Barbarian Weaponmaster (32 bar, 7 wm, 1 mnk)

[tisvigil]

For your consideration (again):

The build is now very close to the "mighty barbarian" build posted by scarfinger86, but attempts to incorporate exotic, double bladed weapons. It seems that it all comes at the expense of strength (and con?), which leaves me wondering - is it viable to have such a low primary stat build? Are the two extra attacks worth the diminished AB?

Human (Humanoid - Gnoll)

Str 15(18-->40)
Dex 15 (15-->19)
Con 14(17-->26)
Wis 8(6)
Int 15(13)
Cha 8(6)

1: Exotic Weapon Froficiency, 2 Weapon Fighting
3: Ambidexterity
4: Con+1 (18)
6: Weapon Focus (2 Bladed Sword)
8: Con+1 (19)
9: Imp. 2 Weap Fighting
12: Improved Critical
15: Dodge
16: Con+1 (20)
18: Mobility
20: Str+1 (19)
21: Spring Attack
24: Str+1 (20), Expertise, Epic Weapon Focus
27: Whirlwind Attack
28(WM): Weapon of Choice
29(WM): -
30(WM): Armor Skin
31(WM): -
32(WM): Str+1 (21)
33(WM): Great Constitution 1 (21)
34(WM): -
35: Mighty Rage
36: Str+1 (22), Great Constitution 2 (22)
39: [Max Intimidate] Terrifying Rage, Heavy Armor Proficiency
40(MNK): [40 Tumble] Str+1 (23)

LL Feats: 2x Great Strength (25), Thundering Rage, Great Strength (26), epic reflex, epic will, <and one more feat here?>, 10 strength (36), 4 str/dex/con from 20 LL's


------------------------
old:

Hey Guys,

This is an attempt to build a character that takes advantage of both the barbarian size bonus and exotic weapon extra attacks on higher ground. This is also my first attempt at a from-scratch build, so please feel free to shoot it to pieces so I can avoid spending hours leveling this guy...

Because of the weapon master prerequisites and the lack of figher levels, build is definitely feat-limited, unlike most of the builds that seem to be flying around. In order to get Great Strength 10 by LL60, several sacrifices had to be made. There is no power-attack, cleave, great cleave, or overwhelming critical. There is no weapon specialization, also due to the impossibility of fitting in 4 fighter levels (30 bar and 7wm constraining). This means that this could probably benefit strongly from some of the secret races that are floating around, and not just for the stat points.

Another plea for criticism - are there 3 levels I can take of something else that would help the character? Right now, the last 3 levels of barbarian don't seem to be doing much.

Human (PT - Earth Genasi)
Str 16 (18-->38)
Dex 15
Con 14 (16)
Wis 8 (6)
Int 14
Cha 8 (6)

1: Exotic Weapon Proficiency, 2 Weapon Fighting
2: -
3: Ambidexterity
4: Str+1
5: -
6: Weapon Focus (2 Bladed Sword)
7: -
8: Str+1
9: Improved 2 Weapon Fighting
10: -
11: -
12: Improved Critical (2 Bladed Sword)
13: -
14: -
15: Dodge
16: Str+1
17: -
18: Mobility
19: -
20: Str+1
21: Spring Attack
22: -
23: -
24: Str+1, Expertise, Epic Weapon Focus (2 Bladed Sword)
25: -
26: -
27: Whirlwind Attack
28(WM1): Str+1, Weapon of Choice
29(WM2): -
30(WM3): Great Strength I
31(WM4): -
32(WM5): Str+1
33(WM6): Great Strength II
34(WM7): -
35: Thundering Rage
36: Str+1, Great Strength III
37: -
38: -
39: Terrifying Rage, (Epic Prowess OR Heavy Armor Proficiency)
40: Str+1

All LL feats into Great Strength 4 thru 10

Skill points are many from the 14 int, the only constrained one is 25 Intimidate as a prerequisite for Terrifying Rage. I was planning on taking 20(30) Tumble, Discipline, Lore, etc.

At the end, this guy should be pretty beefy (600hp@lvl40), have a good number of swings (7), and be able to use a shield for extra AC. Alternately, staying normal sized would yield 9 attacks with no shield.

