An attempt at a Barbarian (Defender)

[whynot]

I was thinking about this the other day, and something popped into my head. Rather than have the incredible number of starting HPs (18 seems really high), why don't you make it a feature of the rage. The 'fun' part of playing a barbarian is flying into a rage and beating on things, so it makes sense that a player will want to rage pretty much every encounter.

Class Feature: Barbarian Rage

Once per encounter, you can tap into your primal instincts and fly into a rage, becoming a howling juggernaut. You gain temporary HP equal to your level plus your constitution score. The rage lasts for 5 minutes or until the end of the encounter.

I was thinking this might help fuel some of the rage powers, since they cost HP.

 

[bardolph]

This might be the wrong place to post this comment, but I'd love to see the Barbarian as a 2H melee Striker.

 

[Nymrohd]

Truth be told this one can deal a lot of damage already, more than other defenders for sure.

 

[bardolph]

I see. How does the math work out, using oversized weapons?

 

[Nymrohd]

Well it depends. Heavy flail and maul are 2d6->2d8 which means +2 per die on average which is a pretty decent boost.
On contrast, 2d4 and 1d12 get only 0.5 per die which is mediocre. Personally I'd go for the maul, since this playtest lends itself to Str/Con builts so you can get some decent damage from Hammer rhythm as well. And I've made the rage powers hit a bit harder than average for powers of their level seeing they cost hit points to use.

Btw why do people keep commenting on the 18+ starting hit points? it is just 3 more than the other defenders. Sure it is a lot but not a huge deal, and he will be wasting them regularly. I mean tenancity will only give him temp points to cover up for the rage powers once or twice, and he is designed to have less AC than the other defenders since he is in scale and with no shield.

 

[whynot]

Actually I just realized my mistake. For some reason I was thinking 18hp/level as opposed to 5, I honestly can't see how I came to that conclusion.

My rage suggestion still stands, however.

 

[Nymrohd]

Well the Beserker's Wrath rage gives temporary hit points equal to a healing surge. Early on that will be less than what you suggested but it scales a lot better. And I think that the rage powers are what makes the barbarian more distinctive. He exerts himself to hurt others. Seems like the one defender who will keep his Con very high so he will have surges to spend so as to rage on every encounter, and his barbarian tenacity will make up for having less effective surges on the long run.