Tips on playing a Barbarian for the first time

[Apok]

Definitely go Human. The bonus feat is just way too sexy to pass up. Stat-wise, Strength is your primary followed by either Dex or Con (your choice). Dex is nice since it improves your Reflex save and AC, which tends to blow for Barbs until they can get some decent AC boosters later on, but if you plan on being in the thick of things (and if you're playing a Barbarian you know you are) then high HP's are a must.

Feat-wise, I'm with Wulf on this one. Power Attack & Cleave are going to be your mainstays. Other than those two, you've got lots of options, most of which have already been mentioned.

Massive Damage = Great Cleave, Improved Critical and Power Critical exist for one reason and one reason only; dish out huge damage and kill as many opponents as you can quickly.

Mobile Assault = Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack. Granted, these may seem odd for a powerhouse but they can be extremely usefull in certain situations.

Oddballs = Extra Rage, Power Lunge and Improved Damage Reduction.

I strongly recommend staying with the Barb class for all levels, or maybe take one or two levels of another class like Ranger or Fighter. The reason being is simple; Greater Rage and DR. Don't overlook a Barbarian's DR. True, it's not much to brag about at first but carefull feat selection can boost it up enough to make it very worthwhile. I know that looking ahead to Epic levels is kind of a stretch, but consider some of the Epic Feats a Barb has access to; Mighty Rage, Epic Improved DR, Devastating Critical, etc. If you do plan on prestige-classing, check out the Brute from AEG's War book. Being able to Power Attack at a 3 for 1 ratio (for every -1 to hit, get +3 to damage) is pretty damn sick, and their other abilities are nifty also.

 

[d12]

To offer some practical advice - keep a chart!

Seriously, your strength is likely to vary a lot from moment to moment. Once someone can cast Bull Str on you, your Str will be increasing by 2-5 points per day. Then you'll rage sometimes and that will stack with the 2-5 points from Bull' Str. But then sometimes you get fatigued and lose some str. THEN, sometimes you will wield your weapon one handed and sometimes two handed. So keep a chart with your current strenght going down the side and across the top have written down damage wielding one handed and damage weilding two handed.

This also helps a lot if you drink while you play.

 

[I'm A Banana]

If you want, be neutral and take some levels of cleric or Shaman (from OA)....

And get a spell-storing greataxe....


....and cast Inflict (blank) Wounds into it....


....and deal an extra xd8 damage when you bonk something. Kiss those HP goodbye!

 

[Victim]

Power Attack and Cleave are both great feats. At lower levels the combination allows to cut through your unworthy foes. At higher levels, you'll still probably drop foes often enough to get extra attacks from Cleave occasionally, and Power Attack becomes really good. Many monsters tend to have low AC, but good offense. Girallons and Mind Flayers fall into this category, although their offensive abilities are very different. Power Attack helps remove these dangerous monsters quickly.

Extra Rage is very useful at lower levels as well. It also helps when multiclassing as a fighter X, Barb 1 can rage 3 times per day.

Spring Attack is also a fun feat. A barbarian's greater movement rate let's him spring attack to greater effect. With his greater strength and HP but low AC, he's often better trading shots on a 1 to 1 basis. A 2 weapon or multi-limbed enemy loses his extra attacks which provide most of his damage. A sword and shield fighter probably has a good enough AC to make your iterative attacks chancy, and will have little problem hitting your lightly armored, no shield character with his secondaries. Therefore, spring attack lets you pit your one big attack versus a single attack that's probably weaker. However, spring attack requires lots of feats that probably wouldn't be much use, and can be unfriendly to the rest of the group. If there is no other tough fighter type in the group, then using spring attack can expose the weaker group members to enemy attack.

Strength and Con should be the best stats. Which one is more important depends on who else is in the group. If you don't expect much healing (no cleric, or a death type one) and expect to receive most of the damage, then Con might be best. On the other hand, with other fighting characters (even mean combat rogues) or a cleric, you can probably invest the most in Strength and still not die.

Human or Half Orc are good races. Dwarves are probably 3rd best. 1/2 orcs are damage machines with a big strength score. On the other hand, a human will have the extra feat which is a big help. Even the extra skills are good. Dwarves get the nice +2 versus spells, extra Con, and other racial bonuses. Dwarf barbarians will be very hard to kill.

 

[Wolfen Priest]

I don't know if I completely agree that it's a no-brainer to use a big two-hander. Granted, the 1.5x damage is always good to have, but being restricted to only medium armor, you might want to have a shield. You can't deal out damage if you're dead.

Just a thought.

 

[Sniktch]

Definitely go with Wulf's advice (ALL POWER ATTACK, ALL THE TIME!). If you don't want to hit things as hard as possible, you're not a true barbarian at heart.

Also, don't forget to drool a lot, and growl, and foam at the mouth, and chew on your shield/helmet/handy metal object for chewing on

 

[Regdar]

Bah be a true class, play a fighter!

 

[David Argall]

don't use power attack

"Power Attack and Cleave are both great feats. At lower levels the combination allows to cut through your unworthy foes. At higher levels, you'll still probably drop foes often enough to get extra attacks from Cleave occasionally,"

It's hard to argue with those who say Power Attack is proper barbarian roleplay, but any claim that it is good rollplay is subject to serious attack. Do not use it at 1st level, and probably not at any level.
You are 1st barbarian with 16 ST and rage vs some orcs. Every hit drops one. They only have 4 hp. Power attack quite simply means you miss an extra time.
So we put you vs a gnoll who can stand a hit [11 hp]. But we do the math and find you average 5.175 damage without PA and 5 with it. Again it hurts you.
At higher levels there are combinations where PA can be useful, but it requires you have a high chance of hitting and that PA adds a major percentage to your damage. At 5th level, we are talking about an additional 25% of totally missing. You get really buffed up by the cleric and mage and you can whomp monsters for 50 pts. That's not going to make 5 points worth much.

If you are going to try this path anyway, you should be human. As noted, that extra feat is quite helpful. You need to be 3rd level barbarian to get Cleave otherwise. So if you want to cleave orcs, be human.

 

[Monster Zero]

Has anyone gone the 2 weapon fighting route with a Barbarian. I am building a 10th level barbarian for a City of the Spiderqueen run and I got a very cool barb miniature with a weapon in each hand.

 

[diaglo]

Has anyone gone the 2 weapon fighting route with a Barbarian. I am building a 10th level barbarian for a City of the Spiderqueen run and I got a very cool barb miniature with a weapon in each hand.

anyone can use TWF. but without the feat it is harder to hit.

it is also recommended to have Ambidexterity.