[bort]

have you had a look at this build?
highergroundpoa.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=builds&action=display&n=1&thread=1154026753
the evasion from monk would be a nice bonus.

[fragment]

Newb here, so take this with a grain of salt.

The sacrifices you made are not with missing cleave - this is petty. Let me explain

I learned two things the hard way, with the barbarian I made, by just clicking on feats which sounded cool and then defensive, like extra damage reduction feats.

As I said, I'm a newb, but here are the two things:

1) you absolutely need higher reflex and will saves than this build will provide. The max +26 increases from items (+20 direct, 12/2 from stat boni) will not be enough. Each + counts.

2) an AC below maybe 110 or 115, will make this build a prime target in the desert LL area. And you will go down quickly.

ad 1) you'll be plastered with nice spells like implosions and petrifications, and I'm not talking an occasional implosion, it's more like 10 or 20 implosions within a few rounds at the front line.

ad 2) even with a much more defensive feat set w/ damage reduction, the magical/positive/divine damage will take you down very quickly. Not being hit (=> high AC) is the only way to go.

So,

- spending the 4 feats for the great will/lightling reflexes and their epic counterparts is a must,

- the armor skin feat will help you getting that potion down,

- already having access to LL gear for good AC and resistances is a must, too.

Another problem is you miss out on the very useuful mighty rage feat, which adds enhancement + to your weapon, making you effectively self-buffing-capable with regards to gmw. More experienced players than me disagree on that point and would rather leave the rages out.

In conclusion, I don't think a build as offensive as yours will be able to do anything except gulping down heal pots every round in areas like the desert - for a very short time. I further believe a barbarian build should use UR subraces like battlerager so epic (const|str) feats can be saved and instead the barbarian capabilities used to their fullest possible extent.

Perhaps a bit contrary to that conclusion, I seriously recommend you to try that build in the game (people here level new characters all the time, don't bother botching a build) - and see for yourself.

Regards and good luck!

[tisvigil]

fragment said:

Newb here, so take this with a grain of salt.

The sacrifices you made are not with missing cleave - this is petty. Let me explain

I learned two things the hard way, with the barbarian I made, by just clicking on feats which sounded cool and then defensive, like extra damage reduction feats.

As I said, I'm a newb, but here are the two things:

1) you absolutely need higher reflex and will saves than this build will provide. The max +26 increases from items (+20 direct, 12/2 from stat boni) will not be enough. Each + counts.

2) an AC below maybe 110 or 115, will make this build a prime target in the desert LL area. And you will go down quickly.

ad 1) you'll be plastered with nice spells like implosions and petrifications, and I'm not talking an occasional implosion, it's more like 10 or 20 implosions within a few rounds at the front line.

ad 2) even with a much more defensive feat set w/ damage reduction, the magical/positive/divine damage will take you down very quickly. Not being hit (=> high AC) is the only way to go.

So,

- spending the 4 feats for the great will/lightling reflexes and their epic counterparts is a must,

- the armor skin feat will help you getting that potion down,

- already having access to LL gear for good AC and resistances is a must, too.

Another problem is you miss out on the very useuful mighty rage feat, which adds enhancement + to your weapon, making you effectively self-buffing-capable with regards to gmw. More experienced players than me disagree on that point and would rather leave the rages out.

In conclusion, I don't think a build as offensive as yours will be able to do anything except gulping down heal pots every round in areas like the desert - for a very short time. I further believe a barbarian build should use UR subraces like battlerager so epic (const|str) feats can be saved and instead the barbarian capabilities used to their fullest possible extent.

Perhaps a bit contrary to that conclusion, I seriously recommend you to try that build in the game (people here level new characters all the time, don't bother botching a build) - and see for yourself.

Regards and good luck!

Great! Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like there will have to be some feat-moving to saves (maybe less great str) and one or more monk levels for the tumble.

[tisvigil]

try #2, advice greatly appreciated!

[terroken]

Yep I messed up on my first barb my second will have better saves and only mighty rage to self buff, the other rages I could care less.