Barbarian on plate, is it worth?

[Danceofmasks]

BTW Dance, Goliath Greatweapon doesn't add to the damage of a Fullblade. It's only military and simple two handed weapons.

Nice catch .. err .. I hate Goliaths already!

Oh, back on topic, Barbarians work well enough with a low-ish AC .. defenses are always nice, but if we're trying to qualify what those defenses cost ..

To summarise,

Heavy armour is worthwhile for thaneborn, 'cos dumping dex heavily in favour of having more str and cha outweighs the feat costs.

Con on a rageblood doesn't do enough to warrant gimping dex for, 'cos it seems to be a case of (con bonus) points of extra damage and temp hp now and then.

But keep in mind that I come from a position of "hitroll is king, and moar hitroll is moar better, but 1 for 1 AC > damroll"

 

[deleteme123456]

A barb with 14 DEX can wear hide, take hide spec at paragon (even a Thaneborn probably wants 14 CON), spend 1 feat on AC, and be as good as the barb in chain with no speed or check penalty. The guy in chain presumably doesn't have 15 DEX to take chain spec.

Now if you want to spend 3-4 more feats on chain, scale, plate, and spec, yeah, you'll come up +2-3 AC but -3 Reflex. Ask yourself if that's worth it.

 

[Mad Hamish]

Plate might be worth it; I'm not so sure proficiency is, though.

-2 to attack rolls and Reflex isn't a good thing, but is it worth 3 or 4 feats to avoid? Maybe not.

-2 to hit is a huge drawback, you're probably cutting your damage output by about 20%, more against high defence targets for your level.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

Rather than jumping to say why your PC's Barb should keep Hide, I think it's better to ask why he wants Plate? Or better yet, why he's playing a Barb if he wants Plate? He could be a Greatweapon Fighter in Plate for the cost of one feat, and still do a lot of damage with a Barb multiclass and a few feats to get powers. In fact, for a similar feat cost he could Fighter multiclass Barb, take a Barb Paragon Path and have 50% of his powers (except At-Wills) be Barb powers. It just seems that if he's really into wearing Plate and having high AC that he should just play a different class....like the Cleric (I'm assuming melee) that he was originally playing.

 

[Saeviomagy]

What are the alternative feats that the barbarian might have by level 2 that support his role? Weapon specialisation and a weapon proficiency? It's not that much more damage.

Being able to dump dex and still mix it up in melee is a pretty good benefit, easily as much as a slightly bigger weapon and a +1 to damage.

 

[DracoSuave]

Possibly:

Fast Runner
Long Jumper
Powerful Charge
Rising Fury

 

[Evil DieM]

I never pay more than three silver pieces for a plate of Barbarian. It's usually a bit gamey for my tastes, but the feral trolls seem to enjoy it. Especially on the side of mashed Halflings and some Garden-Elf salad.

 

[Mengu]

I never pay more than three silver pieces for a plate of Barbarian. It's usually a bit gamey for my tastes, but the feral trolls seem to enjoy it. Especially on the side of mashed Halflings and some Garden-Elf salad.

Thank you, I needed that.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I never pay more than three silver pieces for a plate of Barbarian. It's usually a bit gamey for my tastes, but the feral trolls seem to enjoy it. Especially on the side of mashed Halflings and some Garden-Elf salad.

Mmmm...for some reason, I have a taste for Mongolian Barbecue now...

 

[deleteme123456]

@3sp you're getting ripped off. Although for a good cut of Minotaur, maybe.