Post/Author/DateTime	Post
siegezug 09-29-04, 07:27 PM	Hi, new to D&D and what have you. I'm wanting to make a Fighter/Barbarian but everytime I do a search on these forums all I get is "3.5 Fighter is t3h g1mp!" posts. First, I guess I should explain the character's history. Long story short, male human who grew up in a small farming town. One day, a bully was picking on a smaller kid (don't know if they actually had bullies back then, but I don't think anyone could prove that there aren't either so I'll just assume) and character stepped in to defend. One lucky punch knocks the bully out. Main character gets a "first time he's felt alive" experience, and from that moment on dedicates himself to fighting and overcomming greater opponents. He's first in line to defend the town, and usually first to meet the enemy. I've decided to make him more of the "stopping punks and thugs from abusing people" rather then the "just wanting to make a name for himself" kind of mentality. It also seemed to fit with the Barbarian "just let people live as they want to" kinda thing. Eventually, the challenges of a small town are too small for him, so he sets off to find even greater challenges and push his own limits. First, does this make sense to be a Fighter/Barbarian? I'm using Barbarian as a person who fights with emotion and passion rather than a nomadic tribe of illiterates. When the character REALLY gets into the fight, it almost becomes a religious experience. He just looses all control. However, travelling the countryside in search of greater challenges means he's experienced and learned alot, especially from the opponents he has fought, including the disciplines of a fighter. That's my justification anyways. I'm also wondering about the other stats. Strength is of course the biggest one, but I don't know which should be the next biggest one, Dexterity or Constitution? I don't know how well balanced/hand eye coordinated a swordsman like this really is, especially one who (as of right now) has no shield. I'm also trying to place how high Charisma should be on a character like this. I could see it almost as high as Constitution or Dexterity just from the whole force of personality, willingly going upfront and toe to toe with enemies seems like someone with strong charisma. Intelligence and Wisdom? Meh. I think Wisdom goes a little higher than Intelligence for someone like this guy, but neither really seem all that important to him. I guess what I'm saying is I'm having difficulty trying to quantify personality traits, at least ranking them into order of importance. Perhaps if someone could give more examples of the stats and all the things they could mean (like I read somewhere on the board about religion being more charisma based? I never would've picked that up), then maybe I could do this a bit easier. Also, I never get into the technical aspects of these sorts of things. If there is some like glaring error (like WTF Barbarian skills are all Charisma based n00b) then feel free to point that out too. And to make this post more fun, lets say I roll the numbers 16, 15, 20, 10, 7, 18. Obviously Strength would be the 20, but where would you place the numbers for the other stats? These aren't the actual numbers, I haven't met with the DM for the rest of the campaign settings, just wanting more experienced input and seeing if its on par with what I'm thinking. I would go (just to prove I'm not begging for someone to make my char! ;P) Str: 20 Con: 16 Dex: 15 Cha: 18 Wis: 10 Int: 7 Thank you all! :D
Martryn 09-29-04, 08:17 PM	One, your ability scores seem awful high... Two, I agree with you that playing a character of this type would have a higher charisma than normal because he seems to have that force of personality thing going for him and people probably in general like the guy. I don't know if the barbarian is the way to go, though. You could play this character equally well and as justified as a straight fighter. The way you describe it just doesn't seem as if the guy flies into a rage when he goes into combat. If yoiu stick with Bar, then I would say that the scores should be more like: Str 20, Con 18, Dex 16, Int 7, Wis 10, Chr 15. He would still be a highly charismatic guy with these choices. I would out Con over Dex for a barbarian, but many people would argue the other direction. You don't have to put the ability scores in the right places to play the character well. They should act like a guide, but place the ability scores and then play the character however you want. Just because your Chr is 6, doesn't mean you can't be religious. A six Chr could be from bad hygeine or being very brash, but you could still be a devout follower of your god.
siegezug 09-29-04, 08:23 PM	I made the scores up off the top of my head ;P Another good question I guess is what is considered "average" for all scores? Like the regular peasant male human farmer average? Thanks Mr. Martryn!
