Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Barbarian Handbook
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Systole" data-source="post: 5710471" data-attributes="member: 93930"><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><u>Races</u></strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: deepskyblue">Half-Elf:</span> Surprisingly good. You get the human's strength bonus, and the enchantment save bonus makes a happy barbarian. Plus, you can swap out the crappy Skilled racial for the excellent Dual-Minded racial, which gives you a very needed +2 to Will saves. Also, low-light vision and Keen Senses. Yay!</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: deepskyblue">Half-Orc:</span> Strength is excellent, and ferocity is especially good for a barbarian. Darkvision and the alternate favored class bonus of 1 rage are quite good. One the other hand ... half-orc barbarian? Seriously clichè, bro. If you're building a Howler, though, half-orc is the way to go for the +2 Intimidate.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: green">Human:</span> The extra feat is nice, especially if you're doing something complicated, like building a tripper. So is the strength bump. The extra skill point is kind of lost on barbarians. You are a mighty warrior, not a wimpy skill monkey! If you're going Superstitious barbarian, the alternate favored class bonus is stupidly good, easily pushing humans to blue.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: green">Dwarf:</span> No strength bonus, but every thing else lines up pretty well. Also, you can wear medium armor and still move at 30', since for a dwarf, <em>speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance</em>. Alternate favored class of 1 rage is decent. A solid second choice. </p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Elf:</span> Honestly, less bad than you might think. Still, not great. Elves get a Constitution penalty, which means you're going to have fewer HP than you might want, and 1 less round of rage. At lower levels, the difference between 6 rounds and 7 is a big deal. At higher levels, the difference between, say 15 and 16 rounds of rage is less of an issue. Still, there's nothing optimal here, and the alternate favored class bonus is very, very bad.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: red">Halfling & Gnome:</span> While the idea of a crazy knee-biting barbarian is pretty damn funny, the penalties to strength and movement really kill the effectiveness here.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><u>Archetypes That Don't Completely Suck</u></strong></span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Brutal Pugilist</span> - I just don't love this, but if you have your heart set on playing a boxer, it's not completely terrible. Just mostly terrible. Really, just buy a cestus or spiked gauntlet.</p><p><span style="color: green">Elemental Kin</span> - The bad news is that the ability kind of sucks. The good news is that it sucks less than Trap Sense. If you still have Trap Sense, you might as well pick up this archetype.</p><p><span style="color: deepskyblue">Invulnerable Rager</span> - DR in exchange for a losing some AC. Your AC sucks anyway. This is a good pick.</p><p><span style="color: gray">Mounted Fury</span> - If you're going mounted, Blue. Otherwise, no.</p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Savage Barbarian</span> - The armor bonus is good. The loss of DR is not. Not a good pick overall.</p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Scarred Rager</span> - The things you give up are some very useful abilities. If you're committed to a Howling barbarian, this might be worth it, but not really, in my opinion.</p><p><span style="color: gray">Totem Warrior</span> - By totem type.</p><p><span style="color: green">Urban Barbarian</span> - A dip class to make TWF finesse builds less crappy. An interesting idea, but I don't think you'd ever take this to 20th level.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><u>Archetypes That Completely Suck</u></strong></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: red">Armored Hulk</span> - No. This is bad. If you want to have a decent AC, play a fighter. Don't play a class whose core mechanic <u>reduces your AC</u>.</p><p><span style="color: red">Breaker</span> - An archetype that targets things that don't fight back? Epic facepalm.</p><p><span style="color: red">Drunken Brute</span> - Extra rage? Yeah, but you're using a move action. Which means less moving, and no full attack actions. As Admiral Ackbar once said, "It's a trap!"</p><p><span style="color: red">Hurler</span> - No. Fast Movement is your friend. You do not give it up for a crappy range bonus on thrown stuff.</p><p><span style="color: red">Sea Reaver</span> - This is clearly an archetype for pirate NPCs. It is not for PCs.</p><p><span style="color: red">Superstitious</span> - Giving up DR for a Perception bonus? No.</p><p><span style="color: red">Titan Mauler</span> - An awful, awful archetype. Let me sum this up: You can use a giant's dagger as if it were a two-handed sword without penalty. You know what's a better idea? BUYING A FRICKIN' TWO-HANDED SWORD. This would be a good ability if it let you wield oversize (i.e. larger than traditionally two-handed) weapons. But it doesn't. Screw you, Paizo.