The Tomahawk Project: Ranged Barbarians

[Dire Human]

Hello! Once again, I'm going to test my creativity (and my patience) by subjecting myself to a new project! Last time, I wrote up a full race and Warlock pact; this time, it's going to be a Barbarian build based on Heavy Thrown weapons. Like last time, I'll post at least one new thing every day, whether that be a new power, a feat, or a class feature, and within the month it'll be complete!

Here's how it stands, as of October 16, 2011:


Swiftkin Skirmish

You gain the swift instinct power. Whenever you attack with a weapon that has the heavy thrown property, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls, or a +3 bonus if you’re two or more squares away from the origin square of your last attack. In addition, whenever you bloody an enemy, you may shift a number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifier as a free action.[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] Swift Instinct, Barbarian Feature
The blood of your foe fills your nostrils, clearing your mind and sharpening your reflexes.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: Your attack reduces an enemy to 0 hit points
Effect: As an immediate interrupt, you may make a basic attack against the first enemy within range that moves or shifts before the end of the encounter.

Level 1 At-Will Evocations

Dual Throw, Barbarian Attack 1
Twice your foes shall bleed.
At-Will [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding two heavy thrown weapons.
Target: One or two creatures
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage. If you are raging, one attack that hits deals extra damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Powerful Toss, Barbarian Attack 1
Stumbling backwards, your foe reels from the impact of your weapon.
At-Will [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] + Strength modifier damage, and you push the target 1 square. If you are raging, the target is also knocked prone.

Savage Throw, Barbarian Attack 1
Your primal instincts know just where to strike.
Type [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC, or Strength + 2 vs. AC if you’re raging
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier damage.

Vicious Throw, Barbarian Attack 1
Your foe lets out a howl of pain as your weapon embeds itself in its leg.
At-Will [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn. If you are raging, the target takes 1d6 damage if it shifts while it is slowed by this attack.

Level 1 Encounter Evocations

Running Start, Barbarian Attack 1
Grunting with effort, you give this throw your all to hit a distant target.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Special: Before you attack, you can move two squares towards the target. If you do, you can ignore any range penalties from your weapon for this attack.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Swiftkin Skirmish: The target is also knocked prone.

Swift Distraction, Barbarian Attack 1
A moment before the attack hits home, your foe finds your weapon cutting into its arm.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Trigger: You or an ally is hit by an enemy
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target rerolls the attack with a -2 penalty.
Swiftkin Skirmish: The penalty equals your Dexterity modifier.

Level 1 Daily Evocations

Reckless Hawk Rage, Barbarian Attack 1
The spirit of the hawk sets your heart ablaze, the feathers of your tomahawks fluttering as you dive into the fray.
Daily ✦ Primal, Rage, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Target: One, two, or three creatures
Attack: Strength vs. AC, three attacks
Special: If an attack you make with this power provokes an opportunity attack from an enemy, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Strength modifier before the attack.
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack.
Miss: Half damage.
Effect: You enter the rage of the reckless hawk. Until the rage ends, whenever one of your attacks would provoke an opportunity attack from an enemy, you gain a bonus to all defenses and damage rolls against that enemy equal to your Dexterity modifier for the duration of the attack.

Level 2 Utility Evocations

Primal Senses, Barbarian Utility 2
Your nose smells trouble long before your eyes can see it.
Daily [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal
No Action, Personal
Requirement: You must be trained in Perception.
Trigger: You roll Initiative.
Effect: You can make two initiative rolls and take the higher result. Also, you can take an extra move action during the first round of combat (or during the surprise round, if you are allowed to act during that round).

Frightening Snarl, Barbarian Utility 2
A glare and a growl convinces your enemy to turn its attention elsewhere.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Fear, Primal
Minor Action, Close burst 3
Target: One enemy in the burst
Effect: The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

Level 3 Encounter Evocations

Close Combat, Barbarian Attack 3
Your foe thinks he has you cornered. He’s wrong.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Immediate Reaction, Melee or Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a melee weapon or a heavy thrown weapon.
Trigger: An enemy willingly enters a square adjacent to you.
Special: Before the attack, you can shift 2 squares. You can move through the target’s space during the shift, but you can’t end there.
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

 

[Shadus]

While this seems like a good idea, I can see this being easily broken because Barbarians can take a feat to treat any one-handed weapon as a heavy thrown. A class based on throwing bastard swords? Ow.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

This is a non-issue. The text of the feat says, "Benefit: You can use any one-handed off-hand weapon as a heavy thrown weapon."

Can't use that to toss bastard swords (unfortunately), or much else for that matter. Even if you could, the powers could just adjust their wording to say, "Requirement: You must be wielding a weapon with the Heavy Thrown property." That works because the feat doesn't grant weapons you throw that property, it just lets you use them as though they were, which, with the revised wording of the powers, explicitly wouldn't work.

 

[Dire Human]

Dual Throw, Barbarian Attack 1
Twice your foes shall bleed.
At-Will [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding two heavy thrown weapons.
Target: One or two creatures
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage. If you are raging, one attack that hits deals extra damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Please note that this new power is not Twin Strike! It deliberately lacks the "Attack: Strength vs. AC, two attacks" wording that would let you use both throws against the same creature, which is not the intention; the intention is to hit two targets at once, not one target twice.

While this seems like a good idea, I can see this being easily broken because Barbarians can take a feat to treat any one-handed weapon as a heavy thrown. A class based on throwing bastard swords? Ow.

This is a non-issue. The text of the feat says, "Benefit: You can use any one-handed off-hand weapon as a heavy thrown weapon."

