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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GlassJaw" data-source="post: 7757956" data-attributes="member: 22103">So glad someone mentioned this! One of the most fun characters I've played - 5E or otherwise - was a halfling barbarian. His personality was over the top but in addition, he fulfilled the role exactly what I intended: to always be the last one standing, or better yet, give his companions the opportunity to survive.Breaking down the build a bit more:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bear Totem: No brainer. S/B/P alone is nice but resistance to things like poison and fire are really helpful because they come up fairly frequently.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Unarmored Defense: Not a requirement but nice to have to if your Dex and Con are both decent (14+). With 14s in both and a shield, you start at AC 16. As a halfling, you can start with a 16 Dex which bumps your AC up to 17. My character didn't wear much of anything actually. Higher Dex is also nice because you'll already have advantage on a lot of Dex saves.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Danger Sense: Advantage on ALL Dex saves against spells and traps. This is huge, especially when combined with Shield Master (see below).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stout Halfling: Reroll 1s (HUGE), advantage against frightened, advantage against poison, "always on" poison resistance. Even Halfling Nimbleness works well with Fast Movement and resistance. You can move through enemies and eat the opportunity attack if need be. This allows you to control the battlefield and get to strong enemies quickly to engage them.</li> </ul>Shield Master: This is where it gets crazy.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">First, while raging, you have advantage on Str checks. Shoving is a Str check. Nice to move enemies or knock them prone for your allies to beat on (which provides advantage on melee attacks). Amazing against high AC opponents.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Add shield AC to Dex saves against a spell or affect targeting you. This save is at advantage because of Danger Sense.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Can use your reaction to take half damage against effects requiring a Dex save. This save will probably be at advantage because of Danger Sense. If you succeed, you take no damage. If you fail, you take a quarter damage if you are raging. It's improved evasion on steroids.</li> </ul>Weaknesses:You won't be the primary damage dealer, and possibly not even the secondary, at least not until you get your second attack.Wisdom saves are your bane, especially against spells like Charm Person and Suggestion. This is nothing new for melee types though. Halfling Luck helps a bit here.In summary, the resistance to all damage is nice no doubt, but the bonuses and advantage on saves you get from halfling + barbarian + shield master is the real winner. It will be rare when you are not rolling advantage on a save during combat.</blockquote>

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