Tips on playing a Barbarian for the first time

[Warrior Poet]

Wulf, when I saw the title to the thread, I was planning to direct him to that advice section of HoHF:H-O. I adopted the "three qualities" for my then 1st-level barbarian character, which I'm having a blast with.

As Dingleberry's DM for the particular character he's mentioning here (dwarven barbarian/ranger who is fearsome with the great battle blade), I will heartily recommend following Wulf's advice, as well as that of some of the others here. Dingleberry is my DM for a different campaign, one in which I played a barbarian (human) for a long time, and the basic advice pretty much rings true:

Power Attack. This is such a great feat, especially, ESPECIALLY against the big things, because the armor class on larger monsters is lower for their size, so you can shave a few off the to hit roll and really stick it on damage. Extra damage is factored in on critical hits, too. Ouch. Seriously.

Cleave. Buncha little foes, or even just two or three tougher ones, eventually you're going to drop something and you might as well have the follow through.

Get a big weapon. At least one. My barbarian (before his death - but he died with his enemy's heart in his hands! ... well, not really, it was a construct, and consequently didn't have a heart, so ...) had a greataxe and a greatclub (for undead, dontcha know). With the high strength and constitution scores you are going to be a damage sink and a damage dealer, so make the most of those.

Also, it ended up in our group that my barbarian was the default trap finder. Just walk through the door. Spider filled trap? Poison needle? Well, both of those are Fort. saves (and my barbarian had Great Fortitude), so he pretty much shrugged those off. Which was hilarious, because the other two party members both had levels of rogue!

Good luck, and may you stand atop the pile of dead in gore-soaked victory!

Warrior Poet

<edit: correct spelling, it's what's for dinner>

 

[Baron Von StarBlade]

Re: Re: barbarian ideas

ALL POWER ATTACK, ALL THE TIME!!!!!

Darnit Wulf you stole my reply! So I'll come up with Reply two. RAGE ON SIGHT! To quote an old wise man.

DM: Roll for initiative.
Barbarian: I RAGE!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Hey BVS-- side note-- the Crippler saw 18th level action this weekend.

Power Attack against a dragon, you say? Folly, you say?

Nothing like hitting a dragon for 200+ points of damage. Worth the wait.


Wulf

 

[dead_radish]

Remember that you are faster than most people. Get in there and hit things! Hard!

Counter to that - dwarven barbarians are very very nice. The con bonus is great, the boost to will saves (+4 vs some spells, +2 from rage) is amazingly useful. The ability to chug poison as though it were beer at higher levels is entertaining. You're a bit slower, but....

Get Rhino Hide armor. It's amazingly useful when charging.

Try to convince your DM to allow Reckless Attack from QF - you can reduce your ac and add to damage. Very very very handy.

I'd suggest taking 5 levels of barb (Uncanny dodge I & II, rages, 5d12 hp), then moving into Fighter, or a PrC. And take a look at the Frenzied Berserker in MoW - if you have a cleric to cast Emotion: Calm and Heal on you, you are an amazing thing.

Extra rage is a great feat, especially if you're going to multiclass (which I recommend strongly). As is Greater Resiliency, especially if your dm buys the argument that "It says "As a class feature." In 5 levels, I could get it. Thus, it is a class feature, per wands." Fast healing is nice, but not needed.

Also, be sure to buy up the skills you need early on - Wilderness Lore, etc. They are rare as class skills for other classes.

A barb 5/fighter 4 using his improved crit keen weapon specialized greatsword who rolls a 15 is a very very scary thing to see.

Oh - and if you take power attack, your party doesn't need a rogue. "You see a locked door." "I rage, power attack for 8, and do *roll* 31 points of damage to the door." "It's open."

 

[diaglo]

Oh - and if you take power attack, your party doesn't need a rogue. "You see a locked door." "I rage, power attack for 8, and do *roll* 31 points of damage to the door." "It's open."

you can't crit doors.

2d6 for say greatsword. say you roll you 12 max. plus 8 for power attack. so that = 20. now add str bonus * 1.5.

with an 18 str = +4 raged = 22 str so bonus = +6 times 1.5 = +9

20 +9 = 29 only 1 in 36 times will you do that.

minus hardness.

i don't know how you are doing 31hp of damage on a door as an avg.

 

[dead_radish]

Primarily it was a randomly picked number. But, if you're pa for 8, then you're at 8th level. And at 8th, you've put 2 more points into strength, plus your gauntlets of ogre power +2, giving you a 26 str (+8, which is +12 damage). Assume you have a shrieking GS +1, GMW'ed up to +4 by the party cleric using his beads of karma. Or destructive rage.

2d6+8+4+1d6 (although sonice damage to doors is odd, iirc)+12.

3d6+24.

3*3.5 +24.

11.5+24.

35.5 damage.

 

[diaglo]

ah, yes, magic.

still you need to subtract hardness.

 

[Regdar]

Bah Regdar's power attack has never failed Regdar, use it whenever possible, especially if you get a flanking bonus, charge bonus or similar bonus. Offset the bonus received by pumping base attack into damage.

 

[dead_radish]

Regdar: Indeed. I think that anytime you are granted a hit bonus, you should pump that into power attack, and I've been told by number crunchers that is approximately correct.

 

[Baron Von StarBlade]

Hey BVS-- side note-- the Crippler saw 18th level action this weekend.

Power Attack against a dragon, you say? Folly, you say?

Nothing like hitting a dragon for 200+ points of damage. Worth the wait.


Wulf

Excellent, although I still think the 100+ against the Umber Hulk was the king . You still in town BTW?