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<blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 3920394" data-attributes="member: 15999">I saw it as a spotlight hog ability when the cleric/prestige paladin was around.&nbsp; She had all kinds of neat spells and combat abilities, but the barbarian's massive damage sustained meant she often had to just focus on healing him.&nbsp; When he was using his shield, he did much less damage, but he needed much less healing.I also think Rage *should* be a choice, not an always-on ability.&nbsp; But even setting rage and &quot;the barbarian's role&quot; aside, a straight fighter can be just as selfish with the 2-handed weapon Shock Trooper option -- sacrificing defense for offense, getting to be the star, and forcing the rest of the party to spend their actions keeping him alive.In hindsight, I think a lot of the reason the barbarian seemed complicated was that I was dealing with a min-maxer who wasn't really familiar with his character.&nbsp; No matter how often Bull Rush came up (he had IBR and a Brutal Surge weapon), he could never remember what the modifiers were.&nbsp; I think 3E's rules gave him too many options relative to how much effort he felt like putting into learning his PC.The ranger had her fair share of round-to-round variation as well.&nbsp; Range had to be recalculated many rounds as she liked to hang out near the edge of a range increment, and cover was an issue until level 11.&nbsp; The Oathbow she picked up had 3 states (+2, +5, and masterwork) and she had two primary attack options (Full Attack with Rapid Shot, or Manyshot) as well as a few favored enemies.&nbsp; She made more of an effort to learn her modifiers, but was never sure about whether a given foe had soft cover or not. And, lastly, it was a buff-happy party.&nbsp; Most fights involved Haste, the bard cohort's Inspire Courage, and Mass Enlarge, so stats would repeatedly change mid-combat.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Brother MacLaren, post: 3920394, member: 15999"] I saw it as a spotlight hog ability when the cleric/prestige paladin was around. She had all kinds of neat spells and combat abilities, but the barbarian's massive damage sustained meant she often had to just focus on healing him. When he was using his shield, he did much less damage, but he needed much less healing. I also think Rage *should* be a choice, not an always-on ability. But even setting rage and "the barbarian's role" aside, a straight fighter can be just as selfish with the 2-handed weapon Shock Trooper option -- sacrificing defense for offense, getting to be the star, and forcing the rest of the party to spend their actions keeping him alive. In hindsight, I think a lot of the reason the barbarian seemed complicated was that I was dealing with a min-maxer who wasn't really familiar with his character. No matter how often Bull Rush came up (he had IBR and a Brutal Surge weapon), he could never remember what the modifiers were. I think 3E's rules gave him too many options relative to how much effort he felt like putting into learning his PC. The ranger had her fair share of round-to-round variation as well. Range had to be recalculated many rounds as she liked to hang out near the edge of a range increment, and cover was an issue until level 11. The Oathbow she picked up had 3 states (+2, +5, and masterwork) and she had two primary attack options (Full Attack with Rapid Shot, or Manyshot) as well as a few favored enemies. She made more of an effort to learn her modifiers, but was never sure about whether a given foe had soft cover or not. And, lastly, it was a buff-happy party. Most fights involved Haste, the bard cohort's Inspire Courage, and Mass Enlarge, so stats would repeatedly change mid-combat. [/QUOTE]

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