Straight Half-Orc Barbarian, or Multiclass?

[Nail]

1 FTR 1 Combat Expertise, EWP Spiked Chain
2 FTR 2 Improved Trip
3 BRB 1 Extra Rage
4 FTR 3 -
5 FTR 4 WF Spiked Chain(if you want to become Exotic Weaponmaster from CW) or Combat Reflexes (you should have DEX 15+)
6 FTR 5 ...

Why Ftr5? That gets you very little: no save increase, no class abilities....

Whereas Bbn 2 gets you both of those, Uncanny Dodge being the best.

Lightning Reflexes>Prone Attack(CW)
Dodge>Mobility>Spring Attack>Combat Expertise(we got it already)>Whirlwind Attack.

For a Trip Monkey, the problem isn't how often you hit, but rather how much damage you can do. WA is great, especially if you are enlarged, but in the levels in between, you won't be doing much damage. Weapon Specialization and Power Attack help with this problem immensely.

I was thinking about this potenial Half-Orc, 28 pt-buy Trip monkey...and realized his Str is going to have to be "shockingly" low in order to accomodate a 13 in Int, Dex, and a decent Con. Here's the best I could come up with:

Str 15, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 8, Chr 6

Interestingly enough, that's WORSE than a 28 pt-buy human Trip Monkey:

Str 15, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 8, Chr 8

...that's because I have to buy a "15" in Int and have it reduced by the racial ability score adjustment. So the Str benefit from a Half-orc is completely lost!

So, upon further review: Go with a Dwarven Bbn/Ftr trip monkey. Much better!

 

[Darklone]

Why not a half-ogre Ftr4/Bbn1?

He might even spare the exotic weapon proficiency and will profit damagewise from the bigger weapon.

 

[Nail]

What's the ECL of a half-ogre? ...and what's the penalty to Int? That could be the deciding factor.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

I hate you, min/maxing powergaming jerks out there...no, I really love that stuff, go on, get him his build.
Let's see what I can contribute, rather then switching out FTR 5 for BRB 2 go for CLR 1 with Strengt Domain to cast Enlarge Person on yourself, would really make that awfull as a Half-Ogre, size boni for a Huge creature and its reach...*arghl*. This is becoming like 'Building Mr. Tripper'.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

LA +1 for Half-Ogre.
Has no racial HD.
>>>Savage Species!
For a 6th Level Character we got still 5 level worth of classes!

 

[Nail]

LA +1 for Half-Ogre.
Has no racial HD.

Heh.

So.....the half-ogre is still Type: Humaniod? If so, then that level of Clr (Strength domain) would be the way to go.

Imagine a spiked chain with a 30 foot reach. Wow.

 

[niastri]

My advice: Ignore power gaming issues. They're a waste of time in a good game. Pick out the mix that sounds like the most fun and then play it.

Why is power gaming a waste? Because DMs tend to compensate for power levels. If your character min/maxes the rules and becomes an uber melee warrior, the DM will just make the melee foes tougher to compensate.

Make a character that is fun to play. You can min/max character builds for fun, but you're always better off building a PC that is more fun and less gun.

I agree, but playing a fun character in a party of min max players is a lot less fun, especially if you have a lot of combat and you have your character smoking a cig cause there isn't much point in him actually trying to help out...

I once made a rogue/sorc who was a swindling coward. He had spring attack just so he could run away any time somebody got close, and spent all his spells slots on defensive abilities. His only significant offense at all was his sneak attack dice, and if he got lucky enough to crit with his rapier. He was great fun except for the 5 session undead adventure.

He literally started drinking beer and watching from a distance by the 2 second session, while the "real" fighters mashed the skeletons. No point in him risking getting hurt when we had two guys with mins of 10+ damage and great cleave!

Admittedly, this was one of the less experienced players in our group trying his hand at DMing, and I should have seen it coming, but don't expect that "fun" characters will always be fun ;/

 

[Darklone]

Heh.

So.....the half-ogre is still Type: Humaniod? If so, then that level of Clr (Strength domain) would be the way to go.

Imagine a spiked chain with a 30 foot reach. Wow.

Nope, Giant. At least by the table. Doesn't matter though, it's still a permanent Enlarge Person and you might combine it with Jotunbrud if your DM allows it ...

str+6, dex/int/cha-2, con +2. La +1, 60ft darkvision, giant blood, some other stuff... large size.

 

[Korak]

Nope, Giant. At least by the table. Doesn't matter though, it's still a permanent Enlarge Person and you might combine it with Jotunbrud if your DM allows it ...

str+6, dex/int/cha-2, con +2. La +1, 60ft darkvision, giant blood, some other stuff... large size.

Bah, I prefer Half-Minotaur +4str +2con -2int/cha, track, increase size category of small or medium humanoids, +10' movement(if size increased), scent, gore attack, +2 natural armor, LA +1

 

[Darklone]

Bah, I prefer Half-Minotaur +4str +2con -2int/cha, track, increase size category of small or medium humanoids, +10' movement(if size increased), scent, gore attack, +2 natural armor, LA +1

Forgot +4 nat armour of half-ogres.

Where's the half-minotaur from? Dragonlance?