Dwarf Barbarian|Cleric

Junkyard Dog · May 23, 2017

I'm planning to play a dwarf barbarian|cleric in an upcoming long-term campaign, probably from Level 1 through Level 30. I like the concept and I believe it has a lot of strengths and versatility. I do not know the full party make-up at present, but believe there will be a warlord and a half-orc straladin/Champion of Order.

Here are some things I plan to do, mechanically speaking:

Bump Str to a starting 20 for accuracy and damage take only Str-based cleric powers, with Wis secondary; Born Under a Bad Sign background further to optimize starting Str 20
Battle Cleric's Lore for scale and +2 to AC, to deal with AC
Assorted out-of-turn attacks (Battle Awareness, Mighty Hew, Curtain of Steel, Guardian's Counter)
Barbarian multi-attacks (Storm of Blades, Hurricane of Blades, use Hybrid Talent to get Swift Charge)
Dwarven Weapon Proficiency and wield a gouge
Where possible, optimize charging
Howling Strike and Righteous Brand + Power of Skill as at-will attacks
Dwarven Weapon Training, Hybrid Talent, Two-Handed Weapon Expertise, Battle Awareness, Power of Skill, Superior Will, Improved Defenses, Wary Fighter, Improved/Superior Initiative, Axe Mastery, Primal Resurgence are all on the short list of feats. I'm also considering Cunning Stalker, Reckless Charge, Overpowering Charge. Not sure if Deadly Rage is worthwhile with only a couple of rages per day.

I think that is already an effective chassis, but I'm posting here to welcome input. Some things I haven't decided on, and for which I particularly welcome input, are:

Paragon Path (Based on the handbooks, Dreadnought, Paragon of Victory, Tactical Warpriest all look good)
Epic Destiny
Weapon Enchantment and other key magic items (DM is generous in terms of not enforcing magic item rarity)

My goal is a fully-functioning striker with additional leader goodies and excellent durability (minor action second wind, Healing Word and possibly via cleric utilities). Please let me know if anything here doesn't look good or if you can think of ways to improve the idea. Thanks.

MwaO · May 23, 2017

What I'd really look at is spending hybrid talent feat on Thaneborn. It amps up Curtain of Steel. It is a fun leader capability. Having a higher Charisma can be good given you're avoiding Wis powers anyway. And it aids in a nova if you manage to either drop a target or bloody one by killing the defenses of the target.

You might want to consider MC'ing into Fighter for Shock Trooper Paragon Path - that'll give you 2-3 attack options at 13th for a full-fledged nova. But requires two weapons.

Junkyard Dog · May 24, 2017

Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't considered Shock Trooper because I figured I'd be wielding a 2H weapon. However, looking things over, I've come up with a pretty good workaround. Dwarven Weapon Training gives me proficiency with all axes and hammers. What I can do is equip a waraxe in the main hand and a gauntlet axe in the offhand. That leaves the offhand free. For powers which require a 2H weapon, I can wield the waraxe two-handed, since it has the Versatile property (which also gives +1 damage for a total of 1d12+1). For powers requiring a weapon in each hand, I can freely switch to wielding the waraxe one-handed. Either way, the gauntlet axe also provides a continuous +1 AC. And Shock Trooper would give the gauntlet axe a respectable 1d10 damage die. Taking Axe Expertise would make each weapon effectively Brutal 1 as well. This option would also allow me to select freely among Barbarian attack powers, without regard to whether they require a 2H weapon or a weapon in each hand.

Dwarf Barbarian|Cleric

Junkyard Dog

Villager

MwaO

Adventurer

Junkyard Dog

Villager

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