</p><p><span style="color: red">True Primitive</span> - An archetype for caveman NPCs. Do not take this.</p><p><span style="color: red">Wild Rager</span> - If you take a Wild Rager, expect your party to roll you off a cliff while you sleep. This is the single worst archetype in the history of archetypes. I am not exaggerating.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Systole, post: 5710471, member: 93930"] [SIZE=4][B][U]Races[/U][/B][/SIZE] [COLOR=deepskyblue]Half-Elf:[/COLOR] Surprisingly good. You get the human's strength bonus, and the enchantment save bonus makes a happy barbarian. Plus, you can swap out the crappy Skilled racial for the excellent Dual-Minded racial, which gives you a very needed +2 to Will saves. Also, low-light vision and Keen Senses. Yay! [COLOR=deepskyblue]Half-Orc:[/COLOR] Strength is excellent, and ferocity is especially good for a barbarian. Darkvision and the alternate favored class bonus of 1 rage are quite good. One the other hand ... half-orc barbarian? Seriously clichè, bro. If you're building a Howler, though, half-orc is the way to go for the +2 Intimidate. [COLOR=green]Human:[/COLOR] The extra feat is nice, especially if you're doing something complicated, like building a tripper. So is the strength bump. The extra skill point is kind of lost on barbarians. You are a mighty warrior, not a wimpy skill monkey! If you're going Superstitious barbarian, the alternate favored class bonus is stupidly good, easily pushing humans to blue. [COLOR=green]Dwarf:[/COLOR] No strength bonus, but every thing else lines up pretty well. Also, you can wear medium armor and still move at 30', since for a dwarf, [I]speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance[/I]. Alternate favored class of 1 rage is decent. A solid second choice. [COLOR=darkorange]Elf:[/COLOR] Honestly, less bad than you might think. Still, not great. Elves get a Constitution penalty, which means you're going to have fewer HP than you might want, and 1 less round of rage. At lower levels, the difference between 6 rounds and 7 is a big deal. At higher levels, the difference between, say 15 and 16 rounds of rage is less of an issue. Still, there's nothing optimal here, and the alternate favored class bonus is very, very bad. [COLOR=red]Halfling & Gnome:[/COLOR] While the idea of a crazy knee-biting barbarian is pretty damn funny, the penalties to strength and movement really kill the effectiveness here. [SIZE=4][B][U]Archetypes That Don't Completely Suck[/U][/B][/SIZE] [COLOR=darkorange]Brutal Pugilist[/COLOR] - I just don't love this, but if you have your heart set on playing a boxer, it's not completely terrible. Just mostly terrible. Really, just buy a cestus or spiked gauntlet. [COLOR=green]Elemental Kin[/COLOR] - The bad news is that the ability kind of sucks. The good news is that it sucks less than Trap Sense. If you still have Trap Sense, you might as well pick up this archetype. [COLOR=deepskyblue]Invulnerable Rager[/COLOR] - DR in exchange for a losing some AC. Your AC sucks anyway. This is a good pick. [COLOR=gray]Mounted Fury[/COLOR] - If you're going mounted, Blue. Otherwise, no. [COLOR=darkorange]Savage Barbarian[/COLOR] - The armor bonus is good. The loss of DR is not. Not a good pick overall. [COLOR=darkorange]Scarred Rager[/COLOR] - The things you give up are some very useful abilities. If you're committed to a Howling barbarian, this might be worth it, but not really, in my opinion. [COLOR=gray]Totem Warrior[/COLOR] - By totem type. [COLOR=green]Urban Barbarian[/COLOR] - A dip class to make TWF finesse builds less crappy. An interesting idea, but I don't think you'd ever take this to 20th level. [SIZE=4][B][U]Archetypes That Completely Suck[/U][/B][/SIZE] [COLOR=red]Armored Hulk[/COLOR] - No. This is bad. If you want to have a decent AC, play a fighter. Don't play a class whose core mechanic [U]reduces your AC[/U]. [COLOR=red]Breaker[/COLOR] - An archetype that targets things that don't fight back? Epic facepalm. [COLOR=red]Drunken Brute[/COLOR] - Extra rage? Yeah, but you're using a move action. Which means less moving, and no full attack actions. As Admiral Ackbar once said, "It's a trap!" [COLOR=red]Hurler[/COLOR] - No. Fast Movement is your friend. You do not give it up for a crappy range bonus on thrown stuff. [COLOR=red]Sea Reaver[/COLOR] - This is clearly an archetype for pirate NPCs. It is not for PCs. [COLOR=red]Superstitious[/COLOR] - Giving up DR for a Perception bonus? No. [COLOR=red]Titan Mauler[/COLOR] - An awful, awful archetype. Let me sum this up: You can use a giant's dagger as if it were a two-handed sword without penalty. You know what's a better idea? BUYING A FRICKIN' TWO-HANDED SWORD. This would be a good ability if it let you wield oversize (i.e. larger than traditionally two-handed) weapons. But it doesn't. Screw you, Paizo. [COLOR=red]True Primitive[/COLOR] - An archetype for caveman NPCs. Do not take this. [COLOR=red]Wild Rager[/COLOR] - If you take a Wild Rager, expect your party to roll you off a cliff while you sleep. This is the single worst archetype in the history of archetypes. I am not exaggerating. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Barbarian Handbook
Top