This being my first post on the forums, eventhough I've been browsing them for a good couple years, therefore I'm greeting all the neighbourhood friendly nerds!
I've recently started playing in a fresh campaign and decided to try something .. new for myself.
Being the Big Stupid Fighter. For as long as I remember, I played GOD-type and Rogue-type characters. So I thought - hey, why the hell not!
So I set sail to the Old Country, Rashemen, being one of my fav. FR regions, and took one of the local berserkers as my character.
And thus, I started HeroForge, and decided to turn this nondescript berserker into a truly Naively Chaotic Good Hero, who, as a barbarian should, blocks everything with his truly gargantuan chest and cuts everything into pieces before they can even say "Wha--".
And here, the challenge started. I realised I know absolutely nothing about making a decent melee build.
So I started fidgetting, browsing through numerous books, browsing through the internet, and I came upon the "Being Bane: Guide to Cracking Small Men". Spluttered my tea all over my screen, had to wipe it, but it still .. didn't answer my questions. The ammount of possibilites was astounding! Never realised, that being the BSF can be so complicated! And even more, if the BSF was to be truly Big, and less Stupid.
So here comes a challenge to you, friendly neighbourhood nerds. Help me optimise this! And please, don't tell me - be a Bear! I know, it is tempting!
Here comes the starting package:
S. 17
D. 13
C. 16
I. 13
W. 9
Ch. 11
(Yes, I was really frustrated myself with the ammount of uneven stats!)
So far, being level 2, I have taken the following:
2 Barbarian levels, Spirit Lion ACF, and following feats (the DM allowed 2 flaws - 2 feats exchange):
Power Attack, Cleave, Endurance, Steadfast Determination.
Oh, and I took the Plucky trait, +1 will for -1 Fort.
And well, here comes the most fun part.
Since our Hero, as heroes should, blocks everything with his chest, I have decided to push it even deeper with my DM, and decided that the hero will NEVER wear any armour (nor Bracers of Armour and alike), therefore leaving his Armour Bonus at +0 permanently, in exchange for...
5/- DR!
Hoo-rah!
11 AC! 9 AC when raging! This is how REAL MEN do it! Until they start rolling crap on the first three rounds of combat, then they die miserably.
So! Help me out here guys! How to make him the true Chaotic Heroic Good half-naked Rashemi he ought to be, without bending the rules (too) much!
(On a sidenote, the party consists of a ranger, to-be-order-of-bow, and a sorceress.)
Brainstorm away!
The person who comes with the best answer will be forever remembered by the Hero as his long-gone brother, who died when wrestling the bears in the icy-cold Rashemi rivers!
P.S. Oh! And books aren't a problem, collectively, the gang owns almost every book there is.
Dragon Mag. is a no-no however!
P.P.S. I really, really like the charge-route I read about somewhere! Destroy half of your enemies on the first round, huzzah!
And well, here comes the most fun part.
Since our Hero, as heroes should, blocks everything with his chest, I have decided to push it even deeper with my DM, and decided that the hero will NEVER wear any armour (nor Bracers of Armour and alike), therefore leaving his Armour Bonus at +0 permanently, in exchange for...
5/- DR!
Hoo-rah!
So:
Stats:
Str 17
Dex 13
Con 16
Int 11
Wis 9
Cha 13
Barbarian 1 - Power Attack, Cleave, Steadfast Determination, Intimidating Rage
Barbarian 2
Barbarian 3 - Destructive Rage
Barbarian 4
Barbarian 5 -
Barbarian 6 - Leap Attack
Frenzied Berserker 1
Frenzied Berserker 2
Frenzied Berserker 3 - Improved bull rush
Frenzied Berserker 4
Frenzied berserker 5
Frenzied Berserker 6 - Shock Trooper
...
All core. Now the people will start suggesting stances from ToB.
EDIT: Ah, I forgot community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
I was considering breaking it down with 2 fighter levels, especially if going F.B. route, to leave some spare feats for Iron Will/Indomitable Soul. Hells, rerolling the Will-save when possibility of going total carnage on my party might save the whole adventure!
Else, it's gonna be "Oops, I did it again. [Stands atop the mauled corpses of his buddies]".
Another idea I had (damn all these possibilites) was doing a Barbarian/Fighter/Stoneblessed/Deepwarden/FB combo. If it's possible, even!
And about the Barb Handbook on the WOTC forums, it's unfortunately fairly dissapointing, compared to some others!
Being Bane: Guide to Cracking Small Men beats it fair and square!
Any other suggestions, folks!? Brainstorm away!
Also, what's the Feat/Skill Trick 'Combo' to maximize the Charge efficiency?
The extra rage feat (Complete Warrior) gives you 2 extra uses of rage per day each time you take it. A couple fighter levels would be nice, particularly if you go for the dungeoncrasher alternate class feature (Dungeonscape). Fist of the forest (Complete Champion) also gives con to AC. The trick with power attack is to use shock trooper to exchange the attack penalty for an AC penalty, and use leap attack and possibly improved or supreme power attack to boost the bonus damage.
