Broken Ranger with Barbarian MC

[Destil]

Since we're talking about the multiclass Barbarian, let's look at a comparable (mostly) PHB build two-weapon ranger. There's not a huge amount of min-maxing going on here, and I limited myself to PHB1 stuff for the most part (aside from being a half-orc). You could also go dual scimitars with scimitar dance and a higher Dex to really bring home the auto-damage or focus a bit more on crits with your magic items.

Twin Strike (+19) for 2d10+18+2d8 when both hit (38 average vs. your guy's 40.5). On top of that:
Double the crit rate, and those crits are pretty nasty.
Less prone to overkill a target.
Better chance of getting the quarry damage.
Automatically deal 4 damage to an adjacent enemy at the end of his turn.

Remember, your guy passed up his paragon path to pick up that at-will. A lot of the time that's a bad move, but barbarian makes it work. All in all if it's overpowered it's balanced by paragon multiclassing being underpowered, and neither are extreme enough to be game breakers.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Tawar, level 13
Half-Orc, Ranger, Stormwarden
Build: Two-Blade Ranger
Fighting Style: Two-Blade Fighting Style

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 23, Con 11, Dex 19, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 9.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 14, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8.

AC: 27 Fort: 26 Reflex: 25 Will: 20
HP: 93 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 23

TRAINED SKILLS
Dungeoneering +12, Nature +12, Athletics +16, Perception +12, Acrobatics +14

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +6, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Endurance +7, Heal +7, History +6, Insight +7, Intimidate +7, Religion +6, Stealth +9, Streetwise +5, Thievery +9

FEATS
Level 1: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 2: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
Level 4: Agile Hunter
Level 6: Lethal Hunter
Level 8: Two-Weapon Fighting
Level 10: Two-Weapon Defense
Level 11: Devastating Critical
Level 12: Heavy Blade Opportunity

POWERS
Ranger at-will 1: Hit and Run
Ranger at-will 1: Twin Strike
Ranger daily 1: Jaws of the Wolf
Ranger daily 5: Two-Wolf Pounce
Ranger daily 9: Swirling Leaves of Steel
Ranger encounter 1: Dire Wolverine Strike
Ranger encounter 13: Armor Splinter (replaces Dire Wolverine Strike)
Ranger encounter 3: Disruptive Strike
Ranger encounter 7: Sweeping Whirlwind
Ranger utility 10: Expeditious Stride
Ranger utility 2: Yield Ground
Ranger utility 6: Evade Ambush

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Terror Bastard sword +3, Thundering Bastard sword +3, Sunleaf Hide Armor +3, Amulet of Protection +3, Frost Longbow +2
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======

 

[0-hr]

Ok, one of my players has built his ranger into a level 13 (beastmaster) ranger with paragon multiclassing into Barbarian. And he's devastating the battlefield - to such a degree that nothing of equal level is a challenge to the party anymore.

Wielding an Executioners Axe his frigging At-Will - Devastating Strike

I'm new to this, but I don't understand how, even at paragon, you can use a multi-class at-will power at will (other than being a half elf with that feat). Could someone explain that part to me?

 

[Lord Ernie]

It's called Paragon multi-classing. Check PHB Page 209 for the full write-out.

 

[charlesatan]

Strikers:

Actually, Rangers are in the top tier when it comes to strikers, mostly in conjunction with their two attacks (i.e. Twin Strike) and weapon damage (implement users are on the bottom end for that reason as fixed die damage seldom compares with one-handed d12 weapons).

I'd probably rate Strikers in this hierarchy:

1) Ranger
2) Barbarian
3) Rogue
4) Avenger
5) Sorcerer
6) Warlock

The Ranger/Barbarian is good, but honestly not as good as an optimized Ranger (although it should deal more damage than a regular Barbarian albeit more fragile).

Barbarian Multiclass:

As far as Encounter Powers go, sure, they give an edge when you multiclass. But in terms of At-Wills, notice that one requirement is that the character needs to be using a two-handed weapon, making some class combinations (i.e. Rogue/Barbarian) sub-optimal.

Creating Challenging Encounters:

There are two ways to create a really challenging encounter: either attrition, or sheer difficulty.

King of the Trollhaunt Warrens tends to be the former, so while there's several low-level monsters in there, they make up for it quantity (either mobbing you in the same encounter or simply whittling down your healing surges).

The other technique you might attempt is to throw monsters as high as 3-5 levels above them.