High AC Barbarian

[Nifft]

I think you mean "Troglodyte Barbarians Stink"

"You are technically correct -- the best kind of correct!"

-- N

 

[Rystil Arden]

"You are technically correct -- the best kind of correct!"

-- N

I hereby promote you to grade 37.

 

[hong]

Barbarian 1 / Fighter X... Fullplate (20ft move? meh), Whirling Frenzy, Extra Rage.

Of if you're prefer to keep your speed... barbarian 2 / warblade X + whirling frenzy, extra rage...

I've yet to see a "barbarian" who wasn't just level dipped.

The main tank in our AOW game was a dwarf ftr4/barb16 by the time we fought Kyuss.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You could probably make some fun Barbarians with Anthropomorphic Animals. Many of them have high Dex bonuses and some kind of natural armor.

OK, so you'd have to deal with LAs...

But if you're also rockin' that +12 Str adjustment or some such, I don't think you'd care!

 

[Drowbane]

The main tank in our AOW game was a dwarf ftr4/barb16 by the time we fought Kyuss.

Cool! Bet ya my high lvl Dwarf barbarian can beat up your high lvl dwarf barbarian.

 

[Drowbane]

I've yet to see a "barbarian" who wasn't just level dipped.

Even if you do decide to go all Barbarian (+PrC or not), you don't really miss out on much by going with Heavy Armor... except perhaps a feat (or specific race choice) and some movement speed. And you could use a UA (or other) barbarian variant to switch out the +10ft land speed.

 

[IamTheTest]

I hereby promote you to grade 37.

Be sure not to stamp that form too many times.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

You can use the highly unfair Whirling Frenzy to help you. +2 AC instead of -2, no Con benefit, extra attack, and +2 Ref saves.

lol @ highly unfair. Anyone who's actually played a barbarian knows that Con boost is totally vital for both rage length and staying on your feet. And you lose the normal rage bonuses, not the penalties. You still get -2 AC during a whirling frenzy, you just gain +2 AC to cover it up.

+4 str :: +4 str
+4 con :: +1 attack, all at -2
-2 AC :: No AC penalty
+2 will save (much better for barbs) :: +2 ref save

That and the fact that most of the barbs I see anymore have Leap Attack and they're only doing 1 charge + cleaves per round and don't care about full attack actions. However I will give you the fact that if you splashed a level of that with a TWF rogue you'd have yourself a nasty little bugger. In fact you just gave me my next level-dip for my broken-as-hell whisper gnome rogue/ninja/fighter cohort. Thanks!

OP: High AC barb using no LA stuff? Grab a halfling and max out your dex, use whirling frenzy. You'll have lower HP and damage, and get nailed with will save spells more often, but lots of AC!

 

[Nail]

You still get -2 AC during a whirling frenzy, you just gain +2 AC to cover it up.

You sure?

RAGE VARIANT: WHIRLING FRENZY
A barbarian with this variant form of rage doesn't gain the normal bonuses when he enters a rage. Instead, when a barbarian with whirling frenzy enters a rage, he temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength and a +2 dodge bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves. While in a whirling frenzy, the barbarian may make one extra attack in a round at his highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the barbarian might make before his next action.

That looks like a straight-up bonus to AC, rather than a bonus to compensate for a penalty.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

You could probably make some fun Barbarians with Anthropomorphic Animals. Many of them have high Dex bonuses and some kind of natural armor.

OK, so you'd have to deal with LAs...

But if you're also rockin' that +12 Str adjustment or some such, I don't think you'd care!

IIRC, the anthropomorphic whales have Barbarian as their favored class, but it's been a while. I believe that the Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale had 3 HD and no LA. The lion and tiger are also good, and aren't large.

They also have a nice high Wis bonus, too, to help with those Will saves and Spot/Listen checks. The HD have good Ref and Will saves, and good BAB, so they're very nice indeed (if only they had more than 2+ skill points).

Now, one balancing factor in Savage Species was that they didn't get any feats off their racial HD. As this is stupid, it's likely more appropriate to add on one point of level adjustment to balance out.

Brad