Can't use that to toss bastard swords (unfortunately), or much else for that matter. Even if you could, the powers could just adjust their wording to say, "Requirement: You must be wielding a weapon with the Heavy Thrown property." That works because the feat doesn't grant weapons you throw that property, it just lets you use them as though they were, which, with the revised wording of the powers, explicitly wouldn't work.

I will point out that Spiked Shields have the off-hand property, which is awesome in this case.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Looks like we were typing at the same time, but that feat he mentioned only allows the use of one-handed melee weapons with the off-hand property, so you don't have to worry about anyone chucking waraxes (+2 1d12 - same as a greatbow) or bastard swords around.

Your original version was probably ok as it was.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Sorry to spam your thread, but I just looked, and it appears there aren't too many weapons you would need to worry about abuse with.

The biggest [W] weapons with the offhand property I could find were +2 and 1d8 damage (gauntlet axe from Dark Sun - throwing this is questionable as is). There were several other Dark Sun weapons that also had heavy thrown by default and did +2 attack with 1d8 damage.

Probably the most 'optimized' choices you would have to worry about would be characters tossing Drow Long Knives (+3 / 1d6) or Tratnyrs (+2 / 1d8 with 10/20). Range is definitely something to keep in mind. Personally, I think it would be ok for these guys to do a little more damage if they do it at less range than a bow ranger.

 

[Dire Human]

Sorry to spam your thread, but I just looked, and it appears there aren't too many weapons you would need to worry about abuse with.

The biggest [W] weapons with the offhand property I could find were +2 and 1d8 damage (gauntlet axe from Dark Sun - throwing this is questionable as is). There were several other Dark Sun weapons that also had heavy thrown by default and did +2 attack with 1d8 damage.

Probably the most 'optimized' choices you would have to worry about would be characters tossing Drow Long Knives (+3 / 1d6) or Tratnyrs (+2 / 1d8 with 10/20). Range is definitely something to keep in mind. Personally, I think it would be ok for these guys to do a little more damage if they do it at less range than a bow ranger.

At the same time, however, both of those are Superior Weapons, which means burning a feat (the same way a Ranger would have to burn a feat to get a Greatbow), so it all washes out in the end.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

At the same time, however, both of those are Superior Weapons, which means burning a feat (the same way a Ranger would have to burn a feat to get a Greatbow), so it all washes out in the end.

Yeah, that was basically what I was trying to say. This is a cool idea, looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[Dire Human]

10/11/11: Wooo! Gettin' this party started.

You gain the swift instinct power.[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] Swift Instinct, Barbarian Feature
The blood of your foe fills your nostrils, clearing your mind and sharpening your reflexes.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: Your attack reduces an enemy to 0 hit points
Effect: As an immediate interrupt, you may make a basic attack against the first enemy within range that moves or shifts before the end of the encounter.

Level 1 At-Will Evocations

Savage Throw, Barbarian Attack 1
Your primal instincts know just where to strike.
Type [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC, or Strength + 2 vs. AC if you’re raging
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier damage.

Level 1 Encounter Evocations

Running Start, Barbarian Attack 1
Grunting with effort, you give this throw your all to hit a distant target.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Special: Before you attack, you can move two squares towards the target. If you do, you can ignore any range penalties from your weapon for this attack.
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Swiftkin Skirmish: The target is also knocked prone.

10/12/11: And our first Rage! I really like how this one turned out, as it really hammers home the 'reckless' feeling of jumping into the fray and making ranged attacks regardless.

Reckless Hawk Rage, Barbarian Attack 1
The spirit of the hawk sets your heart ablaze, the feathers of your tomahawks fluttering as you dive into the fray.
Daily ✦ Primal, Rage, Weapon
Standard Action, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Target: One, two, or three creatures
Attack: Strength vs. AC, three attacks
Special: If an attack you make with this power provokes an opportunity attack from an enemy, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Strength modifier before the attack.
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack.
Miss: Half damage.
Effect: You enter the rage of the reckless hawk. Until the rage ends, whenever one of your attacks would provoke an opportunity attack from an enemy, you gain a bonus to all defenses and damage rolls against that enemy equal to your Dexterity modifier for the duration of the attack.

10/15/11: Let's catch up, shall we?

Level 1 Encounter Evocations

Swift Distraction, Barbarian Attack 1
A moment before the attack hits home, your foe finds your weapon cutting into its arm.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt, Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a heavy thrown weapon.
Trigger: You or an ally is hit by an enemy
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target rerolls the attack with a -2 penalty.
Swiftkin Skirmish: The penalty equals your Dexterity modifier.

Level 2 Utility Evocations

Primal Senses, Barbarian Utility 2
Your nose smells trouble long before your eyes can see it.
Daily [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal
No Action, Personal
Requirement: You must be trained in Perception.
Trigger: You roll Initiative.
Effect: You can make two initiative rolls and take the higher result. Also, you can take an extra move action during the first round of combat (or during the surprise round, if you are allowed to act during that round).

Frightening Snarl, Barbarian Utility 2
A glare and a growl convinces your enemy to turn its attention elsewhere.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Fear, Primal
Minor Action, Close burst 3
Target: One enemy in the burst
Effect: The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

 

[Dire Human]

Level 3 Encounter Evocations

Close Combat, Barbarian Attack 3
Your foe thinks he has you cornered. He’s wrong.
Encounter [FONT=&quot]✦[/FONT] Primal, Weapon
Immediate Reaction, Melee or Ranged weapon
Requirement: You must be wielding a melee weapon or a heavy thrown weapon.
Trigger: An enemy willingly enters a square adjacent to you.
Special: Before the attack, you can shift 2 squares. You can move through the target’s space during the shift, but you can’t end there.
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.