Barbarian is up!!!

[Gloombunny]

Why would a TWF Ranger pump Dex? They'd be far better pumping Con or Wis and taking heavy armor.

You can go that route, and probably multi into fighter to get Kensei or Pit Fighter bonuses to all your attacks. But you could also pump Dex, pick up Scimitar Dance, and go into Stormwarden for hefty guaranteed damage every round. Both methods are viable.

 

[Stalker0]

After thinking about it more, there's only one issue with the barb class right now.

The heavy armor issue.

Everything else can be sorted in playtesting, is the defender hp too high, are rages too limited, does the barb do too much damage, too little, is rage strike too clunky etc etc.

But the heavy armor issue is a gimme. A barb can often score +3 to AC with one feat, its going to happen. And the balance of the barb that hinges on low AC would be defeated.

So I say, play your barbs, take that chain mail, and see how he plays. If its solid, maybe WOTC can create some mechanics to keep the barb in light armor for flavor. If its too good, we might some some more grand changes.

 

[Stalker0]

I do have one question on the wording of thunder hawk rage.

Are you intended to knock prone everyone around you, or just one target.

As a free action, there's nothing to stop a barb from knocking down all adjacent opponents. But then you could just say "at the beginning of your turn, you can knock all adjacent enemies prone".

So I wonder if it meant to allow only one creature at a time.

 

[abyssaldeath]

Effect: You manifest the rage of the thunder hawk. Until the rage ends, before you take any actions during each of your turns, you can knock an adjacent enemy prone as a free action.

It says you knock AN enemy prone. I take that to mean only one. Otherwise I think it would say "you can knock adjacent enemies prone".

 

[Asmor]

One issue with heavy armor that I haven't seen addressed (of course, I may have missed it).

Will the speed penalty affect barbarians negatively? It seems like they want to be fast, but I'm not sure how important that really is.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Wow, I am just offline for a few days (thank you Deutsche Telekom for the swift transfer of my internet access), and it's already 10 pages of barbarian discussion. Well, I won't read it all.

"Thaneblood". Wonder what the hell that is (aside from the other build, obviously).

Thaneeblood? Did something happen to Thanee?

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

I'd say the armor problem can be fixed by requiring the barbarian be in cloth, leather or hide to use his some (not all) powers. Similar to how the rogue powers often require you to be wielding a light blade, crossbow, or sling

 

[garyh]

One issue with heavy armor that I haven't seen addressed (of course, I may have missed it).

Will the speed penalty affect barbarians negatively? It seems like they want to be fast, but I'm not sure how important that really is.

Even the speed issue is moot once Scale specialization is reached at paragon (although that requires some investment in Dex) or if you're barbarian is a dwarf.

 

[Asmor]

Even the speed issue is moot once Scale specialization is reached at paragon (although that requires some investment in Dex) or if you're barbarian is a dwarf.

That requires 3 feats (Armor Prof Chain, Armor Prof Scale, Armor Spec Scale) and a 15 dex which is otherwise completely useless to the barbarian (well, it's good for reflex defense and initiative, but still not a priority). If the barb's got 15 dex, that means he's forgoing at least a +2 AC bonus from that in order to wear scale.

At level 11, scale's 4 points better than hide, meaning the barb's spent 3 feats and a significant amount of stat points on a net gain of 2 ac. Granted, it's a bit more worth it with higher level armor (e.g. assuming a 16 dex, Elderscale is 8 points better than Elderhide, meaning a net gain of 5 AC points).

Actually, I take that back. It's really more like spending 3 feats, not 2, since if the barb stuck with hide he'd have to have taken hide proficiency to keep the numbers even. But it still seems like a fair trade-off to me.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Why?

All are valid observations.

I'm quite sure. I'm also quite sure that you're not, yourself, in a position to criticise in terms and using a tone which caused me to infer that you believe your art is better.