Who is better DAMAGE MACHINE a Fighter or a Barbarian or a Rogue?

[Thanee]

Yep, Rogues are devastating in theory, but not so in practice!

Altho I would bet on the Barbarian in a straight one-on-one fight against a Fighter. AC 19 isn't really hard to hit for a 4th level Barbarian.

What feats does your Barbarian have?
Not Power Attack and Cleave?

Back to the Rogue. I have a rather high level (16) multiclassed Rogue (Arcane Trickster) - not minmaxed - and yes, I am able to deal more damage than the Paladin with his Holy Avenger scoring a critical hit. When I hit critical, damage is usually in the seventies! I'm using a longbow, tho, no melee.

Still, the Paladin by far outshines my combat capabilities usually, because I have to be quite careful, having only about 70 hit points without spells, where he has about thrice as many.

My potential damage is very high, but that's just not all there is to it in a combat!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Malin Genie]

What feats does your Barbarian have?
Not Power Attack and Cleave?

I have yet to see a Barbarian with Power Attack and Cleave...(my Feats are Combat Reflexes and Alertness - I hate ambushes )

Perhaps in a more high-combat campaign P-A and Cleave would be common choices for a Barbarian, but I haven't really missed them (and am not planning to take them either - Iron Will is next.) I deal enough damage to contribute to combat without feeling that I need to take the fighter's place. Having said that, Combat Reflexes and a 12ft spear can do more to stop multiple enemies even than Cleave ...

 

[Jeremy]

I ran min/max'd combat trials with a 13th level barbarian, rogue, fighter, ranger, and monk. But these were PvP matches instead of PvM matches so the results might not be what you were looking for.

Surprisingly by total ratio of wins/losses after each character had fought every other character twice, the order came out like this:

Fighter (flamberge, animated shield, critical focused)
Barbarian (great axe, animated shield, strength focused)
Rogue (twin finessed shortswords, ring of blink, AC/sneak attack focused)
Monk (sandals of tiger leap, flying kick, Spring Attack/Stunning fist focused)
Ranger (twin axes, mithral breast plate, strength focused)

The rogue really suffers in PvP because he literally just doesn't have the hit points. This was a min/max'd ring of blinking rogue who's every attack was a sneak attack and with two weapon fighting did an extreme amount of damage, but he doesn't have the AC or the Hit Points to take the retaliation long enough to down his foe.

The barbarian's main strength wasn't rage but hit points, but his lack of feats really hurt him.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Don't forget the Fanged Mask from MoF that gives you a bite attack for that extra sneak attack damage. Then, Improved TWF in another 4 levels or so. Actually, there's another magic item from MoF...some gloves that give you Improved TWF if you already have TWF. So, in a high magic campain, you could have this at 10th level. So, that's an 8 possible attacks with a full attack action.

And people wonder why our group house ruled rogue's sneak attack (we say using sneak attack is an action)....

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Of course, if you were playing a proper party, you'd have all three of these character classes working together to kick arse, and it doesn't really matter who does the most damage... So long as together they do enough to kill the beasty.

 

[Shin Okada]

This kind of comparison is not simple. You must consider various conditions. Fighters can always do good amount of damage. Barbarians do better damage than fighters but only when they rage. Rogues may do better damage than those two classed do, but only when they can meet conditions, and the opponent is not immune to sneak attacks, and the critter's AC is not too high.

 

[Gromm]

In general I'd give the edge in a fight to a Fighter.
Theres a reason they don't get any skills, they are the best fighting class.
Barbs are next, but they get some decent skills (like Listen), and some better hps, but the fighters better AC will usually win him the fight.
A rogue is great as long as he has a buddy to help him out, and preferably a cleric nearby to tumble to and get healed when things get ugly.
In my experience, most big creatures can drop a Fighter or Barb in about 3 rounds without healing, and a Rogue in 1 or 2 (if hes lucky). Take a 7th lvl Fighter,Barb, and Rogue with realistic equipment against a Hill Giant. The Hill Giant will likely be able to Power Attack both the Rogue and Barb. The Barb can take it for a little bit. Against the Fighter he can still possibly PA, but not for as much, or hes not going to hit.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Damage machine easily the rogue. Best overall fighter the fighter, though not by close to enough to justify is absolute suckage in everything not fighting related.

Couple comments those who always say, yeah but the rogue is soft and squishy, and doesn't hit as much I say bull. The AC will frequently equal that of the fighters especially non shield using fighters. Why because the new AC is armor = total possible bonus o 8 from dex and armor, so we can all play lightly armored buckles that swash. So yeah sure that fighter is happy in plate mail, but the rogue is just as happy in a chain shirt, and likely even happier since he can use skills and has a 30' move. Low hps sure to some degree, he hasa whopping 2 hps less per level, so lets see at 10th level 22hp thanks to max hp at 1st level. What's 22 hp at 10th level a full round, or just 1/2 a round of fighting, yeah that fighter is a tank in comparison. And ph lets see the rogue sucks at hitting things because of a crappy BAB. Yeah right over 20 levels he eventually is 5 lower in bab. For all the lower levels it is a difference of 1-3 or 5-15% chance at most , oh yeah that rogue is just hitting air with that kind of accuracy.

 

[starwolf]

Of course the real ringer in this whole debate is the fact that the rogue can only dish out the extra damage while flanking or otherwise denying his opponent his AC adjustment. Therefor the rogue has an inherent dependency upon another character or outside influences. In straight up one on one mano y mano combat the Fighter has the edge. Also, the advantage can tend to shift from Barbarian to Fighter as the classes advance through levels.

All in all what really is the point of this discussion.

What class should take to be an uber-death dealing machine?

Who cares?

Play a character for the character's sake...not the game mechanic math.

 

[Corwin the Confused]

All in all what really is the point of this discussion.

The point is that I had a question. And the only stupid question is the question that is not asked.

What class should take to be an uber-death dealing machine?

No, I simply had a question. When I play D&D, I role my stats and try to pick a class that will help the party to be balanced. Yes, I must admit that I think that I cool when I crush a monster as a fighter type, but I also think I is cool when my wizard casts mass haste and my party rips through the mosters or when my cleric gives everyone +2 to almost everything due to my domain of Nobility.

Who cares?

I care. And others seem to care too. Check out the number of posts and the number of views.

Play a character for the character's sake...not the game mechanic math.

Please spare me your lecture on how you have decided that others must play D&D. You play the way that you wish, why must everyone conform to your mores?

You confuse me, and not because I do not understand what you are saying, but, because I do not understand why you would say it.

Corwin the Confused