Role: Striker
Power Source: Martial
Key Abilities: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom
Armor Proficiencies: all light, light shields
Weapon Proficiencies: all simple, all martial except picks, flails, and polearms
Bonus to Defense: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex
HP at 1st level: 18 + Constitution
HP/level: 7
Surges: 9 + Constitution modifier
Trained Skills: choose 4 of: Athletics, Endurance, Heal, Intimidate, Nature, Perception, Stealth
Class Features
[INDENT]Fast Movement: Barbarians move +1 square while wearing light or no armor.
Barbarian Resilience: Barbarians gain the Toughness feat for free.
Rage: Once per day, a barbarian may fly into a rage that lasts for the duration of the present encounter. While in a rage, the barbarian gains the following benefits and penalties:
[INDENT]
- +2 to attack using Strength
- +2 to damage using Strength (+3 if using a two-handed weapon)
- +2 to Will Defense
- +2 temporary hit points per level
- -2 Armor Class
- Inability to use any power that does not have the weapon or martial keyword.
[/INDENT]
Additionally, certain Barbarian exploits perform differently if the barbarian is currently raging or has not yet used his rage.
At 11th level, all rage class features improve by 100% (i.e., bonuses go to +4). The AC penalty is reduced to -1.
At 21st level, all rage class features improve by 200% (i.e., bonuses go to +6). The AC penalty is eliminated.
A barbarian can use two action points to recover his rage.[/INDENT]
At-Will Exploits, level 1
[INDENT]
- Cleave: as fighter, but if raging add rage damage bonus to both main and secondary attacks
- Reaping Strike: as fighter, but if raging add rage damage bonus on a hit or miss.
- Tide of Iron: as fighter.
- Hit and Run: as ranger.
Encounter Exploits, level 1
[INDENT]
- Fox's Cunning: as ranger, but use Dexterity or Wisdom bonus.
- Barbarian Charge: on a charge, gain additional +1 to hit (+2 if raging). Effect: 2W+Strength damage, +1 square push (2 if raging). Secondary Effect: Strength vs. Reflex or target is also knocked prone.
- Great Cleave: as cleave, but burst 1 secondary effect. Rage damage bonus adds to both main and secondary attacks.
- Close Combat: Str v. AC, 1W + Strength damage. Secondary effect: gain second attack Str v. Fortitude for Strength damage, target is dazed until the end of your next turn.
Daily Exploits, level 1
[INDENT]
- Brute Strike, as fighter
- Comeback Strike, as fighter
- Defiant Roar: Burst 3 vs. all enemies, Intimidate check (+2 if raging) vs. Will Defense. Effect: affected foes are weakened, save ends. Special: if the barbarian has spent his rage in a previous encounter, he may spend an action point to immediately fly into a rage upon using this exploit.
Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.
Strength: 16 +3
Constitution: 14 +2
Dexterity: 16 +3
Intelligence: 8 -1
Wisdom: 13 +1
Charisma: 10 +0
Hit Points: 39
HP/Surge: 9
Surges/Day: 11
AC: 15 (Leather + Dex)
Fortitude: +5
Reflex: +5
Willpower: +2
Initiative: +3
Feats: Toughness (free), Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Axes
Skills: Stealth, Athletics, Endurance, Intimidate, Perception
Exploits: At Will: Cleave, Reaping Strike, Hit and Run; Encounter: Barbarian Charge; Daily: Defiant Roar
Basic Melee Attack, Greataxe: +5 to hit, 1d12+4 damage.
Come on guys, give me some feedback here. I'm hearing the crickets chirping.
Overall, I would probably make the barbarian a bit more of a defender than a striker. (Striker is going to be the most popular role, I can already tell.) However, the secondary effects of striker characters was not a feature of 3E barbarians. When you look at the 3e barbarian, what you see is a character with pretty good all around defense that makes up for lower AC with Damage Resistance and extra hit points. It's a defender that can do a lot of damage. I would focus on a character that can soak lots of damage (rather than being well armored for defense) and deliver damage to many enemies at once. To make the soaking work well, give him a few powers that allow regeneration, free healing surge use, and resistance to damage. Of course, it's important to defenders that they knock down enemies as well, and it fits well with the barbarian tradition
Drop toughness, it's redundant. Give the class a few more hit points at first level and one more per level if you think it should have more than you give it at first level. I think you've given it plenty, by the way. But in place of toughness, how about the character adds his consitution modifer to his surge value? That seems consonant with the defender type character described above and it's an appealing ability.
Give the barbarian a mark ability like fighters and paladins. How about a Barbarian can mark any character that attacks him, whether the attack hits of misses? Or you could do it just like the fighter ability.
Rage is overpowered and far, far too complex. Simplify it, make it a power and get rid of the extra interactions with other powers. How about an encounter power that gives +2 to damage on all melee attacks in exchange for a -1 to AC until the end of the encounter? Alternatively, a daily standard action melee attack that does 2[W] + Str and has an effect: you gain +1 to attack and +2 to damage for the duration of the encounter (no AC penalty)? (Similar to Villain's Menace, the fighter exploit, but the bonuses are smaller while applying to all.)
