AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic - Let's build the ridiculously sterotypical Barbarian

This has to be the (wo)man of steel, the bushel of leatherskin and bulging muscle that suplexes boulders and comes at you swinging TWO greataxes, each size of a small child! Their skin has to be fully exposed except to display the hide (s)he has PERSONALLY torn off the legendary Tarrasque! No poison or ailment shall become them, even mighty dragons will not strike fear into this carefully bred example of perfection!

So how do we build all of the above without magic?

Easy.

You would want base 24 Barb really, anything past 24 Barb isn't worthwhile and IMHO anything below 24 Barb could always be better.

I'd go with 24 Barb/4 Fighter/2 Rogue. Dump that Intimidate and Tumble. Anything that isn't mind-blanked will run in terror from you, your Rogue levels add an extra layer of overkill to anything flatfooted. Pure destruction inbound.

The only box this doesn't tick, is the nakedness.

So lets say that the build above works, we can gear properly and reach massive saves, the big lug is wearing a massive turtle shell and we have affectionately left all the other appearance options as 'skin'.

Which race (standard or no) now best suits this warrior legend? Is Hobgoblin obviously the best choice for every build ever? Do the Duergar make it into first place with immunities? Does Ogrillon SMASH-SMASH with the +ecl mod? Perhaps the Earth Gensai with rock hard abs?

And how do we raise the charisma high enough to make every potential spouse swoon in a fifteen kilometer radius as they witness their thighs?

DukeDublin wrote:

So lets say that the build above works, we can gear properly and reach massive saves, the big lug is wearing a massive turtle shell and we have affectionately left all the other appearance options as 'skin'.

Which race (standard or no) now best suits this warrior legend? Is Hobgoblin obviously the best choice for every build ever? Do the Duergar make it into first place with immunities? Does Ogrillon SMASH-SMASH with the +ecl mod? Perhaps the Earth Gensai with rock hard abs?

And how do we raise the charisma high enough to make every potential spouse swoon in a fifteen kilometer radius as they witness their thighs?

All you need to do with an +ECL race is drop a couple of Barb levels. 20-23 Barb is still a good base.

Earth Genasi would turn you to a Dev-critting, high AB-ing, fear-inducing monster without much sacrifice. But if you don't want to add to the big pool of Outsiders, then I strongly suggest Duergar.

Charisma =/= attractiveness though. Charisma is also subjective. You could have low charisma and still be somewhat attractive, but playing a low score would mean something is off, maybe they're just overly aggressive too?

I made an Earth Genasi Barb24/MS5/Rogue1 to reasonable success. Epic Damage Reduct III, Mighty Rage, 38 buffed STR. No weapon focus feats of any kind, so you're free to use anything but still see 50+AB.

24 Barb was the cut off point for most of the rage perks. Don't cut them out!

24/4/2 barb fighter rogue
24/5/1 barb MS rogue (can do same with KC if you want that "terrifying presence charisma" aura angle, but I think barb definitely benefits more from MS here unlike bard which likes KC)
28 barb/2 rogue if you want like indie cred or hella barb stuff?
19 barb/2 bard/9 AA because the rages add damage to the character sheet which means they stack with bows. I don't know how you justify this but a wood elf dev crit barb AA seems hilarious to me. I'd never play it because I hate managing ammo. Guess this one's not stereotypical though, not what the topic wants.

For races: Dwarf of any variety, Half Orc, Hobgoblin, Earth Genasi, Tuigan, Ogrillon, Orog will all do for the classic "strongman". Basically anything with an STR or CON boost can do it for barb synergy.

TormakSaber wrote:

24/5/1 barb MS

Master Scout has excellent stereo type synergy due to it's allowing for MOAR strength and Permafreedom making you functionally UNSTOPPABLE

But not good enough defense right? At least that was my big issue with my barbarian.

MS gets you tumble so if you're standard shield user you'll be at 55 AC at some point. That's 60 when you haste and mage armor for tuff stuff, and that will work just fine.

Hem.. most ridiculously stereotypical barbarian.. and nobody's mentioning barbarian level 30? <.<

Mushidoz wrote:

Hem.. most ridiculously stereotypical barbarian.. and nobody's mentioning barbarian level 30? <.<

Because it's bad.

TormakSaber wrote:

MS gets you tumble so if you're standard shield user you'll be at 55 AC at some point. That's 60 when you haste and mage armor for tuff stuff, and that will work just fine.

Oh, I was expecting stereotypical two-handed weapon.

So Epic damage reduction + mighty rage + one handed weapon, no dev crit, but good defense from MS etc works fine here?

24 barbarian/MS 5/Bard 1 is probably my favorite stereotype because you get permafreedom and if you ever get a +6 str belt for some reason that saves up TONS of mythal space. That said you can't go wrong with 24barb/4rdd/1bard, having higher ac and more str than master scout counts for something if you gear it well but you will feel dirty for having only a little RDD which is why I've never made an rdd build. Less than 10 just feels off to me.

You can also, if you want a 'barbarian leader' type character, can make a 24/5/1 Barbarian/KC/Bard. It can work surprisingly well. If you combine KC's barricade of swords (10% physical immunity), with Barb's DR, (5 with Barb 24), and some DR gear, for 10 DR total, you can make a surprisingly sturdy raging tank with a built-in kickback shield. The only weakness of big note is that you won't have enough epic feats to get everything you want, but you should have enough pre-epic feats to get by.

One epic bonus feat is usually enough to be fair.

DukeDublin wrote:

This has to be the (wo)man of steel, the bushel of leatherskin and bulging muscle that suplexes boulders and comes at you swinging TWO greataxes, each size of a small child! Their skin has to be fully exposed except to display the hide (s)he has PERSONALLY torn off the legendary Tarrasque! No poison or ailment shall become them, even mighty dragons will not strike fear into this carefully bred example of perfection!

So how do we build all of the above without magic?

I've chosen to interpret you incorrectly:
This has to be the (wo)man of steel, the bushel of leatherskin and bulging muscle that perplexes boulders and comes at you swinging TWO arms, each size of a small child's!
-> Barbie17/Rogue13, voila!

Let's build the ridiculously sterotypical Barbarian

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