D&D 5E Powergaming a Barbarian 5

Blue · Nov 14, 2015

ShogunAssassin said:
Whats the other members of your party?

I play with Minsc, hope he doesn't mind me jumping in.

Usual suspects are a rapier/handcrossbow drow rogue, an arcane trickster who just picked up a level of cleric, a drow chainpact warlock to the great old one, a war cleric who focuses on damage, a deep gnome wizard who focuses on battlefield control, and a drow bard. All 5th. Usually we will be down one or another, and their character just isn't around (for instance, the bard is a good backup healer for if the cleric isn't there). Plus assorted NPCs going from wimp to near our level.

Minsc's barbarian is the king of battle in term of hitting and taking hits, though the drow rogue can give him a run for damage. The wizard blocking him from melee with web spells doesn't help though so he'll make sure in the future to leave him a play-foe to chew on.

ShogunAssassin said:
How is the character developing story wise?

Well, he presents himself as a ranger, and seems to have at least some skills to back it up. He's also become warlord/big-man-on-campus to several orcs who travel with us who look up to him as a hero. On the other hand, everyone knows he's not the sharpest monkey in the barrel.

Minsc · Nov 14, 2015

Blue said:
Sneak attack needs a finesse weapon. Reckless attack gives advantage on strength attacks. Luckily a finesse weapon can still be used with strength.

That said, it's a lower damage die for the half orc critical.

That's the only thing holding me back: the lower critical hit.

It doesn't make sense to go champion and increase the chance of a critical hit if I'm going to go Rogue and reduce the damage when I get a critical.

I think it's best if I go with one or the other.

Minsc · Nov 14, 2015

Blue said:
I play with Minsc, hope he doesn't mind me jumping in.

Usual suspects are a rapier/handcrossbow drow rogue, an arcane trickster who just picked up a level of cleric, a drow chainpact warlock to the great old one, a war cleric who focuses on damage, a deep gnome wizard who focuses on battlefield control, and a drow bard. All 5th. Usually we will be down one or another, and their character just isn't around (for instance, the bard is a good backup healer for if the cleric isn't there). Plus assorted NPCs going from wimp to near our level.

Minsc's barbarian is the king of battle in term of hitting and taking hits, though the drow rogue can give him a run for damage. The wizard blocking him from melee with web spells doesn't help though so he'll make sure in the future to leave him a play-foe to chew on.

Well, he presents himself as a ranger, and seems to have at least some skills to back it up. He's also become warlord/big-man-on-campus to several orcs who travel with us who look up to him as a hero. On the other hand, everyone knows he's not the sharpest monkey in the barrel.

Oh man, my character is straight up stupid. lol

The only thing holding me back from adding champion levels is I'd be becoming a clone of Tony's DE character. He's a Champion 4/Barb X with a greataxe.

Minsc · Nov 14, 2015

Actually, Blue, I was wrong: I shouldn't be concerned with the racial critical hit die being a little lower. If a crit is scored, the sneak attack dice are doubled anyway.

Let's assume an 18 STR
Barbarian 5 Fighter 3 crit w/ greataxe: 3d12 + 4 (23.5 avg)
Barbarian 5 Rogue 3 crit w/ rapier: 3d8 + 4d6 + 4 (31.5 avg)

Blue · Nov 14, 2015

Minsc said:
That's the only thing holding me back: the lower critical hit.

It doesn't make sense to go champion and increase the chance of a critical hit if I'm going to go Rogue and reduce the damage when I get a critical.

I think it's best if I go with one or the other.

The choice seems to be half orc or rogue - half orc wants mroe crits and a larger die, rogue wants finessable weapons. Champion, like Great Axe, is just one part of making your half-orc choice shine. Add in Action Surge, Second Wind, a Fighting style and some other stuff and it's a nice boost.

That said, just more barb is never bad.

Barb 6 gives another rage a day and Aspect of Beast. Plus d12 HPs and HD.
Barb 7 gives advantage on initiative and can act even when surprised. Plus d12 HP and HD. I keep saying that because it's freaking spectacular. (I get d6s.)
Barb 8 gives an ASI or feat, sooner that picking it up in some other class.
Barb 9 gives an increase in rage damage and Brutal Critical, which gives you yet another damage die when you crit. Maybe you get this so you do 4d12 on a crit and then climb up a few levels of champion.

A few other nice levels: Barb 11 for Relentless Rage that let's you save against getting dropped to 0 HPs. And do it again and again, just a higher DC.
14 gives some really cool totem powers. If you expect to go up near 15 they only way to get those is stay pure barb.

Blue · Nov 14, 2015

Minsc said:
Actually, Blue, I was wrong: I shouldn't be concerned with the racial critical hit die being a little lower. If a crit is scored, the sneak attack dice are doubled anyway.

Let's assume an 18 STR
Barbarian 5 Fighter 3 crit w/ greataxe: 3d12 + 4 (23.5 avg)
Barbarian 5 Rogue 3 crit w/ rapier: 3d8 + 4d6 + 4 (31.5 avg)

Yes and no - you only can add sneak attack once a turn. If you hit and don't crit, do you use your sneak attack so you can get it, or do you keep it hoping to crit but possibly missing and not getting to apply it.

Also the math above ignores that champion will be getting those crits about twice as often. And damage during action surge, and whatever your fighting style is.

Really though, with a rogue 5 and a rogue 4/cleric 1 already in the party, how does rogue levels make you stand out?

Minsc · Nov 15, 2015

Blue said:
Yes and no - you only can add sneak attack once a turn. If you hit and don't crit, do you use your sneak attack so you can get it, or do you keep it hoping to crit but possibly missing and not getting to apply it.

Also the math above ignores that champion will be getting those crits about twice as often. And damage during action surge, and whatever your fighting style is.

Really though, with a rogue 5 and a rogue 4/cleric 1 already in the party, how does rogue levels make you stand out?

Hmm, very true.

I think the Champion sticks more true to the character than Rogue does. Plus more HP, and the fighting style helps too.