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Is the barbarian too powerful in your campaign?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 3063974" data-attributes="member: 704"><p>If your Barbarians are getting 16 Con as well as a huge Str, then what kind of point buy / stat rolling are you using?</p><p></p><p>An 18 costs 16 points and a 16 costs 10. A standard Point Buy is 25 points, so that is just not possible. And in my experience, players who grab Barbarians tend to dump most of their points into Strength.</p><p></p><p>A Barbarian character needs to worry about Str, Dex, and Con. Dex is important because Barbarians cannot wear heavy armor. Under a 25 point buy, the Barbarian might go for a stat set that looks like this:</p><p></p><p>Str 16</p><p>Dex 12</p><p>Con 16</p><p>Int 8</p><p>Wis 8</p><p>Cha 8</p><p></p><p>Not bad, but not awe inspiring either. The damage output is still good, Under Rage with a 2 handed weapon, you will score +7 damage per hit. But his AC is going to be awful, and while 17 HP is alot at 1st level under rage, it will still evaporate pretty quickly. A handfull of archers staying at medium range and half moving away, or double move / running as needed, will make a Barbarian suffer a great deal.</p><p></p><p>I am convinced that you have basically set up exactly the sort of campaign where a Barbarian is going to be an unholy terror to deal with. You say the game is low magic and inspired by Conan, which implies lots of melee combat. This is exactly the sort of situation the Barbarian will dominate by design.</p><p></p><p>Still, as is noted by many others here, the problems that seem so apparant right now will not last for very long. Once the opponents get even a marginally decent attack bonus, the disadvantage of the lower AC will be very apparrant. He will still be dominant, but not so much as he is at lower levels.</p><p></p><p>Besides, Rage does run out. There is no real reason you cannot have the enemies use a strategic withdrawl and stay away from a raging barbarian while he is raging, and then come back once the rage ends.</p><p></p><p>END COMMUNICATION</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Zardoz, post: 3063974, member: 704"] If your Barbarians are getting 16 Con as well as a huge Str, then what kind of point buy / stat rolling are you using? An 18 costs 16 points and a 16 costs 10. A standard Point Buy is 25 points, so that is just not possible. And in my experience, players who grab Barbarians tend to dump most of their points into Strength. A Barbarian character needs to worry about Str, Dex, and Con. Dex is important because Barbarians cannot wear heavy armor. Under a 25 point buy, the Barbarian might go for a stat set that looks like this: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 8 Cha 8 Not bad, but not awe inspiring either. The damage output is still good, Under Rage with a 2 handed weapon, you will score +7 damage per hit. But his AC is going to be awful, and while 17 HP is alot at 1st level under rage, it will still evaporate pretty quickly. A handfull of archers staying at medium range and half moving away, or double move / running as needed, will make a Barbarian suffer a great deal. I am convinced that you have basically set up exactly the sort of campaign where a Barbarian is going to be an unholy terror to deal with. You say the game is low magic and inspired by Conan, which implies lots of melee combat. This is exactly the sort of situation the Barbarian will dominate by design. Still, as is noted by many others here, the problems that seem so apparant right now will not last for very long. Once the opponents get even a marginally decent attack bonus, the disadvantage of the lower AC will be very apparrant. He will still be dominant, but not so much as he is at lower levels. Besides, Rage does run out. There is no real reason you cannot have the enemies use a strategic withdrawl and stay away from a raging barbarian while he is raging, and then come back once the rage ends. END COMMUNICATION [/QUOTE]
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