White rabbit 09-29-04, 09:57 PM	What you described almost sounded like a paladin, if it weren't for that free will thing. Almost like the wiccan credo (an it harm no one, do what thou wilt), but that may be just me. If you can scrounge up the rules for them, try asking your DM about a CG paladin. Those are rather high stats for a beginning human. Something like 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 10 seem to be the norm for most point buys, but I'm not sure since I always roll for them.
siegezug 09-29-04, 11:12 PM	Hmmm...I'm rather partial to the free will thing, so I don't think I'll make it into a Paladin anytime soon, unless I can actually find these interesting rules. Didn't know they made rules for Chaotic Paladins. O_o I'm not sure how to fit in the whole healing/turning undead/ability to cast spells thing would work out either, unless once again the Chaotic Paladins follow a different skill thing. But that whole Charisma based doing good deeds thing defenitly is a plus. I think I'll stick with Fighter and/or Barbarian though. But thanks anyways Mr. White Rabbit. New question, is there a prestige class which could work in flavor of my character?
Chasmodai 09-30-04, 02:44 AM	Assuming your character is Chaotic Good, Holy Liberator is a good class to take. If you feel like being an exalted, Champion of Gwynharwyf is also nice. Both are CG in alignment and fit your 'theme' quite well. Holy Liberator is from Complete Divine and Champion of Gwynharwyf is from Book of Exalted Deeds. And both classes get Smite Evil and Divine Grace (add Charisma mod to all saving throws). There you have it. Chaotic Paladin. :D
Sucineri 09-30-04, 03:22 AM	I can understand where you are coming from on not having a barbarian being just a nomadic tribe deal..but what about the rage part? Maybe someone beat the crap out of you and were beating the crap out of your mother..and then the bad guy decides to "go the extra step" and rips open your mothers shirt which makes you lose control, pick yourself up and slaughter the guy? And then afterwards you crawl to your mother, help her cover herself up and then you pass out from exhaustion. Never happened in your life before but you found that this power was something that needed to be explored further so you went for the approach of righting wrongs and stopping evildoers by any means necessary?
siegezug 09-30-04, 10:45 AM	..mmm..so tired.. ..um...rage? Right, barbarian rage. Once more with the small "editing" to defenitions, I guess its more of a berserker type thing then "me ****** off big time". Total focus on the enemy and the challenge at hand. Losing all control. For anyone who plays City of Heroes, scrapperlock ;P. ...mmmm..*rolls save vs. test*
MortalPlague 09-30-04, 10:54 AM	I'd say don't fall into the min/max trap. Make him a barbarian, but put his second highest score to charisma, and give him ranks in diplomacy. Then you've got a real leader-type, a real genuine hero of the people. No real need to multiclass here, you could play it as either a fighter or a barbarian, or possibly even a ranger. There's plenty of potential, but it's a good character idea. As far as dexterity versus constitution, well, here's the deal. A barbarian with higher dex would charge into combat, duck a blow, spin around and plant an axe in the head of the attacker, then spin to face the next opponent. A barbarian with higher con would charge into combat, take the blow, shrug it aside and smash the guy down. Generally, it's a measure of whether you want to dodge more damage or shrug off more damage. It also becomes a factor in ranged combat, of course, but your character really sounds like the up close and personal sort.
siegezug 09-30-04, 11:14 AM	Wow, that works perfectly. Ranks in Diplomacy, high Charisma, pure Barbarian. Thanks Mr. MortalPlague! I think I'll do that. Hmm, the character I think would shrug off damage more than dodge, so next would be Constitution! Another question, the last I swear, would low Int/Wis mean a more immature character?
greentiger 09-30-04, 11:59 AM	Ok... Intelligence represents your knowledge. High int says that you are smarter than the average bear. Wisdom is your basic sense of right and wrong. It is also your measure of common sense High Int/High Wis would be the Sensei master ("When you can snatch the pebble, young grasshopper..."). He knows what to say and when it is appropriate. High Int/Low Wis would be the absent minded proffessor. He knows what he's talking about, but usually is behind the conversation a little because he is thinking about something else or doesn't plain have good timing. High Wis/Low Int would be the unschooled peasent woman. She has the experience of hardships to know when to shut her trap or not, but she has never been schooled and therefore doesn't quite understand everything said. Low Wis/Low Int would almost be the quintessential Krog ("Me Smash!"). On the other hand, if he had High Cha, he might be the annoying little halfing that, bless her heart, tries to be in the conversation. When it comes down to it, you just need to pick a personality and play it that way. Just m,ake sure it is not grossly against your abilities. (a Low Int Low Wis Scholar type that knows everything would be thus.)