Re: Humanity & power attack
David Argall said:
"I could always take 1-2 levels each of Bard, Ranger, and Fighter, with the rest going into Barbarian."
a-recall the XP penalty for having a class too high. This style pretty much requires you be human.
b-Barbarian is an unwise class to advance in a multiclass. You just don't get as much for your level. I have not seen the Epic book, but even if we assume it is a strong class at those levels, taking 5 levels elsewhere becomes a drawback.
I've never had a character reach epic levels, so I don't really worry about it.
If I'm playing a Half Orc, with Barbarian as his favored class, it's basically the same as playing a human for Multi-Class purposes. Perhaps I'm talking too many classes in my above example, but I'm just building a concept here.
My main reason for going with a Ranger level or two would be for the Tracking. I've been thinking that I'd probably be better off just purchasing the Track feat, as I don't plan on using any of the other Ranger abilities.
I like a level or two of fighter. Even if I take just 2 levels, and add Power Attack & Cleave, or Weapon Focus and Dodge, it really helps the character a lot.
I like a Bard level or two also, because I can really see a "Braveheart" type speech coming out of a Barbarian, and singing while chopping heads off of baddies is pretty inspirational as well. The question is: can I get a Cha stat high enough to make it worth taking more than one level (for a bit of spellcasting). Ideally, I'd love to be able to cast Bull's Strength on myself, but I think I'd be pushing it, and getting too far from my concept of a warrior. Of course, just one level of Bard will allow me to use a
Wand of Bull's Strength, and I think that item just made my wish list (along with Boots of Striding and Springing, and a big mutha-Axe).
Multi-Classing also removes that annoying illiterate thing. I think a Barbarian becoming "civilized" is a fun concept to go with.