9 AC... Lower it down by 5 from Power Attack/Shock Trooper!
Huzzah! 4 AC Charge! Fear me! Add in that feat which gives +4 AB/-4 AC on Charge, and voilla!
(And gimme 20.000 for proper equipment so I can survive.)
Was just browsing through the items, found a weapon property named 'Vicious", adding 2d6 dmg to the weapon, but also scoring 1d6 dmg against the wielder.
Would the barb DR apply to that?
And yes, I was considering Fist of the Forest too, for the fantastic RP opportunity, Primal Living, Con-to-AC/Speed/Unarmed Goodies/ etc... but hells, can't have all the prestige classes in one build.
Still brainstorming.... Frenzied Berserker is just too good to pass up, 4 feats are a pain.
Not that AC is gonna be of any significance on this character though..!
Also: Tried searching the forums, I recall a topic on it, but couldnt come across it.
What are the ways of increasing a PC's:
A) Land speed
B) Initiative
I do suggest two levels of Fighter. You need more feats. Improved Initiative so you go first is probably one of them.
Remember that if you can't wear Armor you can still wear Bracers of Armor.
Also note he's probably wearing furs, which could count as +1 AC, and could always get them enchanted "so people will always know the ferocious beasts I've killed, and so I don't have to keep patching them!"
I'd just suggest the wizard cast Mage Armor on him 1/day, however, until he gets his lucky Bracers (I blocked that Giant's Axe with my forearm! HAH, you see that!? Take this, JOtun! (crunch))
If you like pathfinder there's a no-armor variant there that gets rapidly scaling DR that might suit you, too.
==Aelryinth
Basic initiative stuff are a couple +2/+2 feats (like Blooded, +2 Spot/Init), Imp Initiative, Alertness, A Warning Weapon, a high Dex, Marshal Aura to Motivate Dexterity...
===Aelryinth
The eager weapon special ability (Magic Item Compendium) provides +2 initiative, +2 damage on the first round and surprise round, and the benefits of quick draw.
I think you meant the dash feat, which is in Complete Warrior and improves your speed by 5 feet in light or no armor. The run feat is in Player's Handbook and lets you move 5 times your speed with the run action instead of 4 times your speed.
Unfortunately the Mage Armour/Bracers of Armour trick wont work! It would be against the rules of blocking everything with the chest!
"Seen that, I blocked the Giant's Axe with the sheer thickness of my chest muscles! Seen that, ladies!? Come along! Don't be shy! There's a LOT of my flesh for each of you!"
However, you got me extremely curious - mentioned Pathfinder and massive DR? What's that, where's that?
Think I'm starting to slowly get the general idea
Seems one of my questions got loss amongst the chest hair somewhere!
Was just browsing through the items, found a weapon property named "Vicious", adding 2d6 dmg to the weapon, but also scoring 1d6 dmg against the wielder.
Would the barb DR apply to that?
2 Fighter2 - Steadfast Determination
3 Barbarian1 - Leap Attack
4 Barbarian2
5 Barbarian3
6 Barbarian4 - Improved Bull Rush
7 Barbarian5 (improved uncanny dodge is a must)
8 Frenzied Berserker1
9 Frenzied Berserker2 - Shock trooper
...
Valorous enchant - charge -> system shock/one shot, cleave ->system shock :D
www.d20pfsrd.com/
Gives you their basic rules, barbarian class, and APG variants. There's a DR heavy one.
Also, I'd point out there's a feat that ups DR by 2/- per time taken, but I'm having a Brain Fart and can't remember the name of it. Roll with It?
==Aelryinth
For the build a couple posts back, you would want to start with Barbarian-- the "Rage" feats have Rage as a prerequisite if I recall correctly, plus you get more skills and better starting hit points. With a Tome of Battle slant still aiming for Frenzied Berserker I would go with Fighter 2/Barbarian 2/Crusader 3/Frenzied Berserker 2.
I don't believe DR would apply to the damage from the vicious property-- DR is physical damage, vicious is energy.
I'd also point out the Berserk variant in the PH2. You gain more DR when your Rage finally kicks in at lower hit points.
You really need to get your AC up, however. Note that bracers/armor are not visible armor...you can stop with your chest all you please, just sometime it bounces (exactly as if you had Nat Armor).
Power Attack and low AC are a lethal combination you probably don't want to play
==Aelryinth
===Aelryinth
If Power Attack is the primary concern, honestly I would almost say the better route is to pick up Elusive Target, though that is a pretty heavy feat investment. In the end, playing a character like this will probably depend partially on the DM though-- if the player knows that the DM is going to be tossing down the obscene damage figures, I suspect he would avoid it. He's playing a theme build here really, so it's more about optimizing within his parameters (i.e. taking a hit, rather than avoiding it.)