Make the traditional will bonuses for the barb available as a level 2 utility power, minor action that provides the character a +2 to willpower and reflex for the duration of the encounter.
Your defiant roar looks like it might be overpowered, but I don't have my PHB handy to see how it compares to daily powers of other classes. Probably Burst 2 would be better. Given that I recall a swordmaster (fighter paragon path) power of pretty high level that allows a character to recover an encounter power, my guess is that this is too much for a level one power. I don't know if there's any precedent for skill check vs. defense, but I don't think that there is. How about Con +2 vs. Willpower? (Cha really seems like the correct attribute for this attack, but since Cha isn't what one wants to demand of a barbarian build, Con is an acceptable substitute.)
barbarian charge is overpowered. 1W + Str is probably more on par with level one encounter powers that have this sort of additional effect.
Barb: Defender or Striker?
I disagree that 3e barbs were defenders. A two-handed-using barb could count on having an AC of 8-10 points less than a sword & board fighter by level 12 or so. Offsetting that was a few more hp and the rage temporary hit points.
Barbs are the essence of strikers -- fast, lightly armored, high damage. With rage, a 3e barb with a two-hander is simply more powerful offensively than a 3e fighter, even if you give the fighter greater weapon specialization.
I agree that a barb is more defenderish than a rogue, for instance, but is much more strikerish than a fighter.
Overpowered Exploits
I think the encounter powers are properly weighted ... compare the damage output of the level one encounter/daily powers of rangers and rogues and I think you'll see what I mean. Adding the rage bonuses to fighter exploits essentially brings them up to ranger/rogue level.
As far as the "rage recovery" aspect of my Defiant Roar -- yeah, I debated whether that was too good for level 1. And the burst could be reduced, too. I guess I was just trying to showcase a way to allow a barbarian to get more rages/day at a certain cost. Then again, the "action point" powers all seem to reside at the paragon path level, so maybe from a design standpoint that needs to get pushed back to level 11+ ...
Hit Points
Yeah, Toughness could be dropped. Rage and Fast Movement are probably more than enough, feature-wise.
Rage Complexity
It's no more complicated than 3e rage. I agree that it adds more modifiers to the mix. But rage is what makes a D&D barb a ... well, a barb. Rage has always been conceived as a temporary buff state. If we make it an encounter power, then we might as well simply make it an "always on" class feature and be done with it (though at a lower power level, obviously).
Thanks again for your feedback.
it suggests either a great weapon fighter, or a two weapon ranger depending on player preference.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20080613a
Thank you for the reply.
Barb: Defender or Striker?
I disagree that 3e barbs were defenders. A two-handed-using barb could count on having an AC of 8-10 points less than a sword & board fighter by level 12 or so. Offsetting that was a few more hp and the rage temporary hit points.
Barbs are the essence of strikers -- fast, lightly armored, high damage. With rage, a 3e barb with a two-hander is simply more powerful offensively than a 3e fighter, even if you give the fighter greater weapon specialization.
Barbarians also had DR, and comparing the 2 handed barb to the sword and board fighter to evaluate the AC difference is misleading. The AC difference between a fighter and a barb of the same level that use the same style of combat was 0 to 4 points points (2-6 raging), depending on the Barb's dexterity. Hand the barbarian DR and extra hit points and the two look quite similarly defended. Mithral plate leveled the difference even further.
Moreover--and this is really the most important point about who's a striker and who's a defender--barbarians were most effective when you let them sit up front and do the work of soaking attacks and hammering enemies. Rogues were awful for that, and rangers questionable at best. A barb that ran in and out of the fight was basically just letting enemies have the run of the board and that was a waste of half the barbs two main abilities (those being dealing lots of damage and taking lots of damage.)
Also, capacity to deal damage isn't the best measure of which 3e characters should be strikers in 4e; fighters significantly outclassed rangers and rogues in terms of their ability to deal damage. But fighters are defenders and rangers and rogues are not. Hit points are a much better measure of whether a class moves to the striker or defender role.
Anyway, you can house rule your barbarian anyway you like. I'm guessing that the bloatbooks will make them defenders. You should ask yourself seriously whether a character with the kind of hit points and healing surges you've given your barbarian class balances with other strikers.
None of my ideas are set in stone, and I hear you about the hit points/healing surges issue in comparison to the ranger and rogue. Though the other strikers do have exploits that work at range, whereas the barb does not.
Re: damage output in 3e -- don't shortchange the rogues. Against critable foes, a dual-wielding rogue puts out a ton of damage in 3e.
But to carry your point forward -- what do you suggest? Taking a Fighter and just pretending he's a barb? Or swapping out some/all of the Fighter class features for Rage? Give up Combat Superiority, Combat Challenge, and Fighter Weapon Talent for Rage as I've defined it?