe undead and elementals. Most enemies however will be those which use swords and axes.
Other totems are worth looking at. The elk or eagle speed bonuses may help you more since you can more easily reach your next target so your rage won't stop because you didn't attack. Likewise your level 6 berserker ability may help you not be denied your attacks. Even the level 3 abklity which many people hate can allow you to attack since your bonus attack can be used on a turn where you dashed.
Bear totem is a very strong option, for most players the best. But you should not dismiss other totems that easily.